International World Games Association : Casting Sport

Sports of The World Games

Casting is a tournament sport in which skilled athletes compete in fly-casting and in plug-casting disciplines. The sport is made up of accuracy-based disciplines and of distance-based disciplines. In both, the athletes use rods which are very similar to angling rods.

Tournament casting started in the 1860s and continued ever since to develop into its contemporary form. Despite the sport's long history, it took until the 1950s before a proper world governing body took charge of the sport. The International Casting Federationm was founded 1956. Since then, world and continental championships have been organized on a regular basis. In the year 2003 the federation changed its name to International Casting Sport Federation and the acronym to ICSF.

Casting sport participates with three disciplines in The World Games, each with both men's and women's divisions. To promote the essentials of tournament casting sport the events are selected based on their popularity and to showcase casting's variety in the two disciplines. At The World Games 2001 those events were Fly Accuracy, Plug Accuracy (with revolving spool) and Fly Distance (single handed). The World Games 2005 featured Fly Accuracy, Fly Distance and Spinning Accuracy on an Aarenberg target.

Casting sport at The World Games 2005

Casting sport is not featured in The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung.

No, it is not the proverbial 'hook, line and sinker' in casting! Nevertheless, the precision sport does bear strong resemblance to what is one of man’s favorite pastimes: angling. Even though neither bait nor fish are found anywhere in casting’s objects. The skilled athletes match up in the various disciplines based on accuracy or distance – and over dry ground – for the pure mastery of their techniques.

Casting sport is not featured in The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung. The International Casting Sport Federation is challenged by the International World Games Association's executive to come up with new and improved event formats which portray the true sporting content of casting even better.

Prior to her participation in The World Games 2005, Jana Maisel had been crowned World Champion a record 41 times. She already had a number of World Games titles to her credit as well. But performing before her home crowd, and up to everyone's expectations, put the perennial champion under considerable pressure.

Casting at The World Games 2005