Growth in new international players fueled by nikefreestyle.com TV ad campaign and recent freestyle competitions in Europe.

Rimini, Italy, August 1, 2004: This event was the 26th consecutive World Championships sponsored by the Freestyle Frisbee Players Association (FPA). This ain't no disc golf or ultimate frisbee! Performing creative, artistic and athletic moves with flying discs is the essence of freestyle. The most exciting and dramatic event in disc sports, competitive freestyle combines aspects of gymnastics and dance with the basic game of throw and catch. Teams of two or three players perform choreographed routines consisting of throws, catches and moves with one or more discs.

With a large number of spectators viewing the event along the Rimini Riviera in Italy, international teams competed in 4 divisions during the 3-day competition. The results by division were:

Division		Winners
Open Pairs		Dave Lewis, Encino, CA Arthur Coddington, San Leandro, CA
Womens Pairs	Cindy Kruger, Newcastle, WA Lisa Silvey, Seattle, WA
Co-op (3 players)	Toddy Brodeur, Bellingham, MA Paul Kenny, Jacksonville Beach, FL Larry Imperiale, Evergreen, CO
Mixed Pairs	Lisa Silvey, Seattle, WA Matt Gauthier, Oregon City, OR
Future Jammer Award	Amit Peled, Tel Aviv, Israel

This year's event saw the largest international field in the event's history, and inspired play by many of the world's best players. International player highlights included Open Pairs finals appearances by the young Italian team of Fabio Sanna and Stefano Mestroni, and veterans Reto Zimmerman (Switzerland), Clay Collera (Italy) & Thomas Gerben (Austria). Also reaching finals in the Co-op division was the new Italian team of Eduardo Favorini, Lorenzo Apriani and Alessandro Damiano.

Starting with simple moves like a behind-the-back catch, freestyle has evolved into a crowd-pleasing event with moves such as air brushes, nail delays, and triple-spinning catches. Unlike Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Golf, Freestyle is very subjective and judged in a similar manner as Figure Skating. Routines are three to five minutes in length and are evaluated by judges who base their scores on the difficulty (10), artistic impression (10) and execution (10) of the routine. The team with the highest score wins (30 is a perfect score).

The FPA is a volunteer run, nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the growth of freestyle frisbee play worldwide as lifetime recreation and a competitive sport. For more information on Freestyle Frisbee or the FPA, visit the fpa web site freestyledisc.org, the 2004 FPA Worlds web site jammingonthebeach.com, or contact Larry Imperiale (Treasurer & webmaster, FPA), (720) 351-2407, or send E-mail to info at freestyledisc dot org.

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