WFDF 2019 World Overall Championships (WOC) to be held in Richmond, Virginia USA
26 October 2018
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2019 World Overall Flying Disc Championships (WOC 2019) will be held from Monday 8th – Saturday 13th July 2019 in the city of Richmond, Virginia USA. It will be staged at various venues including the Bryan Park Disc Golf Course, Richmond Strikers West Creek Complex, Forest Hill Park, Henrico County’s Dorey Park and Gamble’s Hill Park.
Overall events require athletes to demonstrate a variety of individual skills in a field events format, not dissimilar to concept of the decathlon. This will be the 14th edition of the World Overall Championships. This biannual event is planned for approximately 100 athletes in seven flying disc feature competitions. Accuracy, Freestyle, Disc Golf, Discathon, Distance, Double Disc Court (DDC), and Self-Caught Flight (SCF) champions will be crowned for each individual discipline. The World Overall champions will be awarded based on a tally of points on three or more disciplines contested by an athlete, and Champions will be crowned by age and gender.
“The Overall Championship is the ultimate test of core flying disc skills. It will be exciting to be back in the USA next year since the last three events were held in Europe,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “We have a very experienced organizing team and perfect venues, so we look forward to a great event.” The WOC was last hosted in the USA in 2011 in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The successful bid came from Jack Cooksey, Event Director and head of the Tournament Organizing Committee (TOC), with assistance from Sam Kaye and Jason Koonts. Cooksey commented "We are absolutely thrilled to bring this event back to the United States in 2019, and to host Overall Flying Disc competitors in Richmond, Virginia. It's an honor to be chosen to carry the World Flying Disc Federation banner in our city. Our hope, as the tournament organizers, is to spread the visibility and participation in disc sports. Richmond is a Mid-Atlantic, East Coast city bustling with activity and energy, so we think this will be a great fit for spectators and those who are curious to pick up a disc and to start playing.
“We’re excited to welcome the World Overall Flying Disc Championships to the USA and are honored that WFDF selected Richmond, Virginia, to host all WOC athletes and spectators.” said Jack Berry, Richmond Region Tourism President & CEO. “Richmond Region Tourism enjoyed working with the local team of flying disc enthusiasts in preparing the bid and to help bring the competition to the area. The event will take place at parks across the region and will be a great opportunity for spectators to explore the area. We can’t wait to see some of the world’s best flying disc athletes show off their Overall skills in Richmond next year.”
Latest WFDF Communiques
24 August 2020 - Official Communication 
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is proud to announce that WFDF has published the WFDF Gender Equity Toolkit in its first edition. The WFDF Gender Equity Toolkit was commissioned by the WFDF Women in Sport Commission and funded by the WFDF Development Program supported by IOC funding. Alicia Lui was lead author for the project.
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1) promote greater environmental responsibility;
2) reduce the overall climate impact from sports;
3) use our platform to educate for climate action;
4) promote sustainable and responsible consumption; and
5) advocate for climate action through our communications.
29 June 2020 - Official Communication
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Brings membership to 87 Countries
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26 May 2020 - Official Communication
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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).
“We regret having to take this extraordinary decision, but the health and safety of our athletes, team support, volunteers, staff, and spectators is our paramount concern,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “We know that this decision will disappoint many athletes who have been extensively training for these competitions, but it is difficult to imagine moving forward given the current environment of border shutdowns, individual lockdowns, and other exceptional governmental actions. We appreciate the understanding of our incredible TOCs who have been working on these events for the last three years. Further, WFDF appreciates all of the medical personnel around the world, working tirelessly at reducing and eradicating this unprecedented threat, and we are in solidarity with the whole of society to contain the virus.”
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
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) and its rapid spread around the world, WFDF released an official statement on 4 March regarding the impact of the pandemic on its world championship events scheduled for the coming months. As of 19 March 2020, WFDF remains fully committed to holding the 2020 events – WUGC, WJUC and WMUC – as scheduled.
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.
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