Are you ready to turn up the volume on a game of Frisbee? According to the Wall Street Journal, “Ultimate Frisbee combines speed, grace and powerful hurling with a grueling pace.” The sport spawned from a college student named Joel Silver who proposed a school Frisbee team in 1968. Then Silver and fellow students got together to play what is claimed to be the “ultimate game experience.”
How to Play
Known simply as Ultimate, this game is played with a disc on an outdoor field. As stated on the Disc Ace website, two teams are comprised of seven players and play commences when one team throws or “pulls” the disc to the other team standing at the opposite end of the field. The player with possession of the disc cannot run (they have two steps to stop). The disc is then passed from one teammate to the next in order to progress down the field. If a defender knocks down the disc and it touches the ground, the possession of the disc is turned over to the opposing team and they play it from where the disc landed on the field. As in American football, an opponent can intercept a pass whereby the defensive team immediately becomes the offense and tries to progress the disc down the field in the opposite direction of their opponent in an attempt to score.
A point is earned once a player catches the disc in the end zone. The scoring team then pulls the disc to the opposing team, now on the opposite end of the field.
Where to Play
Tidewater Ultimate (tidewaterultimate.org) is an ultimate league with games connecting players in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, York County and Williamsburg.
MeetUp (meetup.com) is an online community that allows players to connect with and join other teams and clubs in the area.
Top 10 Basic rules of the game are taken from USAUltimate.org
- The Field — a rectangular shape with two end zones.
- Initiate Play — each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their end zone line. The defense throws (“pulls”) the disc to the offense. A game has seven players per team.
- Scoring — a point is earned each time the offense completes a pass in the defense’s end zone; play then resumes after each score.
- Movement of the Disc — the disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run with the disc. The person with the disc (“thrower”) has ten seconds to throw the disc
- Change of possession — when a pass is incomplete (i.e. out of bounds, disc is dropped or blocked)
- Substitutions — Players not in the game may replace active players after a score and during an injury or timeout.
- Non-contact — No physical contact is allowed between players. A foul occurs when contact is made.
- Fouls — when a player initiates contact on another player. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
- Self-Refereeing — Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
- Spirit of the Game — Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play.