Members of a St Albans Ultimate Frisbee club struck international gold at the World Beach Ultimate Championships.

Steve Balls, 34, was crowned as a world champion as part of the Great Britain team playing in the Mixed Masters division of the third World Beach Ultimate Championships (WCBU).

GB comfortably beat hot pre-tournament favourites, the USA, in the final of the competition, held in Lignano Sabbiadoro near Venice.

In a second success for the St Albans Ultimate club, Tom Howard, 27, from Harpenden, coached the Great Britain Under-17 women’s team to gold at the European Youth Ultimate Championships (EYUC) held in Poland.

Balls said: “We also knew there were other strong teams at the tournament, notably Germany and the USA.

“We got to play them both in pool games and, although we lost these matches, we learnt about their style of play and were then able to reverse these results in the games that mattered.

“I’ve never seen two such complete team performances as our semi and final games, and am very proud to be part of the World Championship winning side.”

Howard, who also captained the Great Britain team to 11th place at the WCBU, said: “I am extremely proud of what has been achieved this year by the GB girls.

“They have worked extremely hard since March to get to this point, and winning European gold is a testament to their talent, which the coaching team has helped hone. We will retain many players next year, and hope to defend our title in 2012.”

Ultimate Frisbee is a fast-flowing, non-contact sport played with a flying disc, combining elements of american football and netball. Uniquely, it is entirely self-refereed, even at international level.

Two other club members, Luke and Cat Tobiasiewicz, both 26, from St Albans, played at WCBU too, with the Polished Mixed team. They reached the quarter finals in their division, finishing seventh out of 22 teams in a very strong showing.

St Albans Ultimate club welcomes new players. Trainings are held outdoors on Sunday afternoons in Cunningham Hill Park, and indoors on Thursday evenings at St Albans High School for Girls. Visit www.stalbansultimate.co.uk or email info@stalbansultimate.co.uk to get involved.