The community dissolved up to 60% After a year of "blowout", is Frisbee still on fire?

Reporter Li Wenyao

If you want to say that the hottest sport last year is Frisbee.

According to the Baidu index, the average daily value of the Frisbee Information Index in 2021~2022 is 147561, with an average increase of 173 times. In the first half of 2022, the overall consumption of frisbees increased by 545%.

Both Frisbee manufacturers, football stadium localities, and community operators have all welcomed the impact and dividends brought by the new sport of Frisbee last year. However, with the recovery of sports and events and the opening of indoor venues, Frisbee has declined.

Is it a flash in the pan? Or take root? Almost a year has passed, is Frisbee still on fire?

The Frisbee community disbanded up to 60%.

In March last year, due to the closure of sports venues, restrictions on sports projects, and the promotion of platforms such as Xiaohongshu, the Frisbee with both social and sports attributes caught fire.

Various Frisbee communities have sprung up, and a large number of young people have begun to get involved with the project. On the Internet, the number of Frisbee searches has increased exponentially. In a few months, the Frisbee community can complete the accumulation of users from zero to thousands, the attendance rate is considerable, and the weekend sessions are full.

Because frisbee is mostly played on grass, its sudden explosion also spawned contradictions: a large number of frisbee enthusiasts poured in, football field resources were tight, and football fans were "grabbed territory". Because of the Frisbee trend and social attributes, some people dress sexy, only take pictures and do not exercise, some people pretend to exercise, but in fact cast a wide net, deceive other people's feelings, these chaos also cast a shadow on this sport.

Nowadays, walking into the major football stadiums in Hangzhou, you can still find frisbee lovers, but it is far less than last year; Open social software such as Xiaohongshu, "frisbee" posts are mostly frisbee information, teaching, sports sharing, not posing for sports photos.

"Up to now, 60% of the Frisbee community has been disbanded and stopped." Zheng Chun, a veteran of the frisbee circle and more than ten years of experience in playing plates, told reporters.

Since the end of last year, the number of people signing up for the new market has begun to drop sharply. "Some are less interested in frisbees, and some are returning to their previous sports as they let go. Others may find that frisbee is not suitable for them after trying. Zheng Chun said that as the weather heats up, the popularity of Hangzhou frisbee will rise again, but compared with last year, whether it is the number of participants, personnel composition or competitive level, "people who love will step by step to a higher stage through novices, progressions, and events, while others will quit the frisbee circle in a short time." ”

Frisbee began to rise in second- and third-tier cities

It can be clearly felt that in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the popularity of frisbee has decreased, but in second- and third-tier cities, frisbee has just emerged. "Cities like Yueyang, Jingzhou, and Taizhou in Zhejiang are beginning to gain popularity with rural revitalization and the sinking of frisbee activities." Zheng Chun said that in the "sports + tourism" model, the perfect combination of frisbee and outdoor is quite popular, and the trend sports are used as an introduction to attract popularity for the place, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

In order to further expand the group of Frisbee players, the Frisbee project form is constantly innovating. Teenagers can play dodgeboard, middle-aged and elderly people can play quasi-frisbee, the original 5~7-player team frisbee also has a three-person gameplay, "lower the threshold for participation, reduce the venue requirements, so that we can do more frequent competitions." ”

Opening up the Frisbee upward channel, allowing people who love Frisbee to have more platforms to communicate and show themselves, and making the project play more professionally is a new topic faced by the Frisbee sport after the initial screening of users last year.

Up to now, more than 20 cities including Chengdu, Ningbo, Shandong, Hainan, Shenzhen and other cities have established frisbee associations, and the Beijing frisbee association is also actively advancing. "After the establishment of the association, the relevant systems of Frisbee athlete level certification and coach training will also follow immediately."

In the first few months of this year, national and local frisbee competitions have exceeded the number of events in the whole year of last year, and there are more competitions waiting to be unveiled, "such as frisbee championships, club leagues, men's and women's single-sex frisbee competitions are all in preparation, and even there will be frisbee beach competitions in Ningbo." Zheng Chun conservatively estimates that this year, the number of frisbee events nationwide will exceed 100.

After the fire fell

There are still many tricks for Frisbee to expand its territory

After the explosion, Frisbee left various imprints on public life.

At the end of last year, the country's first international competition-level frisbee field settled in Xiasha, and the huge space of 5600,<> square meters brought more experience to frisbee enthusiasts. The surviving Frisbee Club has gained like-minded friends in this wave of popularity, streamlining users and taking a big step on the road of specialization, they use love as a rope, connect young beliefs, and are eager to stand on a bigger stage.

Team frisbee into the school, dodge disc into primary school, throwing the frisbee is quite favored by middle-aged and elderly people, a variety of frisbee modes adapt to different public sports needs, more and more people begin to approach this sport.

Hangzhou already has an international competition-level frisbee field

Last year, with the popularity of frisbee, football stadium bookings suddenly became tight. An acre of three-point green field is no longer just the world of young football players.

But since the beginning of spring this year, the green field has returned to calm, and many places have said that as the temperature rises, the Frisbee heat is bound to return, but it is difficult to reach the height of last year.

In the case that most places are not optimistic about frisbee, Ye Fangliang and Hu Haodi, the heads of Heyland Heilan Island in Hangzhou, moved the country's first international competition-level frisbee venue into a business park in Xiasha. The venue covers a total area of 5800,<> square meters, and in addition to the main arena, there are buffer zones, beach relaxation areas, and rest areas with canopies and folding chairs.

