The 1999 Narragansett Freestyle Championships

This years Narragansett tournament was an outstanding success again, with Chris DePaola hosting jammers from all over New England, New York, Florida and Puerto Rico. Typical New England hospitality reigned as all travelers were well fed, imbibed and rested. The tournament site was at the same location as last year, a grass field overlooking the beach with the coolest stone castle as a backdrop. The weather was outstanding except for a bit of a choppy wind. Many family and friends showed up, providing an appreciative audience to pump up the play.

First up were the individual routines, a continuing New England tradition. Chris put together a unique judging description, expounding on "The Most Fun" theme as the primary criterion. The players judged each other as well as themselves on a scale of 1 to 20. Highlights of this round included Rob Freid who shredded the whole 90 seconds, hitting big moves in his understated fluid style. Carlos "Pipo" Lopez came out and using the wind game he is famous for, crushed, hitting his osis moves, among other heinous gyrations. Another highlight was Rick Williams (getting the "Brad Keller" award) for doing a tutorial of various moves for the audience, which was instructive to the jammers as well.

The open pairs division had two rounds: semi and final. The semifinals were three minutes long and the finals four minutes. Before the semis, Toddy Brodeur's niece Crystal Brodeur and Josh Houle did a 2 minute juniors exhibition routine showing off a variety of throws and catches, including a monster!, along with some delay work.

Semi highlights included Chris DePaola shaking off the rust to display sweet spinning catches off milky chest roll sets. Carl Emerson displayed his smooth flowing style and tasty tipping sequence and had some nice co-ops with Mark Ide. Rick Williams and Steve Scannell showed they can generate some nice chemistry, maybe helped by their mutual crust. Toddy B. and Alan Caplin came out and hit their well-choreographed routine, highlighted by Toddy's sets to Alan's scarecrow and spinning flaud quick catch. Paul Kenny and Pipo Lopez came out next and showed the teamwork that has been developing over the last couple years with you know who hitting his patented Piposis among other moves. Doug E. "Fresh" Simon and Rob Freid went last and hit their routine as they so consistently do in their silky smooth style.

The semifinal results:

Before the finals, there was a short presentation made by Toddy B. to Paul Kenny for all the frequent flyer miles he has put in coming to New England tournaments. Toddy presented Paul with a cool metal sculpture he created himself, showing a jammer with two discs and doing a one handed turnover (It would have to be, since the other hand had a disk in it!).

The top four teams entered the finals, which began with Rick W. and Rex, yes Rex the Wonder Dog (Steve in full furry dog regalia). Apparently Steve was called away to sell some propane and Rex took over. In any event, the routine was choreographed to appropriate "dog" music and they hit the routine very well. Toddy and Alan went next, but didn't hit their routine as cleanly as the first round, although Alan hit another crushing crow off Tbro's set. Rob and Doug came out and did their thing once again. Rob is just so very hein and Doug so smooth and in control. Their comfort, or should I say flow level, with each other is a pleasure to watch. Lastly, Paul and Pipo came out wearing tie die shirts both received from attending last year's Manresa Beach tournament near Santa Cruz and put on by Tommy and Skippy. It was a tribute to the fact that this year's event was held this same weekend. The audience got a peek at the routine they are developing for this year's FPA Worlds (in Santa Cruz). Pipo hit big hein combos again and Paul displayed his double disc/turnover work, executing in spite of the choppy wind, taking first place. Overall the finals lived up to the rising quality level of recent New England Tournaments with all the finals teams grouped tightly in the standings.

After some post finals jamming, the gang retreated to Chris's pad for an extensive awards ceremony that topped off the awesome vibe he has created in Narragansett the last few years. Chris had special awards for everyone, including a lifetime achievement award for Rick's long disc career, a most improved award for Alan and highlighted by a Frisbie Pie Tin for Pipo, winner of the individual routine. I don't recall what individual specific award that Rob got, but I think he should have gotten the overall weekend-shred award. Chris will be doing this again next year, because we need him to. See you all then.

Seymour Trixx

Final Open Pairs Freestyle

Amateur Freestyle

Individual Freestyle

Women's Demo