Ultimate City: Frisbee for athletes

The Ultimate City

THE SPORT OTTAWANS PLAY

BY DANIELLE FORTIN

THE FRISBEE™ – just 175 grams of molded plastic – has been around since the late 1940s, mostly as casual recreation, like playing catch at the beach with friends or giving the dog something to chase. But starting in the late 1960s, playing with the Frisbee morphed into one of the world’s fastestgrowing outdoor sports.

Called “Ultimate” (for Ultimate Frisbee), high school students in New Jersey created it in 1968; soon the sport emerged as a cross between basketball (for its pivoting play and defensive positioning), soccer (for its field size and strategies) and football (for its running patterns).

Ultimate is demanding. As you line up with your teammates, facing seven opponents 64 metres away, your palms are likely sweating. You get ready to run downfield as an opposing player raises an arm to signal readiness, and off you go as your teammate sails the disc at the other players. The game of Ultimate has begun.

The trick is to score a point by catching the disc in the end zone. If you catch the disc on the field of play, you must plant a pivot foot and throw it to a teammate within 10 seconds. Lots of pressure; lots of fun.

Players have a specified opponent to cover, and if the other team has the disc, your job is to deflect it from “your” player. If you do and it hits the ground, it’s your team’s turn to try to score.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people in more than 50 countries

worldwide play the sport, and Ottawa is one of the best places for it on the planet. The registered, non-profit corporation called the Ottawa Carleton Ultimate Association (OCUA) boasts the largest summer league in the world, with more than 5,000 members.

Every night of the week, year round, players of all skill levels meet in parks or indoor sport spaces across the city to play the game they love. OCUA offers levels of play to suit everyone, from beginners to those who have played the sport for years.

An unusual aspect of Ultimate – different from almost all team sports – is the absence of referees. Players take responsibility for calling their own infractions against other players, based on the rulebook. As described by the Ultimate Players Association, “Ultimate has traditionally relied upon a spirit of sportsmanship which places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of the bond of mutual respect.…” Infractions can range from excessive body contact, walking or running with the disc in hand, or catching the disc out of bounds.

With eight competitive teams in Ottawa, there are opportunities for those looking to take their Ultimate play to the next level. Training and travelling across Canada, the United States and sometimes overseas, players on teams CONTINUED ON PG. 44 --- >

FIELDS OF DREAMS

CITY COUNCILLORS: IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

ACCORDING to the City of Ottawa website, there are over 850 recreational parks in the city. Originally designed with soccer, football and baseball in mind, these fields are also used for Ultimate games but playing space is in high demand. No wonder. About 30 games of Ultimate are played every night of the summer.

In 1998 OCUA tried to combat this problem by buying and developing land in Manotick to create the world’s first and only facility designed specifically for Ultimate. Now, eight years later, with still not enough fields, the City itself has developed the first four Ultimate fields off of West Hunt Club Road. Let’s keep it going so we can develop youth Ultimate in the city too.