A Day in the life of FPU Ultimate Frisbee

by Cam Supple

The white disc floated through the air into my hands but bounced right off my palms and onto the turf at my feet. “Catching a frisbee is harder than it looks,” I thought to myself while participating in an FPU Ultimate frisbee scrimmage Sunday night. While participating, I hoped to get an insight into what it takes physically and mentally to be an ultimate frisbee player on campus.

“Use two hands next time,” Junior Charlie Vakassian told me, jogging back to play defense. It turned out to be sound advice because while using two hands, I was able to make the next four catches. Throwing turned out to be a struggle, however, I couldn’t make a completed attempt where a teammate wasn’t directly next to me. “Ultimate is more than athleticism and getting open,” junior and Ultimate Frisbee president Doug Quinn told me,” It’s also about precision and accuracy when throwing the disc.”

Sweat dripped down my face and my breathes became longer making it clear that I was wildly out of shape for this level of cardio. My breathing seemed to echo throughout the Bubble along with the cheering and jeering from the actual frisbee players.

I learned that Ultimate Frisbee is demanding in ways other than just physical. There is strategy and positioning involved that I would never be able to learn all in one practice. I made a useful cutter, someone who cuts and jukes in order to get open and catch the frisbee. The handlers are the ones who stay back during play and are best at throwing the disc to the cutters, like myself.

Although the scrimmage lasted about two hours, I believed that I progressed a lot from my drop at the start of the practice. I was able to really put myself in an ultimate frisbee players shoes for a practice, and frisbee is indeed harder than it looks.