Ultimate Frisbee club flies high with nations top ranked schools

If you think Ultimate Frisbee is just about a group of sweaty guys and gals tossing around a plastic disc, think again.
It’s really about competition, camaraderie and a laid back atmosphere. “It’s a great group of people,” Chris Voellinger said.
Voellinger is the president of GCSU’s Ultimate Frisbee Club and he has a very realistic goal for the upcoming spring season. 
“To go to nationals would be a far- fetched goal.  Our goal is regionals,” he said. 
Right now, that goal is within reach.
GCSU is currently ranked eighth in its region, which consists of 20 schools from Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  Of the 20 teams, eight go on to regionals.
Doug Oetter, the club’s faculty advisor has been playing Frisbee for 27 years. Oetter stays busy teaching classes and advising the Environmental Science Club, but he still finds time to stay involved with the Ultimate club. “When I came down here, I really wanted to be a part of the Ultimate Frisbee scene,” said Oetter. 
The club, which is in its fourth season has a men’s team, which had 10 members last season, and a women’s team which had 9 members last season.  This year, Voellinger hopes to expand the men’s team to  20 -25 members. The women’s team also hopes to recruit more members this fall and next spring. “We’ll run hard,” he said.  “We will take anyone willing to work. The basketball team doesn’t just go play; they practice.” 
Jared Main, a freshman who enjoys Ultimate, said he knows the school has an Ultimate club and would not mind getting involved.
“I think it’s really cool because we don’t have a football team or anything,” Main said.  “It’s something to do.”
So what’s the deal with Ultimate Frisbee? Basically, each game takes about an hour and 15 minutes to complete and is generally  played to 15.
In order to score, a team must advance the disc toward its end zone.
What’s so “ultimate” about it? Voellinger calls it a new theory of sports. It is a mix of basketball, soccer  and even some elements of football.
“I mean, anyone can tackle, but this is about going as hard as you can and as clean as you can,” Voellinger said. “Ultimate takes dedication.” A typical practice consists of a combination or throwing and running drills, and playing pick-up games; not just throwing the disc.
One motivating factor that gets a lot of Ultimate players hooked on the game is the tournaments.
“We go to these tournaments and it’s like a giant camping trip,” said Voellinger.  “It’s a balance between being competitive and having a great time.”
At tournaments, after playing competitively all day long, the players from all the different teams come together and “basically just chill.”
Many Ultimate players develop a strong loyalty to the sport.  
“Lot’s of people don’t think it’s fun,” said Voellinger.“If you like to play sports and exercise; it’s great exercise.”
Unlike other sports, Ultimate does not use referees.  These players are not out there to win by any means necessary, and players work out all disputes on their own.
It’s really all about a mentality Ultimate players share.  “It’s a fierce game, but it’s about being fair and chill, no arguing.  I mean, we’re not all out there wearing Polo shirts,” said Voellinger.  “I don’t know what else to say.  It’s about the spirit of the game.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 8 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry