Jammers and overall players,

Just a quick update from a freestyle perspective on The 6th World Games just completed in Akita, Japan, about a 1 hour plane ride northwest of Tokyo. Held August 16 - 26, 2001, The World Games basically presents sports that aren't big time yet in an Olympic type atmosphere.  Think of it optimistically as a farm system for the Olympics as it's under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  This year was nothing like 1996 when a few of us including Bill, Tommy, Schiller, Reto, Poodle and others jammed on the outskirts of the 5th World Games in Lahti Finland for the day.  This time it was the real thing!

I hesitate to tell you more about this awesome event because my words will not do it justice. My expectations were far too low and were surpassed ten times over in almost every respect. It was one of the greatest events I've ever been a part of.  One great aspect of this event was the diversity in terms of cultures and sports.  At one of the gala parties, you just had to see the 80 lb chinese gymnast standing next to the Russian gold medal body builder with biceps bigger than my 35 lb dog . Maybe when I get the slides back I can share the joy of this event morecompletely if there's interest.  Our cheeks still hurt from smiling for almost 10 day straight.

Fumio Morooka (Moro) was responsible for landing the World Games in Akita, and then making sure flying disc was represented.  Moro and his wife Ryoko, Bill Wright, Stork, Joey Gray of the UPA, Masa, Sei, Hikari and a cast of hundreds then made flying disc in the World Games a reality. Our sport is forever in their debt, especially to Moro.

Seventy two athletes were allocated to the sport of flying disc, so 12 golfers from 6 countries (6 men and 6 women) competed, along with 6 ultimate teams from 6 countries playing 6 on 6 co-ed with 10 players per team. I went as one of 4 Ultimate Officials and basically had a simple job since the teams had great spirit and made all the calls on the field.  The World Games provided lodging and food which was great, so our main expense as officials and players was travel . Flying disc was very well received and viewed by many execs from various organizations including the IOC VP.

I now believe that disc will be in the Olympics one day, and more importantly in the short term, freestyle has a CHANCE to be in the World Games as early as 2005!  This brings up all kinds of issues including format (outdoor free format combined with indoor choreographed?, country requirements, shorter routines, etc.), judging (nearly perfect execution may be critical), and drug testing (the first drug tests in the history of frisbee competition took place at this event), just to name a few.

The most important thing we can do now is to encourage women and non-US teams to start honing their skills worldwide, as the most likely format will be 6 mixed teams from 6 different countries.  WFDF will be lucky to get 12 additional players added to the Flying Disc roster assuming flying disc is invited back, and you know ultimate will be pulling for more subs and 7 person teams.

Besides Ninna and Jan from Sweden and the several great US-mixed teams, I can't think of the other 4 countries that could give the US and Sweden a run for their money.   Sune (Norway), Reto (Switzerland), Hikari Japan - maybe Naoko?), Germany (maybe a host country automatic bid for Hartmut if he can find a woman), Peter Bowie (NZ) and players from Israel, Italy, Slovakia, Canada, Finland, and others - what women jammers are you going to play with in The World Games in Germany in 2005? You've got 4 years to get it together so you've got time if you start now. Regardless of winning the event, you also win by just participating in these games, and I guarantee you'll have the time of your life.  We're a long way off from this becoming a reality, so more on freestyle in the World Games in the next FPA Forum. [And no Lori, Hawaii isn't a different country, but maybe Puerto Rico could be treated as such... you never know, Angie, so you and Pipo better start jammin' more  :-)

For now, here are some highlights, and then we'll follow up with a complete report and interviews in the next FPA Forum (have you renewed?) and maybe slides in SD in October.

HIGHLIGHTS (Complete coverage in upcoming FPA Forum):

-Unmatched hospitality by all of our hosts especially Moro and Ryoko.

-Spreading the jam with all the Kids!  Getting hand made cards with photos that said things like "Welcome to Akita.  Nice to Meet you. My name is Sasaki.  I like chocolate. I want to be farmer."

-Watching ultimate with the President of The World Games and a VP of the IOC.

-Guerilla jamming with Bill at opening pre and post opening ceremonies attended by probably 15,000 spectators. Stork said a guerilla jam could be huge, and he was right as the only sports demonstrated at the ceremonies were parachuting and freestyle.  Bill and I would just smile as maybe a thousand plus kids in blue bandanas would go crazy after a simple skip shot or a deflection throw high off of a banner.  All players were hounded for autographs, and after the post ceremony jam bill and I snuck away to catch the bus while Seppo was totally surrounded by kids wanting autographs. Bill still wishes he had nails and wasn't in dress shoes.
 

-Timed ultimate games that culminated in a tie in regulation of the gold medal match, resulting in 2-series shoot-out with Canada finally scoring a goal to win over the injury ridden US team.  Canada was undefeated for the tourney and was the best team all week, while Sweden just edged out USA for the prestigious Spirit of the Game award. The level of play was simply awesome as these 60 athletes gave everything they had and left much skin on the field.

-Golf  has never been so exciting to watch thanks to Ryder Cup style match play.  Julianna Korver of the USA edged out Niloofar Mosavar Rahmani of Sweden for the gold in Women's, while Barry Shultz of the USA beat Michael Sullivan of Canada for the Men's gold.  The medals were beautiful with the gold worth about $250.

-Bill and I getting hot in a quick demo for the Head of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Association from Hungary.  And yes, I explained there were many players out there more rhythmic and more gymnastic than us....

-Spreading the jam along with locals Hikari (he's hot!),  Sabu and Jun, Geri (spelling?) & Takeshi Shima (scarecrow practice in the halls at midnight) and Naoko Inami (she was shredding in between her golf rounds!), and the 5-minute jam before the airport trip with other local jammers, and of course Bill, Stork and Thomas Greisbaum, The Pres of German Disc Sports.

-A definite highlight was getting Finnish Ultimate Player Toni Asikainen to fill in for Bill and do 2 demos with me at the All-Japan Ultimate Championships in Tokyo.  After hitting crow and gitis and a spontaneous brush co-op, the Finnish Ultimate Team is hopeful Toni will trade in those cleats for nails permanently :-)

-This historic event motivated Stork's best speeches ever at the Ultimate Captain's Meeting, at the golf and ultimate award ceremonies, and when he was presented a Gold Medal by Bill in Kakunadate. Watch out Tony Robbins.  The best part was the translator trying to convey Stork's message accurately.

-The opening ceremonies - sky divers, kids everywhere, more drums than we've ever seen, dancers, singers, lantern balancers, and numerous other local cultural entertainment.

-Daily media coverage of flying disc, including national newspapers with great photos and lots of exposure on national TV networks.  A national TV network (NHK) showed 30 minutes of almost prime time coverage of ultimate thanks to the Japanese team earning the bronze, with the japanese captains in the studio providing commentary - epic. Also 12 throwers had a shot on Muscle Ranking, a highly rated show, to hit 9 accuracy targets to win 2,000,000 yen ($16,000), but once again no one hit the jackpot, but a couple throwers were as close as Greensage was (or was it Blair) a few years ago when the show came to California.

-Kakunadate and Nakassen demos/clinic for school kids with the German and Finnish teams, and spending that night at a Japanese style inn and spa.  The toilet with the under bowl car wash type sprayer was definitely a first. Oh yeah, enjoying the japanese style BBQ in our awase robes, combined with the master of all sushi masters dishing out the raw stuff, rounding out an amazing day. ...SAKE!

- Playing ultimate with UPA Director Joey at twilight with 12 japanese college ultimate women players all wearing white shirts! Finally we got some shirtless men to take us on so we could figure out who was on our team.

-Moro, Masa and the Finnish and German teams singing karaoke, especially a group rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" after dinner.

-Bill's face after eating and drinking weird, unknown substances.
 

That's my quick report.  I'm sure I left out many names and memories.  Maybe others that were there had different impressions to share?  Complete results at http://wfdf.org  More later.  Time to sleep.

Thanks again Moro, Ryoko, Bill,  Stork and all for creating a great moment in flying disc history that hopefully will lead to bigger and better things.

L