Stallions prove the ultimate in frisbee champs

GOTCHA: Gis Int Stallions player Wai Rawiri takes the frisbee despite the close attention of Rotorua’s Dawson Smith at the BoP/PB Ultimate Frisbee Champs held at Gisborne Intermediate. Pictures by Paul Rickard

OVER 100 students pitted their catching, running and passing skills at Gisborne Intermediate School yesterday, but there was not a ball in sight.

The young athletes were taking part in the Bay of Plenty/Poverty Bay Ultimate Frisbee Champs featuring teams from Gis Int, Rotorua, Te Puke, Mount Maunganui and Taradale.

The 10 teams were divided into two pools, the top two from each advancing to the semifinals. One semi was an all-Gis Int affair, with the Stallions beating the Cobras to move into the final. Mount 1 defeated Te Puke in the other. The Stallions proved too good in the title decider, winning 4-2.

The origins of the flying disc, or frisbee as it became trademarked, dates back to 1938 when Fred Morrison and his wife were offered 25 cents for a cake pan they were tossing back and forth on a beach in New Haven, United States.

“That got the wheels turning because you could buy a cake pan for five cents. and if people on the beach were willing to pay a quarter for it, well, there was a business," Morrison said.

Morrison and business partner Warren Franscioni produced the first plastic discs in 1948 and called these the Flyin-Saucer, which later became the Pluto Platter — the archetype of all modern flying discs.

The rights were sold to the company Wham-O in 1957 and the brand name was changed to Frisbee. It became a massive success from 1964, thanks to Wham-O general manager Edward “Steady Ed” Headrick after he redesigned the mould, in the process increasing the rim thickness and mass, and creating a more controllable and accurate disc.

Headrick was to become known as the “father of Frisbee sports”, helping found the International Frisbee Association.

A group of New Jersey teenagers created the sport of ultimate frisbee in 1967. It is now known simply as ultimate and has a worldwide following, including New Zealand, and one of Gisborne’s own is among the country’s best young exponents.

Gisborne teenager Renee Holmes is in the New Zealand team heading to Poland in August for the world junior ultimate champs. She first played ultimate while at Gis Int.