WFDF announces that the inaugural WFDF 2019 Asian-Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championships, in association with BULA, will be held in Shirahama, Japan
15 September 2018
WFDF is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2019 Asia Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championships, in association with BULA (AOBUC) will be hosted by the town of Shirahama, Japan, from Thursday 13th June to Sunday 16th June, 2019. The event will feature national and club Beach Ultimate teams in Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed divisions with a possibility of adding masters divisions if enough interest.
The successful bid came from the Japan Flying Disc Association (JFDA) supported by the Town of Shirahama. The organization is headed by Prof. Fumio Morooka, the President of JFDA, with Yuta Saito heading up the TOC.
“WFDF is proud to partner with JFDA on this inaugural Beach Ultimate event in the Asian Oceanic region. JFDA did a fantastic job of hosting the 2012 WUGC event and we are confident they will again prepare a great event for the players, spectators and volunteers,”said WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “It is exciting to add another region to the Beach Ultimate Continental event calendar, and we hope to see it grow over the years in a similar trend to the European event, which is likely to see over 80 teams participate this season.”
Fumio Morooka, President of Japan Flying Disc Association, stated that “JFDA is extremely excited to be hosting the first WFDF 2019 Asia Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championships, in association with BULA, in Japan, where Beach Ultimate has been played for 20 years. Japan hosted WUGC 2012 in Sakai six years ago and contributed to create a huge milestone for the disc sports community with all participants. We are looking forward to welcoming athletes from across Asia and Oceania to our country and together helping to create the future of Beach Ultimate in the region.”
"We are delighted to be hosting the WFDF 2019 Asia Oceanic Beach Ultimate Championships, in association with BULA. An absolutely beautiful and truly clean beach is located in Shirahama in Wakayama Province. We believe that elite athletes participating in WFDF events have the huge power to spread the value of disc sports. We would like to organize the tournament where outstanding plays based on the Spirit of the Game and the well-organized event synchronize to enhance the value of our sports. We All Love Flying Discs," commented JFDA Executive Director and AOBUC 2019 Event Director Yuta Saito.
“Beach Ultimate has been growing rapidly in the region and it is great to see that there is now enough activity to organize a continental championship,” said Patrick van der Valk, BULA President and CEO. “This will help accelerate recognition of this amazing, competitive team sport, played by men and women — a sport where players are their own referees, and where the enjoyment of play for all athletes is a key component.”
WFDF expects strong attendance from many of the 20+ member National Federations located in the region. The event is open to all National and Club teams who are interested in attending.
Latest WFDF Communiques
02 April 2020 - Official Communication 
The International World Games Association (IWGA) announced that The World Games will be rescheduled and will now be held from 7 to 17 July 2022. The decision was approved by the member Federations of IWGA on the programme of the Games in Birmingham, AL, USA, via a videoconference call. From the IWGA release:
“The International World Games Association (IWGA) and Birmingham Organising Committee (BOC) have agreed to postpone the 11th edition of The World Games until 7th to 17th July 2022. The Games had originally been planned to take place from 15–25 July next year.
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to move the Tokyo Olympic Games to July 2021 made a significant impact on the planning of The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. Keeping to the original dates in July 2021 would have meant excluding many athletes and officials involved in the Olympics, and would have led to a potential reduction in public and media interest. When the IOC announced its decision, the BOC urgently set about assessing what alternative dates might be viable, particularly as regards venues and accommodation. Meanwhile, the staff of the IWGA were establishing when the vital services provided by key partners, such as Swiss Timing and International Sports Broadcasting, could still be made available.
It soon became clear that only one 10-day period existed in which venues, accommodation and key partner support could be guaranteed: 7–17 July 2022. The IWGA Member Federations with sports on the programme gave their full support to delaying The World Games, and the joint decision of the IWGA and BOC Boards to adopt these new dates was unanimously approved by the federations in a video conference”.
