The 6th Slinging World Cup in Ibiza will be on October 22-26.  It's certainly way too early to start planning, but I'm hoping to be there again.

The attached image isn't great.  I'll change it to the official flyer as soon as Pep sends that out.

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Something else to note, last year the Balearic competition in Mallorca was held at the same time as the World Cup.  This year that won't happen.  The Balearic comp is the weekend before on the 18th and 19th.  So hopefully all the Spanish slingers will be back this year!

I'd love to do both comps but don't think I can be away that long.

Nice! Putting it on the calendar now!

Excellent. Hopefully will be able to make it again this year. It will be my 5th time attending.

Awesome guys!  Maybe this year we'll get a big crew built up again! :D

New flyer is posted!  I'm guessing we'll eventually get another one similar to last year that has all the competitions listed on it.  Probably not until we get much closer to the event though.

Some news on participants for this year's World Cup.  Pep sent out a message saying he had a meeting with the captain of the Almería (city in south-eastern Spain) sling team.  That crew will be at the WC this year.  I sent Pep a message and asked him about the shepherd slingers from Málaga who impressed the heck out of everyone last year.  He said those folks will be back too!

Sounds like the World Cup should be pretty competitive (and tough) this year!

Apparently Pep and his club on Ibiza broke away from the FBTF. Do you know why he did this? From what I've read in the article he posted and the protocols of the FTBF, it sounds like he didn't want to comply to the rules the clubs have established in the FTBF. And will this impact the world cup?

That's a question that could take pages to answer.  ;D
But let me try to provide some info.  There was a post on this forum about that separation.  It's here if you want to look at it (or you may have already): https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1636192449.  This indicates that Pep was not elected (re-elected?) as the president, and that's when the split happened.

That split makes things a little hard to track because names changed.  From what I can tell, what we might consider the first Slinging World Cup was still under the International Sling Meeting (specifically the 7th).  Here are the posts on that: https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1580141635 and https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1577049479.  That seems to line up because in the video included in the first link I provided above, Pep mentions that the event took place in Palma.  That was in 2020.

The second one in 2021 is the first one I see where the World Cup (Copa Del Mundo) was used, https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1617103242.  And then between that and the third year (https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1657804065) is when Pep and the Balearic Federation were officially separated.  So since the 3rd Slinging World Cup, it's been under Pep's control.

In regard to impacts we might see, I think it's already kind of happened.  The information I have on these things is minimal, but at the last WC Pep talked to us about his acceptance of different slings and styles that (according to some) don't really have a place in more traditional Balearic tournaments.  To be honest, I don't really disagree with that.  I understand the notion of holding on to certain historic traditions.  Just one quick example of this, I believe to compete at the Balearic tournament in Mallorca, you need to use a natural fiber sling.  I'm not 100% certain of that, so if I'm wrong someone please correct me.  But at the World Cup, anything goes.  As long as you're using a sling to throw a ball/stone at the target, any materials, types, and styles are fair game.  That's so individuals or groups coming in from around the world can do things in their own way instead of trying to adjust to the local way.

I know there's a lot more to it that I have no knowledge of, but the difference of opinion between adhering to certain traditions and expanding internationally to whatever might come along was part of the split.  I do remember someone saying once upon a time that Pep loves adding flags to the World Cup flyer.  While I think it's possible for anyone (meaning international people) to compete in the Balearic competitions in Mallorca, I don't think that's something that's really advertised anywhere.  Again, grain of salt because my knowledge is very limited.

Sorry for the long post.  Hopefully there was something interesting or useful in there. ;D

joe_meadmaker wrote on Feb 25^th, 2025 at 7:58pm:

That's a question that could take pages to answer.  ;D But let me try to provide some info.  There was a post on this forum about that separation.  It's here if you want to look at it (or you may have already): https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1636192449.  This indicates that Pep was not elected (re-elected?) as the president, and that's when the split happened. That split makes things a little hard to track because names changed.  From what I can tell, what we might consider the first Slinging World Cup was still under the International Sling Meeting (specifically the 7th).  Here are the posts on that: https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1580141635 and https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1577049479.  That seems to line up because in the video included in the first link I provided above, Pep mentions that the event took place in Palma.  That was in 2020. The second one in 2021 is the first one I see where the World Cup (Copa Del Mundo) was used, https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1617103242.  And then between that and the third year (https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1657804065) is when Pep and the Balearic Federation were officially separated.  So since the 3rd Slinging World Cup, it's been under Pep's control. In regard to impacts we might see, I think it's already kind of happened.  The information I have on these things is minimal, but at the last WC Pep talked to us about his acceptance of different slings and styles that (according to some) don't really have a place in more traditional Balearic tournaments.  To be honest, I don't really disagree with that.  I understand the notion of holding on to certain historic traditions.  Just one quick example of this, I believe to compete at the Balearic tournament in Mallorca, you need to use a natural fiber sling.  I'm not 100% certain of that, so if I'm wrong someone please correct me.  But at the World Cup, anything goes.  As long as you're using a sling to throw a ball/stone at the target, any materials, types, and styles are fair game.  That's so individuals or groups coming in from around the world can do things in their own way instead of trying to adjust to the local way. I know there's a lot more to it that I have no knowledge of, but the difference of opinion between adhering to certain traditions and expanding internationally to whatever might come along was part of the split.  I do remember someone saying once upon a time that Pep loves adding flags to the World Cup flyer.  While I think it's possible for anyone (meaning international people) to compete in the Balearic competitions in Mallorca, I don't think that's something that's really advertised anywhere.  Again, grain of salt because my knowledge is very limited. Sorry for the long post.  Hopefully there was something interesting or useful in there. ;D

I also agree with you.

For the competitions I developed, one requires the use of natural fiber slings and projectiles, the other is open to any type of sling and the use of some exotic projectiles (ex: lead) not normally used in competition, if I can figure out how to get approval to use the bay(s) at the local gun range.

Reason for the difference is that the former would keep it more traditional for cultural competitions, like the Makahiki here in Hawai'i, or other Polynesian and Pacific games that utilize traditional elements and tools.

I would also love to ban tennis balls because they are the bane of my existence lol

Thanks for the info Joe!

Yeah, this is really helpful info. I had heard about some scuttles between the groups but never really had enough context to understand what was going on.

I've seen similar sorts of things in other niche hobbies I've been a part of in the past(yo-yo, for anyone who might be interested it's a ton of fun) and personally I think it's a good problem to have overall. It means there are enough people involved that feel strongly enough about their differing approach to stand behind it and build on it. Usually this benefits everyone by making the overall group bigger, even if there are some initial conflicts while the kinks get worked out.

I'm still gutted I couldn't make it last year. I'm really hoping to make it this year but I just can't make any promises. October is a difficult month to line up with the Finnish university calendar. I will be starting my Masters studies in the autumn so... I fear I'm going to be incredibly busy and unable to get away. I really hope I can manage it, but yeah we'll have to see closer to the time.