Our Disciplines

In Sports by WFDF

The World Flying Disc Federation is the international sports federation responsible for the world governance of the sport of flying disc (frisbee), including Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts, and Overall (7 events). You can find out more about each discipline below including a description and a link to find out more.

Ultimate: Ultimate is a non-contact, self-refereed team discipline played with a flying disc. The official disc is the 175 g Discraft Ultrastar. At each end of the playing field there is an end zone.  Each team defends one endzone. They score a goal if one of their players catches the disc in the opposite end zone. There are 7 players per side and the field is 64 metres long and 37 m wide with 18 m endzones.

Beach Ultimate: Similar to Ultimate but played on the sand. Each team has 5 players per side and the field dimensions are also smaller – 45 m long and 25 m wide with 15 m endzones.

Disc Golf: Disc golf is played much like traditional golf. Instead of a ball and clubs, however, players use a flying disc. Just like ball golf, the object of disc golf is to throw from a teepad to a hole (target or basket) and complete each hole in as few throws as possible. 

Freestyle: Freestyle Frisbee is an extended game of catch and throw where freestylers perform special “tricks” or maneuvers before performing the catch. These frisbee tricks can be simple, like a quick tip to an under the leg catch, or quite complicated. Freestyle frisbee is usually distinguished from other disciplines because it uses the nail delay, what people commonly think of as “spinning the disc on your finger.” Freestylers use the nail delay to set up all kinds of frisbee tricks like rolls, brushes, tips, pulls, and catches.

Guts: Guts is played by two teams of 5 players each. The official disc of the game is the Pro model Frisbee disc. The playing field consists of two parallel goal-lines 15 m in length and 14 m apart. The teams stand in line opposite each other. Each team defends a goal-line. The disc is thrown back and forth between the teams. The object is to throw the disc through the line of defending players.The throwing team scores a point when the other team does not catch a correctly thrown disc. The receiving team scores a point when the disc is not thrown correctly. When a correctly thrown disc is caught by the other team, no points are scored.

Overall: A multi day competition featuring 7 events – Disc Golf, Freestyle, Distance, Accuracy, Discathon, DDC and SCF. 

Distance: Players throw as far as they can from behind a line. The distance from the throwing line to where the disc first hits the ground is measured. Players get five attempts per round and up to three rounds per day to try and get their longest throw.

Accuracy: This event is similar to archery – except with flying discs. The goal is to throw as accurately as possible through a square target. Players throw four discs from each of seven different positions (as illustrated). The target is a standing square frame measuring 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters, which is at a height of 1 meter above the ground. Each disc that passes through the frame is counted as a “hit”.

Discathon: Discathon is a running event covering a course that is approximately 1 km long long from start to finish. Players carry two or three discs that are thrown alternately. A player’s disc must travel the appointed course of mandatory obstacles that must be passed in a specific direction. The player’s objective is to complete the course in the shortest time possible by using a minimum of throws and as little running as possible. A competitor’s time is measured when one of the player’s discs completely crosses the finish line.

Double Disc Court (DDC): Double Disc Court is played by two teams of two players each and two discs. The 110 gram Wham-O Pro model disc is the official disc for DDC, but similar discs can also be used. There are two courts; each defended by one of the teams. Two discs are simultaneously thrown back and forth by the teams. There are several ways to score points – (1) when the disc touches the ground within the court of the other team and stays there, (2) when the other team touches both discs at the same time (two points scored), or (3) when a disc touches the ground outside the court the other team scores a point.

Self Caught Flight (SCF): Self-Caught Flight (SCF) includes two events with the intention throwing the disc in a high boomerang flight allowing the thrower to then catch it – with one hand! To get good results, players must be adept at gauging the wind, reading the flight of a disc and employing good catching techniques.

  • Maximum Time Aloft (MTA): The intention is to have your disc stay in the air (aloft!) as long as possible and then catch it with one hand before it reaches the ground. The time that the disc remains in the air is measured with a stopwatch. Players get five attempts and the best time counts. For an accurate timing, three stop- watches are used. The median or middle time of the three times is used.
  • Throw, Run and Catch (TRC): The player throws, and then runs to catch the disc with one hand. The distance between the circle where the disc was thrown and where it was caught, is measured. Players get five attempts and the best one counts.
  • Self Caught Flight (SCF): MTA and TRC are often combined into one event by having players throw five attempts of each discipline. The SCF score is derived by taking the TRC result in meters and adding it to the MTA time in seconds which is multiplied by a factor 5.5. This is because the general rule of thumb is that 1 second equals 5.5 meters. Therefore, a 40 m TRC and 7.3 second MTA would result in an SCF score of 40 + (7.3 × 5.5) = 80.15.