Frisbee België

by Dave Marini, co-founder of the FPA

Freestyle Frisbee is a sport where teams of two or three players perform a routine, which consists of a series of throws, catches and moves, done to music using one or more discs. The routine judged on the basis of difficulty, execution and presentation. The player or team with the best total score is declared the winner.

Freestyle! Such grandiose terms to describe sport. The words "free" and "style" both transcend their task of labeling physical action. They encompass a lifestyle, a philosophy.

In its purest form freestyle is creative movement with a moving disc. The players define the game for themselves as they play. Self-expression is the only common thread stringing together many divergent jewels of creativity. (If one were to search for a definition of our sport, the failure of that search would prove to be its answer. An attempt to shackle freestyle to any one definition or mode of play would be to deny its very essence.)

Allowing for all styles of play

Yet, within a galaxy of possible applications for freestyle, a sizeable number of players have reached an agreement concerning one particular application. Acknowledging the freedom of thought and expression all players are entitled to when they freestyle, players of this lofty pursuit have in effect agreed that they should bring their talents and ideas together at a fixed time and place and share them. But, as is the nature of our species, the sharing is for a price. Players agreed to share their self-expression in return for the chance to be recognized when the sharing was over, as the one who shared the most by presenting their individuality best.

These agreements to meet at fixed times and places have become known as freesytle tournaments. Sharing is now called competition, and displaying one's individuality best, so as to leave with the honor of having shared the most, has been labeled winning. And more and more players want to get in on this agreement.

Because of this development, and only because of it, an artificial means of conceptualizing and comparing individual creativity had to be developed. What resulted are the known and accepted procedures for evaluating the individual creativity of many different, but equally important human beings.

The result we seek by this evaluation is not solely to recognize and label superior talent. We are not our own creators and cannot begin to understand the necessary elements for choosing those superior among us. Our attempts to evaluate will be imperfect at best because we are trying to select the most perfect fruit out of a basket containing nothing but delicious choices.

And we are not so self-defeating as to limit our freedom by proclaiming these evaluation procedures the definition of freestyle. No, the only purpose we can realistically ascribe to our meager attempts at evaluating freedom is that of paying homage to a given moment in time - - simply who, at that moment, was sharing the most.

Glossary

• Catch: A controlled termination of the movement momentum of the disc without the disc touching the ground.
• Combination: One complete sequence by a player or one co-op sequence by players of the same team. Elements may include throw, take-in, move, and catch.
• Competitors: Includes a player or group of players teaming together.
• Co-op: One interactive combination by two or more players on a team. A second combination or throw within the team constitutes a separate co-op for judging purposes.
• Delay: The spinning of the disc without corresponding flight movement, usually by contact with the finger nails of the player, although toes, elbows or other objects are also used.
• Move: The coordinated or complementary movement of the disc and the player's body, after the take-in is made and prior to a throw or catch. The most varied element of a combination.
• Movement Momentum: The continued flight, spin, roll or other independent movement of the disc.
• Take-In: The address by the receiving player to a thrown disc, other than a catch or throw. The take- in may include tips, delays, fakes or any other technique performed by the player which establishes that player's control of the disc, without stopping the disc's continued movement momentum.
• Throw: Transfer of the disc from one player to another through a tossing motion.

Learning to play

So, how do you spin a frisbee on your finger? You don't!...You spin it on your finger nail.

To learn to spin the frisbee you'll need a good frisbee, a strong finger nail and a lubricant to keep the surface of the disc slick - silicon spray is most commonly used.

Next, you'll need to spin the disc up to your self (as in the animation on the right), or have someone throw you the frisbee with a good amount of spin. The best way to learn is having the frisbee come to you with a lot of spin and at a level angle.

You can also experiment with tipping and airbrushing the disc as well as trying trick throws and catches.

(See the beginning and advanced tips pages for more info)

Whether you are playing a game of trick throw and catch or trying technical 'against the spin' moves, freestyle is about creating your own moves and your own style, and most of all...having fun!

Competitions

Freestyle competitions usually consist of teams of 2 or 3 players performing 4 or 5 minute routines to music. The teams are judged on the technical difficulty and style of the moves they complete.

In 2005 several large events are being planned:

The FPA World Championships in Seattle, Washington
July 29-31, 2005

The Paganello Freestyle Challenge in Rimini, Italy
March 24-28, 2005

Extreme Frisbee Challenge in Somerset, England
July 9-10, 2005

The World Disc Games in Santa Cruz, California
July 14-17, 2005

European Freestyle Championships
TBA

(See the Freestyle Frisbee event schedule for the upcoming events and the results page for event reviews and results)

Freestyle Frisbee: a sport on the move

Freestyle Frisbee is growing very fast in Europe: In just 3 years the number of events in Europe has risen from 3 to 13 including 2 FPA World Championships, 3 Paganello Freestyle Challenges - where over 1,000 frisbee althletes compete. In 2004 other large events were held including the first European Freestyle Championship and a large event in the Netherlands, appropriately named 'Amsterjam'. The number of European freestylers has also grown from an estimated 45 players in '99 to over 200 in 2004.

