Ultimate Frisbee

June 7, 2010  
Filed under Uncategorized

One of the largest challenges for teens during the summer is keeping busy and stays fit and active. With our society’s idolization of sports, there is a growing desire to engage in physical, group activities while having fun. Around the world, creative minds are pushing the limit to what can be done with the human body.
Any sport replicating any aspect of American Football is bound to grab some attention by bored athletes. I ran into Junior and Ultimate Frisbee club member Walead Sultani in the halls and asked his take on Ultimate.
“Well there isn’t a referee, but it has a combination of football, soccer and rugby,” said Sultani. Instead of a football, they use a Frisbee. Instead of running to an end zone, you pass the Frisbee to a teammate waiting in the end zone. This is done because you can’t move in any direction besides pivoting on one in order to pass the Frisbee. Throwing in a time strain, the player with the Frisbee has ten seconds to throw the Frisbee to another player. The opposing team can only be as close as 3 feet away from the player with the Frisbee. This implies that, unlike football, this is not a contact sport. Meaning tackling is not allowed in game. With 2 teams of 7 players at one time, players start off the game much like football where each teams line up on each side of the field. The offensive team has a single player raise one hand as a signal to the defensive side to throw the Frisbee toward them to start the game. The game is played until one-team scores 15 points, which usually takes around one hour and twenty minutes. Local Ultimate Frisbee team captain Leia Tipton, started an Ultimate Frisbee Club, which started last year. “As children we played Frisbee in the park which morphed into playing Ultimate Frisbee,” says Tipton, “this sport is similar to rugby but is focused on having fun and you don’t have to be so mean and competitive.” “Its more of a relaxed atmosphere and made to have fun” says freshman Kendra Wall.” With the school year coming to a close and the start of a long awaited summer, these sports would be a good way to stay busy and have fun during the summer! Mountain View’s Ultimate Team always is always happy to have more players. Leia says, “We practice at Al Moody Park or Drake Park on Tuesdays at 3:30pm and we play games at Skyliner Sports Complex on Thursdays at 4:00pm.” Frisbee is for all kids who are in high school who are ready to have fun and make friends. “It’s a sport where everybody is nice and nobody is mean and anybody can play from any grade from high school, I don’t know if any other sports do that because they usually have JV teams for freshmen and ultimate is for anybody who wants to play.” With a community of avid Frisbee players who are kind and hold no judgments, its an easy avenue to pass the time and stay fit through the summer!