A new sport that is flying high

When a group of students at Yale University inverted pie tins that were used to cover the delivery of their bakery orders, they found an aerofoil shape that could be thrown around for fun.

The pie maker was the Frisbie Pie Company, and thus the Frisbee was born, even though such discs had existed under other names from the late 1930s. As a result of the popularity of Frisbee throwing, the disc became a highly successful commercial product.

The activity has been confined to a small number of players in China over the years, but recently it has made its presence felt and has become one of the most popular emerging sports in the country.

“I was under the impression that it was only a toy for children and pets,” says Qu Xinchen, 30, of Beijing, who started playing with the flying discs in April. “It never occurred to me that it was a competitive game with social functions.”

Qu says he went with friends to a game for new players. “It was pretty nice, and we had a coach walking us through the rules and basic skills.”

Each session usually lasted two hours, and he was able to apply the coach’s instructions in the second hour with his friends.

Qu discovered that the rules of the game were simple. He plays with flying discs with his friends twice a week and has been to events arranged by four different clubs across the capital.

Qu says he has been able to better appreciate the elegance of the sport. More importantly, he gets to see his friends more often.

The flying-disc clubs in Beijing usually have a photographer to capture moments in the game. “The photos are very nice and can be reposted on our social media accounts as a reminder of the good times.” says Qu.

On July 7, 2022, China’s General Administration of Sports announced the first Chinese Flying Disc League.

“Flying discs have been widely enjoyed by the public, and the sport has developed rapidly in recent years,” the administration’s announcement of the league’s formation said.

The sport has become an important part of national fitness activities, it added.

Sun Dawei, a former gym trainer who co-established The North flying disc club with a friend in April, says most of those taking part in the activity are white-collar workers aged about 30.

He was a keen participant of flying-disc activities at Tianjin University of Sport in 2011, he said, and between 2014 and 2019 won top prizes in competitions in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Xiamen.

“There must have been only about 100 people playing professionally, because I saw the same faces all the time at those matches,” he says.

Sun sensed the surging popularity of the sport after Spring Festival this year.

“People around me have been talking about it as a phenomenon.”

His club has more than 500 members, he says. He hosts about three events a week in the city’s Chaoyang district. About 20 participants take part in each event.

The low threshold for playing in terms of age limits and equipment have both helped fuel the popularity of the flying disc in China, experts say.

Zhang Kun, a veteran player and organiser of events in Beijing, says social media platforms and online influencers played a positive role in promoting the sport during the early days of the pandemic. The sport is easy to pick up and understand, he says.

“Your attention is fixed on the flying disc once it is thrown and airborne, and you may feel you’re flying too.”