Helping fuel the fire in Europe, Nike sponsored Freestyle Face-off Tour where the Nike Freestyle Frisbee Team of Sune Wentzel and Tommy Leitner performed and taught clinics across Europe. Nike also produced an award winning TV Commercial and web site featuring freestylers Dave Murphy, Dave Lewis and Zahlen Titcomb.

Where people play

Currently, freestyle niches exist in almost every corner of the globe but it's most popular in North America and Europe with a large number of players coming from cities like Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Milan, Rome, Paris, Stockholm, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

(See the Freestyle Frisbee Jam Zones page for more info)

History

The first Freestyle Championships were held in 1974, which was also the year the nail delay (spinning the frisbee on your finger) was invented. Being able to control the spinning disc on the finger led to invention of many new moves and new styles of play began to emerge. The California west coast style was based on flow featuring air brushes, rolls and moves into the wind. The New York east coast style was based more on technique and featured more center delay moves.

The convergence of both styles took place when Joey Hudoklin and Richie Smits moved from New York City to Venice Beach, California in the late 1970's, they eventually ended up in Santa Barbara. Joey, widely recognized as the greatest freestyler of all time, combined both styles in ways never before imagined and Santa Barbara's Palm Park would become the freestyle mecca for for years to come.

(See Skippy Jammer's retrospective on Frisbee Freestyle for more info)

What is it about Freestyle Frisbee that has captured the imagination of so many players around the world? Is it the flight of the disc, how it hovers in the wind? Is it the seemingly endless number of moves you can learn - whether is be trick throws, catches, tips, spins, brushes or rolls? Is it the spirit of the players, old and young who freely share their moves with new players - even if they don't speak the same language? Whatever the cause, there seems to be no cure for freestyle fever, so newbies beware, it's highly contagious!

In Freestyle Frisbee there are no set rules about how to do a move, players are encouraged to create new moves and to develop their own style. Freestyling or 'jamming' can at times be like an art form - when a player is no longer thinking about the moves and is just flowing with the disc, often not even remembering the moves he or she has just done.

Frisbee^®

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• Frisbee was inspired by the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, founded by William Russell Frisbie.

• In the 1870s, William Russell Frisbie opened a bakery called the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His lightweight pie tins were embossed with the family name. In the mid-1940s, students at Yale University tossed the empty pie tins as a game.

• In the 1950s, Walter Frederick Morrison, a Los Angeles building inspector determined to capitalize on Hollywood's obsession with UFOs, designed a lightweight plastic disk, based on the Frisbie bakery's pie tins, but changed the name to Flyin' Saucer to avoid legal hassles. Morrison sold the rights to the Wham-O Manufacturing Co. of San Gabriel, California, and on January 13, 1957, Americans were introduced to the Frisbee.

• The Frisbie Pie Company went out of business in 1958. In 1994, Mattel acquired Wham-O.

• In May 1989, Middlebury College in Vermont unveiled a bronze statue of a dog jumping to catch a Frisbee to commemorate the alleged fiftieth anniversary of the Frisbee. According to Middlebury legend, five undergraduates driving through Nebraska in 1939 suffered a flat tire. As two boys changed the tire, a third found a discarded pie tin from the Frisbie Pie Company near a cornfield and threw the circular disk in the air. Middlebury President Olin Robison told Time magazine, "Our version of the story is that it happened all over America, but it started here."

• In the United States, more Frisbee discs are sold each year than baseballs, basketballs, and footballs combined.

  Copyright © 2004 Joey Green. All rights reserved. "Frisbee" is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc.

whatisultimate.com Glossary of Ultimate Terminology

BACKHAND

To throw the disc from the left side of the body for right handed players (or from the right for left handed players). The motion is similar in some respects to the backhand in tennis. (Like the 'standard' throw that non-Ultimate players may be used to).

BREAK (side, pass or cut)

The side to which the marker is trying to prevent the throw (or a pass/cut to this side).

CLEARING

To get out of the area where the thrower wants to pass the disc. Absolutely necessary after making an unsuccessful cut or after throwing the pass. The importance of this is often underplayed to beginners.

CUT

An attempt to get free to receive the pass. Usually starting with a body fake and/or a sudden change in direction or speed.

DEFENCE

The team attempting to prevent a score.

DUMP

Player who stands behind the thrower in order to help out (must get free for an easy pass) when the offence gets in trouble.

FLOW

A series of quick passes to well timed cuts - should result in an easy score.

FORCE (or mark)

To make it as difficult as possible for the thrower to throw the disc in one direction (usually one side of the field) in an attempt to make (force) him/her to make a pass to the other side. See the relevant section for how and why this is done.

FOREHAND (or FLICK)

To throw the disc from the right side of the body for right handed players (or from the left for left handed players). The motion is similar in some respects to the forehand in tennis.

FREE (or OPEN)

To be available to receive the pass. The "free player" may be unmarked or have managed to get away from his/her defender.

HAMMER

High overhead throw; the disc flies upside down in a parabolic type path. The grip, release etc is similar to the forehand.

HAND BLOCK

This is when the defender stops the disc directly after it is released by the thrower.

HUCK

A long pass; often nearly the full length of the pitch and high to a tall player in the endzone.

