Ultimate success

    Disconnected, GCSU’s Ultimate team, has been representing the school in disc tournaments all over the Southeast for the past four years.
    Disconnected traveled to Columbus over the weekend to compete for its first team victory in the this season. The team had an overall great performance coming in third out of a total of 18 teams.
    “The tournament was crazy,” said Victor Pulizzi, a sophomore member of the team. “We had a lot of awesome games including a really close one against Georgia Tech. Even though in the end we barely lost, the tournament was phenomenal.”
    The team has come a long way in the past few years. It started with a small number of sweaty guys just throwing the disc around.
    “When I came here, I would see a bunch of guys playing pick-up games on Front Campus. I had a lot of experience with organized disc so I went out there one day and asked if they wanted to try out a flat field without trees, and maybe even some cleats,” said Dr. Doug Oetter, who has been the coach of Disconnected since it began.
    The guys went along with Oetter’s idea and soon the official Ultimate team, Disconnected, was born. They began holding formal practices and competing against other Ultimate teams in weekend tournaments.
    Disconnected is now a registered member of the Ultimate Players Association. The UPA is a completely player run organization that monitors the registered teams and their results throughout the season.
    According to the UPA, GCSU is currently ranked 78 out of 477 registered teams in the country. Although this season is just getting started, hopes are high for a successful year.
    “We have a lot of new talent this year, not only freshman, but returning students as well,” said Scott Murray, president of the Bobcat Ultimate Club. “That should be a huge benefit to the team.”
    Although only four years old, the team has developed from just a few guys playing on Front Campus to a close knit co-ed team of about 20, and it’s still growing.
    Pulizzi and Murray both attribute the team’s success to Oetter.
“The leadership is great. Dr. Oetter really does a fine job of making everyone want to continue to be a part of the team year after year,” Murray said.
    Pulizzi also agreed, “Dr. Oetter is the life of the team. The flame the tribe dances around.”
    Along with the returning members excitement for this season, the new members are eager to get their first season underway.
    “I wanted to play on the team because I just really love playing disc. I need to have some kind of physical activity, and Ultimate is great,” said Charles Avirett, a new Disconnected team member. “We have practice three days a week. We throw to warm up our arms and legs, run drills, practice specific offense and defense, do long distance throws, and then play pick-up games against each other.”
    After practicing hard all week, Disconnected travels around the Southeast to weekend tournaments.
    According to the UPA, the weekend long tournaments consist of round robin games all day Saturday and single elimination games on Sunday.  To win the entire tournament, a team must play a total of eight games in one weekend.
    “The tournaments are tough, but so rewarding at the same time,” Murray said. “It is definitely the best part.”
    In addition Oetter said, “We do go out there to beat the other teams, but after it’s all over we go out on the field and celebrate and shake hands. It’s all about the spirit of the game. Ultimate is called ‘ultimate’ because it inspires you personally to reach your ultimate (goal). Win or lose anyone is capable of accomplishing their ultimate goal on the field.”
    Disconnected is currently open for new membership.
    “Everyone is welcome to come out and play pick-up games every Wednesday night at eight at West Campus. Anyone who is interested in the team or likes playing disc should come,” Murray said. “No pressure at all. We would just love to have people come out and play.” 

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 12 2007. 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