FPA Worlds in Seattle July 24-26 included for the first time a Juniors
competition. Twelve junior flying disc athletes from around the country shared three days
of competition, camaraderie, and immersion learning at Seattle’s Green Lake Park, an
experience that they and their audience, especially all the senior (!?) freestylers, will
long remember. The joy of spin is multi-generational!
Top seeded Nikki Ross of Lancaster, PA emerged as the girl’s champion, and Art Viger (Santa Rosa, CA), also a title holder from other tournaments, topped the boys.
As an indicator of the depth of discommittment in the Ross family, Nikki (11) and her sister Deanna (8) competed in Women’s Pairs and made it to the finals!
Nikki and Art did a Champions’ demo during the Sunday finals, and Art and two other male finalists, Evan Hanneman and Xtehn Titcomb, demonstrated their co-op skills to the appreciative sunny day Sunday crowd. By the way, the Ross family wasn't the only discinvested family present; Xtehn (14) had two brothers (16, 12) and a sister (10) in the competition, too!
The best results of Juniors participation are yet to come: in jamming with each
other and with all the other freestylers these talented boys and girls are clearly
contributing to the sport a lot of their time and energy, which is extremely important for
the future. They are inventing new moves (or thinking about them, e.g. Xtehn’s
X-catch, successfully caught by brother Zahlen in the junior semifinals), practicing
diligently, and learning as much as they can from the world’s best jammers.
Those who competed in the Frisbee Junior Worlds in Dallas last September (most of these competitors) have obviously improved, but in addition to the higher level of skills they show a poise and maturity that bodes well for the upper reaches of flying discs sports. This is a group to watch; they will take us to the next level!
Juniors participating, not in any order, were: Nikki Ross, Deanna Ross,
Christina Burnap, Molly Montes, Rohre Titcomb Art Viger, Xtehn Titcomb, Zahlen Titcomb,
Vehro Titcomb, Andy Moering, Evan Hanneman, Henry Schneider.
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