MN Disc Dog State Champs 2026

Jul 21
6 min read

Updated: Jul 22

Get ready to rock at the Minnesota Disc Dog State Championship! This year's event is a weekend UpDog tournament where we will crown Minnesota's champion disc dog team!

It will be 3 jam packed days full of UpDog fun, camping, rock n roll and more! This year's theme is CAMP ROCK and we are so ready to jam with you and your dogs.

This event is open to anyone from anywhere and all skill levels are welcome to come out to play!

Registration

NEW: This year's registration will open in waves. The first wave will be for UpDog head judges and freestyle judges that will be judging during the weekend. The second wave will be for MNDDC members who have volunteered at a 2026 MNDDC event. The third wave will be for all other MNDDC members. The last wave will be for all non-MNDDC members. The dates for each wave are posted below. If you are in wave 1 or 2, you will receive a sign up link on the opening date. If you are in wave 3, the link will be posted in the members only facebook group. Wave 4 will be posted in the public facebook group and will also be linked below.

Run limits: In order to accommodate the most amount of teams, we do have a strict run limit of 9 runs per day. This equals enough for 2 dogs to play in every game plus one flex round.

Registration Dates:

Wave 1 - August 9th at 8pm

Wave 2 - August 10th at 8pm

Wave 3 - August 11th at 8pm

Wave 4 - August 12th at 8pm

Note: Sign up using this link will not be available until after the wave 4 registration date listed above

Location

Ham Lake Resort

2400 Constance Blvd NE Ham Lake, MN, United States, Minnesota 55304

Link to Resort Info

(763)-434-9492

Call to reserve camping spots and tell them you are with the Minnesota Disc Dog Club.

Dates

September 18th Evening

September 19th All Day

September 20th All Day

Map

Schedule

Friday

1:00pm - Check in Begins

3:00pm - Fireball followed by 4WayPlay Pairs

5:30pm - Human Games

6:30pm- Awards

Saturday

8:00am - Pancake Breakfast

9:00am - Games Start

6:00pm - Potluck + Awards

Game Schedule:

Blue Field	Green Field
Freestyle Greedy Frizgility - Flex Field	4WayPlay - Pam Plan Frizgility - Flex Field

Sunday

8:00am - Pancake Breakfast

9:00am - Games Start

5:00pm- Awards

Game Schedule:

Blue Field	Green Field
Freestyle Throw N Go Time Warp - Flex Field	Spaced Out - Pam Plan Time Warp - Flex Field

Returning in 2026

We implemented some changes to last year's state champs to allow more teams to play while also still appreciating the camaraderie that comes from playing a single field. These plans worked very well last year and we are happy to bringing them back this year.

Pam Plan - We will be running the Pam Plan during Freestyle. A style of event running that was created by Pam Martin with USDDN to help eliminate the “dead time” during Freestyle judging after the round has ended. We want our judges to feel like they have the time to write meaningful and thoughtful feedback and focus on scoring without rushing, and the Pam Plan allows that AND the ability to run more dogs. The short summary: after a Freestyle team has finished and cleared the field, a non-FS dog will play a round of a 60 second game. Once that round finishes, assuming the FS judges are ready, the next Freestyle team will take the field. Play continues in this alternating style. The Pam Plan is not walk up style - there will be a set run order for the duration of Freestyle and the 60 second game. For Freestyle teams or judges, they will run their game round after FS has finished to ensure we aren’t overworking their dogs or rushing anyone after they’ve judged.
Flex Field - We will also be running a Flex Field for one game each day (Frizgility on Saturday & Time Warp Sunday). The flex field game will be setup as follows; two identical fields that are prepped for play of the same game, but only ONE dog plays at a time, and both fields have a set run order. When the team on Blue Field finishes their round, their priority will be to leash their dog, leave their discs, and get off the field. Then, the dog that is ready on Green Field immediately starts their round. When the Green Field dog is playing, disc runners will clear the Blue Field discs and the next dog will get set up and ready to play. Once Green Field, dog ends and is leashed, the Blue Field dog unleashes and plays their round. Play continues in a repeated fashion of back and forth play between the two fields. There will be a fence set up between fields to help with visual barrier, but the field set up will allow our members to enjoy watching BOTH fields of play without it feeling like a 2-field event. Both fields will have sufficient buffer space per UpDog rules as well. Dogs that need space will be strategically placed in the run order to promote success - but please know, only ONE dog will be off leash at a time with this set up. Flex Field is fully run order - none of these rounds will be walk up style.
Disc Runners - this is an official volunteer position at State Champs with 2 people assigned per game half, similar to how we schedule a Head Judge, timer, line judge, etc, that are solely in charge of picking up discs and bringing them to the designated table for teams to pick up later. We are asking our teams for a new exit strategy for any game with 4 or more discs to NOT pick up discs after your round ends, but instead leash up your dog and leave the field. Disc Runners will grab all of your discs for you! Focus on leaving the field so the next dog can get ready.

FUN STUFF AND AWARDS!

State Champion - Determination & Divisions

The top placing Pro team will be crowned State Champion. Overall winners for Intermediate and Novice will also be awarded.

Winners will be determined by their scores in Freestyle (50%) and their best three games of the six games played on Saturday and Sunday (50%). Playing both days of champs gives you more points towards that overall award! Friday games won't count towards overall winners for Champs. They're just for fun but will still receive game points and placements.

Divisions - We will be assigning divisions to teams based on their past scores in the games that we will be playing at State Champs. We are using UpDog's Triple Crown criteria to determine placement in divisions. However, we are only taking into account the specific games played at State Champs rather than all games. You MAY play up divisions, you may not play down divisions once it's been determined for your team(s).

Awards for Everyone!

EVERY SINGLE PLAYER will receive a special rock n roll themed award that they can add their placements and awards to all weekend long. We'll be awarding up to 5th or 10th place in each division (based on sign up numbers) and we have special award types to hand out as well! Our goal is that each player goes home with great memories, accomplishments, and things to be proud of from the event.

Games & Special Awards

Coming Soon!

Run Orders

Please click the link below to view the current run orders. The run order is subject to change! If you have concerns, questions, or would like to request changes made to the run order please see below for contact information.

Run Orders! - COMING SOON

Withdraw & Refunds Deadline - Saturday September 12th

Requests must be made via email to MNDDC.President@gmail.com

Deadlines for Changes to Run Order:

Wednesday Sept 16th

Please DO NOT message event hosts on Messenger or leave comments on Facebook posts to make changes to run orders, divisions, withdraws, etc.

Thank you!

Rules

Please see below for links to the various rules and guidelines for all of the games being played at State Champs. It is the player’s responsibility to read the rules prior to the event. Event hosts will be available to help with questions. The UpDog Challenge website also has Virtual Player’s Meetings to watch on Youtube.

UpDog Challenge -

General Rules - Freestyle

Time Warp - Greedy - Throw N Go - Spaced Out