Adam Crews English 1102 Ultimate Ultimate frisbee.

Its a sport that isnt truly seen upon as being a real sport or anywhere near as challenging as others. The common view on Ultimate is that its just a little game that some hippie college kids might play to pass the time and get a little exercise. Speaking from experience, it definitely much much more. In Ultimate people may end up having to run at almost full sprint for ten minutes straight. Endurance is necessary because in a single game a player can run multiple miles. People are also flying all over the field jumping horizontally to try and block an arrant throw. This sport is much more than just people jogging around and throwing a disc up in the air for someone to go and grab it. We come out of a game with cuts and bruises from the physical nature of the sport. Theres rules and guidelines that each player must follow and can even get emotions stirred up. Ultimate is just as real a sport as all the popular sports and should be looked upon as such. In Ultimate frisbee there are a certain set of rules and regulations that must be followed to have a successful game just like all the other sports out there. Ultimate is usually played on a field thats 120 yards by forty yards. They will usually play till one team reaches 13 or time runs out. Artifacts in Ultimate include cones that mark the field dimensions, and of course the disc. The disc used in Ultimate frisbee isnt just any old disc, it must weigh exactly 175 grams. Players are encouraged to be as loud as they want to be but not show hostility or use harsh words. In Ultimate there is specialized language that goes along with the sport. A list of common words used as specialized vocabulary are as follows: Turn Callahan Lay-out Sky/Skied Travel Foul Violation Strip Home Away Force Scoober Thumber Mark Broken/Break Handler Cutter Ill explain some of them as the paper continues. During a game if the disc ever hits the ground and there is no call on the field, this is what is known as a turn.

(Teammate Laying-out to knock the disc

out of the air) When a player jumps for a disc horizontally it is called a lay-out. A callahan occurs when an opposing player catches a disc thrown by the opposing team in their opponents end-zone. It is equivalent to a safety in football.

When a player skies someone they catch the disc over their opponent while both are in mid-air. Its a game of sportsmanship and is even self refereed meaning the players make calls if something goes against the rules. This is one of the major differences between Ultimate and other sports. Ultimate frisbee is the only sport that doesnt have an outside body to enforce a rule. It is up to the players on the field to work out any dilemma that has been called. Calls that can be made are travel calls, foul calls, and pic calls. A travel call is when a player lifts up their planted foot while throwing the disc. A foul occurs when a player makes contact with an apposing player and a pic is called when a defender is blocked by another player when guarding their man. The game being self refereed is part of what makes the game enjoyable but can also

cause some drama as fake calls may be made and tensions rise. When players get heated the game may get more physical and could lead to a bad outcome of frustration and poor play.

In Ultimate their are two main actors. They are the handlers and the cutters. (Handlers on the right and cutters on the left. This picture is sans defense). A cutter is a player whose skills at throwing the disc accurately arent as good as their ability to run a route or catch the disc. They are used like receivers in football and help move the disc up the field to score. These players are usually fast and athletic and can run for long periods of time. Height is also a characteristic of a cutter as the taller they are the easier they can get arrant discs. On the other side of the spectrum are the handlers. Handlers are the players who have the greater accuracy when throwing the disc. They are able to throw the disc exactly where the handler needs it, or at least try there best to do so. These players dont run nearly as much as the cutters as they stay back and are always available to the disc. Each of these actors have important roles and are equally skilled in what they do. Just like in several major sports actors play certain roles based on what they are better at or what they are biologically better at. In basketball you wont see someone under six feet tall playing center. You wont have a guy who cant throw a baseball very far play outfield. The actors go where they are best suited just like in all the other big name sports. When I observed Ultimate I observed the UNC Charlotte club team as I am a member of the club. This club team goes to about three tournaments a semester all at different colleges. They compete against other schools in two-day tournaments.I observed and took part in the practices they hold Monday and Tuesday 8-11 P.M. and Wednesday 9-11 P.M. When I did my three observations, I did them during each of these days. Despite going three different days the club team has the same schedule for each day so there wasnt much of a noticeable difference between the three practices. The club team sees the about fifteen guys who come out regularly plus some who come out every now and then. They usually start the practice by stretching for a good ten minutes and then go into some light throwing and catching drills. After theyre all warmed up they start more rigorous throwing and catching drills with designed routes and play. Some people whine and groan and just want to play a game and skip the drills but that doesnt improve their gameplay at all. The coach regularly tells them that they need the drills to be successful and that that pick-up is just to have fun. When there is about an hour left of practice they then split up into two teams and play a pick-up game to sort of wind down and have some fun. While they were playing pick-up I took two guys to the side to interview them. I took Josh Schlude who is known more for his handling skills and I took Sean Kelley who is one of the

better cutters on the team. I asked them both a series of questions about Ultimate and how it affects them. Ill start off with some of the questions from the interview I gave Josh. What is your favorite part about playing Ultimate? I love how you can meet so many new people and how everyone has such a love for the sport. As a handler what do you like the most? I like the long hucks I get to throw. Being able to throw from one end of the field to the other for a point is a big rush. How long have you been playing Ultimate? I started in high school and was on the team there. My girlfriend also plays so I also liked being able to play a sport with her. What do you hope to accomplish while playing Ultimate? I just want to improve my game and maybe win some tournaments at other colleges. To be on a team thats recognized as good. Then I asked Sean some of the same questions. What is your favorite part about playing Ultimate? Making those catches that posterize the other guy, you know like make him look like a fool Whats your favorite part as a cutter? Being able to score points. I usually try and count how many I get in a game. How long have you played Ultimate? Not really that long. I used to play a game every once in awhile back in the day but didnt get serious till last semester. Would you rather be a handler or stay a cutter? I like being a cutter more but I do like to handle as well. I like being a sort of double edged sword. These guys embody what it is to be an athlete. They show up to every practice, run every drill, and give it their all 100% of the time. These guys have what Ultimate needs which is dedication. Like every other sport out there if there isnt dedication the performance will suffer and they will go nowhere. With hard work and training teams get better and better and their popularity rises. Ultimate practices just as hard as other sports and has people just as conditioned as those sports. Luckily, Ultimate is gaining popularity across the world. High schools are starting to have Ultimate teams. The sport has its own specific set of rules and language like any other sport. Theirs a world championship of Ultimate meaning countries actually select a team to represent them. Pretty soon youll be hearing more and more about this little sport that only hippies play as the world starts to recognize Ultimate, as the ultimate sport.