The 'flying disc' is taking off big time in Shanghai
Shot by Jiang Xiaowei. Edited by Sun Chao. Subtitles by Zhu Yuting.
With the disc flying through the night and winning cheers, members of a Shanghai-based sports club feel quite satisfied, as the simple sport of frisbee helps them chase away the daily cares of work and life.
Featuring rugby-like rules and easy-to-master skills, the five- to seven-a-side game fills many football fields on Shanghai's scorching summer nights.
Introduced to China in the late 1990s by Americans, the niche sport once known as ultimate frisbee has seen a long quiet time. But it has gained great popularity and became trendy among young people in the city in recent years.
"The game is easy to grasp, especially for people with sports experience," Yao Kai, co-founder of the Cash Challenger Sports Club, told Shanghai Daily.
Frisbee has become a popular sport and a fashion among young people in Shanghai.
Players warm-up before a game.
Shanghai-based frisbee club Cash Challenger Sports Club
The self-organized Shanghai club aims to gather like-minded people and has now become a real community of frisbee fans.
"When we founded the club, there were only a few dozen people in the WeChat group, but it soon expanded to over 100," Yao recalled.
"Now we have three groups in WeChat, and one of the groups has nearly 500 members."
At first, Yao and the other founders just wanted to gather friends to play together, but the increase of frisbee players also got him thinking about developing a club on a larger scale.
"In the future, we want to make the club more professional and attract more sports-loving people to join us," said another founder of the CCSC, who calls himself Friday.
"For now the club is still a non-profit organization, as our money is spent on renting venues and necessaries such as bottled water and first-aid supplies."
In Shanghai, the two-month lockdown over the recent COVID-19 resurgence made many people desperate to hang out with friends.
However, as many indoor entertainment places are still not open yet due to pandemic control rules, outdoor sports provide them with a chance to meet friends.
"Because there is not too much body contact, the frisbee game can mix men and women," Yao said, "so it gives the sport a social benefit."
As a physical workout, the game also creates the chance for players to meet fresh faces.
"The great thing of playing frisbee is that it brings me more new friends," said a basketball player Geng Xiaoqi, who works for a basketball club, CLB, in Shanghai.
"The game gives me a sense of relaxation that I couldn't get when I play basketball for work."
A coach with the Cash Challenger Sports Club teaches a woman how to hold a frisbee.
A player enjoys the game at a summer night in Shanghai.
Most players were born after 1990, especially post-1995. Only a few were born in the 1970s or 1980s.
The increasing popularity of the game is not unique to Shanghai – it is also happening in Beijing.
"I founded my own club with two friends in March, after I played in another club once," said Liang Chenyun, co-founder of the Beijing-based frisbee club Double C.
The previous not-so-good experience of playing the game did not scare the man away, but inspired him to found a new club.
"I think frisbee itself is very interesting, so the key to making it more fun is to play with like-minded people," he said.
Members of Beijing-based Double C club warm up before a frisbee game.
The explosion of the game can also be attributed to influencers on the Internet, including on popular platforms such as the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, commonly known as Red.
Search for "ultimate frisbee" on Xiaohongshu and you will find plenty of posts and beautiful photos.
Some major sports brands have started to pay attention to the game's development in China and are using the flying disc in their promotions.
But popularity also brings controversy. Some players seem to focus more on looking good in photos than the game itself.
"I think playing frisbee is a triple-win thing – in addition to exercising, I can also make friends and collect wonderful photos," said Shi, a new player.
Some people think playing frisbee is a symbol of being cool.
There are always photographers in each club to capture the wonderful moments of the players during the game.
But there are also some women dressing scantily and posing for sexy photos – the "frisbee ladies" who take to the field more for socializing than playing.
Their online posts have prompted many netizens to accuse them of distorting the true spirit of the game.
"If you come to the frisbee field not for the game itself but for posing for photos, that means you don't take the sport seriously," said Yao.
"If you love frisbee and take photos while enjoying the game, I think that's OK."
