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Freestyle frisbee athletes at Corallo beach in Ostia Antica (Italy).

In the sport of freestyle frisbee, athletes perform tricks with a flying disc; usually lighter than an Ultimate disc, freestyle discs are about 160g. It is an extreme version of throw and catch and is often looked at as hacky sack with a disc. When the sport emerged in the early to mid-1970s, it featured fast-paced trick throws and trick catches, epitomized by the performances of Jens and Erwin Velasquez.

In about 1975, Kerry Kollmar showed a trick called the nail delay in which the flying disc spins on the player's fingernail. It looks similar to spinning a basketball on the finger. The nail delay became the foundation of modern freestyle. Athletes soon learned to move the nail delayed disc under their legs and behind their backs, to pop the disc up and spin then nail delay again. By the end of the 1970s, thanks to groundbreakers like Joey Hudoklin, freestyle had evolved into an entirely different sport built around technical and athletic nail delay skills.

The airbrush developed in parallel with the nail delay. Though the nail delay is the main skill used by most freestylers, airbrushing opens up entirely new possibilities for freestyle combinations, freestyling with others and playing in the wind. To airbrush, a player slaps the outside of the disc in the direction of the disc's rotation. The disc flies upward and away from the player. In the wind, the disc will return to the player (or fellow freestyler) for the next move. The airbrushing game demands less planning and a more reactive approach to freestyle, as the disc's interaction with the wind affects airbrushing more than nail delaying. Airbrushing technique has developed to include brushing with other parts of the body, most often the foot. Players perform trick brushes under their legs or behind their backs. They can change the spin of the disc with one airbrush. Experienced airbrushers can brush both into the wind and away from the wind - airbrushing the disc around a complete 360 is called "Around The World".

Freestylers have pushed the limits of the sport by creating new moves, attempting ever-harder combinations of moves, exploring previously unheard of turnovers and upside down rim moves and choreographing intricate routines for competition.

The Freestyle Players Association is the governing body of freestyle. It acts both as a players union and sanctioning body, developing guidelines for competitions, organizing the world championships and promoting participation in freestyle around the world.

one of the current World Champions of Freestyle is Todd Brodeur, and currently resides in Bellingham, MA New England

• Official FPA Freestyle Frisbee World Championships 2007 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Paganello World Freestyle Challenge in Rimini, Italy
• The Freestyle Frisbee Page