The heat index was well over 100 degrees but there was freestyle in Kentucky!

The grass was brown and crunchy due to a drought but there was freestyle in Kentucky!

The playing field wasn’t perfectly flat and smooth but there was freestyle in Kentucky!

Bostylers called it the KY Jelly tournament but there was freestyle in Kentucky!

My Old Kentucky Jam ’05 was held on Saturday, August 13th and everyone agrees it was a great success! We had five teams, 15 onlookers and were covered by the local newspaper. The evening saw lots of food including grilled pork loins prepared by brother Tim Downs, grilled pizza by bother-in-law Mike Haliday on his amazing portable ‘kitchen stadium’ and I added a shrimp boil to the mix and it was all washed down with two types of kegged beer. The breakfasts were amazing as well. Some of us cross-trained on the awesome death defying rope swing set up in the woods.

We started the event by having local ‘newbies’, Jim Nichols and Laura Renwick do a demo routine for experience’s sake. By virtue of a random draw Steve Scannell and Rik Downs led off. The first third of their routine started with low execution and difficulty but the second 2/3 saw them get into some sort of groove when their difficulty, execution and presentation were kicked up a few notches. The second team (The Ben and Jerry’s Beach Jammer Team aka The BJBJ Team) of David Kessler and Robbie Collier followed. Robbie is a beach jammer from Alabama and it showed but he had his hands full dealing with the swirling winds that ruled the day. David, who can be way turbo when he’s hot, had plenty of diff but also a few too many drops. The third group was composed of H.B. Clark and Barry Gill. H.B. recently won 8th place in the world grand master disc golf tournament and Barry had TWO new hips placed back in the fall. These guys are old-school freestylers and are always entertaining to watch. Ron King and Alex Grammer made up the 4th pair.. Ron is a master of subtle disc manipulation but is still recovering from difficult back surgery. It is amazing to see what he can do with a disc. Alex will be a great new player for this area once he gathers experience. The 5th pair had the father and son team of Steve and Ryan Vinoski (Old Sox and New Sox). I’ve never seen Steve play better and Ryan, while he had youth and difficulty on his side, was frustrated with far too few completions. Everyone had a great time and since the majority of us have been competing at the Tennessee State Overall Tournament for decades it felt like a reunion.
Many thanks to: Lisa Freeman of the Corps of Engineers for letting us use their playing field. Bill McDonough for the fantastic tournament design and video. Brian Bohannon for his opinions and photography. Mike Haliday for great, inventive food and photography/video. Tim Downs for his grillin’ skills. Steve Scannell for his advice, experience and invaluable friendship. Aimee Downs for her undying support and hugs. All the players who gave me a reason to have a tournament!!!!!!

DON’T FORGET TO GET YOUR T-SHIRTS, ETC AT www.cafepress.com/kyjam