Erasmus+ Mobility Project – Fehérvár Frisbee Sports Club

The aim of the Fehérvár Frisbee Sports Association is to use the support of Erasmus+ to build international connections within the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, thereby developing its domestic coaching and organisational capacities, supporting the participation of female players, and contributing to the dissemination of the sport’s social and educational values.

Within the framework of the project, 10 coaches and volunteers from our association travelled to France for 14 days to participate in a professional mobility programme in cooperation with the host organisation. During the mobility, our members took part in training observations and reflective workshops, and will share the knowledge they acquired with the Hungarian frisbee community through further programmes. In addition, the mobility offers participants opportunities for language development and networking, all while representing the promotion of inclusion and diversity.

During the first part of the mobility, in Grenoble, at the Disc In centre, we worked together with coaches and organisers, took part in cultural programmes, and gained first-hand experience of how a Western European frisbee club operates. In the second week, in the town of Saint-Martin-en-Haut, we observed the work of Disc In’s international coaching staff and participated in workshops, presentations and project assignments, enabling us to learn diverse elements of expertise from specialists from several countries.

Between 2024 and 2025, the Fehérvár Frisbee Sports Association successfully carried out an Erasmus+ sport mobility project. As part of this initiative, ten of our members travelled in July 2025 to France, to the Disc In organisation in Grenoble, to expand their professional knowledge and build international connections within the European frisbee community.

The long-term objective of the project is to create a more inclusive, diverse, and professionally stronger domestic Ultimate Frisbee community—one that participates actively in European sport and is capable of passing on the “Spirit of the Game” philosophy to younger generations. Thus, the project not only strengthens grassroots sports but also contributes to the EU’s horizontal values.

We found that the French and Hungarian frisbee environments are similar in many ways: in both places, youth development and involving physical education teachers play a key role. What stood out, however, was that French coaches place exceptional emphasis on the practical transmission of the Spirit of the Game. For them, it is not merely a written rule but an integral part of the everyday education of children and young people.

A major difference lies in the opportunities: French teams often attend international, high-level tournaments, which they can access more easily due to geographical reasons. These tournaments frequently attract American and Asian teams, resulting in an even higher level of play. However, this is costly, and many players can only participate with the help of internal scholarship programmes. This experience highlighted the need to introduce similar support mechanisms in Hungary to reduce economic inequalities within clubs.

Within Disc In’s philosophy, team management is not primarily about administration, but about community building. It was highly inspiring to see that tasks (such as training planning, communication, finances) are divided among several people—allowing everyone to rely on their strengths and reducing the risk of burnout. Particularly valuable for us was the “buddy system”: every new player is paired with a more experienced one who helps them through the initial period. This accelerates integration into the community, increases commitment, and supports development on the field.

In addition to training sessions, Disc In places strong emphasis on other team-building activities and games, as well as trying out other sports together. Since then, we have been organising more team-building events in our own club, and the positive impact is already noticeable.

From the French coaches we learned how important conscious, long-term training planning is. They often focus on a single topic for an entire month (e.g. defensive formations, long throws, or handler movement). This allows players to truly deepen their understanding of a given area and only move on once they can confidently apply it on the field. This method also accounts for the fact that not every athlete can attend every session, ensuring that they do not miss key strategic elements by skipping a few trainings.

We appreciated that the same coach does not always lead practice—several are involved, bringing variety and offering different perspectives to players. The most important lesson was that every drill must have a clear intention—we must know why we practise it and how it connects to the game.

Training sessions are also structured around a specific theme: from warm-ups through drills to end-of-session scrimmages, every exercise focuses on the skill currently being developed. This was enlightening, as it reduces injury risk and improves the on-field application of newly learned tactical/technical elements. For example, if a session focuses on mastering the jump cut, even the warm-up pays specific attention to the joints and muscles used, including preparatory tasks. Throughout the drills, this movement element is applied in various ways, and during the scrimmage, individual goals are set: everyone must perform three jump cuts during the game. Coaches may even call out players if they miss an opportunity. This ensures new knowledge is deeply integrated.

One of the unique aspects of ultimate is that men and women play together. At Disc In, we learned that this requires conscious effort:

• They openly discuss gender differences,
• Support female players with dedicated recruitment programmes,
• Ensure everyone has space on the field,
• Frequently use trust-building exercises that also deepen off-field relationships.

This reinforced for us that mixed-gender play carries not only technical but also powerful community value. A key lesson, echoed across several workshops, was that the first step is to define what “good” mixed play means for a given coach or team, and to set expectations accordingly.

Disc In coaches place particular emphasis on passing on values such as respect, cooperation, fair play, and perseverance. Positive reinforcement is present at every stage of learning, which also boosts players’ self-confidence.

A crucial takeaway for us was the awareness of child protection responsibilities: coaches must notice behavioural changes and seek professional help if necessary. This responsibility is just as important in Hungary as in France.

During the mobility, we encountered numerous new tactical approaches, such as:

• Force strong–weak side defence: thinking beyond “open” and “closed” sides, focusing instead on the thrower’s options.
• Flat mark: the marker stands squarely in front of the thrower, minimising long-throw opportunities and forcing cutters into shorter options.
• Triangle mark: a higher-level technique based on accepting that not all break throws can be prevented—but the most critical options can be neutralised.strong>