Photo by Jay Paul
A good eye and a steady hand at tossing a beanbag can prove useful when it comes to finding a profession.
Just ask Mechanicsville resident Jay Corley. He’s turned pro at a game that’s more commonly a pastime at barbecues and bars. Corley in mid-August was the American Cornhole League’s No. 8-ranked professional player in the United States. This year, he won the league’s Crew Cup, and with North Carolina resident Tyler Poythress, he also won its advanced doubles division competition in St. Louis. As a team, they’re ranked No. 13.
Corley learned about the game from his younger brother, Matthew, who played cornhole in a gym class. His family then bought a cornhole set and began playing together. After a while, Corley realized he was good at the game, and he started entering competitions in 2015.
“We played in the backyard with family members, and it got kind of competitive,” Corley says. “Once I got better and better, I wanted to see if there was more to it, so we looked on the internet [and] found a couple local tournaments. Little did we know at the time the tournament at Colonial Downs was the biggest tournament in Virginia. I saw how good the competition was, so I started attending local blind draws, traveling and playing every weekend.”
After attending competitions, and placing in some of them, Corley decided he was going to play cornhole professionally. The first step was telling his friends and family. “At first they thought it was silly,” Corley says. “They weren’t as involved as I was, they didn’t see the possibility that cornhole could grow and be recognized as a professional sport. They didn’t see the vision that I did.”
In the off-season, he plays the sport four to six hours a week; in tournament season, that escalates to six to eight hours a week.
Corley loves what he does, however he wishes he could spend more time at home with his wife, Nikki, and their daughters Harper, who is 2, and Riley, who was born July 3.
“Right now, the downside of playing cornhole at the professional level would definitely be the time away from my family because I work a full-time job and am trying to keep up on the weekends in hopes that one day the sport is what I do full time and I’m able to spend a lot of time with my family,” Corley says.
Corley works full-time with the state of Virginia in the Department of Health Professions.
Sponsors give Corley financial support for the season, September to August, and in return Corley posts about them on social media and mentions them in interviews.
When Corley is home from competitions and with his family, he still plays cornhole at cookouts and family functions. “[My family] loves playing with me,” he says. “They love playing because they know my mindset at cookouts. It’s a lot different — it’s more having fun than trying to win.”
PLAY LIKE A PRO
Jay Corley’s tips to improve your game: Develop a throw with a flat bag. Once you’re tossing a flat bag, you can learn the tendencies of where the bag will go once it hits the board. This will help you develop a strategy based on your strengths.
