Interview with Emil Isaksson
PDGA #24960

Where are you from?

I’m living in Kalmar a town of 60,000 people on the south east cost of Sweden. Kalmar has a long tradition of disc golf and is also the hometown of my friend and recent EC Champ Christian Sandström. Since last year I founded a new disc golf club together with Pierre Kristoffersson and this year we’ve built a nine hole course on a school yard to get more young player to the sport.

How long have you been playing disc golf?

I started to play disc golf in 2000 after a 3 years with Ultimate where I received some medals on national level. My teammates moved from town because of studies and the military and the option was to play disc golf instead.

Home course? Favorite course?

My home course is Skälby Disc golf Course. It’s a course with half open holes and half wooded holes with a scary 80 meter water hole. My favorite course must be Domaine de Ronchinne in Belgium where we just played the EC 2007. The course is situated in a beautiful castle park with a lot of elevation and big wonderful trees standing in the way of your shots.

How does your disc golf scene differ from what you’ve experienced in America?

The disc golf scene in Europe has grown a lot since the PDGA Europe was started in late 2005. The amount of amateur players is still low when looking on America. Many of the bigger tournaments in Sweden and Finland that I visited like, Skellefteå Open, European Open and Stockholm Open hold very high level of organization to the players. The last time I visited America was in 2005 at USDGC.

Who do you think is the strongest European player as we head into a stretch that includes the World and US Championships?

Strongest so far this year are Jesper Lundmark who won three of three tournaments on the PDGA EuroTour, Christian Sandström who won the EC 2007 and was second in Skellefteå and British Open, and Timo Pursio who won the Copenhagen Open and Tali Open on the EuroTour after 1063 and 1071 rated rounds. Then we have Markus Källström the half American that has played quite good on the PDGA NT. I know that Christian and Markus are coming to the PDGA Worlds and at least Markus to the USDGC.

Do you think the Pro Worlds will ever be held in Europe?

After the meeting with Brian Hoeniger and Dave Nesbit at last year’s European Open I think we will see a Pro Worlds in Europe in the next 10 years. We might see a National Team Worlds earlier than that. Both Järva Discgolf Park in Stockholm and Discgolf Terminalen in Skellefteå are building more holes to meet the growth and expansion of the sport. With a PDGA Worlds in Europe we will properly see players from at least 20 countries.

What are the most popular discs over there right now?

I would say that must be Wraith, Buzz, Roc and Aviar in Sweden. I don’t really know how it is in the other countries of Europe.

Will you tell us a little bit about Team Sweden?

Team Sweden consists of the Top 10 Open, 5 Master and 4 women on the Swedish Ranking from 2006. Our ranking is based on the rating of the player you meet in a tournament the last 12 months. To become a part of Team Sweden all players must sign a contract where they agree to things like dress code, take part in drug test if requested and also to be a model for younger players and take part in SFF (Swedish Frisbeesport Federation) actions. As a part of the Team Sweden you receive money contribution traveling to EC and PDGA Worlds. This year we had Peter Lundmark work full time on SFF to help the players on EC with administration and the organization will be even stronger around Team Sweden next year when traveling to EC in Germany.

Who is your pick to win the upcoming Pro Worlds?

Besides myself I could see guys like Nathan Doss, David Feldberg and Ken Climo could take the victory. I also know that it will be a great tournament where the players from Sweden will fight tough because of the great weather that’s more like the Swedish summer. It suits us. Watch out for Team Sweden!