Today we are joined by John who is one of the top dogs in our Fris-Free family, john thinks that a mixture of sunlight and exercise is the remedy for low moods and loneliness. Today I will be asking him a series of questions to further understand his passion for the great outdoors.
Oscar: So John firstly thank you for speaking with us today , tell us a bit about how and when you got involved with Fris-Free.
John: Thank you Oscar its a pleasure to be here as always. My Journey with frisbee started when I was young , i used to play ultimate frisbee for school and as I got older I stopped playing and picked up less productive habits until my son one day asked me to buy him a frisbee. This was a year before lockdown started and I fell back in love with the sport and have played most days since. As we came out of Lockdown I realised that a lot of people, younger generations in particular, were left feeling isolated and with a sense of hopelessness and understandably so, as a nation we have lost the ability to socialise due to lockdown. So me and a few mates started playing frisbee with locals in our local parks and naturally it grew from there.
Oscar: So you’re telling me that within the last few years your passion for frisbee has grown from you and you friends to a whole city movement?! How do you feel about that? Has it changed the way you view frisbee?
John: It sounds pretty crazy when you put it that way hahaha. I know its an annoying answer but yes and no, my passion is still the same so in that sense nothings changed but at times I definitely forget about the way Fris-Free is growing , in particular how fast it’s growing. Im always grateful for the fact that we have such a great team steering the movement the right way, without you guys Id be lost at sea.
Oscar: Definitely, We’re more of a family than a team. Speaking of family, you mentioned your son earlier, do you think that seeing him during lockdown had an affect on your awareness of how isolating the covid era was for a lot of younger people.
John: 100%, my son and I are very close and seeing him stuck inside for months was difficult but the thing that i found most difficult was having nothing to talk about. We would speak about school , his friends , his worries and just what he had been doing in the day. I was lucky as I could work from home and have meetings and call my friends but I think for younger people communicating and being honest with mates is harder as it comes with maturity. So in short yes, seeing his reaction to covid and lockdown was a catalyst for the Fris-Free movement. I never want to see him that lonely and sad again.
Oscar: well thank you for your time and more importantly thank you for your vision , I genuinely think that Fris-Free is a big help for many young people in London and for those reading if you haven’t been to one of our sessions please do come along , we are free and you never know until you try !