Episode 111: Skippy Jammer – Modesto Mutant

Skippy Digitron setWho else is missing jamming and blasting out the carbons?! The Tiny Room Challenge was amazing. Thanks to Daniel O’Neill, crew, & competitors for making it happen, you entertained many of us for hours. Daniel rocked it as the commentator! Congrats to Pablo Azul & Juliana Korver for taking home the gold.
 
We have a recent inductee in the Freestyle Hall of Fame, Skippy Jammer, with us today. Skippy had most of his firsts in Modesto, California, which is known as the city on the way to where you’re going. Skippy started playing Frisbee in high school and in 1976 after going to a tournament and seeing others play, the Modesto Mutants were born. Skippy talks about some of his unique moves that had even more unique names. After some success in his first competition in Santa Barbara, he was hooked for life. He recalls joining the Chico State Freestyle scene in the late 1970’s, and meeting “fearless” Larry Imperiale.
 
Thanks again to all our supporters!  It is especially meaningful during these uncertain times.  

Tiny Room Challenge: Top 8 Brackets

Tiny Room Battle ChallengeDay 1 is in the books! There were so many amazing moves and a lot of creativity in both the tricks and in the use of indoor space. Congratulations to all the players and special thanks to Daniel and all the staff for putting on this event. But, it’s not ver yet! Here are links to the top 8 brackets.

Open

Women

You don’t want to miss the finals; tomorrow at 12p EST, here.

Also, if you missed it today the full replay is below

Also a great write by Bethany on facebook

Episode 110: Larry Imperiale – The Journey Begins

Larry 1980 Detroit chest rollThe record holder for most coop world titles, Larry Imperiale, joins us today.

In 1975 Larry attended Chico State University, where he was first introduced to all Frisbee sports. His curiosity was peaked as he started playing catch in the parking lot of his apartment building. The Quad on campus attracted lots of players that started to experiment, not knowing there was a freestyle community that had already formed.  Larry recalls acquiring the bronze card, which Randy remembers too. The Chico Airheads make a statement in a big tournament in 1979 that really opened their freestyle life. Larry talks about Skippy Jammer and how meeting him changed his life.   

Stay tuned for upcoming interviews with Skippy Jammer, Crazy John Brooks, and Krae Van Sickle. Also, next Saturday the Tiny Room competition will be live streamed 12pm EST

We’re thinking of our Jamily during these times.  Everyone stay safe and healthy!

Tiny Room Battle Challenge Will Be Live Streamed

Tiny Room Battle ChallengeTiny Room Battle Challenge will take place online on April 25 & 26 @ 12p EDT. Being online means that competitors will be performing from their own living room, or any tiny room, while signed into a zoom session. Judges, hosts, and coordinators will also be logged in to run the show and the whole thing will be broadcast on FrisbeeGuru for audience enjoyment.

The rules are as follows. 56 open competitors and 8 women’s competitors have will face off in a single elimination battle, with the winners moving onto the next round. This continues in a bracket system until one open competitor and one women’s competitor is crowned the winner. In the opening round, there will be 3 battles. After each battle, judges choose a winner and the first to win two battles moves on. In the next round, there are 5 battles, then 7, and so on. During each battle a player has no more than 10 seconds to perform their tricks, though they may stop early. 

There are 5 judges scoring each battle; Tommy Leitner, Mehrdad Hosseinian, James Wiseman, Ayal Benin, and Fabio Sana. This panel is a whose-who of Freestyle Frisbee. Hosting is Daniel O’Neill with co-host Freddy Finer. Helping with the tech side and co-ordination are myself (Jake Gauthier) and Ryan Young.

With that out of the way, let’s take a quick peek at the brackets. First up, women’s:


As you can see, it’s quite a field. Juliana is the woman’s and mixed pairs title holder for FPAW 2019. 3 of the competitors were in WUG last year. To round it off, there’s strong representation from Medellin, Columbia. This should be interesting as there’s top talent and some unknowns that could surprise us.

The open bracket is stacked. 56 competitors spanning the globe and styles of play. They range from top players in the world to some who rarely travel to competition yet have incredibly deep games. Here, again we may be surprised at what we see, with players pulling off upsets and bringing skills that we never knew existed.

I just want to give a special thank you to Daniel O’Neill for pulling this together. Given the situation of canceled events and not being able to gather jam together, this event is an opportunity for us all to connect and share in the sport and pass time that we love. Check out the facebook page to learn more. Tune in to watch here.

