Ultimate

by Steve Relles

“Ultimate” is a fast-paced, non-contact team sport that’s been simmering out of the limelight for almost 40 years. In ultimate, a disc is passed up the field from teammate to teammate, with the object of completing a pass into the opponents’ end-zone. Combining the long throws and diving catches of football, the non-stop endurance and sprinting of soccer and basketball’s defensive strategies, it’s a disc-throwing game that’s so much fun you forget how much exercise you’re getting, which is a lot.

People have played ultimate in the Capital Region for over 30 years. According to Tom Prato, a member of the first Albany team, 1977 marked the first game in Collins Circle, at the University at Albany’s Washington Avenue entrance. It was also there, in 1983, that “Floppy Disc,” my SUNY-Binghamton team, attended a collegiate tournament and played against Tom and the SUNY-Albany “Aerial Hominids.” In that same circle, I first met my wife, Rose, in Albany’s fledgling summer league in 1990.

The UAlbany team and a couple different club teams still use that circle of grass for games and practices, and that’s still where you’ll find the Albany summer league. There, college players from Union, RPI, Skidmore and UAlbany, as well as older veterans trying to grow the sport, teach and encourage the many new people who come out to play on the warm summer evenings.

Ercan “Air-John” Hocalar, who started playing here as an eighth grader, is now the Albany Summer League coordinator, and he started the tradition of asking for canned food as part of the registration fees. Last year, the local ultimate community donated over 1,500 pounds of food to the local food pantry and $1,000 of membership dues to the survivors of Katrina.

Regarding the game, the rules of ultimate are simple. There is no intentional contact allowed. The disc may be passed in any direction, but a player may not run with it. A complete pass into the end-zone scores one point and games are usually played to 15.

At the start of the game and after each score, one team throws-off downfield to the other. When an offensive player catches the disc, they have ten seconds, counted out loud by the defender, to throw it to one of their madly sprinting teammates. If the disc is not caught, either because it’s dropped, blocked or goes out of bounds, then, like in soccer or basketball, the defensive team immediately becomes offense and starts passing it back the other way. As the Wall Street Journal wrote “...ultimate frisbee combines speed, grace and powerful hurling with a grueling pace.”

Unique to ultimate, there are no referees even at the highest levels of competition, and players make their own calls. For example, if a player is pushed by the defender and, as a result, fails in an attempt to catch a pass, then the player could call a foul against the defender. The defender may accept the call, or contest the call. If the former, the offensive player gets the disc as if it they caught it. In the latter case, it’s a do-over; that means the disc would go back to the thrower and play would resume from there.

Tied closely to the practice of self-officiating is another aspect of ultimate worthy of mention, a concept known as the “spirit of the game.” Actually written into the rules of ultimate, “spirit of the game” refers to a player’s responsibility to be fair to his opponents, and not take advantage by making unfair calls. It is a common sight to see players discussing a violation call, resolving the dispute and sealing the deal with a quick handshake.

In any explanation of ultimate, the disc itself must be mentioned. It is said that “When a ball dreams, it dreams it’s a Frisbee.” A disc can be thrown forehand or backhand, snapped in a line drive or floated in one spot while the receiver runs to get it. A good thrower can even throw banana-shaped curves left, right or overhead. Also, a disc can be caught by barely hooking the rim with the last bit of one finger, and seemingly out-of-reach throws can result in spectacular catches.

Originally, and still commonly, called “Ultimate Frisbee,” the sport is now called “Ultimate” and WHAM-O’s Frisbee brand is no longer the preferred equipment. Invented in a parking lot at Columbia High School in New Jersey in the late-60s, ultimate has spun into a sport played by hundreds of thousands of amateur athletes all over the world.

Across North America, there are player-organized “club teams” in most cities who hold strenuous practices regularly, doing drills and sprints. In male, female and coed divisions, teams of seemingly grown-up people in their 20s, 30s and even (gasp) older participate all year round in tournaments. In the fall, the Ultimate Players Association organizes a series of club-level sectional and regional events that lead to a coveted championship tournament to determine the best of the best. In the springtime, a similar series of events is held for the high school and college levels.

The true heart of ultimate, however, lies in the majority of people who play in the rapidly growing corporate, intramural and summer leagues across the continent and the world. These leagues are a mix of rank beginners, young hotshots and grizzled veterans, but mostly people who just want an excuse to be outside on a summer evening and enjoy good company. After league games end, people often switch the teams around just to play some more or hang around hours after the games chatting, while those of age have been known to drink a beer or two.

Perhaps because of the intensity of the game, the slightly-off-beat types of people who are attracted to it, and the fine spirit with which it played, ultimate players have a consuming passion for the sport. We don’t mind being out of the limelight, as long as the discs keep spinning!

To learn more about the Albany summer league and the annual tournament known as “Ow-My-Knee,” now in its 22nd year, visit www.albanyultimate.org. For more information about ultimate, visit www.upa.org.

Steve Relles of Delmar is a stay-at-home-dad and runs a small business called Delmar Dog Butler. At age 43, his ultimate strategies have adapted to include old age and treachery.

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