FPAW 2025 THANK YOU

FPAW in Toronto was epic. From the competition, the great gym at historical Maple Leaf Gardens, the Hall of Fame ceremony and the Trinity-Bellwoods Park evening hangouts, it all was awesome. Grant, Brett and the whole Toronto team stepped up in a HUGE way. Thanks, Skippy, for the HoF ceremony efforts. Thanks to Jake and the live stream, Ryan and Tymek running judging, Heather on the microphone, the FPA Board and so many more…it takes all of us. It was cool for Dillon Richardson from WFDF to visit and come to understand what we are all about — and lending a hand at times too.

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Congratulations to Francesco Santolin and Bianca Koštelová for becoming new #1 ranked players in the world! Tom Leitner became the first person 60 or older to win an FPA World Title, has now won FPA World Titles in 5 different decades, and he was inducted into the Freestyle Disc Hall of Fame — not a bad weekend!

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Thank you to the following recipients of the FPA’s Spirit of the Jam Awards — Raphael Legrand, Jakub Matula (Mystiq), Skippy Jammer and Ted Oberhaus.

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The winners of FPAW 2025 were:

  • Open Pairs: Francesco Santolin & Riccardo Montanari
  • Mixed Pairs: Bianca Koštelová & Jakub Koštel
  • Co-op: Francesco Santolin, Riccardo Montanari & Tom Leitner
  • Women’s Pairs: Zofia Wilczek (first FPAW Title!) & Benedicte Audet

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DONATION THOUGHTS

The FPA Board and membership send a HUGE shout out to Ted Oberhaus for his wonderful $100,000 donation to the FPA, presented at the Hall of Fame ceremony in Toronto.

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This unprecedented gift is an honor and tremendous responsibility for all of us. Thank you, Ted!!!!! We invite and encourage all of you to think about the best ways to responsibly utilize this generous donation. Ways to spend properly, ways to invest and make it last and the main driver is to grow our sport in a sustainable fashion. All ideas are welcome. Please send your ideas to president@freestyledisc.org.

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FPAW AND WFDF CO-BRANDED WORLDS

FPAW and WFDF will Co-Brand Worlds on a trial basis in Munich in order to test the concept and ensure there is mutual benefit. WFDF has resources and reach the FPA does not have so we are hoping it will lead to strong mutual benefit.

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FPA-WFDF FREESTYLE DISC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026 MUNICH

The dates are 30 July – 2 August with 90% certainty.

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The event site is a full-service facility just south of Munich right off of the S-Bahn. They have numerous soccer fields with different surfaces, a back-up gym, a disc golf course, lodging (inexpensive and will have further discounts as described below), food and a pool for a fee. There will be various side events (golf, ultimate, DDC, junior interaction etc) in support of the freestyle competition which will be the showcase.

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From co-tournament director Daniel Weinbuch:

  • People involved: Daniel Weinbuch and Andre Zaharias (Tournament directors for Freestyle Worlds)
  • Location: the Sportschule Oberhaching — https://sportschule-oberhaching.de. We have already a price proposal and are preparing a finance plan at the moment and look into sponsorships and public funding possibilities. They are excited to do this event with us and we have good contact to the organizers there through the FLBY.
  • The site has plenty of outdoor space for the competition, a backup gym onsite, housing, food, a swimming pool for a cost and is directly adjacent to the S-Bahn.

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  • Other staff:
  • Tymek Wrotek (Head judge for Freestyle Worlds)
  • Oliver Kraus (FLBY — Bavarian Frisbee Association) — Organizer overall event; payments to the venue will go through FLBY due to a discount option.
  • Representative of the other disciplines (upon request :-))
  • Jörg Benner (DFV — Germany Frisbee Association) — consulting and stays in the loop; not directly involved at the moment.

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Other disc events as part of FPAW/WFDF Worlds:

  • SHOWCASE EVENT: Freestyle Disc – World Championships 2026 (Thu to Sun)
  • Double Disc Court: German Championships 2026 (Sat and Sun)
  • Disc Golf: Campustreffen (established local event) (Sat and Sun)
  • Ultimate: Bavarian Open* (Sat and/or Sun)

*Details here are not defined, likely a small format with maybe max. 4 teams to not overwhelm the other disciplines.

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Further side events (details TBD):

  • Frisbee workshops for visitors for (all) disciplines — Saturday
  • Junior Challenge* — Sunday
  • Food trucks & drinks for spectators — Sat and Sun
  • Selling discs and merch to visitors — Sat and Sun

*Junior Challenge (name and details TBD) will be a platform for newcomers to show their skills from the workshops (or what they learned themselves) on the Final Festival day to the Pros and Audience to win prizes (Discs, Shirts, etc.).

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FUTURE THOUGHTS

Initial brainstorm — the FPA wants to think outside the box and visualize more exciting ideas to spread the jam and provide opportunities to play in front of audiences.

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Generally, one of these is to try to insert small groups as demonstration/interaction in larger WFDF events like their beach ultimate events (hoping for something like Paga magic).

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We are in discussions to try to come up with different ways to present our sport. Combining with other events is one. Creating new formats or locations such as the beach for Majors or FPAWs is another. Perhaps more than one World Title event in a given year. All of this is very new and the FPA would love your thoughts. Again nothing etched in stone.

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Lastly the FPA is latching onto Scott Stokley’s adventures in and around Japan’s 50th Overall Championships with Daniel O’Neill and perhaps others. Scott’s social media reach is incredible and he can reach the broader disc community which is great for freestyle. Keep the thought of a potential larger tournament in Japan down the road as these folks further spread the jam there!

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