As many people have seen on the Bearcast, Rocky’s video announcements, Rocky’s Ultimate Frisbee team keeps being brought up. But most people didn’t know Rocky had a team, let alone what ultimate frisbee is. So, in this article, we’ll discuss Rocky ultimate frisbee.

First off, what is ultimate frisbee anyway? Ultimate frisbee, also known as just ultimate, is a sport that resembles football and soccer mixed, while played with a disc. The goal is to outscore the other team. Teams move the disc downfield by passing to teammates. Once you have caught the disc, you must stop running and pass it to the next player, and so on. This continues until you either score, or a pass is incomplete.  

Scoring involves a player catching the disc in the end zone. Again, you can’t run/walk into the end zone, it has to be caught. If someone scores, both teams return to either end zone for the “pull,” or frisbee equivalent of a kickoff in football. The other option is an incomplete pass. If an incomplete pass happens for any reason, such as a missed throw, dropped pass, or a defender deflects/intercepts the disc, possession changes and the team who was just on defense is now on offense. 

These are just the basic rules, of course. There is so much more, such as positions, defensive schemes, offensive formations, trick throws, and lots of other aspects to the game. However, none of these extra things are required. To play ultimate, all you need are some friends, a field, and a disc. 

Now that we have gone over some of the basic rules of ultimate, what about Rocky’s team? Rocky is joining a new league for ultimate this year. That’s a good thing, because last season the team played only 3 different teams the entire season.   

There were several reasons that team members gave about why they thought ultimate was fun. Coach Elton gave 4 reasons, among them being a great culture, easy-to-learn skills, less concussions and injuries than contact sports, it teaches communication, and is very cheap.  

Ammon Thomas, sophomore, said, “Easily the best workout to keep you in shape, I lost like 20 pounds since I started ultimate.” Ammon also said he likes how the nature of the game isn’t competitive, and how the rules are very simple. 

Gabe Elton, freshman, said his favorite part of ultimate was “watching the disc arc through the air. Nothing like seeing a good throw of yours unfold.” 

Ethan Boyer, sophomore, said, “It’s a fun culture and sport. The game itself is a blast both competitively and casually. My favorite part about the game is how smooth a good play can feel. I’ve learned these past few weeks that the people you make the plays with are really awesome too.” 

Miles Hough said, “What I love about ultimate is the people you get to meet and play against.” 

As you have heard from members of the team, although ultimate frisbee is not one of the more well-known sports, it is lots of fun and is beginner friendly. The Rocky team is always looking for new members, so if it sounds interesting, then try it out! Practices are at Prospect Elementary from 4:15-5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.