The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) in cooperation with the Croatian Flying Disc Federation (HFDS) and other partners (Politecnico de Leiria and Zagreb University of applied science) organized an International Conference on the topic “Disc sports in schools, universities, and clubs with science.” The conference was planned on the initiative of José Amoroso, IPLeiria Professor, and WFDF University and School Sports Commission and President of Portugal Flying Disc Federation (APUDD), who recognized that spreading the knowledge and good practice for incorporating disc sports in schools and universities is crucial in the further sustainable development of flying disc communities in North-East Europe.
“WFDF is making the video of the virtual conference available on the WFDF official website as a further step to bring Flying Disc sports to Schools and Universities in the Balkan region,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch on the event. “We thank Tomislav Gorički, President of the Croatian Flying Disc Federation, and José Amoroso for engaging with this development topic and organizing the conference. We are hopeful to further engage with these scientific partners on several levels, building up our WFDF Academy.”
The 2-hour conference, held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was hosted by the Zagreb University of Applied Sciences (Croatia) in cooperation with the Politécnico de Leiria (Portugal) and received funding via the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and discussed issues and obstacles encountered in the region as well as solutions and opportunities that can be used to overcome them.
Speakers included WFDF Secretary General Volker Bernardi, who presented the current global state of flying disc sports and its future goals, and José Amoroso, who discussed his 20-year history associated with the dissemination of disc sports in schools, universities, clubs, sports training, and science in Portugal and in the world with several projects. In addition, Tomislav Gorički focused on the growth of Disc Golf and outlined the competitions Croatia hosted in his country including the WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships to be held in 2022. The recognition by the Croatian Olympic Committee as an associate member was an important step for the development and acceptance of Flying Disc sports in the country. Matic Kuselj (Slovenia Ultimate school project) confirmed the importance of sports for young people, for joy, fun, and recreation. Lubomir Botev (Bulgaria) presented difficulties in formalizing some of the proposed objectives, underlining that sports continue to grow and must overcome the constraints.
José Amoroso, the initiator of the conference, concluded “May this international conference be another step in the involvement of the population that intends to take disc sports to the level that it deserves. I am hopeful that this event, together with our planned translation of the Ultimate in Schools ebook to the Croatian language will propel the dissemination of Flying Disc sports in the Balkan region.”
Link to the conference video here.