(FPA) World Championships

Honolulu, Hawaii - Ala Moana Park

Here are the results

By Roland B. Rush

In contrast to the hurricane-afflicted championships of 1995 and 1996, near-perfect conditions and the best location ever set the stage for this year's FPA World Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii. With palm trees swaying in light breezes off of the water, high humidity, and 80-90 degree temperatures, top players from four countries turned out en masse for one of the most hotly contested worlds in 15 years.

Taking home the most titles was Dave Schiller, the clear leader for player of the year. Hot off of a major victory at the WFDF Championships in Helskinki, Finland, Dave proved he is, in my opinion, the top player in the sport today. In every round, Schill did some of the most difficult moves of the tournament with great style and incredible execution. Off the top of my head, I don't think he had more than 4 or 5 drops in seven rounds (29 minutes) of play, despite going for some of the more consecutive combinations of the tournament.

One memorable performances of the early rounds was ten year-old Nikki Ross' (Lancaster, PA) performance in the mixed pairs semis. Playing with her father Rick, she was exuding confidence like a strong open player, nearly winning execution. Nikki and Rick finished in second place for the Aloha Award.

Mixed

Sunday started out with the mixed pairs finals. The teams of Tom Leitner/Rose Wasserstrom and Joel Rogers/Mary Jorgensen demonstrated great individual play but did not have the polished routines that the other four teams had. Jeff/Cindy Krueger (Seattle), after a strong performance in Seattle earlier this year, couldn't execute in the finals despite a well-prepared routine.

The top three mixed teams were in a class by themselves today. Third place went to Gina Sample/David Lewis who executed well with a very technical and clean routine with many difficult co-ops. They were edged out for second by Randy Silvey/Lisa Hunrichs who exhibited the best choreography of this final. First place clearly belonged to Dave Schiller/Amy Bekken. Although they didn't hit music cues to the level of Silvey/Hunrichs, they had a nice relationship to the music and played the four minutes about as clean as they could, with few executions errors, high difficulty, and great presentation. A clear cut victory for Schiller/Bekken.

Co-op

As expected, with eighteen or so teams in Co-op, several quality teams did not make the finals. Not making the finals was Chuck Richards(Chicago)/Dan Yarnell/Steve Haynes (Texas), getting edged out in the tough semis. Another notable casualty of the semis was the Swedish team of Roland Karlsson/Stephan Karlsson/Joakim Arversk. After a strong performance at the WFDF Championships in Helsinki, they didn't live up to their seeding with a sub-par performance here. They have tremendous potential and we'll see them in future co-op finals in the years ahead.

Setting the stage for the co-op finals was a strong performance by Tom Leitner/Skippy Jammer/Joey Hudoklin (California). Although their put on hot tunes and shred style is not always in vogue with the presentation judges, they got hot and finished third. Rick Castiglia/Mike Reid/Jonathan Willett hit their quick catches and other routine elements, but fell flat towards the end and weren't a factor in the finals. Schiller/Chip Bell/Joel Rogers could not match their hot semifinal jam and finished fourth. Reto Zimmerman (Switzerland)/Peter Bowie (New Zealand)/Dan Cameranesi (California) played hot to make the finals and demonstrated some of the most original moves of the tournament, while Reto ripped some of the more exciting individual moves of the tourney all week-end. This international team finished 5^th.

The top two teams in the co-op finals had a higher level of choreography than the other routines. Finishing second was the innovative and choreographed performance of the defending champions Randy Silvey (Seattle)/Larry Imperiale/Bill Wright (Colorado). After hitting the first music cues with discs flying through the air with pompom-like streamers attached, they switched to normal discs and hit music cues throughout their routine. A solid routine despite bailing on some catches due to sketchy winds.

Last year, Arthur Coddington/David Lewis/Dave Murphy took second in the World Co-op Finals to Silvey/Imperiale/Wright. According to Dave Lewis, they realized they had to put together a better presenting routine than last year. And that they did, using two discs in an innovative manner, hitting music cues throughout the routine, and shredding in both execution and difficulty to take the World Co-op Title. These guys used a great combination of acrobatic maneuvers and disc skills to win this year's Co-op title hands down.

