On June 20th, the Flying Aces will entertain a Kalamazoo Public Library audience with Frisbee tricks. Their presentation also includes a history of the flying discs and information about the newest techniques and products.
Thirty years ago Brian Hayes of Manchester founded the Flying Aces as a way to share his love for playing Frisbee.
“Frisbee is such a relatively young sport that most people haven’t seen it played at a really high level, especially freestyle, which is what we do,” he says.
The group has been performing at schools and as half-time entertainment during professional sports ever since. The last time they performed for the Kalamazoo Public Library, a video was made of the presentation.
“The freestyle part of it is very fun," says Hayes. "That’s when we’re not worrying about being on the mic, we’re just letting loose. It’s literally freestyle, it’s anything you can think of with the Frisbee.”
The Flying Aces enjoy sharing tips and techniques with an audience, as a way to get children and adults involved with the sport. Hayes teaches the basics and demonstrates. Using a special disc called a Spinjammer, they show a group of youngsters how to spin the disc on the tips of their fingers.
“That Spinjammerdisc, actually, it’s like a bicycle with training wheels, it’s got a little indentation in the center,” he says. “It’s another great entrepreneurial story. The guy out in California came up with this idea to put a little pyramid in the center of a disc, so anyone can spin it on their finger. And it really is that easy. You can get a bunch of kids who have never tried it before and they can spin it pretty well, it’s a really fun disc.”
