#Friz playing frisbee on bicycles
Got the invite last night to go check out some new-to-me game called, Friz. Apparently, it was a mixture of "ultimate frisbee and bike polo," or that's how it was explained to me. Since I don't play either of those sports, I wasn't interested in playing but I was intrigued enough to check it out. So, with camera in hand, we traversed across the city to Mill Creek Park to see what the fuss was about.
We arrived at the park a little late, but others were just showing up as well. At first it was just four bicycles. Then five. Then eight. Then ten! Apparently, we picked a good day to go as there was a larger-than-normal amount of participants.
As I understand it, the game is pretty much Hot Potato with the frisbee being the starch. You ride your bicycle between boundary markers and toss the frisbee to others on your team. The keep away tactic works as long as you do just that: make sure the other team doesn't get the frisbee. If they do, you have to work together to get it back.
Eventually, someone is going to make a bad throw or a bad catch or simply drop the frisbee. This is where shit gets crazy: You have to pick up the disc, but you can't put your foot down to do it. That means, people were riding and pulling off some crazy contortions to bend down low across their top tubes and scoop up a flat frisbee lying in grass. If that wasn't bad enough, opposing team members were doing their best to block with their bikes and bodies and throw others of balance, forcing a foot down.
You gotta have a skillset to play this game which includes being able to trackstand. Even with that skill, you might get pushed off balance and drop your foot. If you're holding the disc and you drop your foot, you have to toss the frisbee straight up into the air and it's fair game for anyone to scoop it up.
It was 90 degrees outside, humid and mosquitoes were hungry, but the game went on for nearly an hour and a half. Beer, popsicles and chocolate-mint cookies kept everyone cool. By the end, we were really hungry. Both for food, and maybe more so: a shower.
Check out the rest of the photos below!