Note: Believe it or not, David Murphy, the awesome jammer that he is, secured his first FPA World Title with this routine. Congratulations to Dave, whose only other major title came at WFDF in 1993.

Women's

The Women's final started with Anne Graves (California)/Cindy Krueger(Washington) and Lori Daniels (Hawaii)/Rose W.(Santa Cruz) Notable was tournament director Lori playing great in the finals with Rose, hitting their routine despite the pressures of running the biggest freestyle tournament of the year. Lori made a huge personal sacrifice and did a great job in running the tournament - it was great to see her play well in the finals to an enthusiastic crowd.

With Gina Sample playing in the open division, we knew it would come down to these two top teams. Even though no team in the finals had the choreography exhibited in the other divisions, first and second was incredibly close, with Mary Jorgenson/Lisa Hunrichs finishing first over Stacy McCarthy/Amy Bekken.

Open Pairs

Although Mike Reid/Jonathan Willett (Rocky Mountains) and Joel Rogers/Danny Wallace (No. San Diego County) just barely missed making the finals after a tough semi pool, both teams demonstrated a flowing, quick catch game that is rarely well-implemented in most routines today. Craig Smith/Joe Hudoklin demonstrated their fast and flowing run-and-brush game in the prelims, hit it well for most of the routine, but did not make it out of a tough preliminary pool. As pleasing as these risky styles can be, they are not always rewarded by the difficulty and presentation judges. Regardless, these three teams deserve recognition for their innovative styles. You know it's a competitive tournament when these teams don't make the finals.

Finishing eighth in the Open Pairs Finals was the choreographed routine of Allen Elliot/John Houck of Texas. It's great to see these guys out at the Worlds nearly every year, even though we don't see them at too many other tournaments throughout the year. According to the announcer, you knew this was a hot final when Skippy Jammer/Tom Leitner finish seventh, despite a well-executed routine with their usual level of high difficulty. After being absent from last year's finals, Chip Bell/Rick Castiglia played great all week-end and finished sixth.

Fifth went to Gina Sample/Dave Lewis, who repeated their Mixed routine in Open Pairs, which probably didn't help their cause. Dave Lewis was nearly perfect and Gina hit all her moves with precision. Fourth place was secured by Bill Wright/Larry Imperiale, who choreographed a two-disc opening to Santana, with the highlight being a roll exchange sequence that went into a two-disc quick catch section.

The Texas pair of Dan Yarnell/Steve Haynes had their best shot at their first world title in this event. They amaze everyone with their innovative moves, but once again were unable to execute at the level needed to win. Arthur Coddington/Dave Murphy looked nearly unbeatable in the semis, but could not deliver the same performance in the finals. Unlike the semis, they sacrificed difficulty at times to preserve the routine. In this final, you couldn't get away with it and win. An entertaining performance, regardless.

This year's Open Pairs title went to Dave Schiller/Randy Silvey. They blew everyone away from a choreography standpoint, had high difficulty, and only a couple of execution errors (maybe just one drop?). Their high presentation was enough to take the final. Randy and Dave's relationship to the music and performance-oriented freestyle was the deciding element in this final.

>>From all standpoints, this years championships was the best in years. The teams that should have won, based on their performance, actually won. The site and weather wwere superb. Player turn-out was high. And the level of play, especially from a choreography standpoint, was unmatched.

Thanks again to everyone who made the event possible, especially Lori Daniels, tournament director. As players, we were treated every morning with bagels, water, Starbuck's Coffee, and chiropractic services. Special mahalo's to the local ultimate team that helped out and Aloha award winners Matthew Lee/Deano Massamoto/Danny Myers for all their help.

And has anyone seen Nolan Riles and Kile Marx? Or Greg Riley and Mark Blakemore???

RBR