Ultimate Frisbee Tests Character, Fitness
By Alexandra Robbins Special for USA TODAY. April 2, 1999


When Ultimate Frisbee makes its debut as a medal sport in the 2001 World Games in Japan, it's a safe bet that not one referee's call will be disputed. There won't be any refs. As the only self-officiated team sport in the Games, ultimate frisbee is quickly becoming a popular option for less traditional-minded athletes. Ultimate attracts "an eclectic bunch," says Michael Guiietz, Ultimate Players Association (UPA) managing director. "The people are different a little bit alternative, but they really are athletes."

Many ultimate players are drawn to the sport because of its underlying principle: the "spirit of the game," which players use to refer to the fact that they must call their own fouls and boundaries, even in national and international competition. If a player accused of a foul disagrees with the call, the team with possession keeps it. If players cannot resolve a dispute, occasionally they ask an observer to make the call. "There's a saying that ultimate doesn't build character; it reveals character," says Jim Parinella, a five-time open national champion with his Boston based team DoG. "It gives individuals the opportunity to display their personalities on the field, whether they're going to be fair in their dealings with people or weasel their way out of things."During the 1995 World Ultimate Club Championships in England, the DoG squad was losing 19-18 when the opposing, San-Francisco -based team passed into the end zone. When Parinella dived for a block, the receiver cried foul. "The other team asked me if I had blocked the pass, but I couldn't say for sure," Parinelia recalls. "So I said I didn't the other team scored and won the game 20-18. If I had said I had blocked the shot, my team would have gotten possession instead."

The players' responsibility to govern their own actions leads to fewer physical altercations than in other sports, says Kate Coyne, a member of four-time defending national women's champions Lady Godiva. "You're not policed; you police yourselves," she said. "In sports with refs, people try to get away with as much as they can. In ultimate you're accountable to everyone."

Guiietz estimates that about 150,000 Americans participate in ultimate, which has counted former and current NFL players Shannon and Sterling Sharpe and Olympians Picabo Street and Eric Heiden among its club players. Ultimate, a high-endurance sport with few basic rules, combines the nonstop movement of soccer, the defensive strategies of basketball and the passing of football, former US. masters team captain Andy Borinstein says. The sport revolves around passing a plastic disc. On a rectangular area shaped similarly to a football field, seven-player squads must complete a pass in the opposite end zone to score. To advance the disc, the player with possession has 10 seconds to pass in any direction. Athletes may not move with the disc or initiate physical contact with another player.

Despite its lack of publicity, ultimate is quickly gaining popularity with high school students, says Amherst (Mass.) Regional High School coach Tiina Booth, who oversees one of only a few boys varsity ultimate teams in the country "One of my players made a good analogy. You know when someone shoots a jumper and there's a crackle in the net? He said every time you throw or catch the disc you get that crisp snap, and that's why he found it so addictive," Booth says. Because of the simple rules and the low cost of the sport ultimate requires only a disc and cones or other boundary markers - AmeriCorps, the Boy Scouts and the Boys and Girls clubs of America have incorporated it into their programs, "Ultimate is a team-building exercise we can teach elementary and middle school kids easily without a lot of rules," says Karen Labat of AmeriCorps. "It's something that is low-cost, no-contact, builds self-esteem and encourages physical fitness."