One of the newest clubs to hit the SHS community is the Ultimate Frisbee team. Like rugby, even though it’s technically a club sport, it is quickly growing in popularity. Gathering all types of students, ultimate Frisbee, also known simply as “Ultimate” is continuing to grow breaking its stereotype about being just a “college hobby”.

Ultimate is very similar to other games such as rugby, and football. Like these sports, the main focus of the game is to get the Frisbee (also known as a disc) over to the end of the playing field which is called the end zone. There are usually around seven players per team and the games can either be run by points or just have a time limit. Also, Ultimate has plays similar to rugby and football. Two of these plays are the “Vertical Stack” which has a team line up in a vertical line to constantly pass to make it to the end zone and the “Spread” which has a team send three handlers (throwers) position themselves horizontally while four cutters (receivers) run in groups of two to the sidelines to catch the disc and push towards the end zone.

One of the reasons why Ultimate has become so popular at SHS is because of how lax it is to other sports. . People can come to practice as much as they want to or can. Anyone can come, play in a pickup game, and get the hang of the it pretty quickly. This makes it more accessible and easy to play whenever. Because of how lax it is, people aren’t as competitive so sportsmanship is more common.  As senior Ryan Najaran says, “I like how it’s based on sportsmanship and there’s no refs. And the fact that anyone can pick up a game somewhere and start playing.” However, like many other skills and sports, mastering Ultimate takes time. Throwing accurately takes practice and effort.  Senior captain Ross-Flieger Allison says, “In terms of throwing, you just have to keep practicing it. There was definitely a long period where I didn’t know what I was doing and all I knew how to do was catch.”

As Ultimate gains popularity, professional leagues and players are starting to appear. One of the most famous Ultimate players is Brodie Smith whose Frisbee videos have millions of views on YouTube. Currently, there are two professional leagues here in the United States; USA Ultimate and the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). Even Boston has an Ultimate team; the Boston Ironside.

At SHS, the ultimate team is coached by Mr. Roberts who besides coaching also emails local schools to set up games for the team. As an Ultimate player during his junior and senior year at Providence College, he makes sure the team has their act together for the season. He organizes two practices a week to teach technique and to have practice pickup games that he plays in as well. Mr. Roberts got involved with Ultimate because of how welcoming it is. As he says, “It is an organized team sport that is competitive and noncompetitive at the same time.”  However, the team is student run as well with captains organizing additional practice and setting up the rules with other captains. The seniors also get to decide on a team name. This year, they are the Scituate Sub-Zero. Currently, the team is co-ed and has around forty-two members based on the number of uniform sales.

Because of Ultimate’s rising popularity and the fact there are professional teams, both here at SHS and around the world show that Ultimate is here to stay as a sport. What once was known as just a “college thing” has evolved into much more as one of the newest sports for kids to play. With people playing pickup games daily and discs selling more and more, it’s a legitimate a sport as baseball or soccer.  If you’re interested in learning a new sport, Ultimate is a new and rising sport to try out. If you want to get a head start for the next spring season, it’s time to start playing. Remember, practice makes perfect.