Anyone can pick up a Frisbee and chuck it across a beach. But not everyone can do it with the style and skill of an Ultimate Frisbee player.

For some people the flying discs are not just summer fun but part of a serious sport with its own teams, rules and leagues.

The Brighton Ultimate Frisbee team (BUF) are currently ninth in a league of 60 teams after just a year of competitive playing and have high hopes for the national championships this weekend.

The lure of the sport seems to be its democratic and friendly nature.

Hamed Roushanzamir, 23, from Brighton, said: "What I like about it is the spirit of the game. Ultimate was started by hippies in Seventies America and it's self-regulating.

"If there's a foul you all get together and sort it out between the teams rather than having a referee. It can get quite heated.

"I love the fact you can take it as seriously as you want to."

The non-contact game is a cross between netball and American football, played between two teams of seven players.

Roles are interchangeable but some players are mostly "handlers" who spend the most time throwing the disc, some are "middlers" who have the speed to get up and down the pitch quickly and some are "longs" who stay at the edges looking for long throws.

Players cannot run with the disc but must try and pass it up the field to reach the other team's "endzone".

There are single and mixed-sex teams, junior, university and non-university leagues. BUF is a mixed-sex non-university team with about 80 members.

Felix Shardlow, 23, from Brighton, has been playing for five years and is a handler on BUF. He said: "It's fast and challenging and you get to meet a lot of fun people.

"We're hoping to get into the top eight at the championships this weekend."

The game has come a long way since Yale students in America started throwing tin pie dishes around on campus in the 19th Century.

Some people are even lobbying for its inclusion in the 2012 Olympics.

The Frisbee disc was invented by a man called Fred Morrison just after the Second World War, when people were becoming interested in UFOs.

His original model was called the Wham-O Pluto Platter but was given its rather more catchy brand name in 1959.

The open national championships take place tomorrow in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

BUF practice in Preston Park, Brighton, every Tuesday at 6pm and every Saturday at noon.

For more information on the team or the sport go to www.ukultimate.com