A thematic tournament perfect for the winter.

December 20, 2022 by Steve Andrews in Profile with comments

When it first showed up in my email, it seemed like such an obvious idea: a one-disc tournament featuring the fan-favorite Kastaplast Berg. The concept was fun, the caddy book was charming, and I had always wanted to try out the Berg. It seemed like Kastaplast had put together an event to match the Trilogy Challenge or Discraft’s Ace Race.

But it wasn’t organized by Kastaplast or a major retailer. It was created by Keegan Allanson and Nick Panozzo, two local Bloomington players who decided to put on the event they always wanted to play – a one-disc tournament that matched the conditions in the dead of the Indiana winter with the aerodynamic challenges of the Berg.

The Kastaplast Berg (1,1,0,2) is an unusual disc. It is high-shoulder rounded putter designed with a thumb track and a distinct puddle top. It has a strange hand feel and a very short, dumping flight. It is slightly overstable and, at a 1 speed, very slow. Its lack of glide makes it hard to throw very far but makes it great for backhand and forehand approach shots that fall out of the sky and land soft. The Berg is the kind of disc that generates strong reactions. Although many players hate its weird flight and feel, it has also built a small army of devoted fans.

Panozzo says the idea began to form in summer 2021. “I owned a Berg or two, but I didn’t bag it at the time,” he said. “Everyone that did play with the Berg loved it and swore by it. Also, the darn thing was hard to find. I remember going to Skybreed Discs, when it was still more of a walk-in shop, and the guys working there would tell me the Berg would sell out in the first 10 minutes every time they had a drop.” It was popular but unusual, the perfect disc to build an event around.

To get a large number of hard-to-find Bergs while the supply chain was still struggling with the pandemic disc shortage was a challenge. Panozzo contacted Discs Unlimited, a US distributor for Kastaplast. They were initially wary about promising 56 blank discs but agreed to move forward. “They offered a discounted rate to some guy who wrote a random email,” Panozzo laughed, “so I’ll take that as a win.” Discs Unlimited couldn’t make any promises about which colors or plastics would be available, but the event was a go.

The design of the discs,…