“WFDF is very supportive of the decision to reschedule The World Games, a decision that was unanimously approved by the member federations with sports on TWG Programme,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch, who represented WFDF during this decision-making videoconference. “We are very grateful to the the Birmingham Organizing Committee (BOC), the IWGA Executive Committee and their staff, and all partners of IWGA including the Sports Broadcaster ISB and SwissTiming, to allow for such a speedy decision to be taken. This will now enable WFDF and its member associations to analyze and determine further adjustments to our plans for the 2021 and 2022 event calendars.”
Added Volker Bernardi, WFDF Executive Director and member of the IWGA Executive Committee: “We have to thank the BOC under the leadership of CEO Nick Sellers and the IWGA Executive Committee supported by the IWGA staff for dealing with the current crisis and making such a speedy decision. This announcment ends all uncertainty and speculation and gives great credibility to IWGA as an organisation and The World Games as a Multisport Games event. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues within the IWGA Executive Committee and particularly the IWGA staff for their great support and hard work during this process, and the BOC for being incredibly supportive in making a decision which I fully believe benefits all stakeholders.”
WFDF is also pleased to report that the IWGA President, Spaniard José Perurena-Lopez, is recovering from his COVID-19 infection and we wish him all the best with a full and rapid recovery in these difficult times.”
You can read the full Press Release issued by IWGA here. 24 March 2020 - Official Communication
Health and safety concerns due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outweigh all other factors
After consultation with medical experts and the various Tournament Organizing Committees (TOCs), the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) today announced that it is cancelling or postponing all scheduled world championship events for at least the next six months of 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic. This decision takes into consideration first and foremost the safety and health of WFDF athletes, in addition to the uncertainties around the spread of this disease, and resulted after extensive deliberations this last weekend among the Executive Committee of WFDF’s board, staff, and WFDF Medical Officer, Dr. Jamie Nuwer. This decision will affect the following events, at minimum: the WFDF 2020 World Ultimate & Guts Championships (11-18 July in the Netherlands), the WFDF 2020 World Junior Ultimate Championships (18-25 July in Sweden), and the WFDF 2020 World Masters Ultimate Championships (5-12 September in Australia).
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WFDF is currently in consultation with the TOCs to discuss alternatives. WFDF Vice President and Chair of the Ultimate Committee, Brian Gisel, stated “We are looking at the possibility of postponing the World Masters Ultimate Championships to September 2021. It may be far more difficult to postpone to next year either the World Junior Ultimate Championships or the World Ultimate & Guts Championships, given the already crowded summer schedule featuring The World Games, World Under-24 Ultimate Championships, and the World Championships of Beach Ultimate. We are considering the possibility of a smaller event toward year-end that could serve as a qualifying event for The World Games, which are being held 15-25 July 2021 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. We will continue to evaluate the rearrangement of the WFDF schedule, and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.”
With regard to team fees and player fees that have already been paid, WFDF is instructing the TOCs to use all unspent funds or prepaid amounts that can be reclaimed from the vendors and suppliers of the events in order to reimburse teams and players, to the extent possible. WFDF appreciates the patience of the teams and athletes as the TOCs work through this complex process over the coming month. We ask the teams to follow instructions supplied via email on the appropriate channels to ask questions and seek information, instead of emailing the TOCs or WFDF directly.
Nothing is more important to WFDF than the health and safety of its athletes, staff, and spectators. WFDF continues to observe the precautions and practices recommended by public health experts. We encourage the entire Flying Disc community to follow the advice of your local authorities as to best practices in this difficult situation, and refer you to the World Health Organization for definitive guidance: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public WFDF sends its best wishes to all individuals and communities that are affected by Covid-19.
WFDF will provide additional updates as new information develops. 20 March 2020 - Official Communication
Consideration of the impact from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
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There are two major events scheduled to take place in Europe in July: the WFDF 2020 World Ultimate & Guts Championships (11-18 July in Netherlands) and the WFDF 2020 World Junior Ultimate Championships (18-25 July in Sweden). The WFDF 2020 World Masters Ultimate Championships is to be held in September in Australia.
