THE 2008 Beijing Olympiad included numerous sports in addition to A-list track, swimming, boxing, basketball, volleyball, the Marathon, tennis, weightlifting and gymnastics. The London 2010 Olympics will hardly be different, as now planned. This being so, it’s surprising that a sport called “Ultimate” has not been crowned an Olympic event, given that around 40 countries have been participating in international “Ultimate” competition for many years. Aside from this, “Ultimate” is the full measure of athletic skills and then some---it ought to be ushered in as an Olympic sport as soon as possible by the International Olympic Committee, if not for 2010, then surely 2014.
 
Today’s average bystander might think “Ultimate” is a reality TV show, maybe a Rock Band or a Warren Miller ski film. Fact: “Ultimate” is as much a serious game of starts, rushes, throws and completions, as is any other team-vs.-team activity. Envision a field no different than that used for soccer, but instead of a soccer ball kicked forward, back, sideways and at angles, there’s a team of seven players attempting to move a disc toward an end zone, while seven opponents try to stop them, capture the disc, attack in the opposite direction and score two points toward the 15 needed to win, this without a time-constraint such as basketball’s do-or-die 48 minutes or football’s crushing hour.
 
The one imposed time limit in “Ultimate” is a 10 second shot-clock for a player receiving the disc. If the player fails to get rid of the disc by flinging it to a teammate within the 10 second limit, there’s an immediate turnover. A second constraint is that while a receiver can purchase the disc when in motion, the receiver cannot release the disc unless remaining stationary. Any steps taken in any direction while attempting to pass the disc also results in a turnover. Note: the disc cannot be handed off to a teammate; it has to be released into the air, thrown.
 
At first blush, “Ultimate” could appear to be football disguised by the less than one-pound Frisbee-like disc employed. Not so! In addition to the stop and start rule and a 15 point endgame (not unusual, think volleyball’s 21 points to win), the differences are many. For example, in “Ultimate” all forms of body contact are forbidden, exacting turnovers or player elimination. Too, there are no referees on the field; instead fouls are called by the fouled team. If the opposing team disagrees, then an observer appears from a sideline to settle the dispute.
 
Also, unlike soccer and hockey there are no nets or goalies in “Ultimate.” The end-zones are quite visible, as in football. Yet different from football is the lack of numerous positions crafted; there’s no officially-titled QB, no backs or tight ends, just the seven players per team either handling/throwing a disc or catching it. Afield, a designated captain will have players continually transfer from being disc-handler/thrower to being a receiver and the reverse, the most common strategy being three players in the handler/thrower role while four will rush forward to receive a throw as close to the sought end-zone as possible. The proper analogy here is any good NBA-crew managed by a savvy point guard, driving into enemy paint, soon under the glass for two points.
 
Were I to claim that “Ultimate” has been nothing more than a Frisbee tossed around at the beach between Bud-lites, my grade would be F minus. “Ultimate” is about skills and measured speed honed from years of playing. A player has to be sharp QB-ing the disc in timely connectivity with a receiver who has to be as capable as any exceptional wide-receiver or center-fielder leaping high, turning and twisting, or diving low for the catch. Furthermore, there are several ways of releasing a disc so that it sails speedily from handler to receiver. The disc is not simply heaved---to avoid interference and a turnover, the disc can be thrown to skim just above the grass or arc-ed high to drop low, either via backhand, forehand, a gently or roughly tomahawked release, or a quick flick of the wrist with hardly any arm, trunk or shoulder movement. 
 
The game’s grace of disc-release, its players twisting in the air as if Carmelo Anthony at the post, and the flight of the disc are, of course, great to observe, proven on July 12 of this year when 35 “Ultimate” teams from Colorado, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas,  Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii and other states came to the Denver region to compete at a Dick’s Sporting Goods field under the auspices of the Boulder-based “Ultimate Players Association,” purpose: to compete in the Grand Masters (Men 40 and over comprising 20 teams//Women, 30 and over, 15 teams). The UPA was established in 1981, now headquartered at Boulder, currently of thousands of members worldwide. In 1969, “Ultimate” hit the world sports stage with games held at New Jersey between colleges Princeton and Rutgers, coincidentally the two schools that played the first nationally-officiated college football game decades earlier. Starting in the 1980’s, “Ultimate” has been growing as a sport at around 10 percent annually.
 
The five Colorado teams at the 2009 Grand Masters events were the Denver area’s “Confluence-5280,” “the Denver Dinos,” “the Yomo Fog Oho,” “the Hot Flash (W),” and “the Well Done (W).” Final victors were a Boston, Mass. team called “Dog” and Colorado’s “Well Done (W).”  Colorado’s “Confluence” placed fifth. Many of the teams that competed in the Grand Masters will be seeking titles soon against opponents from Japan, Germany and other highly sports-conscious countries that also field superb track, basketball, baseball, soccer, gymnastic, boxing and tennis stars. All “Ultimate” teams would hope for a more intense effort by their national Olympic committees to obtain Olympiad status.

If you missed the previous blog from Kitt Amundson about the Avs after the Super Joe era, you can visit her blog page to read it.

Click Here

Have something to say about this blog?  Add your comment and tell Marvin what you think.