Hi folks, here is Jarley from Rio de Janeiro (Brasil)
I would like to say that I totally agree with Dale and funda_iucunda words; FBTF is well-established, they care a lot about security and have a lot of experience on teaching people how to sling well and safely -not to mention their excellent bilbiographic references. The idea of stipulating two different categories, one played by people using only slings made of natural material (I only use this, my sling was made by the handcrafter that makes the slings to some of the FBTF members) and others for the ones that prefer sinthetic material.
Personally, I thought more than once about trying to contact some Clubs here, in order to find more people interested about  start slinging, and in these places we could practise with tennis balls. The matter is that I live in Copacabana, in the urban area of Rio de Janeiro, and i can't think about nowhere near here that could "host" a competition  with stones being used. This is something that bores me a lot, I don't use to sling a lot 'cause I can't make nice slings from natural fibers, and how i could teach people if I don't feel  myself as a GREAT slinger? even if I were, i would need lots of slings available for the one's I would teach... and sincerely i don't want to spend a lot of money - they are unexpensive, but if i try to buy 50 for instance  it would be costly, we have a lot of import rules here etc. Truely speaking, count on me to help in whatever you need as an international contributor, but i don't want to be so much involved here as to have to spend my free time organizing big events, or spending my own money on it.
but if people want to sling here, and they are nice people ok - we could then start to think about something more serious.
I will be really glad if we can plan an international  meeting  in the next-two-years, and i would prefer if it could happen in the Balear Islands, land of the FBTF
slingers. We would have a nice time there,  get lots of culture, and lots of slinging too... and could learn from them. I would just have to plan it at least one year before so, if you want, we can start to plan it by now...

PS: personally speaking (again ) I really don't mind about competition, I am 39 now and had been competing in futsal(indoor soccer) and wrestling when I was young... now I just want to have fun so, if we organize a competition, I could practise and prepare myself to be a referee... I would be glad to cntribute like this , and i would not have to compete against nobody... 8)

nice suggestions, Zwiebeltuete!
I didn't thought about a specific cathegory for tennis balls, it is a great idea...
Concerning the slings, do you know someone who use to make them with the material you mentioned? I am interested to buy some. I think that  ANY sling cheaper than 10 euros is really unexpensive...   the matter here are the taxes (60% over the prices), but if we buy unexpensive things, that's ok; but imagine if I would have to buy 50 slings in order to let them available to people that could be interested on learning how to sling... it would cost me 500 euros+300+shipping...

PS: I appreciate a lot people who know how to braid and to do handcraft works in general... I am both a teacher and a profesional handcrafter (I make handmade works using a vertical loom), but i have no patience to do slings... I tried to make some like the one's they teach at the FBTF home page, but I could not do nothing more than a poor thing... I really prefer to buy them...

Let's keep in contact!

SV:

some comments about your post:

1) I don't think anybody thought about create a FBTF "clone". The matter is that there are people that are more competitive than others, and i don't think they'll be satisfied to play one match each 2 or 3 years - for people outside Europe, travelling to Spain is not exactly cheap...

2) For me it would be nice just to be there, we could arrange some championship together with them, and i'd be satisfied.

3) The main trouble: a lot of people here in our community prefer to practise with artificial/sinthetic material, and this is not allowed by the FBTF. We can't forget that slinging is a traditional game there, which concept differs a lot, IN MY OPINION, from the term "sport' in a general; soccer or basketball are sports, but are not traditional games(TG); krulbol in the Netherlands, Aunt Sally, quoits and shove ha' penny in England, Palet in France and Jukskei in South Africa are traditional games, even if they're organized in Federations like other sports. What I mean is that even when they're coimpetitive,  TG's are not organized with the main objective of getting higher scores only, they are a part of people's culture. That's why I love them, and have been researching this subject for more than 10 years now... I have nothing against trying to sling better for accuracy or for distance, nor against competitions - I just only think that life is enough competitive and  I don't need to be better than others also in my free/leisure time - I must try to do my best in my profession, as a human being etc. But well, I am starting to be too phylisophic cal and that's only to ask you:

Would the guys (I mean ourselves, the Communitty) be satisfied to play only with natural-material-made slings, and so probably reach less distances in their throws?

Anyway, i agree that we must have the FBTF as THE reference for us. And I can't forget to say that I had been once honoured by them with a FBTF license and a certificate some years ago... that I proudly put on  my room's wall
We must try to be there , maybe... next year? it will be great, the first World Sling meeting and contest... it will be unforgetable.
And we can trust that Vicente, Mateo Cañellas and the others will do the best to make it a really nice meeting.
PS: what's your opinion, guys and girls, about creating a "tennis balls" competition? i think it is a great idea, but it should be a competition based on accuracy, not playing for distance, or the winner would be only the strongest ones, not necesarily the better slingers... (maybe the target should be a kind of wooden plate, put in a vertical plane, with holes from different diameters, each of them scoring different: less points for the biggest "holes", more points when someone make the tennis balls enter in the smaller holes... what do you think about it?

thank you for the comments, sv. i am waiting for your opinion about these other questions too, ok?

reasonable enough to me.

I like the traditional FBTF target as well. It is simple, rewards accuarcy on a level that is consistent with most slingers abilities, and it should work with a variety of ammunition. I don't like the very limited number of throws in sanctioned events, and it seems to me that some of the shorter distances are not necessarily appropriate - I expect that many people end up lobbing the throws at the short distance. I'd like to see the limits on sling materials, and (particularily) throwing style lifted for international competition.

friebejr is absolutely right in saying that the FBTF has cultural preservation as one of its main goals. They have done a great job of preserving (I'd imagine tenuously at times) the sport of Balearic slinging, and should be regarded as a great model on which to build other national organisations.

Matthias

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good point, here in the easyjet/ryanair kingdom, it's cheaper to get to spain that to get a taxi home from the pub

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i don't think so. bringing a nylon sling to the FBTF arena would be like bringing a crossbow to an archery club. or a grenade to a fly-fishing contest. i would expect a welcome if we play by their rules, but otherwise not.

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yes, that makes sense, but there is a danger that we end up going down the fullerene/depleted uranium route. i personally think that the FBTF "natural materials only" is pretty fair (even though i usually use a nylon sling, i get good results from jute)  . 
remember the row about alumuinium cricket bats? it's just not the done thing, and that's the attitude the balaeric  traditionalists would most likely take with us.
so you are right, we either play by the established rules or make up our own. 

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i think i'll be ready by next year, it would be great to meet up and compete. this would give those who want to form their own organisation some idea of what they want to  achieve

anyway, i suggest we compete in the only established forum in the first instance. there is nothing to lose and a lot to gain. either we end up satisfied with what already exists, or we don't. and at least in that case we will have experienced regulated competition.

what about a slinging.org team to compete in spain?

sv

I am really starting to think that my english is worse today than usually - an I am not saying that it is good...
I'll try again to express myself better, ok???

1. I appreciate your sense of humour, but surely travelling to Spain is cheaper from a european country than from Brasil, be sure... I never thought taxis were so expensive in your country 

2. I did  not say that we should play in Balearic Islands using nylon slings; by the way, I said the opposite, that they only use matural material in their slings.

I hope this is better explained now...if it is not, I promise to  or to start writing in portuguese.