For a few months now, I’ve been playing on an Ultimate Frisbee league with a bunch of people from my work. We play other teams from all over the city, and it’s been quite enjoyable.

I was a little skeptical at first. To be completely honest, I considered Ultimate to be sort of a sport for dorks, ranking right up there with darts and Magic: The Gathering. Vancouver seems to have a lot of people that play though, especially at my work. There’s the team that I play for, but there are people I work with who play on one or more other teams as well.

The rules aren’t quite what I expected. When I first joined, I just assumed it was like football, but with a frisbee (sorry, disk. Frisbee is a brand). I assumed wrong. First off, it’s a non-contact sport. This was the biggest challenge for me to grasp at first since I’m used to playing soccer and basketball. If you’re familiar with basketball, in Ultimate, you’re not even allowed to set a pick. If another person is blocking you from running, that’s a foul.

There’s quite a few more rules that I’m not entirely sure of, but I’m learning every week.

Another odd thing for me was the fact that there are no refs. At any level. You’re supposed to govern yourselves. There are rules for where the disk is supposed to start from based on whether a call is contested or not, and it usually goes pretty smoothly.

The teams are seven a side, with a enforced minimum of three girls on the field per team. There’s a LOT of running involved. Chasing down a throw, catching up to the man you’re covering, and maneuvering out your opponent to get open. Athleticism can only carry you so far though, there’s a lot of strategy involved. You have to really know where you’re supposed to be on the field at all times, or you’ll be letting your team down.

My favourite part is the BBQs we have at the side of the field after every game. People usually bring watermelon and something to grill, and we all hang out for a while afterwords.

The team I play for is in the lowest division that Vancouver has to offer. This is my first season playing, and a lot of my teammates are inexperienced as well. We lose a fair number of games, but the sport is still fun. Maybe next year I’ll start up an all-gay team. Anyone interested? :P

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