On the SprinTurf, there are a group of people that look like they are just throwing around a frisbee. But this group is more than regular students, they might just be the University of Idaho’s men’s and women’s ultimate frisbee clubs, who gaggle together for practice twice a week year-round, rain or shine.
Ultimate frisbee is, as the captain of the men’s ultimate frisbee team Trevor Griffin said, “soccer with a frisbee.” Much like other traditional sports, ultimate requires quite a lot of movement, coordination and teamwork as players try to score by passing a disc in the end zones at either side of the field. But what makes ultimate stand out is the players are also self-officiating, meaning they decide where someone messed up rather than a referee.
“With basketball, if a foul was called and the referee didn’t see it there was always a lot of hullabaloo in the stands, and people would get aggressive then players would get frustrated, especially if they felt like they were being wronged,” Alicia Watson, the captain of the women’s ultimate frisbee team, said. “Whereas in ultimate frisbee, because it’s self-officiating, you can put yourself in the position to call out somebody or even yourself. I think it’s a lot less frustrating that way.”
What makes ultimate even more unique is the rule-bound emphasis on having fun and being respectful while still being competitive. One of the first guidelines in the USA Ultimate rulebook is the “spirit of the game” rule, where “highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed-upon rules or the basic joy of play.”
Both Griffin and Watson said they love ultimate for its fun-loving, flexible and competitive community. Watson said her favorite part about ultimate is the people she meets, particularly during tournaments where teams of people from all over the country group together for a day or two of solid competition.
“Thousands of people, who all love the same sport, come together for two days on a weekend and play,” Griffin said.
The club competed against other schools in the Pacific Northwest, traveling to Washington and Oregon for a few days. Griffin said when they left, they wouldn’t be staying in hotels. They were sleeping in other people’s basements and crashing on the floors for the night. He said it contributed to the sense of community of ultimate frisbee.
However, the club has been bound to campus, unable to compete against anyone but themselves for about a year because of COVID-19. With the combination of the men’s and women’s clubs, there are around 25 total players, which is more than enough players to make the two teams of seven needed for a scrimmage.
Social distancing is easy when the sport being played is low-contact and outdoors. Griffin said the club members wear masks while they are at practice and usually have no problem staying more than six feet apart. Being outdoors also makes it easy to take advantage of the weather, good or bad, to teach the mix of experienced and new players how to play better.
“We usually love being outside when it gets really snowy because it means falling doesn’t hurt,” Griffin said. “So it’s usually when we have our layout practice and we teach our players what it’s like to really throw your body into the ground.”
Griffin said practicing in adverse weather can sometimes drive away new recruits, especially during the cold weather when most people would prefer to stay inside where it’s warm. Generally, the fall semester is dedicated to teaching people how to play and getting them involved in the sport, while spring is used to get a little more serious and prepare for upcoming tournaments. Without any tournaments this semester, the captains said they made sure to keep the same spring intensity they’ve always had.
Griffin said he grew up playing ultimate with his family, particularly his dad who still runs a local league today.
“Every week it was the same story, and you could honestly hardly call it ultimate because it’s just big, deep throws with very little strategy,” Griffin said. “But I was quite small. I was under three feet and everyone else is like towering giants, and my dad would call his little secret weapon because he would have me and my siblings run and stand in the end zone.”
Watson said her journey with ultimate began in high school. She grew up in the Treasure Valley where many of the high schools have ultimate frisbee teams of their own, and she found a source of self-confidence in the sport because of the community, self-officiating and testing her athletic abilities in a sport that doesn’t involve a ball.
“Ultimate frisbee is what you make of it,” Watson said. “I had knee surgery and couldn’t play for a long time, and I somehow killed my love for the game. Then I found it again and I think that it’s totally just how you view it and what you take away from it.”
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5