If you're new to the boomerang scene, this summary will provide you with an overview of the events and general rules and objectives of each event involved in competitive boomerang throwing.

History
From the crudely built non-returning hunting wooden stick to the fast-paced, carbon fiber returning rangs of today, boomerang throwing has come a long way. Modern day boomerang throwing as a new age American sport was born after Ben Ruhe began to lead boomerang throwing workshops in conjunction with the work he was doing with the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of Natural History in 1969. The initial interest was so great that the workshops were repeated the following years and soon thereafter, tournaments were started. They were always lighthearted and fun in nature but as the number of entrants increased, so did the level of expertise. The United States Boomerang Association (USBA) was formed in 1980 and now the sport is practiced worldwide, with team and individual world championships held every two years.

Tournaments
There are local, regional and national tournaments in every country every year and can be based on team, individual and head-to-head competition. These tournaments are scheduled by boomerang enthusiasts throughout the year; competitors travel all over for competitions, sometimes to other countries. The World Championships (referred also as the World Cup) competition is the ultimate tournament that brings together teams from across the world to compete in team and individual competitions. The host country (switches every 2 years and is on a voluntary basis) decides how many teams can be accomodated in total and on a country basis. It is then up to each country to determine what teams they will send to the World Cup competition. Recent World Championships have been held in Japan, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany.

There are numerous boomerang clubs and organizations across the globe which promote the sport. The IFBA is the International Federation of Boomerang Associations, an umbrella organization for all national boomerang organizations. It was solidified in 2003/2004, although began in the mid-1990s, and has become a forum through which ideas and rules about the sport can be discussed as well as how the World Championships will occur.

Official Events of the 2008 World Boomerang Championships

Individual competition consists of the following events.

Accuracy is target practice with boomerangs. You throw from a bullseye painted on the ground. You get points based on where the boomerang lands in relation to the bullseye.

Trick Catch. Throw and catch a sequence of "tricks" in increasing difficulty. Tricks include catching the boomerang one-handed, under the leg, behind the back, with your feet or hackey it, for example, as well as with two boomerangs thrown at the same time. Points are earned based on the successful completion of catches. If you make it through a round without dropping a boomerang, the thrower can continue a second and third round (and on and on) to earn more points.

Fast Catch is all about speed. Whoever can throw and catch five throws in the fastet time is the winner.

Endurance is Fast Catch for five minutes. The thrower with the most number of catches in five minutes wins.

Maximum Time Aloft (MTA). How long can you get your boomerang to stay in the air before you catch it? Throwers throw a a specific type of boomerang with the hopes of keeping it aloft as long as possible and catching it within the 50-meter radius competition circle.

Australian Round combines distance, accuracy and catching. A boomerang with a range of 50 meters gets maximum distance points. A catch in the bullseye gets maximum accuracy and catching points.

All boomerangs must have a minimum range of 20 meters, as measured by range judges positioned throughout the boomerang field (above). In Aussie Round, you get bonus points for going further than 20 meters.

Long distance is a specialized individual event contesting how far a boomerang can be thrown. The boomerang must return to the thrower's point of release although the thrower does not have to catch the boomerang.

These events are contested in the team competition. There are 4 players per team per event.

Team Relay. Each thrower sprints 30 meters to the bullseye of a circle. Throw a boom, catch it, sprint back and tag the next teammate. Objective is lowest time.

Team Endurance Relay. Each thrower sprints 20 meters to the bullseye of a circle. Throw and catch a boom as many times as possible for one minute. Sprint back and tag the next teammate. Objective is most catches.

Team Supercatch. Teammate A throws an MTA boomerang. Teammates B, C, and D throw Fast Catch boomerangs until the MTA is caught. Count total catches. If the MTA is dropped, the score is zero.

Team Accuracy, Team Trick Catch, Team MTA, Team Australian Round. The objective is similar to that in individual tournaments. All teams will send two sets of two throwers to designated competition circles. The score of each thrower (4 in total) is combined to come up with the team's total score.



0 comments | post comment