A Fun Disc-overy

Grand Master Flash at Nationals 2018. I think we are either indicating we finished 10th or singing “Stop! In the Name of Love”. I’m making the face third from R in the back row.

The first time I played ultimate was in 1985 at church youth group meeting. I immediately loved it. I could throw a frisbee, and I was good at touch football, and enjoyed sprinting over short distances. And it was a sport everyone could play and have fun with. Over the next 15 years I played on and off whenever I could, never realizing that there was an actual national organization, and championships, and strategy and that it was really a THING. I learned all that when I moved to Greensboro in 2000.

But, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Perhaps I should explain what ultimate is. And isn’t. Ultimate is a team sport that was invented in 1968 in New Jersey (insert “something good came out of New Jersey??”  joke here). Originally called ultimate frisbee because it was played with a disc made by Wham-O, it has since just been “ultimate” since it now is rarely played with a disc from Wham-O. Usually we use a 175 gram Ultrastar disc from DiscCraft. And there are no dogs involved, and there aren’t baskets that we throw the disc into. The one with the dogs is called “tricking” or “freestyle” and the one with the baskets is “disc golf”.

Already off track. So, ultimate is a team sport with the objective of moving down a football-like field by throwing and catching the disc. Once someone passes to a teammate in the endzone, a point is scored. You lose possession of the disc by not completing a pass, throwing it out of bounds or if the defense intercepts it. Fairly straightforward, but as in all sports you can get really complex with offensive and defensive schemes and various strategies. There great thing about the sport is that there are all kinds of levels of play, from pickup to professional and you can usually find a level you like.

Games are generally to a set number of points, first team to get 15 points wins for example. Tournaments usually put time caps on as well so all the games can get played, 90 minutes is fairly standard, but sometimes it’s shorter. The field is just about the size of a football field, a little narrower and slightly shorter. Teams field 7 players per side. And you run. And run. And run.

There is a lot of sprinting, and cutting, and starting and stopping, and jumping. The athletic ability of the elite players is ridiculous, and as the sport becomes more and more popular, younger players are getting better and better. Oh, and in addition to being athletically fit, you also need to be able to throw and catch a disc. 

My point in all this is that ultimate is a game that requires fitness to play at a high level. It is because of ultimate that I continue to want to stay in shape, since I enjoy playing so much and don’t plan to lay down my cleats any time soon. In fact, the sport is enjoyed by so many “older” people that they keep creating new age divisions. “Masters” is men over 33, women over 30. “Grand Masters” is men over 40, women over 37. And finally “Great Grand Masters” is men over 50 and women over 45. I currently play with a GM team called Grand Master Flash (love that name), and will be transitioning to GGM probably next year.

So, now that the context is set, my next post will focus on the fitness aspects of the game.