By Chu Meng
The fifth annual China Nationals Ultimate Frisbee tournament was held in Beijing last weekend with a team from Hong Kong unseating the defending champions, Tianjin Speed, to win the 16-team Chinese division.
Five foreign teams participated as well, with a local team called Big Brother winning the foreign division.
Currently, only a few Chinese people have a clear sense of what Ultimate Frisbee is, because for years – even in the US, where Ultimate was invented in the 1960s – it has been considered an “alternative sport.”
But Ultimate has been in Beijing for more than 10 years.
“Ultimate Frisbee, first appeared in Beijing in the mid-’90s among a small group of expats,” said James Kirchhoff, one of the captains and founding members of Big Brother. “There were so few players that we had to sometimes convince our van drivers to play with us.”
Today, there are six teams in Beijing, including two separate Big Brother teams.
The first China Nationals tournament was organized by a group of foreigners in 2007. It has grown every year, with this year’s competition being the biggest yet, with close to 400 participants from around the country.
“China Nationals is a tournament to highlight the growth, development and achievements of local Chinese players,” said Alicia Lui, 29, one of the tournament’s organizers.
For the first time this year, an extra trophy was awarded to the “C Bracket” champion as a way of encouraging more inexperienced teams to keep coming back.
The tournament also awarded a “Spirit” trophy to the team that best embodied the “Spirit of the Game,” a concept unique to Ultimate Frisbee – a self-officiated sport – that emphasizes sportsmanship and fair play.
A national organization created last year called the Ultimate Association of China – currently headed by expats, though Chinese players are on the board – further seeks to promote the sport.
“If the local players can take ownership of the game, it will continue to grow and spread across the country,” Kirchhoff said.
Kirchhoff, an American, has lived in Beijing in eight of the last 10 years. He said that many players, especially in Beijing, have taken time to teach locals how to play.
Kirchhoff saw an ad in a local English-language magazine for Ultimate in 2003. Having played in college, he decided it would be a great way to meet other foreigners living in Beijing.
One year later, he co-founded Big Brother.
“These early foreign players act as ambassadors for the sport and have a lot of knowledge that needs to be shared with local players. Now there are teams in more than 15 cities in China,” Kirchhoff said.
Most of Big Brother’s players are expats between the ages of 22 and 45. Other teams in Beijing – these mostly comprise local players – include Bang, Hangtime, Bazinga and Air Kazak.
Edward Wang, captain of Tianjin Speed, is a coach at Tianjin Teda International School. He first found out about Ultimate from foreign friends about eight years ago.
When he started Tianjin Speed, it was one of the only Chinese Ultimate Frisbee teams around. In each of the first two China Nationals, Tianjin lost in the finals to Air Kazak, a team of ethnic Kazakhs who attend Minzu University in Beijing.
Wang spoke proudly of how the sport has sprung up in many other cities in the past two years, such as Changsha, Nanjing and Wuhan.
“[Many of the new teams] participated in the tournament this year,” he said. “I love to see my teammates and students go out and spread the seeds of Ultimate to help this sport grow in China.”
Anthony Tao, left, of Big Brother, prepares to throw a pass in the China Nationals foreign division finals. He is guarded by Ken Dry. Photo by Michelle Tang
By Chu Meng
The fifth annual China Nationals Ultimate Frisbee tournament was held in Beijing last weekend with a team from Hong Kong unseating the defending champions, Tianjin Speed, to win the 16-team Chinese division.
Five foreign teams participated as well, with a local team called Big Brother winning the foreign division.
Currently, only a few Chinese people have a clear sense of what Ultimate Frisbee is, because for years – even in the US, where Ultimate was invented in the 1960s – it has been considered an “alternative sport.”
But Ultimate has been in Beijing for more than 10 years.
“Ultimate Frisbee, first appeared in Beijing in the mid-’90s among a small group of expats,” said James Kirchhoff, one of the captains and founding members of Big Brother. “There were so few players that we had to sometimes convince our van drivers to play with us.”
Today, there are six teams in Beijing, including two separate Big Brother teams.
The first China Nationals tournament was organized by a group of foreigners in 2007. It has grown every year, with this year’s competition being the biggest yet, with close to 400 participants from around the country.
“China Nationals is a tournament to highlight the growth, development and achievements of local Chinese players,” said Alicia Lui, 29, one of the tournament’s organizers.
For the first time this year, an extra trophy was awarded to the “C Bracket” champion as a way of encouraging more inexperienced teams to keep coming back.
The tournament also awarded a “Spirit” trophy to the team that best embodied the “Spirit of the Game,” a concept unique to Ultimate Frisbee – a self-officiated sport – that emphasizes sportsmanship and fair play.
