The Gridiron Field Goal World Record Pursuit Begins

Lucas Luha and I had our first training session this weekend as we start preparing for our next world record attempts.

Over the next month and a half, we’re going to be training for two WFDF events: Gridiron Field Goal and Gridiron Mini Field Goal. Both are pretty simple in concept — throw a frisbee through a set of football uprights from as far away as possible — although the Mini Field Goal uses a smaller set of uprights.

I’ll be going after the Open records as well as the Over 35 records, while Lucas will be working toward the junior records. If we’re successful in breaking the WFDF records, I’ll also be looking at the corresponding Guinness World Records.

Lucas and I have trained for world records together before. A few years ago, I helped him train for Self-Caught Flight on ice skates, where you throw the frisbee, skate after it and catch your own throw as far away as possible. He went on to break multiple world records, so it’s pretty cool to be working together again on something completely different.

This first session was really about figuring out where we’re starting.

• Rob: 65 m — unofficially beyond the current world record
• Lucas: 42 m — a good challenge distance to start
• Open World Record: 64 m
• Junior World Record: 56 m

• Rob: 133 m — close on a few attempts and definitely have the distance
• Lucas: 56 m
• Open World Record: 131 m
• U15 World Record: 79 m

Those numbers gave both of us some really useful information.

On the Mini Field Goal, I was able to successfully throw through the uprights from 65 metres a few times, which is one metre beyond the current 64-metre Open World Record. Obviously these were training throws and not official record attempts, but knowing that I can already make the throw from beyond the record distance is a pretty good place to start.

The full Gridiron Field Goal was a little different. We measured out 133 metres, just beyond the current 131-metre Open World Record, and I had a few throws that were very close. More importantly, I confirmed that I have enough distance to break the record.

Now I need to turn that distance into a successful throw.

Over the next several training sessions, I’ll be trying some different discs and working on the balance between throwing as hard as I can and still having enough control to hit the uprights. At 133 metres, being a few degrees off your line at release can make a pretty big difference by the time the disc gets to the other end of the field.

Lucas has a different challenge, which is one of the things I really like about training for these records together.

His starting benchmarks are 42 metres for the Mini Field Goal and 56 metres for the full Field Goal. Instead of worrying about 56 metres and 79 metres — the current junior world records — we’re starting with where he is right now and seeing how far we can move those numbers over the next month and a half.

That’s really what this entire pursuit is going to be about.

I’ve been doing a lot of work lately around World Record Mindset™, and the central idea behind it is that every world record starts with a personal best.

This first training session was a pretty good example of what I mean.

We know what the world records are. Those give us something concrete to work toward, but knowing the record doesn’t tell us what to do next. For that, we first need to know where we are.

For Lucas, we now have two numbers: 42 metres and 56 metres. Those are his starting points. Maybe he eventually gets to 56 metres on the Mini Field Goal and 79 metres on the full Field Goal and breaks both records. Maybe he doesn’t. Either way, we can keep pushing those personal bests and find out how much better he can get.

My starting point happens to be different. I’ve already thrown beyond the Mini Field Goal world record in training, and I know I have enough distance to get beyond the full Field Goal record. My challenge now is figuring out how to make those throws when they count.

That’s why I don’t think a World Record Mindset is really about whether you ultimately break a world record. The record gives you the target, but the personal best gives you somewhere to start.

Over the next month and a half, Lucas and I will keep training, tracking our benchmarks and sharing some of what we’re learning along the way. We’ll experiment with different discs, work on distance and accuracy, adjust what we’re doing and hopefully watch those numbers keep moving.

Once we’re ready, we’ll put together the official record attempt and announce when and where it’s going to happen.

For now, Session 1 gave us exactly what we needed: a starting point.

Let’s see how far we can move it.