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But what is Ultimate Frisbee? How did I start playing frisbee? And which is a good frisbee to start with? This article will answer all these questions and provide more information.
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When we hear the word frisbee, childhood memories of playing fetch with our dogs, a disc that came free with health drinks, etc comes to our mind.
But what is Ultimate Frisbee? How did I start playing frisbee? And which is a good frisbee to start with? This article will answer all these questions and provide more information.
Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact, mixed-gender team sport played with a flying disc frisbee. Ultimate frisbee relies upon the Spirit of the Game that places the responsibility for fair play on every player. There are no referees; the players are solely responsible for following and enforcing the rules, even at the World Championship.
It is a sport usually played on a football-sized field with 7 players on each team. And since it's a mixed-gender sport, the gender ratio changes every 2 points from 4 boys : 3 girls to vice versa. This sport is predominantly played in many countries such as the UK, USA, Australia, Japan, etc.
Ultimate frisbee is also said to be included in the 2024 Olympics. In India, it is played in over 14 states with more than 8000 players. We have had National teams that have represented India at the World and Asia Championships.
Our Indian team was one of the underdog teams until they grabbed the bronze medal for the very first time at the Asia Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championships that took place in Japan in 2019. Our top performance before that was in 2017 when Team India was placed 5th at the World Championships of Beach Ultimate held in France. Team India had won the Spirit Of The Game award in that tournament, which is known to be a higher level trophy considering SOTG as one of the important factors in the game.
Apart from the mixed-gender teams, We have also sent Men’s team, Women’s team, the Under 19 Men’s team, the Masters's team, etc. to different world championships.
I have played multiple sports at school - throwball, hockey, basketball, athletics, and football. However, after I joined engineering I did not have enough opportunities to play sports there. That’s when I found a group of people playing frisbee on the beach. I enquired and they immediately let me be a part of their training session and since then I have been hooked onto the sport. On my first day, I didn't know how to throw or catch a frisbee, but still, they encouraged me to keep playing and I enjoyed running around and falling on the sand.
In 2017, there was a National level Beach tournament, 'Chennai Heat', that would happen on the Besant Nagar beach in Chennai. I had joined just before that tournament and got an opportunity to play in it.
It was my first tournament experience with thousands of people watching our evening games under the floodlights. Our team also got featured in the local newspaper. Ultimate frisbee is a high-intensity sport and it is also an inclusive sport, welcoming people of all ages to play together.
I have now been playing for more than 5 years and I have played 20+ National tournaments and 2 International tournaments. Currently, I am one of the Coaches for the Tamilnadu Ultimate frisbee team. I play for a club team called Airborne. My club team has represented India in the Asia Oceanic Ultimate Clubs Championships in Manila, Philippines in 2017. We remain as one of the top 3 club teams in India.
The first time I walked into Decathlon, I was happy to see that they had a section for frisbees. Although small, there were frisbees available for both adults and kids.I hadn’t used Decathlon frisbees earlier, But once I tried these I realized that they are really good and priced lower than other frisbees. The ones that are professionally used across the country and globally are different. Here at Decathlon, I understood that their main focus was to reach the beginners and intermediate players in a sport and these frisbees serve the purpose.
The main things to notice while buying a frisbee are the size, weight, and grip. If you are looking to buy for kids, any type of frisbee will work well. There are even soft frisbees available, which hurts less if hit upon.
If you are looking to buy a frisbee for your kid or yourself to just play on vacation, frisbees are starting at Rs.99/- There is a model named Frisbee D70 wish is at 99/- and comes in 3 different colours.There is also a slightly bigger frisbee - D125 which is priced at 199/- All of these frisbees have good grip but vary in dimension and weight compared to the ones that are commonly used for regular training.
The frisbee D175 is a frisbee that weighs 175gms which is the same as a professional frisbee. It also has an even grip that helps beginners in their initial learning stage.
As a part of our regular training schedule, We usually organize a Beginner’s workshop once in 2-3 months. In the last workshop that we had, we used 7-8 of the D175 frisbees and it worked well for our newbie players.This frisbee comes only in one colour, which is red. The professional frisbees are usually white but also come in other colors. Hopefully, we have the professional standard frisbees at Decathlon shortly.
If you are interested to start playing the sport or if you need any assistance to buy a product based on your usage, Feel free to contact me on my email - smithi.manickam@decathlon.com. You can also follow my club team on Instagram - @airborne_ultimate
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