Ultimate Frisbee

Last post, I talked about my crafty hobby. Today, I'll talk about a sporty hobby of mine.

I used to hate to throw frisbees. I was kind of tomboyish growing up, playing a lot of sports. I'd rather toss a football than a disc (in fact, out of the neighborhood kids, I was the first to throw with a spiral). In 2000, some friends dragged me onto their coed summer team since they lacked females. I was surprised to find that organized ultimate frisbee is a lot more interesting than the jungle ultimate pick-up that was played in the schoolyard.

I really got into the strategies of ultimate frisbee, and because of that, I forced myself to learn to throw and catch.

Here is the example of the most common strategy:

Unlike a football, it's not easy to hurl a frisbee over crowds of people. Therefore, if you aren't one of the people in a good position to catch the disc, it's important to pull the defender who is guarding you away from the path of someone who is in a good position to receive the disc. Therefore, as offense, you form a line in the middle of the field called a "stack". This allows people to have plenty of space on either side to use as "cutting lanes". Only one person should be in each lane at a time.

The defense employs a strategy called the "force". Notice that the yellow dot guarding the person on the disc (this defense is called the "mark") is on one side of the field while all the other yellow dots are on the other side of the stack. The mark is forcing the thrower to throw to the "away" side of the field. The mark will allow throws to go up on that side of the field and work hard to prevent throws from going towards the "home" side, in this example. Meanwhile, the other defenders trust the mark. They will prevent their opponent from getting to the disc on the away side, where the thrower can easily throw to. If their opponent tries to get open on the home side, the defender will allow them, knowing that the thrower will have a lot of trouble getting it to them on that side.

To see this in action, there is more description as well as a Flash illustration here in the Ultimate Handbook.

I have heard ultimate frisbee players stereotype themselves as "techies and hippies". Older generations who haven't heard of the game get confused as to how throwing a frisbee can be a "sport". I assure you though, ultimate frisbee players are definitely athletic. I find it to be a great sport and I love that it requires little equipment or investment to play.