The Ultimate Ultimate Frisbee Guide

  Levels of Play No matter what age you are, there is for sure a league for you to play Ultimate Frisbee in. There are high school leagues, youth leagues, college leagues, adult leagues and professional leagues. High school is pretty straight forward, you just play the other schools in your area. I played in this league and played a bunch of different participating schools in the Columbus area. I have played in youth leagues too. This has no affiliation to a school, but is connected to a certain overarching area. I play in a youth league in Columbus where players from all over the city came together. College leagues are just like high school leagues, just a little more serious but still play the schools in a certain region. I wish I could play for a college league, but my college unfortunately does not have a team. It is a goal of mine to have a team on campus before I graduate however, because I feel like this is such a fun an easy way to get college students connected and outdoor...

  So How Much is This Going to Cost Me? Ultimate Frisbee is actually a very cheap sport to play compared to many other sports. There are very little things you need to buy, so this keeps the cost pretty cheap. First off, clothing. I personally had to buy cleats but basically just got the cheapest pair I could. I went to the clearance rack of my nearest sporting goods store and bought a pair that fit. Like I said in the 'what to wear' post, you truly are not required to even wear cleats. If it is too much to go and buy them, just any tennis shoes will work. Jerseys are also under this category. Team jerseys are really going to range in prices, but I would say nothing more than $25 for a jersey. I remember my team ordered new jerseys, a light and a dark, for $24 each. They are so cool looking and worth the price. Next, there may be a league cost to play. These will also range but in my experience have never been over $100. I also had to buy a USA Ultimate membership but it was no...

It's a Common Mistake    The most common mix up when I say I play Ultimate Frisbee is that people think of disc golf, where you throw smaller discs into baskets. This is probably because disc golf is a lot more common and the names can be kind of confusing. However, this is my biggest pet peeve because the could not be more different. Ultimate requires so much more knowledge of game play and athleticism while disc golf requires the acute knowledge of the disc. As much as you would think these would go hand in hand, the skills do not transfer... trust me. I had played Ultimate for over a year before I picked up disc golf, and I struggled so hard. I was so used to throwing the big Ultimate disc and was used to how it flew and turned. When I transferred to the smaller discs for disc golf, I truly could not get them to fly. I have been playing disc golf for almost a year now and still struggle with throwing my discs. The way you throw it and the way you angle your discs are comple...

Girl Power   As a female player in this game, it is fun but it definitely is not easy. This is typically a player to player game, meaning I am almost always paired up with another girl to guard. Always returning to Spirit of the Game, I make it a point to learn the other girl's name and talk to her throughout the game. I always give her high fives after good plays and typically will give her a spirit award afterward if we really had a good time. Ultimate is definitely a male dominated sport, so getting to bond with the other girls is always fun. I was the only girl on the team when I first started playing and felt sort of isolated. The girls I get to play with share that common experience so it is almost a relief when I get to play against other girls rather than just the boys on my team like in practice. Additionally, I have had to go through some hardships with the boys on my team. I respect them a lot, but most times I did not get that respect back. Not to toot my own horn, but ...

  Unlimited Friends Making friends is a free perk to playing Ultimate Frisbee which is why I love this sport so much. Thanks to Spirit of the Game and the laid back fashion of the sport, it is so easy to become friends with your team and even your opponents. Ultimate makes a point of not pitting you against your opponents, but rather lifting them up and encouraging them. I played for my high school's team, so already I was getting to hangout with people almost everyday whom I would not have usually spent time with. This made connections within my own school and new friends who I could say hi to in the hallways since my school was so big. Then, as we played other teams, I got to meet so many other players who shared a common interest. After my high school league, I joined a Columbus youth league where high schoolers from all around Central Ohio were recruited and played in tournaments. This allowed me to branch out from my school and become very close with the people who live i...

What to Wear and What to Bring  Ultimate is pretty relaxed when it comes to dress code. For a whole season, my team didn't even have matching uniforms. The very basics are just soccer cleats and athletic clothes. Sometimes you can even get away with tennis shoes, the cleats just help when making those important cuts and running in the grass. When playing in an actual game, you want to make sure your team is matching so the teams can be distinguished. Wether this be pennies or jerseys, it does not matter. Like I said, my team did not have jerseys, so our dress code was just any white or black shirt we had. Depending on who we played, we would change from light to dark. It doesn't always have to be white and black either. In my league, I know a team that was only neon orange and they never had to change because they were quite distinguishable. In our tournament games, we finally decided to be somewhat matching and made team tie-dye t-shirts. We didn't all look alike and didn...

Different Throws   There are a variety of different throws in ultimate, but every new throw you can add to your tool belt is a step up in your game play. When I first started, I didn't even have one throw down. By the end of my first season, I only had two, which shows you how much skill it takes to throw a disc. Many people think it is easy, thinking it is just like throwing a frisbee on a beach. Ultimate Frisbee discs are a lot heavier and thicker and require more technique to get what you want it to do to happen. The first throw people learn is the backhand, because it is the easiest. This is your typical throw that you would use if you had no knowledge of the game and were just throwing with your friends. You hold the disc with your palm facing in and you bring the disc across your body to throw it. The next step after this is mastering your forehand throw. Personally, this is my go to throw because I can throw it a lot better than backhand. This is probably because I practiced...

Positions  In the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, there are two commonly known positions on the field. The two positions are cutter and handler. Although there are only two, each player had their own responsibilities while under the category of the same positions. Personally, I was predominantly a cutter. Cutters are going to be a mix of your tall and fast players and the slower, less experienced players. This is because there are 4 cutters on the field at a time, so there are players to compensate if someone is new to playing. Since I am tall and fairly fast, I played this position. On the other hand, handlers are a mix of your shorter players and more experienced players. I have played handler only a few times due to my experience but I love being a cutter more. Cutters are responsible for cutting up and down the field, trying to get open to catch the disc. Many plays can be used, but commonly the field is split up into four lanes and each cutter gets a lane. They try to juke their de...

How to Play   Playing Ultimate Frisbee is actually fairly simple once you get the hang of it. There are two end zones, exactly like football, and the goal of the game is to catch the disc in the end zone. The game starts with both teams facing each other standing in opposite end zones in a line. One team will choose one teammate to pull the disc, meaning they throw it as hard as they can to other team, like a kickoff. The game is now in play. This is a no contact sport so any intentional contact is considered a foul. Once a player catches the disc, they have 10 seconds to throw it to another player. Once they are in full control of the disc, they must not move from their spot, otherwise it is a travel, like basketball. Typically, man to man defense is used, so the man on you will count "stall one, stall two, stall three..." and if you reach ten without the disc being thrown it is a turnover. Players will make their way up the field and try to throw the disc to a player in the...

Spirit of the Game   Spirit of the Game is a phrase that must be known by every Ultimate Frisbee player there is. Ultimate Frisbee, if you don't already know, is a game played nationally that combines the gameplay of basketball, football and soccer, but all with a disc. Typically, this sport is played without referees and relies heavily on sportsmanship for the game to go smoothly without any disputes. This is where Spirit of the Game comes in. This is a phrase that was put in place by USA Ultimate and is basically drilled into player's heads. The spirit of the game revolves around sportsmanship and being a good team player. With no referees, players must be respectful to each other. A big part of the game is being friendly and becoming friends with your opponents. Yes there is competition, but the overlying point is for people with a passion to come together. In my league in Columbus, after every game we hold a Spirit Circle. This is when both teams get together and circle up,...