In the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, there are many scenarios where a disc floats up into the air in the vicinity of an offensive player and a defensive player. The two players compete to bring down the disc. Winning this battle usually puts your team in a great position to score and is crucial for building sideline energy (similar to a crazy dunk in basketball). Having a high vertical and being able to time your jump greatly increases your chances of winning this battle.
This idea began in 2019. Frustrated with my inability to win 50/50 matchups in the air, I looked for ways to improve.
I stumbled across a DIY device created by a Reddit user that would suspend a disc in the air. It was adjustable and used velcro to keep the disc attached to the device.
I could see a few improvements that could be made.
I considered 2 base designs.
Option 1: A concrete-filled paint bucket.
Pros: heavy weight to keep device stable, small footprint
Cons: difficult to transport due to weight
Option 2: A PVC base design.
Pros: easy to disassemble and transport
Cons: a large footprint which may get in the way of use
I also needed to make the height of the device adjustable.
The ability to adjust the height is important because it will allow a user to increase the challenge as their vertical increases and allow it to be used by a variety of people.
I opted to accomplish this by building the main structure with two pieces of PVC. The lower and stronger base piece has an inner diameter large enough to accept the outer diameter of the upper section.
The upper section was drilled with holes at 1-inch increments and the lower section was drilled with 2 holes, 4 inches apart. To set up the device and hold the height constant, I inserted 2 rods through the holes of the lower section into the holes of the upper section.
By building the device with these 2 major sections, I could easily disassemble the device for transportation and fit it inside a car.
The device that inspired me used velcro to keep the disc attached. One piece of velcro was attached to the bottom of the arm. Another was attached to the disc.
The flaw of this design is that with every use, forces would be applied to the velcro pieces, pulling them away from the arm and the disc. I foresee the adhesive on the velcro pieces being the component with the shortest lifespan in the device. The component with the next shortest lifespan would probably be the strength of the connection between the two velcro pieces.
I revised that design by using neodymium magnets. By using magnets, I instantly solved the problem of the strength of the connection between the two velcro pieces decreasing over time. Furthermore, magnets don't require direct contact to apply an attractive force. With this in mind, I could place one magnet on the inside of the PVC arm and the other magnet on the bottom of the disc. In this manner, the direction of the attractive forces of the magnet is the same as the direction that the adhesive on the magnets operates. Thus the issue of the adhesive on the velcro pieces being the component with the shortest lifespan in the device is solved.
In 2019, the Fox Chapel Area High School Boys' Ultimate Team placed 6th out of 9 teams.
The 2020 Season was canceled due to COVID-19.
In 2021, we went undefeated with a record of 9 wins, 0 losses. We won a significant portion of our aerial matchups even with a below-average player height.
