Emil Wayers SSDD

Ultimate Frisbee

Some of you already know that Tom got me into this thing called Ultimate Frisbee. Whenever I tell someone I play Frisbee as a sport I get the usual weird looks and odd questions. This is why I tried to compile a short summary for anyone to read and maybe understand the sport a little bit better.

You what?

Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact competitive team game played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player of your team in the opposing end-zone, similar to an end-zone in American football or rugby. A player may not run while holding the disc, instead he pivots until he’s certain he can pass the disc using one of the throws in his arsenal. To best explain the different throws that exist, watch this short but very helpful video clip:

Mainly played outdoor on a field of 100 x 37 meters Ultimate Frisbee is a genuine running sport and requires great deal of mental and physical strength. Both end zones are 23 meters deep and the playing field extends for 63 meters in the middle.

Ultimate Frisbee is distinguished by its spirit of the game, the principles of fair play, sportsmanship and the general joy of play. Besides Ultimate Frisbee being very competitive it is also completely self regulating. This means all fouls and line calls are handled by the players them selfs during a game. In other words, there is no referee. More information about the background and general ruling ca be found through the main Ultimate Frisbee article on Wikipedia.

People actually play this?

Ultimate is played all over the world and thus in The Netherlands too. Currently The Netherlands has well over 15 clubs which are represented by 30 teams in just the Indoor competition alone. Currently I play Ultimate with two different teams:

• Flying High (Tilburg)
  
• Vertigo-Frisbee (Eindhoven)
  

Both of these clubs training sessions are open for guests and you are welcome to join us for a throw on Tuesday (Tilburg) or Wednesday (Eindhoven) no questions asked.

Show me!

Now, to give you an impression of what Ultimate Frisbee looks like here is a short video clip (one of many) found on YouTube. This clip is the trailer for a UltiVillage DVD of the World Ultimate Club Championships 2006 held in Perth, Western Australia. It shows various teams from all around the world competing against each other at a very high level. It’s cool, really, just watch it

Another great example is from the website “The Huddle” a very comprehensive resource about anything Ultimate. One of their pages contains a play-by-play from the Open final of the 2007 UPA championships.

More information about this DVD, UPA 2007 discsets and other compilations can be found on the UltiVillage website.

Further reading

There are a lot of DVD’s, books and compiled manuals for players of all levels. These are some good starting points if you really want to start:

• Ultimate for Beginners (pdf)
• Ultimate Handbook – From basic tips up to advanced offense and defense strategy.
• The huddle – Anything ultimate

Sites selling DVD’s, livestreams of big tournaments or just short clips:

• Ultivillage
• PushPass Productions

Many other sites are dedicated to Ultimate Frisbee, here’s a short list:

• Frisbee Bond -Dutch national frisbee organsation.
• WFDF – Word Flying Disc Federation, rules & regulations as well as world championships.
• UPA – Ultimate Players Association.
• AFDA – Australian Flying Disc Association.

If you have any suggestions just drop them in the comments below…