LAYOUT

When the player dives the catch or intercept the disc. Also referred to as "going ho" (from going horizontal).

MAN-ON-MAN

The most common type of defence. Each person on defense marks an offence player and attempts to stay as close as possible with the intention of getting an interception or forcing a mistake.

OPEN (side, pass or cut)

(i) The side to which the thrower is being forced (or a pass/cut to this side).

(ii) Sometimes used to describe being free to receive a pass.

PIVOT

When you plant your foot (left for right handers and right for left handers) and step to the side (allowing you the throw around the marker).

POACH

When a defender moves away from their marker to try and make an interception on a pass to another player.

PULL

The throw at the start of each point that initiates play.

SWING

A lateral pass across the pitch - usually does not result in any upfield movement. This is useful to gain a better position or to reset the stall count.

SWITCH

This is when two defenders exchange the offensive players that they are marking.

TURNOVER or change of possession

When the disc has been dropped or intercepted and the offense becomes the defense.

ENDZONE

Area at the either end of the pitch within which a point is scored.

FLYING DISC

Many people call it a "Frisbee." Ultimate players call it a disc. ("Frisbee" is the trademarked name for one particular brand of flying disc.) The disc is part of what makes Ultimate so unique - depending on the skill of the thrower, it can be made to fly straight or in a curve, hover in mid-air or drop like a stone.

OFFENCE

The team with possession of the disc.

POINT (or score)

When the disc is caught in the endzone by a player on the offence.

STALLING (or Stall Count)

The player holding the disc has just ten seconds to pass it to a team-mate - the defender marking the player with the disc counts to ten out loud, and if the disc has not been released on "ten" the defender takes possession. Forcing the thrower to make a less-than-ideal pass as the "stall count" nears ten is the idea behind most defensive strategies.

Start of a point

Each point begins with the two teams standing on opposite endzone lines. The team with the disc throws it as far down the pitch as they can, and the other team then takes possession where it lands.

After a point

After a team has scored a point, they keep hold of the disc and wait while the opposition walks back to the other end of the pitch. The team that scored then throws off to start the next point. This way, the teams change ends after every point.

Ultimate in 10 simple rules

1. The Field -- A rectangular shape with endzones at each end. A regulation field is 64m by 37m, with endzones 18m deep.
2. Initiate Play -- Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their respective endzone line. The defense throws ("pulls") the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.
3. Scoring -- Each time the offense completes a pass in the defense's endzone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score.
4. Movement of the Disc -- The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run with the disc. The person with the disc ("thrower") has ten seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower ("marker") counts out the stall count.
5. Change of possession -- When a pass in not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception), the defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.
6. Substitutions -- Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury timeout.
7. Non-contact -- No physical contact is allowed between players. Picks and screens are also prohibited. A foul occurs when contact is made.
8. Fouls -- When a player initiates contact on another player a foul occurs. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
9. Self-Refereeing -- Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
10. Spirit of the Game -- Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.

(Original written by Steve Courlang)

For a slightly more detailed look at the rules check out the Rules Insights.

For complete rules or to find out more visit:
Ultimate Handbook
UPA
WFDF

The game, explained as simply as possible

Ultimate is played between two teams of seven players on a large rectangular pitch. A line drawn across the pitch at either end creates two "endzones" (like in American Football). These are the goal-scoring areas. A goal is scored when a team completes a pass to a player standing (or more likely running) in the endzone they are attacking.

Players cannot run with the disc. When you get the disc you must come to a stop and try to throw it to another player (a bit like netball). By passing from player to player, the offence attempts to work the disc up the pitch towards the endzone they are attacking. If the disc hits the ground or is intercepted or knocked down by the other team, then the opposition takes possession (a change of possession is called a "turnover", like American Football). Possession also changes if a receiver is outside the playing area when he or she catches it.

The defending team attempts to stop the team with the disc from making progress upfield by marking them (as in soccer or basketball). The theory is that the offence won't want to pass to a player who is being marked closely, as it's likely to result in an interception. So it boils down to the offence players trying to get free of their markers to receive a pass, while the defence makes every effort to stay with them in the hope of forcing a turnover.

Photo by Jon Hope

Fouls and "Spirit of the Game"

Ultimate is essentially non-contact; any contact between players can be declared a foul. There's a variety of other minor violations, but that's the big one.

Ultimate is unique in that it is refereed by the players themselves, even at World Championship level, according to a code of conduct known as "the Spirit of the Game". This places the responsibility for fair play on the players themselves. In that respect, playing Ultimate is a completely different experience to playing other sports. And believe it or not, Ultimate's system of self-refereeing works. Beautifully.

Ultimate is an exciting, non-contact team sport, played by thousands the world over. It mixes the best features of sports such as Soccer, Basketball, American Football and Netball into an elegantly simple yet fascinating and demanding game. To compete at the top level, Ultimate players require an unmatched degree of speed, stamina and agility.

Yet the simplicity of the rules means it's easy and fun for newcomers to pick up.

Photo by Jon Hope

Oh, and by the way, it's played with a flying disc (a "Frisbee" to the man in the street).

Photo by Paul Hurt