Below is a photo from Lori, taken durning a rehearsal session today.

City vs City 2020 Postponed

City vs City 2020At first glance, City vs City, being an online event, would seem to be a good outlet for Freestyle Frisbee competition during this time of social distancing. However, social distancing means even teams can not congregate together. As such, it not possible to safely host the competition. In order to do our part in helping battle the spread of COVID-19 virus, City vs City 2020 has been officially postponed. Exactly if/when the competition will be resumed is unknown at this point, but we have every intention of continuing to host this event. Stay tuned and we’ll post updates as soon as we know more.

In the meantime, if you’re jonesing for some Freestyle Frisbee competition, checkout the Tiny Room Battle Challenge. We’ll have more on that in an upcoming post.

Episode 109: Daniel O’Neill – The Secret of Gummy Bears Revealed

Daniel shares his secret dietary advantage. We get to hear about some of Daniel’s favorite routines and how he fondly remembers creating the Rhapsody in Blue routine with Randy. Daniel has a new move up his sleeve and plans to perfect it in the near future. Can he do it?  We will follow up with him to see if he was successful. Also find out what is Daniel’s favorite kitchen utensil is and how he would use it in regards to a freestyle move.
City vs City battle with NYC vs Rovereto will not happen on March 28th and will be rescheduled for a later date. Also Jake and randy will take a couple month break from Shootin the Frizbreeze with new episodes and interviews released after the City vs City battle between Rome & Bologna on April 18.

Episode 108: Patrick Chartrand is a Toronto Frisbeetarian

Patrick gives an update on some of the Toronto players and the Frisbee scene from the 80’s, which was hot at the time. He fills in some gaps to bring us up to speed. Toronto showed up well in the World Championships in 1995. There were very few players though, and Patrick was worried about totally losing the sport. However, about 6 years ago, new players showed up, and people are playing every day now. Patrick talks about the Frisbeetarians at Trinity Bellwoods Park. How about a hat tournament in Toronto? Would you come?

Bill Wright recently visited Jake & Lori in Hawaii, bearing some special gifts. Randy gives some context. You can view and purchase these discs on wrightlife.com, and the proceeds help raise money for the FPA.

We have some exciting guests coming soon: “Crazy” John Brooks, Larry Imperiale, Skippy Jammer, and one of Randy’s all time heroes, Krae Van Sickle.

Episode 107: Randy – Let the Light Illuminate

First and Foremost, our thoughts go out to Doug Korns and his wife, Jeanne. We are all rooting for you Doug, and we need you back out on the field. 

Randy reports back on his month in Medellin and the incredible jam scene. He breaks it into layers of experience to explain it all and uses some interesting analogies. Jake and Randy dissect and discuss while comparing the Medellin jam scene to others. Randy shares his pleasant surprise about meeting a great player that had not participated in the tournament. Who is coming to Jammers? Traveling allows you realize it is a big, small, world, and Frisbee continues to be a connector.

Congratulations to Medellin for kicking off the first City vs. City with a win!  The next City vs. City, is February 29th, at 11am,PST, Warsaw vs. Berlin, who are the reigning champions.

City vs City – Round 1 – Medellin vs Toronto

City vs City 2020City vs City 2020, Round 1 will be live on January, 25th at 1p EST. Round 1 is Medellin, Columbia vs Toronto, Canada.

Medellin Roster
 
Toronto Roster
Jolan Canrinus
 
Tune in and find out which city will continue the journey on their quest for the crown and KEY to Heinsville!

Episode 106: Daniel O’Neill is the Real Deal!

Randy dials in from Medellin. He is thrilled to be there and reconnect with all the local jammers. There are some incredible players and how exciting is it that there is a tournament, Juntos es Mejor, which translates into Together is Better, on the 18th & 19th! Is this a coincidence? We think not! Players are flying in from all over for this inaugural event.
 
Daniel shares all of who he is, which provides support and role modeling for others. He talks about one of his recent travel highlights from Japan. He tells us about the current scene, along with some of their history.  Daniel talks about the importance of integrating players from places like Japan,  Africa, and other communities that find it harder to participate in tournaments. Hopefully the City vs. City competitions are a good step towards that and the intent is continue scaling the event.
 
Tune in for the live streaming of the first City vs. City in 2020, Medellin vs. Toronto, on January 25th. Hopefully there will be live streaming for the tournament in Medellin on the 18th and 19th, we’ll keep you posted.