Tomas Burvall appointed to the WFDF Board of Directors as Overall Chair, to serve out the remainder of the term of Jack Cooksey

In Official Communication, Press Release * Official Communication by WFDF

WFDF is pleased to announce that Tomas Burvall from Sweden has been approved by the WFDF Board of Directors as the new Chair of the Overall Committee, replacing Jack Cooksey (USA) with immediate effect. In serving for the remainder of Cooksey’s term which ends in December 2014, Burvall will also be a member of the Board of Directors until the next regular elections.  Cooksey is stepping down due to increased work demands.

“Tomas Burvall brings great expertise in Overall Field events to the WFDF administration, not only having served as a member of the Overall Committee since 2008 but also by being one of the most successful athletes in these disciplines in recent last years,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch on the appointment. “We are glad to have such tremendous addition to our Board of Directors and leadership and we look forward to working with Tomas on the development of Overall Field events.”

Rauch also thanked outgoing Overall chair Jack Cooksey, mentioning that “WFDF is extremely grateful for Jack’s contributions as chair since 2011 and we all wish him the best of success in his personal and professional future.  Although we can understand the challenges of serving on the WFDF board while maintaining an active business career, we are sorry to lose Jack as he had reinvigorated interest in our World Overall Championships.  Nonetheless, it is exciting to have someone like Tomas coming on board given his experience and commitment to further develop our Overall Field events program.”

Burvall won the title as WFDF Overall World Champion in the 2013 WFDF World Overall Championships in Norrköping, Sweden, amassing five gold medals by also winning the title in the discipline of Discathon and in several masters division events. He has won eight gold medals in the Masters division since 2009 and was decorated with his first gold medal in Overall in 2007 in Ithaca, NY (USA) and in Self Caught Flight 1997 in Helsinki. Burvall also was the winner of 35 Overall medals in Sweden, 15 of which have been golds.

“I have been very active in the Frisbee world, as you can guess. I started to play Frisbee in 1985 and in 1987 I co-founded our team and club, and have been involved in the sport ever since. I love disc sports, and I want the whole world to see how great the world of flying disc is,” said Burvall.

The WFDF World Overall Championships features competitions in 7 flying disc disciplines — Freestyle, Double Disc Court (DDC), Discathon, Accuracy, Disc Golf, Distance and Self-Caught Flight (SCF), with an overall championship also selected based on performance across all events. The next WFDF World Overall Championship will be held in 2015.