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.

Team Finland, one of 25 candidates for the award this year, defeated Germany to win the WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships in Alutaguse, Estoniain August 2019. The eight-person mixed squad did not lose a match at the championships and this victory catapulted Finland to the top of WFDF’s world Disc Golf country rankings at year end 2019.

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/

Today, on International Spirit of the Game Day, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) releases its updated list of Spirit of the Game scores by country. This list aggregates scores received by countries attending WFDF world and continental championship events for Ultimate and Beach Ultimate over the past four years (see complete list below).

New to the list in 2019: Costa Rica, Luxembourg, Mozambique and Virgin Islands. Also new is also the Guts division, which introduced spirit scores at the Asia Oceanic Ultimate and Guts Championships. The full data set with 63 countries in alphabetical order in the linked table.

WFDF is gearing up for the 6th annual International Spirit of the Game Day, which will take place on Saturday, 7 December 2019. This year, the day's theme is “Spirit of the Game — It’s Not Just High Fives!” iSOTG Day, organized by the World Flying Disc Federation in partnership with the charitable organization Early Recognition Is Critical (E.R.I.C.), encourages Ultimate communities around the world to celebrate and reflect on Spirit of the Game, a core and unique element of the sport of Ultimate, by hosting events, clinics and activities where players can discuss and demonstrate good spirit.

Anyone (groups or individuals) can participate in iSOTG Day, and they will get the chance to win prizes from dozens of vendors simply by posting a video, photo, article, etc., on the iSOTG Facebook event , on Instagram, or on Twitter with the hashtag #iSOTGDay. Submissions are open between 29 November and 9 December 2019. The winning submissions will be chosen by members of the WFDF Spirit Committee, E.R.I.C., as well as partner representatives.