Freestyle Players Association
December 1997
By Skippy Jammer
As is always the case, the annual Skippy Sez awards are one person's opinion. These are not the opinions of the FPA, your playing partners or my mother's. This article is intended to celebrate the freestyle flying disc community. Each sport has it's own brand of weirdness as well as convention. I attempt to acknowledge diversity as well as integrity in all of my considerations for the various categories.
This article is also intended to foster some healthy debate amongst the playing community. So, without further ado... the awards are as follows:
The
last clear cut winner in this category was probably 10 years ago
when Joey Hudoklin won 
every
major title in the same year. This year, Dave Schiller nearly
matched that lofty feat by winning in order: WFDF in Helsinki
with Tom Leitner and Chuck Richards, FPA Pairs with Randy Silvey
and FPA Mixed with Amy Bekken in Hawaii. In Hudoklinesque fashion
he won 3 World Titles with three different sets of partners. He
also won the Seattle tournament with sidekick Randy Silvey earlier
in the year. Coming in a distant second would have to be Arthur
Coddington. Arthur has spent many a dedicated season honing and
refining his game. He's now a crafty vet as his #1 points ranking
indicates. Also in for consideration is the remarkable Dave Murphy.
Murph limped through some recent campaigns with a bad back and
came back healed and renewed. He is truly a wonder.
On the women's side of things, there was no clear cut winner. Lisa Hunrichs continued to improve her play and topped off a strong season with a win in the FPA women's division with partner Mary Jorgenson. However, the nod goes to Amy Bekken who finished a close second in women's with superstar partner Stacey McCarthy, won the FPA mixed title with Dave Schiller as well as winning both events at Discapalooza.
Ah,
now we can get into some lively debates. It appears as though
there is no clear cut winner in this category. The candidates
are: Schiller/Leitner/Richards, WFDF Helsinki; Silvey/Schiller,
FPA pairs Hawaii; Coddington/Lewis/Murphy, FPA Coop Hawaii; Schiller/Bekken,
FPA Mixed Hawaii.
All of these routines are worthy of strong consideration but the nod goes to Arthur Coddington, David Lewis, and Dave Murphy. This routine was dropless in sometimes difficult conditions and they clearly separated themselves from the rest of the field.
Again, some more lively debate as there are multiple worthy candidates. The nominees are: Jake Gauthier from the jammin¹ UFOS, Scott Sailor, New York rad boy, and a whole bunch of Euros who ripped it up. Leading the Euro shred coalition is former overall champ Stefan Karlsson with his cohorts in spin Joakim Arveskar and Roland Karlsson. These guys have spent endless hours in the gym crafting their games. Look for these guys to move up the ranks. Also receiving high marks are former Fin boy, current Bostyler Petri 'the Dish' Isola and Visa Ruuhinen. The nod here goes to Jake Gauthier for his unbelievable surge on the learning curve. I¹m getting used to him saying "Hey Skippy, I just did Arvand 2000."
It's been a while since I was blown away watching someone freestyle. That happened to me in Hawaii when I first saw Niki Ross. When's the last time you saw a standing ovation for a routine from the judges? She was that impressive. Also receiving strong consideration is a future star in Scott Sailor. His dedicated approach will pay dividends in years to come. Another player who had a remarkable surge in skill levels in Nina Ekman. We'll look for her to continue to improve and amaze.
The
hottest singular move of the year goes to Tommy Leitner at the
Santa Cruz Beach Classic last June. Tom pulled off a stunning
series of moves ending with a huge "Roots" into the
water. It was in response to Mikey Reid's combo into his Roots.
It reminded me of two heavy weight Jazz musicians matching wits
and playing off each other. Pure freestyle.
This is an entirely new category. This category has evolved from the old days. Back then, I would simply attempt to honor the person with the biggest "Death Jam" mentality. I now will list the players that have risen to the highest and most exalted of all honors.
The initial "Perma Turbo Jammer" inductees are as follows:
Deaton
Mitchell. Dave Murphy. Dave Schiller. Tom Leitner. That's it.
That is all of them. These are people who you do not want to get
into a death jam with without specific clearance from your medical
physician. Deaton Mitchell whipped himself into top shape for
last year's Colorado trip. His side kick Pat Carosco is one of
the players under consideration for this award. Maybe his time
will come. Tom Leitner and Dave Schiller's exploits are the things
of legend. Dave Murphy separated himself from other worldly humans
by taking the field at 3:00 am in Hawaii and playing until daylight
waned that evening. You gotta love that kind of spirit.
In the spirit of the traditional "most turbo" category, the co-champions this year are Reto Zimmerman and Paul Kenney. Both of these highly qualified individuals play above and beyond the call of duty. It has been scientifically proven that their fake nails have been permanently applied so they can actually jam in their sleep. They spit silicone and have an extra gene that can only be found in hyperactive lab rats. My hearty congratulations to their inclusion to the sacred realm of "most turbo" award winners.
Comeback
of the YearThere were many worthy candidates for Comeback of the Year award. People were jumping back into the mix right and left. Leading the comeback charge was former World Champ Mark Regalbutti. "Butti" showed up and starting busting moves old school style. It's great to see him getting his form back. On the women's side of things is Anne Graves. Ann showed up in Hawaii after taking a number of years off and becoming a mother for the first time. She showed the same get up and go she has always had.
Although there are many qualified individuals for this category, the "Rodney Dangerfield" award goes to none other than Santa Barbara home boy Craig Smith. "Captain C" doesn't get the credit he deserves because no one knows what he is really doing. Sure he plays with a small disc, eschewing rim drags in favor of moving his feet to get into proper position, but his moves and his consecutivity are unmatched any where. I¹d tip my hat to him but there is a lot of light in the room.
Most of the feedback I received concerned players who may have seen better days but still know their way around a spinning triple fake. These worthy individuals will see their day in due time. but let's look further back, back to a time when silicone was something you used on your cars and fake nails was something your older sister would use for the prom. Back to a time when shoulder tips and "knee bop tangos" were in vogue.
I present to you my crusty choices for the Hall of Fame: Ken Westerfield and Kerry Kolmar. Ken Westerhuman was a marvel to behold. He was skilled in all the disciplines at the time. Ken possessed one of the greatest forehand throws of all time. He was also a trend setter and innovator that was well before his time. Kerry Kolmar has to be considered one of the legends of the game as well. It was none other the Kerry that innovated the nail delay as well as the air brush. The former Washington Square Wizard dramatically changed the landscape of the game forever with his profound realization the disc can be sustained in flight. We all benefit by his vision.
Humbly submitted: Skippy Jammer