Matt Roberts

                                    Event counts are incomplete
Total Events Non-Major Wins
8 1
  • Matthew
  • Roberts
  • RobertsProperties@sbcglobal.net
  • United States
  • Pismo Beach, CA
  • 1972

  • Player Bio

    My freestyle career is actually directly tied to my brother Brian’s freestyle career. We played under the moniker the “Roberts Brothers” in the tradition of the Velasquez brothers. Brian and I went to the 1974 or 75 Rosebowl and saw Joey Hudoklin and Richie Smits jam and that was it, we knew we wanted to jam like that. Looking back I drew my moves from being a diver and gymnast, so I looked at things from physical difficulty and execution, and my brother seemed to use a flow and patterned perspective for his moves, integrating foot work with hand work.

  • Career Highlights

    Roberts Brothers = Two time California State Freestyle Champions
    Rosebowl World Championships – Freestyle finals (4th, Roberts Bros and JJ – Johnny Jewell)
    Santa Barbara Open 1981 First Place, Roberts Bros and JJ. This is an excerpt describing the finals:
    From Frisbee World Vol. VI#2 1981 – Unquestionably the strongest Freestyle field ever – while only 52 teams registered in the open, most of the second seeds in the prelim had won national titles! After two semi final pools that looked more like finals, the final line-up looked like Freestyle at Fantasy Park. Performing from an intimidating 2nd position, Dr. Brian Roberts, brother Matt, and friend J.J. took the final over Joey and Richie, the Radicals, and the Pengrove Frisbee disc Team.

  • How I Started

    Saw a Whamo freestyle demo at La Canada High School (LCHS) that included Dan “Stork” Roddick, Kerry Kollmar, Jo Cahow and ??. I wanted to learn to do the throws and catches I saw (this was before nail delay). It happened that Dan Headrick (Steady Ed’s son) also went to LCHS and threw Frisbees a lot on campus, so I tried to join in. He was gracious and shared his knowledge and skills even though I was a freshman and he was an upper class-man. My friends and I kept playing and our skills grew from there. We played a lot of freestyle at Oak Grove even before the disc golf courses were installed as LCHS was across the street from the park which was a major hang out for us. One of our friends, Danny Sullivan, went on to play disc competitively through the 1980’s at the highest level.

Player Details

  • Favorite Moves

    I’m known for the trailing edge over the head back-flip catch (as captured on the cover of Frisbee World) but my favorite move was leaping over my partner, who popped the flat disc up after delaying under the leg and I catching it in a right handed gitis over their head.
    While I’m a natural right handed counter spin delay, I actually enjoy clock spin, especially when airbrushing it running down the beach with my partner.

  • Mentors

    Early Mentors = Stork, Kirklin, Rocket, JJ, Dr. Roberts, Kerry Kollmar, Joey, Richie, Dan Headrick. Later Jam Mentors = Chip, Coloradicals, and everyone at Oak Grove, Venice Beach and Palm Park!

  • Partners

    Tournament partners = My brother, Dr. Brian Roberts, Johnny Jewell (JJ), My wife,Terry (Taylor) Roberts, Danny Sullivan, Kevin Roberts, David Samuelson, Jeff Williams, Steve Jensen, Kate Dow (sp?), Rick ? (around the world airbusher from Santa Barbara), and others I’ve forgotten over the years.

  • Media & Appearances

    The Roberts Bros did half time demos for the LA Spikers and the LA Galaxy as part of the Whamo Frisbee Demo team.

  • Sponsors

    My parents, who helped me through 5 years of college (PCC and Cal Poly).

  • Other Fun

    I know these profiles have a Freestyle disc emphasis but I enjoy almost all disc sports. My PDGA number is 80, so I’ve been playing disc golf for as long as I’ve been freestyling. In the World Championships (Rose Bowl I think 1978) I ended up in the top 10 overall, I believe 7th overall. Besides being in the finals for the freestyle, my MTA time was around 10 seconds (as I recall), my distance throw was almost a 100 yards, when just over 120 won it, and my golf score was respectable. My brother and I played Double Disc and I think we fell out in the first round, not our specialty, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Tournament History