After 85, Ye Fangliang has a rooftop court in Jianghe Mei Plaza in Shangcheng District, and when Frisbee exploded last year, he was exposed to the sport as a venue. "I started playing with the mentality of giving it a try, and then I 'chased' the team on my field because I liked it so much." With the improvement of the level of himself and the friends around him, Ye Fangliang found that the football field in Hangzhou was gradually a little less playable, "Frisbee has a lot of flying body to catch the disc, tumbling action, and it is very easy to get injured on the green field. ”

Therefore, after more than two months of searching and investment, in November last year, the country's first international competition-level frisbee venue was stationed in Xiasha. The field is marked with white code lines, so frisbee enthusiasts can evaluate their throwing prowess, and good turf can minimize the chance of injury. Ye Fangliang said that a two-hour frisbee training session costs between 11,1200 and 1400,<> yuan, and weekday evenings and weekends are basically booked, "Some bookings are four or five hours, mostly club competitive team training or inter-team matches." ”

Compared with the venue operator, Ye Fangliang's original intention to make an international competition-level frisbee venue is still out of hobby: "Just like basketball, it is also from cement floor, rubber floor to today's indoor wooden floor, the specialization of the venue is actually a necessary way for a sport, I just want to show it first, to provide a platform for people who love frisbee to improve themselves." ”

The lively walked away, and the loyal fans were happy

The most obvious perception of Frisbee heat, in addition to the field, is the Frisbee Club. From mid-to-late last year to around the Spring Festival this year, about 60% of the Frisbee community disbanded on the spot, but the remaining clubs also became more united.

The predecessor of Pansiling Frisbee Club was a frisbee club formed by Ali's friends. Founded in January 2021, it began around March last year, and the community expanded rapidly, and the number of community members exceeded 1,3 in half a year.

In Pansiling, newcomers are called "little goblins", advanced players are called "Daxian", and high-level competitive team members and senior veterans are "old monsters". At first, the "Leprechaun" field accounted for 60% of the weekly performances, and at the end of last year, the "Leprechaun" sessions were basically gone. At present, there is only one "Daisen" teaching ground every week. "This year, we are focusing on the cultivation of waist enthusiasts and streamlining the friends who insist on playing this sport." Ma Wenrui, the club's manager, said that Pansiling has now cultivated its own competitive mixed team "FriSpin" and women's team "FriSpearl", and almost all of them participated in last year's China Frisbee League Hangzhou competition.

In Ma Wenrui's view, the road to commercialization of the frisbee club is still obstructed and long, and it did generate some revenue when a large amount of traffic flooded into the market last year, but "the operation and income of a single Frisbee game are actually very transparent, and there is very little room for replay." ”

Therefore, Ma Wenrui and his friends did not have too many commercial appeals, but hoped to use the club as a link to unite people who love frisbee. The core operation partners of Pansiling are part-time to complete the daily maintenance and management of the frisbee club, as well as the regular activities or competitions of the community. The club will hold 2~3 relatively large-scale events every year, such as the Dragon Boat Race, the Steering Race and the HAT Race, etc., which are all an exchange meeting of new and old plates in the circle, and everyone communicates and exchanges like old friends.

"The primary goal of the club this year is to maintain stability, first survive, and then through more refined operations, launch the IP and team of Pansiling, continue to promote the new lifestyle brought by Frisbee, and let more people integrate and enjoy the joy of this sport." With the intervention of Frisbee associations in various places and the increase of events, Ma Wenrui hopes that the event can also be refined, so that the public can see the original Frisbee spirit and Frisbee sports, "Competition and technical refinement are one thing, but more importantly, the group of people who play together really recognize and understand the Frisbee spirit." ”

Campus frisbee, girls benefit a lot

In the first Frisbee Open Championship in Hangzhou, the Frisbee team of Hangzhou Yungu School was the only junior and senior high school team in the field. As early as 2017, Zou Fan, a teacher at Yungu School, was committed to promoting the sport of frisbee on campus.

At first, Zou Fan just took advantage of the recess to bring interested students to play, but slowly, more and more people played together. On this basis, in 2020, Yungu School established a frisbee team, mainly junior and senior high school students. At that time, the sport of frisbee had swept the whole school, primary schools were mainly popularized dodgeboard, and junior and senior high schools were mainly team frisbee. Now, in addition to the weekly club time, the morning exercise and physical education classes of junior and senior high school students bring frisbee as a sports element into the classroom.

What is the impact of playing frisbee for children in middle and high school?

Zou Fan told reporters that in addition to improving communication and teamwork skills, Frisbee advocates sportsmanship, and terminology, tactics and competitions are in line with international trends, which helps to open students' eyes when learning and practicing this sport. At the same time, Frisbee has played a significant role in stimulating adolescent girls' love and confidence in sports.

As a co-ed sport, some girls who did not like sports or introverts, after playing Frisbee, not only fell in love with sports, but also used it as their way to socialize, and participated in and spread Frisbee on the way to school, "as if I planted small seeds, they sowed it." Zou Fan said with a smile.

Today, frisbee has become one of the key buzzwords in Cloud Valley School. In addition to the dodgeboard and frisbee competitions in school, children who love frisbee will also go out of school to communicate with schools inside and outside the province, "and sometimes the team members will compete with college students such as Zhejiang University of Technology." ”

With the gradual liberalization of the epidemic and the increase of events, Zou Fan hopes to promote the Frisbee to gradually stabilize at all levels of the ladder in Cloud Valley, and more and more students fall in love with the sport and participate in competitions. At the same time, he also longs for this fire to burn more vigorously in junior high schools and high schools.