There are some who say Ultimate Frisbee, sometimes known as just "Ultimate", is not a sport. Clearly, they've never played with my church group. Every Wednesday night during the summer, we play Ultimate until either the lights go out or we're to tired to continue playing. For those who have never played Ultimate, it's pretty much football, without as much contact.
There are two end zones, and the teams start off in their own zones. One team throws the frisbee to the other, like football's kickoff, then the receiving team passes the frisbee team member to team member until they get into the opposing teams' end zone. If they drop the pass, it's the opposing team's frisbee. The opposing team can also intercept the pass.
Playing at night is brutal, since the lights at the local park are sometimes not on, meaning you can't see anything, like the photo below:
We use a light-up frisbee, but that still doesn't solve the problem of being able to see people. There are many college teams playing Ultimate, though many of the best teams are in the West and Midwest. Colorado, Stanford, and Oregon were in the top 5 this past season while little Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, a small agricultural town south of Minneapolis, was the national champion.
Ultimate is a really good game for cardiovascular exercise, since you're often on the run, especially on turnovers. And considering the game is so informal, anybody can play. Everybody comes off the field sweating a ton. And that's the essence of sport. A group of people getting together enjoying a recreational activity, getting exercise and enjoying "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."
For more information on Ultimate, visit upa.org. All the pictures in this post were of our church group playing Ultimate.
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