2008 Woodie Awards
Up and rising: The 'ultimate' frisbee experience
Gary Greenwald
Issue date: 2/14/07 Section: Sports
Whether it's playing fetch with your dog or catch with your friends, playing Frisbee can be a very fun and non-competitive activity. For twenty-five students at SSU, however, both male and female, the competition never stops when it comes to Frisbee.
The new upcoming club sports team on campus is the Ultimate Frisbee team. Ultimate is an exciting and fast-paced 7-on-7 team sport. The objective is for the offense to throw the Frisbee to one another up the field until a player makes a catch for the score in the end zone. There are a lot of strategies for moving the disc up the field, with the only obstacle being that a player cannot take any steps when receiving a pass. Though not a contact sport, Ultimate requires athletic and cooperative skills found in various mainstream sports.
Sophomore Cliff Mettier, captain of the Ultimate team, believes that Ultimate combines many fundamental skills found in football, basketball, and baseball.
"Ultimate takes the speed of a running back, the agility of a shooting guard, and the hand-eye coordination of a major league hitter," says Mettier.
Last semester, the team made huge progress in establishing themselves as a competitive team in the Ultimate collegiate community. With four rigorous practices a week, players were not only becoming more talented, but also developing strong relationships with each other, making them more comfortable together on the playing field.
"Ultimate is just like any other team sport. The more we play alongside each other, the better we are going to get," says senior player Dour Stairs.
Their hard work paid off as they were invited to four tournaments in the fall, participating in two of them. An underdog going into the Santa Cruz tournament, SSU shocked everybody by defeating heavily favored Santa Clara in an exciting game.
This semester has gotten off to another promising start as well. With all of the players returning from last semester, the team is looking forward to an action-packed schedule. Already having bids to three tournaments, the players are anxious and ready to start the season.
The new upcoming club sports team on campus is the Ultimate Frisbee team. Ultimate is an exciting and fast-paced 7-on-7 team sport. The objective is for the offense to throw the Frisbee to one another up the field until a player makes a catch for the score in the end zone. There are a lot of strategies for moving the disc up the field, with the only obstacle being that a player cannot take any steps when receiving a pass. Though not a contact sport, Ultimate requires athletic and cooperative skills found in various mainstream sports.
Sophomore Cliff Mettier, captain of the Ultimate team, believes that Ultimate combines many fundamental skills found in football, basketball, and baseball.
"Ultimate takes the speed of a running back, the agility of a shooting guard, and the hand-eye coordination of a major league hitter," says Mettier.
Last semester, the team made huge progress in establishing themselves as a competitive team in the Ultimate collegiate community. With four rigorous practices a week, players were not only becoming more talented, but also developing strong relationships with each other, making them more comfortable together on the playing field.
"Ultimate is just like any other team sport. The more we play alongside each other, the better we are going to get," says senior player Dour Stairs.
Their hard work paid off as they were invited to four tournaments in the fall, participating in two of them. An underdog going into the Santa Cruz tournament, SSU shocked everybody by defeating heavily favored Santa Clara in an exciting game.
This semester has gotten off to another promising start as well. With all of the players returning from last semester, the team is looking forward to an action-packed schedule. Already having bids to three tournaments, the players are anxious and ready to start the season.