As you zip up your sweatshirt, the brisk wind forces the hair out of your eyes. The smell of freshly cut grass in the crisp air overwhelms your nostrils. Strolling through the quad, you see students, just a few years older than you, involved in some sort of game. You take a closer look and you see that they are throwing a Frisbee. But this isn’t just some typical, nonchalant passing of the Frisbee from person to person. It’s an active game with two teams; one is defending while the other is on offense, just like any other team sport. As you watch the scrimmage, you see that it resembles both football and soccer. But you still wonder: what is this unique game? What you have just witnessed is Ultimate.
Stereotypically thought of as a collegiate recreational activity, Ultimate is rapidly spreading to high schools throughout the country. You may have played Ultimate in physical education, or heard about Lower Merion’s Girls Ultimate team victoriously stealing the state championship title last year. In fact, so many students are interested in Ultimate that it seems to be the trendy question, “Why don’t we have an Ultimate team at Harriton?” Well it’s official–the epidemic of Ultimate has finally reached Harriton High School.
Senior Evan Soloff and junior Zak Kivitz have taken the initiative to create the team. Playing Ultimate in gym class definitely got them jazzed. “We were playing Frisbee last spring and realized how much we loved the sport. However, Harriton didn’t have a team. Other people in our gym class were equally as excited and shared our love of Ultimate too,” Soloff remarked. The enthusiasm of the students had been recognized and it was time to satisfy their desires of participating on an Ultimate team.
But what is the appeal of the sport anyway? What makes Ultimate one of the rising “hot” sports over the past four decades? Maybe it’s because Ultimate attracts a wide variety of people. You don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest to play Ultimate. It doesn’t take much coordination, just some conditioning and proper throwing form. But who could forget the strategic aspect of the sport? Like most sports, it is a game of constant thinking, anticipating the next move, and split-second decisions. Ultimate could even be considered an intellectually stimulating game with all of the analyzing skills required. And I would be remiss if I did not highlight the camaraderie of the sport. Ultimate is a game of trust and honesty among teammates as well as the opposing team. Sportsmanship is a must; referees are not part of the game. It is up to the players to make their own calls and rely on everyone else on the field to play with integrity.
Needless to say, Harriton has been lacking a sport that would definitely contribute to our school spirit. Zak and Evan did their research by talking to students at other schools with competitive Ultimate teams participating in weekly games and statewide tournaments. However, they realized that they would probably not be able to have a competitive team for a few more years. Producing a competitive team would require coaching, organizing practices, and experience of the players. So Evan and Zak decided that they would try to start an intra-scholastic club team.
As protocol, Evan and Zak took their proposal for an Ultimate team to Mr. Ferguson, our athletic director. However, this was not the first time Mr. Ferguson had heard about students’ interests in starting a team. Mr. Ferguson approved their request by suggesting they have a table at RAM day to get an idea of who was interested in the team. Reassuring their hopes of beginning a new team, Evan and Zak received a staggering 120 signatures from students who were enthused by the idea of giving Ultimate a shot. Surely they would be on their way to making up plays in anticipation of the impending season.
Despite the overwhelming turnout for the Ultimate team at RAM day, school officials informed Soloff and Kivitiz that there would not be enough funding to start the team. The need for buses to transport players to local fields would require substantial funding. Lower Merion’s competitive Ultimate team is also facing the same funding issue. The Lower Merion Ultimate team only receives transportation provided by the school district for two of their three weekly practices. The players themselves must provide all transportation to tournaments. Like Harriton Crew and Squash, Lower Merion Ultimate players must pay to play on the team. Despite the financial woes, Lower Merion Ultimate players still manage to enjoy success as a high-spirited team.
Lower Merion can do it, so why can’t Harriton? The wrinkle of funding problems in their grand plan to start an Ultimate team did not stop their efforts. Soloff and Kivitz have been neither discouraged nor deterred from continuing their pursuit to create a team. Soloff and Kivitz are planning to start an independent club that will play on the weekends in the spring. They are hoping that the 120 students who signed up for Ultimate on RAM day will still express their interest in the spring. “We just want to play some competitive Frisbee at a level that most people can handle, and we believe this is the way to do it,” says Soloff.
If all goes well, the Ultimate club team will be up and running in the spring. With the grass on our fields beginning to sprout this fall, we just might have enough space for Ultimate to play next year. Maybe this team will turn into something bigger than just an independent club. For all we know, we could be on our way to snagging the Ultimate state championship away from the Lower Merion girls!