All-India Frisbee Camp in Auroville

A boy sprints into the end zone of a frisbee field as a spinning disc goes before him, beckoning and hovering. He climbs into the air after it, and with one swipe of his hand sweeps it into possession and a point for his team.

This was a common sight at Auroville’s Dehashakti sports ground where the Auroville ultimate frisbee team played host to 180 children, coaches, and chaperones for a highly successful frisbee camp from December 25-30.

Organized by the Chennai NGO Bridging the Gaps, which brings together schools for underprivileged children from all over India to play frisbee along with other confidence building activities, the young people, aged 10-17, were put together into teams, taught throwing skills and the rules of ultimate frisbee, and then participated in a tournament on the final day of the camp. There were 65 boys and 46 girls in the group.

In addition, they created logos and names for their team, painted t-shirts and played basketball and volleyball. Each participant received a frisbee at the end of the camp.

Besides some of the Auroville frisbee team, many Aurovilians contributed their expertise: Awareness Through the Body sessions, challenge activities (Suzie and Partha), Kalari (Vadivel), fire juggling (Aur) and a film show (Suresh).

Rajiv of Dehashakti opened up the sports ground facilities so that tents were pitched, food was cooked and pick-up basketball and volleyball games could happen during breaks in the action.

According to Abimanyu of Auroville frisbee, the camp was tightly organized by two experienced members from Bridging the Gap so that there were activities of some kind happening all day long and into the evening. Coaches came two days early to receive a detailed schedule of activities (the “Rule” book, put together by Dan Rule, from Australia, coach of the Indian national team). So well organized was it that on the days of rain, a new printed schedule materialized within 20 minutes. During the rain, the camp moved into Transition to follow the new schedule.

Each team fielded five players along with substitutes. Some participants were raw beginners, while others had honed their skills on the beaches of Chennai. The coaches’ job was to get everyone to participate and understand that the winning was less important than “spirit,” the frisbee code of conduct that requires players to call their own fouls and refrain from pushing and shoving. There are no referees in ultimate frisbee.

The organizers and participants were highly appreciative of the Auroville environment and facilities for this event, especially the sports grounds so well-provided by Rajiv. According to Abi, Bridging the Gap plans to hold the event in Auroville again next December, making it another regular event like the marathon.