Flying high with free frisbee fun

At the start of the year, children at A-Star Sports were set the ‘At your peak’ frisbee challenge. Those attending weekly classes (at participating franchises) received a foldable frisbee and set about the target of attempting one, two or three peaks by playing lots of frisbee games.

As in the traditional three peaks challenge, the targets were Ben Nevis (1,344m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Snowdon (1,085m). Children could attempt to frisbee throw one, two or all three peaks, individually or in family teams by playing frisbee-based games and keeping a record of distances covered in throws.

To help families have fun along the way and reach the targets creatively, A-Star Sports joined forces with UK Ultimate, the National Governing Body for the sport of Ultimate, and mi fitness directory, a new online community dedicated to the promotion of all things fitness related and a social network for those in the fitness community, to produce a free eBook. The eBook is free to all and is full of accessible games as well as the three peaks challenge itself with a printable record card and a certificate for those completing any stage.

A-Star Sports co-founder and director Sharon Bassett commented: “It’s widely publicised now that many children leaving primary school are found to be overweight or even obese. There are so many factors that contribute to this, including an enormous decline in families choosing to play outside as well as sport and physical activity just not being seen – or experienced – as fun. In the ultimate frisbee challenge, we’ve tried to give families a great reason to play out in the garden or the local park and just have a really fabulous time!”

Liam Kelly, Coaching & Development Manager at UK Ultimate, added: “UK Ultimate has been working with young children for many years and we’re passionate about children developing the fundamental skills for our sport as well as many others. Ultimate has some unique features that set it apart. At a competition level there are no referees; players are responsible for their own foul calls and sportsmanship. And it’s played with a flying disc!”

Working with and appealing to families with children in the primary age range, A-Star Sports, UK Ultimate and mi fitness directory are in a prime position to help children develop good life habits that will significantly improve their health into adulthood.

Nicholas Kyriacou, Founder of mi fitness directory, explained: “Setting fun and achievable targets can be really important in sustaining the right physical activity and fitness levels. Activities like this have no age barrier at all and can be key to longer term engagement and better health as a result. It is important to keep the youth fit for a healthy future!”

“Thank you very much for the frisbee.  This was a really nice gesture for the boys and girls.  Gustav spent so much of his holiday playing outside with his frisbee that the washing machine couldn’t keep up with the constant dirty trousers!  Frisbee also goes to school with Gustav every day – wish I could say that about books and homework…and, to top it off, it came skiing with us!” (M. Worboys)

“My two children are still playing with their foldable frisbees – as well as frisbee, several other made-up games including fastest re-folding!” (B. Mortell)