The opportunity to present disc sports as a medal sport in the World Games is
the culmination of a relatively long process that began with the
establishment of the World Flying Disc Federation in 1985 and its subsequent
acceptance into the General Association of International Sports and the
International World Games Association. The drive for participation of disc
sports in the World Games has been tirelessly spearheaded by WFDF Board
member, Prof. Fumio Morooka of Japan. Demonstration activities were provided
at the last World Games in Finland along with a continuing political effort
to secure a position in the Akita Games. Over the last year, the effort has
intensified a great deal as the IWGA narrowed down the number of new
candidates for medal participation in the Akita Games. Being a member
association of IWGA does not by any means guarantee participation in the
World Games. The process of detailing the potential participation of disc
sports in the Games with IWGA was very demanding for several reasons. For
one, of course, many of the decision makers have very little firsthand
knowledge of disc sports. In particular, the breadth of our sports was a
great surprise to most IWGA staff. The other major challenge was the very
specific and limiting conditions of participation that are set for all World
Games sports. Over the years, many of us on the WFDF Board have done a great
deal of  of event formatting, but this was by far the most challenging set of
circumstances that we had ever encountered. To solve this challenge, we
identified several basic goals to drive this process and decision.

We needed to design a participation format that... 1. Follows the mandates of
the IWGA. 2. Meets the specific needs of the IWGA organizing committee for
the Akita games. 3. We know that we can execute with high quality. 4. Will
favorably display the breadth and vigor of disc sports. 5  Will be attractive
to players who are candidates to participate. 6. Upon consideration, will be
accepted and supported by the various disc event organizations.

With so many countervailing restrictions and considerations involved we
realized that what was eventually settled on would certainly fall short of
each sportÕs definition of an ideal "world championship" competition.  It is
worth noting however, that the same is true for many other well-established
sports.  That is, the World Championship of any particular event is certainly
a better competitive format than their particular Olympic championship.  This
is not so obvious to our sport because weÕre so new to this all.  The final
consideration of course is that we are obligated to strike a grand compromise
for this first world-level opportunity.  Also, we believe that we have an
obligation to represent our games and players as broadly as is practical in
this first, and very important opportunity.

In our early submissions to the committee, we offered three options that
included a wide range of the disc sports and disciplines and larger numbers
of participants than we really expected to be available. The feedback from
that submission got us an even more detailed set of guidelines. They
encouraged a concentration on the two most popular games, ultimate and golf.
We were given a total of ninety participants with six nations to be
represented in each sport. Given that scenario, the Board put the question
out to the ultimate and golf committees of WFDF for detailed consideration.
At the current time, the Board is about to finalize the ultimate competition
and will soon consider the golf event. The final decision and details of
participation will be posted on wfdf.org as they are approved, but the
general outline will probably be as reported previously on rec.sport.disc by
John Harris of Canada:

Sequence-Id:5698

From: harr...@interlog.com (John C Harris)

Subject: Re: World Games

Date: Thu, 08 Apr 99 04:06:27 GMT

World Games, Akita, Japan, Aug 16-26, 2001

"Disc Sports" will have 3 divisions:

  Disc golf, male - 6

  Disc golf, female - 6

  Ultimate, coed - 6 teams of 10

The six countries representing Ultimate will be chosen using the results of

WUGC, Heilbronne, Germany, August 5-12, 2000.

Unofficially at this point, for ultimate it appears that the selection of the
nations to send teams will be determined by the overall finish of each nation
in Germany 2000. A nation's finish in three of the five divisions will be
considered. Then, with that invitation in hand, each nation will select the
ten players to make up its coed team for Akita. The Board and the Ultimate
Committee realized that the choice of coed play would be controversial.
However, given the limitation of one division only, the coed option presented
itself as the only feasible option. Given the selection process, we are
confident that the elite teams of men and women who will be chosen for the
event will provide an extremely high level of ultimate play.

In addition to the format and selection process, there are obviously many more
details to be worked out. For instance, we are now at a level of sport where
there is routine drug testing. Therefore, players who accept the invitation to
play will be under the same constraints as those faced by Olympic athletes.

The procedure for disc golf will shortly be reviewed by the Board, but again
unofficially, it appears that there will be six nations selected.  The
selection will be based on a general measure of the strength of each
country's disc golf program including the success of its players in
international competition. Each country which is chosen will then select one
male and one female player as their representatives in the World Games.

There actually will be only five countries chosen in each event, because as
the host nation, Japan, will automatically be awarded one of the invitations
as is the convention for all World Games sports.

In summary, perhaps the most important aspect of this great opportunity for
disc sports is the fact that it is only a beginning. We realize that there
are freestylers, distance throwers, ddc or guts players and others who will
be disappointed that their disc sport is not specifically represented in
Akita. However, if we are able to carry off this initial participation
effectively, we are certain that this will lead to even more international
opportunities for all disc sports. We look forward to working with all of the
national associations and their players to make this aspiration a reality.

Bill Wright
President, World Flying Disc