By Paul Cina
Frisbee is what you play at the beach with your friends or at the park with your dog. Ultimate Frisbee is the intense, competitive game played by thousands nationwide.
Ultimate is one of the top three fastest growing sports in North America. The number of people playing increased 20 percent and since 2008, thousands of local club teams and millions of people are participating, according to the Sport Goods Manufacturing Association. CBS Sports considers it the most popular rising sport nationwide.
It is now showing up at schools in Bristol County, and other high schools and colleges in the area. Oliver Ames High School in Easton, Mass. acknowledged Ultimate as a club sport after a unanimous school committee vote in March, 2010. Other high schools in the area, including Mansfield, Bridgewater-Raynham, and Sharon, also have Ultimate programs.
“People at all talent levels and age groups can be successful, and with spirit of the game, there is a lot of encouragement,” said Pat Babbitt, one of the founders of Ultimate at Oliver Ames High School.
“I think the most appealing aspect of the sport, and the reason why it is so popular is really simple: It’s just wicked fun,” said Tom Crawford, CEO of Ultimate Players Association (UPA), the national group for Ultimate Frisbee.
Ultimate Frisbee is a competitive sport requiring athleticism, strategy, and dedication, Crawford said.
“Athletes are training year round and are very dedicated,” Crawford said. “It’s become really competitive and players are training really hard to play at the national level.”
Since the first Frisbee was invented in California in 1948, it’s estimated there has been more than 200 million sold worldwide. That is more than footballs, basketballs, and baseballs combined, according to the Ultimate Handbook.
The rules are simple. Two teams play seven on seven with the goal to score points by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone, and the first team to 15 points wins. You cannot run while holding the disc, so the only way to advance is by passing it to other teammates. Dropping or intercepting a pass results in a turnover.
The game is self-officiated- players make their own calls. That is what makes the game so interesting because officials can’t mess up any calls like basketball and football referees do, Crawford said.
Many people view Ultimate as an uncompetitive, casual game which doesn’t require much skill or athleticism, which mostly comes from those who have never played it on a club team, said Matt Hawes, sophomore at Loyola University in Baltimore, Md. Hawes didn’t play Ultimate for his high school team because, he said, it was perceived as “un-cool” and only attracted non-athletes who never participated in traditional sports.
“I thought that it would be much less competitive, and I thought people played more for fun than to win,” Hawes said.
Hawes isn’t the only one who, at first, saw Ultimate as an uncompetitive hobby.
“I used to think it wasn’t a real sport and that it was basically a joke,” said Charles Bradford, a sophomore at Stonehill College who recently started playing for his college club team.
That changed when his roommate persuaded him to play for the Loyola Ultimate club. “After being on the team I have now realized that Ultimate is very competitive and how many serious athletes play the sport,” Hawes said. “Prior to playing I thought the game was soft, but I’ve seen people tackle other players and confrontations break out like any other major sport.”
Bradford found the same thing after playing for the Stonehill College club team.
“When I joined I realized it’s actually really intense,” Bradford said. “It’s definitely not as easy as most people think it is.”
Ultimate wasn’t recognized on the high school scene until recently, which may be the reason for its sudden growth in popularity, said Pat O’Neil, junior at the College of the Holy Cross and former student at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Mass.
“I know that if my high school had a team I probably would have played, which would have allowed me to hone my skills earlier on,” O’Neil said. “The earlier we can get kids playing the better. It has definitely been exciting to see the sport catch on, and I hope this is just the beginning of it.”
Ultimate has exploded at colleges and universities across the country, with more than 10,000 college students and over 600 teams nationwide, according to the UPA. Every college team competes in what’s called the “college series” which includes three levels: sectionals, regionals, and nationals.
Qualifying for the national championship is the overall goal for almost every college club team in the country, and, according to Stonehill College Ultimate captain Michael Caruso, is his team’s main focus as well.
“Last year we made it to regionals but didn’t have as good of a showing as we were hoping for,” Caruso said. “We’re hoping to make it past that this year and qualify for nationals like our team has done in the past.” This year, the Ultimate national championship tournament is hosted in Wisconsin in the spring.
Some of the tougher Division 3 club teams the Stonehill Skyhawks must face in the tournament include Bryant University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Brandeis, according to Caruso. However, he is confident in the team this year with the contributions of first season standouts.
“All the rookies have a real lot of potential which will certainly help us in the college series this spring,” Caruso said.
Interest in Ultimate is growing in North America, and worldwide with over 30 countries with Ultimate teams. The UPA is working with the International Olympic Committee for Ultimate to be recognized as an Olympic event. This process requires a large international following.
CEO Crawford said he knows the sport will gain a large international following.
“The U.S is the international world leader in sports and the rest of the world is watching,” Crawford said. “The more popular it grows here, the more popular it grows around the world.”
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