For a small club in New Plymouth the humble frisbee is something more than just a flying toy that gets stuck on the roof at gatherings, or chased down by the family dog.

Instead, it’s a quick-paced, strategic sport named Ultimate Frisbee – a netball and American football fusion.

While the sport may be new to many Kiwis, it has been around since 1968 and has more than five million players in the U.S where it originated.

One of the young stars of the Taranaki ultimate frisbee scene is Joseph Powick, 18, of the Taranaki Thunder.

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Powick was named the overall tournament male MVP at the recent Mixed Nationals Division 2 Tournament in which the Taranaki Thunder team he is part of placed third.

The frisbee-throwing prodigy picked up the sport in 2018 after being introduced to it by his brother who’d been playing at university.

“It requires a lot of fitness, like, there’s a lot of running involved. Because usually when you play it’s man-to-man defence, so you have to get away from your mark to get the disk, basically.

“So lots of running, lots of sprinting, and then being able to throw a frisbee is really useful.”

While the disks used generally have specific dimensions and weights, Powick said they’re similar to most frisbees people have thrown around before.

The game is played with seven players on each team with the goal being to catch the disc when it reaches a player’s ‘endzone’ on the end of the field.

It is also popular in New Zealand universities.

With a single club in New Plymouth, the only time the city club play competition games is in tournaments, Powick said.

“They have the mixed season from that September through to November. In that time we’ll be training, maybe twice a week in the lead up to that tournament.

“I really enjoy the people that play, the tournament…