Issue date: 10/25/02 Section: Campus Life

Media Credit: Lindsey Clark Great Snag! Sophomore Jonathan Curth makes an impressive catch under heavy coverage as his team members race toward the end--zone

Media Credit: Lindsey Clark Practice makes perfect: Hendrix Ultimate players run drills to boost their skills

The Hendrix Ultimate Frisbee team recently returned from their latest tournament, The Blue Plate Special, held annually in Jackson, Tennesse--where they managed to finish first place in the "loser's bracket" after defeating Rhodes College with a score of 14-7 in their second game against the rival team. Team captain and senior Christina Schmidt was pleased with Hendrix's performance, describing this year's team as the "best team we've ever had."

Ultimate frisbee is a sport played by people of all kinds. Competing players are anywhere between the ages of 15 to 40, while team affiliations range from colleges and universities to churches, places of employment, or even nothing at all. Thus, a wide range of competition is guranteed at any open touranment. The Hendrix team usually competes in three tournaments per year, although individual players may attend many more than that by picking up with other teams. Tournaments may last from two to five days.

The team is in its third year of play and has grown substantially. Although usually fifteen people or so show up per practice, the e-mail list has over thirty names. It has also become more formalized in its play and practice, which consists of about thirty minutes of "fundamentals" of play, followed by a team scrimmage. Practice is held year-round, though winter weather tends to slow the team's activities somewhat. The team has two captains, Abraham Deutchman and Christina Schmidt.

The Ultimate Frisbee Team may be more relaxed in its organization, but as Schmidt said, "It's a serious competitive sport, and I've got the scar tissue to prove it." Ultimate Frisbee is played by teams of seven, each vying to throw a flying disc to a person in the end-zone of the other team. Teams try to prevent each other from scoring by "marking" players, as with soccer or football, to avert a successful catch by an opposing team member or to make an interception. Unlike other team sports, there are no referees. Instead all games are officiated by the players themselves who are all expected to adhere to basic rules of conduct known as the "spirit of the game," the primary tenet of which is the avoidance of contact with fellow players. A foul is called if a player does come into contact with another. It also stresses fair but competitive play and sportsmanship. Games last in excess of 75 minutes, demanding much stamina from its players. The Wall Street Journal described it as combining "speed, grace and powerful hurling with a grueling pace."

Though popular for many years, the frisbee did not lend itself to play in a regulated sport until the 1970s, when the student council of Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey introduced it. Originally called "Frisbee Football" (for obvious reasons), it quickly grew in popularity. After being dubbed "the ultimate sports experience" the sport acquired its current name. Today Ultimate Frisbee teams play in 50 countries around the world, and it was a medal sport in the 2001 World Games held in Japan. By some estimates it is among the fastest growing sports in the world. Commenting on the possibility of seeing the sport in the Olympic Games, Schmidt said that "Frisbee is really more about playing than spectating, so I don't foresee it really taking off as far as the public is concerned."

Hendrix Ultimate is a co-ed team. Practices are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:30 by the Mabee Center and are open to anyone willing to eat grass for the sake of catching a frisbee.

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