05 March 2020 - Official Communication
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) in China and the high number of cases across Asia and its spreading to other parts of the world, the Executive Committee of the WFDF Board of Directors and WFDF staff members held a meeting this last weekend with WFDF Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jamie M. Nuwer to evaluate the impact of this situation on the upcoming WFDF World Ultimate 2020 events (WUGC, WJUC and WMUC).
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22 February 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that WFDF and BULA have renewed their Memorandum of Understanding for the two-year period 2020-2021. Both WFDF and BULA wish to continue a working arrangement to their mutual benefit and for the benefit of the Beach Ultimate Community. The MoU outlines the ways that WFDF and BULA will continue to support the growth and development of the sport and cooperate with each other in these efforts while WFDF will be fully assuming the organization of World and Continental National Team Championships in order to standardize event organization.
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21 February 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved Universe Point as the WFDF Official Footwear Supplier and Partner for 2020-2023, after a competitive bidding process that was held in late 2019. This exclusive agreement will run for four years beginning in January 2020 and Universe Point will be granted exclusive sales rights at WFDF sanctioned events.
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21 January 2020 - Official Communication
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These rules will be used for all WFDF Ultimate Events in 2020, including the upcoming World Ultimate and Guts Championships, World Junior Ultimate Championships, and World Masters Ultimate Championships. Non-WFDF event organizers may also choose to use these rules for their events.
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● Change the name of the "Men's" Division to the "Open" Division
● Adjustments to the seeding and bids process
● Changes to offside penalties
● New hand signals for "4 Men" and "4 Women" (Updated hand signals will be released later in 2020)
● Direction on how photographic or video footage should be used
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● Changes to receiving fouls for contact that occurs after a block
The new appendix can be found here.
08 January 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has nominated Finland’s Disc Golf team in the annual World Games Athlete of the Year competition. The award honors an athlete or a team for their outstanding performance in 2019 or for their social commitment or particularly fair behavior. We direct everyone to the following site and voting for “Flying Disc – Team Finland” at https://www.theworldgames.org/awards/Athlete-of-the-Year-2019-70.
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07 January 2020 - Official Communication
WFDF announced today the results of its 2019 elections, with the WFDF member associations voting on several open positions on the Board of Directors.
Kate Bergeron (USA) was re-elected as Treasurer, Brian Gisel (CAN) re-elected as Ultimate Committee Chair, Lori Daniels (USA) elected as Freestyle Committee Chair, and Wolfgang Maehr (SGP) elected as SOTG Committee Chair.
For the continental associations, Nicole Bulos (DOM) was elected President for Pan America and Fumio “Moro” Morooka (JPN) re-elected to represent Asia-Oceania.
Shiellah Quintos was elected as chair of the Events Subcommittee of the Ultimate Committee. All of the above will serve a two year term from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021.
In addition, Liam Grant (IRL) was appointed by the board to serve out the remaining year of the term of the Chair of the Athletes' Commission.
The complete Press Release with results and biographies can be found here. 07 January 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) ended the decade by bringing together the Ultimate community for the annual International Spirit of the Game Day celebrations. More than 500 activities from at least 34 countries were held across the world on December 7 in honor of Spirit of the Game, a core and guiding element of the sports of Ultimate and Guts.
Participants were encouraged to share their love of Spirit of the Game on social media by posting about their events or sharing artwork on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Submissions came in the form of videos, articles, drawings, and more. More than 20 international vendors partnered with WFDF to offer merchandise as part of the festivities.
“The players, teams and organizations that supported these international activities —and the 21 vendors who supplied prizes this year —understand there’s so much more to Spirit of the Game than simply sportsmanship,” said Travis F. Smith, outgoing chair of the WFDF SOTG Committee. “iSOTG Day is our community’s annual opportunity to explore how Spirit of the Game can be better expressed and improved. Each year I’m blown away seeing how many people care so intensely about Spirit and its central role in disc sport.”
More information can be found on the official website of the event: http://www.spiritofthegameday.org/
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