Author: Jake

Poll: How Will YOU Stay Connected to The FPA World Championships this weekend?

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FPAW 2017 LogoThe Freestyle Player’s Association World Freestyle Frisbee Championships (FPAW 2017) is this weekend (Aug 3 – 6). Top players from all over the world will be in attendance, showing off their skills and connecting with the Jamily. Of course, not everyone can attend. That’s why the FrisbeeGuru staff will also be in attendance, bringing you the action live and reporting on the results. You can watch here.

Staying connected to FPAW is important for fans, players, and their families. This Poll asks: How Will YOU Stay Connected to The FPA World Championships this weekend? Select all that apply.

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History: 1983 -1997; Continued Growth

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2997 FPA Sky StylerThis was known as the era of mastering play. The veteran players had advanced their play to previously unforeseen levels. New techniques and moves were introduced such as Skids, Connecting the Neurons, Turbo Rolls and Vacations.
Freestyle continued to grow in the United States and Canada. The Virginia States, the US Open Overall, the Seniors Overall, the WFDF World Overall Championships, World Disc, World Indoor and the FPA World Freestyle Championships helped maintain and spur the growth of Freestyle during this period of time. The start of this period was also known for the many great teams that were competing at a high level in the sport. The “Coloradicals” were in full bloom, “Bud Light” featuring Joey Hudoklin, Chipper “Bro” Bell and Crazy John Brooks were rivaled by “Team Sideout” featuring Skippy Jammer, Larry Imperiale, John Jewell and a young player would become key for the future growth of the sport and its expansion to Europe, Tommy “Lightning” Leitner. Other great teams were the “Bayou Blasters” with Jim Benson (formally Schmall), Deaton Mitchell and Daryll Allen as well as “Art of Disc” with Rick Castiglia, Dave Schiller and Joel Rogers. Dave Schiller’s original partner Bob Coleman would introduce a series of one hand turnovers called “Connecting the Neurons” in the early 1980’s. Schiller would eventually become one of the greatest jammers of all time as his career progressed. Other strong players from this era included Dave Murphy, Ted Oberhaus, Rob Fried and Peter Laubert. The women’s scene was blossoming with top players Carolyn Yabe and Stacey Anderson dominating play. Other great players of the era were Kate Dow, Connie Bond, Margaret Curtis, Mary Lowry, Judy Robbins, Gina Sample, Amy Bekken and Mandy Carreiro. Also, the jamming scene around Green Yellow Sky StylerLake park in Seattle, WA, led by Randy Silvey would see advancements in the style of play. Young freestylers such as Lisa Hunrichs, Cindy St Mary and Brenda Savage were notable women players who emerged from that scene. Of special note, in 1994, Gina Sample became the first woman to win a Major Open Freestyle partner, winning the FPA World Pairs Championship (with Rodney Sanchez) in Santa Cruz.

The US Open replaced the Rose Bowl World Championship as the premier event for Freestyle and Overall play. That event ran from 1982-1990. The WFDF Overall became a high profile event with those events running in 1987 (Fort Collins, CO), 1988 (San Francisco, CA), 1989 (Essex, ENG), 1991 (Santa Cruz, CA), 1993 (San Diego, CA), 1997 (Helsinki, FIN). There were also huge freestyle events happening all across the County such as Minneapolis’ “Sky of 10,000 Frisbees” and Austin, TX Auditorium Shores tournaments.

The Paganello freestyle event fueled an interest, growth and development of Freestyle in the European community.

Last Article | Next Article

Thanks to the Freestyle Players Association (FPA) for sharing this information with FrisbeeGuru.com.

The entire document is stored on FreestyleDisc.org, as is the FPA’s Hall of Fame.

Episode 25: Juliana’s Freestyle Journey Continues

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Juliana Figure 4Find out how Juliana Korver is preparing for her second FPA World’s Championship in Udine. Her desire to get better drives her to practice. A lot. Her success in Disc Golf was a catalyst for the regimen she currently uses, and it is quite impressive! Growing up, her mother’s encouraging words, “you can do anything”  were motivating, but she knew that would come with a lot of work on her part. Juliana is finally enjoying using her skills more than building skills, and she’s excited about that. Get more insight about her videos and how they’ve helped her (and others.) Hear about how she experienced jamming in Prague vs. the Canary Islands. And finally, when Jake asks if she were told 15 years ago that she would now be playing Freestyle, what she would have said.

You can watch Juliana live from Udine here.

