Tossing the Disc

I used to play with Frisbees when I was a kid, at leastuntil our German shepherd tore the crap out of them.

There are some wonderful things about playing with a Frisbee;you don’t have to be particularly athletic, talented, or buff. This speaks tomost Wisconsin residents. Enthusiasts and fansof the familiar circular plastic discs have taken a pastoral recreation furtherwith Ultimate Frisbee, a game which has been around longer than you may think,and it’s taking the world by storm.

The sport was conceived by college students in New Jersey way back in1967, an era steeped in peace, love, dope-smoking and Frisbees. Today, UltimateFrisbee is played virtually everywhere you can find an open field and somewilling participants looking to float the disc. Just watch out for the dogcrap.

The game can move pretty fast, depending on the offense onthe field at a given time. You can also run a slower patient offense. Or, youcan run some plays, depending on how organized the team might be. The sportfeatures opposing teams on a field much like a football field, and you scorewhen you catch the disc in the opponent’s end zone.

One of the beautiful aspects of the game is that anyone canplay.

There are disc handlers, catchers, throwers, and sprinters,and the taller and faster players are called ‘longs’ or ‘deeps.’

One of the basic tenets of Ultimate Frisbee is Spirit of theGame, or SOTG–playing out of love for the game. Since the game was createdduring the brotherhood vibe of the 60’s, one might infer an egalitarian andfair sense of play. The game has no referees, and that speaks to the point ofSOTG. When I played rugby in college, I received a right cross to the face withan elbow–now that was spirit of thegame.

In a unique twist, you call your own fouls. I’d like to seeMichael Redd or Donald Driver do that. If a couple of players can’t agree onwhat took place, there’s a do-over (sounds like a George Carlin bit). The discmay be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate, but theperson who catches the pass may not run with the disc. The next ‘thrower’ hasten seconds to throw the disc. The person guarding the thrower counts down thetime.

The sport has found its way around the world, ‘mushroomed’to Switzerland and New Zealand. Appealhas grown year-to-year and even UW-Milwaukee and MarquetteUniversityhave recently started their own teams. Some say the game has become a littlemore aggressive at the collegiate club level.

Rules of the game are pretty straight-forward–if a pass goesout of bounds, is blocked, dropped or intercepted, the defense immediatelytakes possession. No physical contact, no picks or screens are allowed, and afoul occurs when contact is made.

The Milwaukee Ultimate Club runs indoor leagues in the winterand outdoor teams in the spring, summer, and fall. It’s a pretty good workoutand you run as hard as you want to run. It’s open to anyone interested inplaying. We have a lot of high school kids coming out to play.

Ultimate Frisbee provides an opportunity for local fans ofthe sport to participate in the festival, a team building exercise whichfosters healthy competition. The sport brings a lot of different types ofpeople together, it’s relaxed and a lot of fun.

You only need a little equipment to start a game: A Frisbee,and tennis shoes. Some people actually don’t wear shoes when they play. I guessif both teams want to, both teams can play barefoot.

To learn more about Ultimate Frisbee, or if you want toplay, visit www.milwaukeeultimate.com or sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/mupu