A national frisbee golf team was established in Finland – this is what it means in practice

Sports coach Leo Piironen has heard that the players have been more or less interested in the national team, depending on their situation.

The growing popularity of frisbee golf has led the Finnish Frisbee Golf Association to the fact that the establishment of systematic national team activities is timely.

Chairman of the Board Laura Heikkilä according to the main reason for the change is increasing recognition both inside and outside the sports community.

– For a large audience, following the national team can be an easier thing to approach. When you compare it to hockey, for example, many people don’t necessarily watch games other than the Lions, Heikkilä opens up in an interview with STT.

At the beginning of the 2010s, the association’s member clubs included less than a thousand enthusiasts – now the number is over ten thousand. In March, a study on children’s and young people’s exercise behavior was published, which places frisbee golf among the most popular forms of summer exercise.

The focus is on camping

The Frisbee Golf Association names the participants for the European Championships and the Team World Championships. Now the framework of the activity is camps, which are managed by the national team’s sports coach, the 2016 European Championship gold medalist Leo Piironen.

– The sports skills and physical characteristics of the players are tested at the camps. The purpose is also to collect data and find out which things are correlated with each other, Piironen tells STT.

As frisbee golf becomes more professional, players live more and more the everyday life of a top athlete, which includes side training.

For example, with the national team’s best-known names, Niklas Anttila and Väinö Mäkeläalready has its own physical training, which the national team wants to support.

– The truth is that competitive sports include physical training. If someone doesn’t have their own coach yet, you get the test results, which you can take forward, says Piironen.

Is there enough interest?

Social media is a significant source of income for many frisbee golf professionals. Heikkilä and Piironen think that the player benefits from the national team’s brand.

– Performances and news are collected on the website so that the athlete’s career is easier to follow, Piironen says.

However, Frisbeegolf is a sport whose most important competitions are participated in as individuals. The player base in the United States is so overwhelmingly wide that it’s easier to talk about who’s sponsor is who.

The EC and Team World Championships are held on alternate years, but for example the United States and Finland have not brought all their best to the team events.

Heikkilä thinks that national team activities can bring about a change in this, but sponsorship contracts and prize money for big games can get in the way.

– Depending on their situation, the players have been more or less interested in the national team, Piironen explains.

You can also be selected for the competitions in question, even if you are not part of the national team, with which, at least initially, one-year contracts are made.

This summer, the open class, women’s and junior European championships will be held in Tallinn from the 16th to the 19th. August.