WFDF 2017: Final Results

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WFDF OC 2017 LogoOpen Pairs

  1. Larry Imperiale, Paul Kenny
  2. Daniel O’neill, Tom Leitner
  3. Marc Pestotnik, Jakub Kostel
  4. Ryan Young, Jakub Matula
  5. Rick Lebeau, Jason Salkey
  6. Harvey Brandt, Rick Williams
  7. Dieter Johansson, Tomas Burvall
  8. Tom Cole, Jack Cooksey

Women’s Pairs

  1. Juliana Korver, Bianca Strunz
  2. Lori Daniels, Char Powell
  3. Sophie Rickers, Ilka Simon
  4. Niloofar Mossavar rahmani, Gohar Mossavar rahmani

WFDF 2017: Semifinals Results

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WFDF OC 2017 Logo
Open Pairs Semifinals Pool A (top 4 advance)

  1. Tom Leitner, Daniel O’Neil
  2. Ryan Young, Jakub Matula
  3. Rick Lebeau, Jason Salkey
  4. Dieter Johansson, Tomas Burvall
  5. Dan Bailey, Gordy Brown
  6. Mark Trout, Rui Pires
  7. Jonas Bengtsson, Peter Henriksson
  8. Tobias Cole, Jeff Shelton
  9. Derek Robins, Les Bryant

Open Pairs Semifinals Pool B (top 4 advance)

  1. Paul Kenny, Larry Imperiale
  2. Marc Pestotnik, Jakub Kostel
  3. Tom Cole, Jack Cooksey
  4. Harvey Brandt, Rick Williams
  5. Conrad Damon, Doug Korns
  6. Sten Sturefeldt, Thomas Olsson
  7. Anton Kappling, Jonas Karlsson
  8. Ze’ Luis, Cormac Finn
  9. Mikael Zewgren, Thomas Jonasson

Women’s Pairs Semifinals (top 4 advance)

  1. Sophie Rickers, Ilka Simon
  2. Lori Daniels, Char Powell
  3. Juliana Korver, Bianca Strunz
  4. Niloofar Mossavar rahmani, Gohar Mossavar rahmani
  5. Yu Han, I Chi
  6. No Name, Frida Högberg

About WFDF 2017 with Jason Salkey

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WFDF OC 2017 LogoThe WFDF 2017 Freestyle Event starts tomorrow (July 28 @14:00 (UTC +0)). You can watch it live here. Jason Salkey took the time to share more information about the event.

Jake: Tell me a little bit about Basingstoke and what inspired you to hold the competition there?

Jason: The inspiration all came from Robb Hamilton, intrepid member of the Basingstoke Golf Club. UK Jammers have, of course taken charge of the Freestyle element. Possibly Robb was inspired by the fact that Liz Hurley is a native Basingstokie. I’ve also heard the local music festival called Basingstoke Live used to be called Jammin’ in the Park. A bit of subliminal inspiration perhaps!

Jake: Being an FPA Major Class event, the standard FPA competition format will be used. Which divisions will be a part of the event?

Jason: This year at WFDF 2017 there will be two division Women’s pairs and Men’s pairs.

Jake: What is the venue for the event? 

Jason: The Basingstoke Rugby Club has kindly let us stage this year’s WFDF. The competition will take place on the grass in the centre of the practice track. Which is superbly flat and open, it was previously thought we could do the rounds on the rugby field, but the grass is little rutted and divot strewn.

Jake: How many Freestyle teams do you expect? Are there any top teams we should be watching out for?

Jason: We are hoping see the largest gathering of top freestylers since Jam Britannia II. As is the custom, freestylers are fairly relaxed about getting registered, but I can throw out a few names to savour:

Tom Leitner, Bianca Strunz,  Dan O’Neil, Larry Imperiale, Ilka Simon, Paul Kenny, Sophie Rickers, Juliana Korver, Ryan Young, Charlene Powell just to name a few. That should make for strong competition and sweet, sweet Jams.

Jake: Anything else you’d like to add? Anyone you’d like to thank?

Jason: Thank you to all freestylers from around the world who are coming or thinking of coming to Basingstoke. These shores haven’t hosted a WFDF since Colchester 1989 where Adrian Wainwright and Konn Cummings came away with the freestyle title. So we really want to host a successful event and confirm the UK as a top freestyle destination. Big thanks to Robb Hamilton for successfully bidding for WFDF 2017 and the Rugby Club for hosting us. See you on the field and remember to pencil Jam Britannia III in to your jam diaries (11/12 Nov).

Poll: In Which Decade Did You Start Playing Freestyle Frisbee?

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Libby

Freestyle Frisbee can be a lifelong sport. Many players start in their teens or early twenties and continue to play into their seventies. Freestyle Frisbee also attracts players of all ages. I know of many players who started in their forties and as we saw in the “how old are you?” poll, people’s ages span sixty years.

Now, let’s gather some data on when people started playing Freestyle Frisbee. In which decade did you start?

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