Frisbeer Cup 2017 featured a Challenger pairs division. Think of it like an amature division. It allows players / teams who would have been seeded near the bottom in open pairs, to play against their peers for a chance a first place. Divisions like this are often talked about as a way to inspire players with developing skills to attend and compete in a tournament.
This weeks poll, should more freestyle frisbee competitions have a challenger / amature division?
[poll id=”5″]
Let us know in the comments what you think about challenge / amature divisions.
Congratulations to the winners, Rick Lebeau and Juliana Korver. See the event results here. Listen to the interviews here.
No as the player ratings are really only competition ratings. If you had a competition tomorrow with the current top hundred players Dave Murphy would be a challenger / amateur. It would make more sense to have a open first round then split the field. Peace and Z’s
I think the descition who will play in that division should be done by the players itself. Everybody knows best if he/she is a beginner. It is dishonorable for an advanced player to compete in this division with just the goal to win.
A Challenger Division only if there are enough other players on that tournament.
A World Championships will crown the best players of the world so an beginners class is not authentic. A Juniors division is thinkable but therefore we need do more promotion of young people!
I agree.
Sadly in disc golf they split the field based on a ranting system but now have a word for those players who are dishonorable… bagging.
Now let’s talk about Juniors!!!
This sport is not set in stone. Experimenting is the key to growth. Anything that brings in new and especially young players should be tried.
I agree that anything that brings in new and especially young players in is the goal, but i don’t think tinkering with competition formats is going to help really. Just look at the poll “How were you first introduced to Freestyle Frisbee?” only 6% of players started as a result of a competition/ tournament.
Peace and Z’s
The idea is not new to sports- just new to freestyle frisbee. A ladder that players can climb up (or in my case, maybe, climb back down after aging out of a time when I could have been competitive). It’s not about whether we know/knew we can win the challenger division, really. It’s knowing that there is a place for us to fit in with our skill sets and competitive freestyle background.
Juliana, with all her disc golf and overall titles, is still very much a novice (on the rise) in freestyle competition. For all my years of overall competition, I have only played in two freestyle-only competitions. At age 60, it doesn’t make sense to get on the field with the true pros, no matter what the prospects are of winning in a different division.
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