Introduction to Ultimate
We would like to give you some background about the sport, the athletes and how it's played.
Brief HistoryThe UPA (Ultimate Players Association) was created in 1979 to serve Ultimate Frisbee players and help schedule and coordinate tournaments around the country. To this end, they collected dues, published a quarterly newsletter, and ran the annual Championship tournament for "club" players (that is, anyone of any age). In the mid-1980s, the UPA created the College Division. During the 1980s, because of a legal issue of using the word "Frisbee," the name of the sport was shortened to just Ultimate. And later that decade the UPA decided to switch from using the Wham-O Frisbee to a disc made by another company, so the official name of the plastic they throw is just "disc." But as you'll see, many players still call the disc a Frisbee. In 1999, the UPA created the Youth Division for high schoolers.
Spirit of the Game
Ultimate has an important difference with most other sports-
It has a code of conduct for the players written into the rules... they call it the 'Spirit of the Game'.
"Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play."
Similarly, sideline ethics stress encouragement and support. Cheering is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect for all players, fans and officials.
Ultimate PlayersPerhaps the most important point we can make is that Ultimate comes in at least two flavors. There are the local pick-up games and leagues that are played mainly for fun, camaraderie and exercise. And there are the UPA youth, college and club championship events where Ultimate is played competitively. UPA players put a great deal of time into training and attending tournaments. It is every bit as competitive as soccer, football, basketball, etc. Only better... you get to be on the sidelines with them.
