Ultimate Frisbee

Last weekend one of our grandsons played in a game of Ultimate Frisbee on his school team. (They can’t actually call it that, due to infringement on the licensed name “Frisbee”, so it’s known simply as “Ultimate”.) I expected something like Frisbee Golf but it’s nothing like that. It’s a completely different game. I’d never heard of Ultimate and since have discovered it’s a very popular sport in this part of the country. There are elementary school teams, like the one where our grandson plays. There are high school teams and professional ones as well. I can’t speak to any other games than the one I saw but I was impressed. Here’s why: Forget the rules, the length and width of the field, all those things. I haven’t learned much of that yet. But anyone who wants to play at the elementary school level may do so, though at the higher levels my understanding is there are tryouts. Seven players on a team, both boys and girls. The thing I was most taken with is the fact there are no referees or umpires. There are coaches, yes. But when there’s a disagreement and one or several of the kids think there’s been a rule broken or an injustice done, the game stops right then and there and the players congregate on the field and decide what’s to be done, who gets the ball — or the Frisbee, in this case. The team members agree and after a time — sometimes significant, depending on the perceived infraction — the game resumes. Wouldn’t it be awesome if all disagreements were settled like this.

Photo courtesy Hans  at Pixabay.com