Like any other high school sport team, High School North’s Ultimate Frisbee team travels around the state for tournaments, practices daily, schedules after-school games, and is very competitive. And following the tradition of many of the teams at either high school, the Frisbee team has been one of the area’s top contenders, most recently by taking second place in the state tournament.##M:[more]##
The only difference is that unlike the other sports teams at either high school, the Ultimate Frisbee team is not a recognized sport. Nonetheless, the team’s 11-3 record this spring and its second place finish in the states is shedding new light on what it is able to accomplish with a little bit of dedication. It is up to the players themselves, including Wesley Wong, a North junior and one of the team’s captains, to take on the role of organizing, coaching, and managing the team successfully on their own.
According to Wong, the Ultimate Frisbee team formed about six or seven years ago as a combination team consisting of students from both high schools, which eventually split into two teams for each high school by the time he was a freshman. For Wong, 17 — who moved to the Crossing at Grovers Mill East in Plainsboro from Brooklyn when he was in third grade because of the school system here — playing the sport never really was something he contemplated before high school, when he joined other friends who were competing on the team.
Now Wong and other members of the team spend the fall and spring seasons scheduling games, organizing practices, and taking the team to tournaments around the state. Most of the games come from tournaments scheduled around the region, taking them as far as Connecticut to compete. Other schools fielding teams include Watchung Hills, East Brunswick, Princeton, Westfield, and Highland Park.
The team falls under the Ultimate Players Association (UPA), which organizes state and regional championships. North was seeded third in the state tournament, but fell this year to Columbia High School in Maplewood, the same high school that invented the sport more than 30 years ago. Columbia went on to the 2008 UPA High School Eastern Championship, where it won the title.
“This spring we improved as a team tremendously,” says Wong. “We really showed we can compete with the best.” In the semifinal round of the state tournament, the team came back down from a 7-1 deficit to take the game at 10-8. And while there are usually 15 to 20 players on the team — with only seven on the field at a time — the team was very shorthanded, with only eight players available on the day of the state championships, as at least three players were out with injuries.
While it is played on a field the same length as a football field and is similar to sports like soccer and football, Ultimate Frisbee is not a contact sport. A major factor in a team’s success is teamwork, as teammates must continuously pass the Frisbee to each other to ultimately get it to a player who is in the end zone. Once the Frisbee is caught, a player must stop running and pass to a teammate. When a pass is incomplete, or the defense blocks or intercepts a pass, possession changes. “It’s actually a pretty good workout,” Wong says. “You run at least a couple miles each game going up and down the field.”
Teams are self-officiating. “That’s what makes this sport very different — we’re not always arguing with the ref,” Wong says. “In our sport, we make the calls.” For the most important games, like the state championship, there are two “observers,” but they do not make calls unless it is a last-ditch situation. “One thing we have is spirit of the game,” Wong says. “It’s important that teams have really good sportsmanship. It a player gets fouled, they respect the call. Even if you don’t really believe it, you tend to give your opponent a call.”
The sport is gaining in popularity at the high school level, with the number of teams in the UPA growing by the thousands, according to Wong, even though the sport is only 30 years old.
Wong says he and his teammates learned strategy from alumni, who have gone on to play in college, where the sport is becoming even more popular. Most of the players on North’s team also compete in summer leagues. In the fall, the team also sets up a stand during the high school’s club fair, and tries to recruit. “We’re not technically recognized as a club,” but no one minds, he says.
During the team’s two seasons, the work begins with the team’s captains E-mailing other captains from around the region to set up tournaments. Usually for tournaments, a few parents are recruited to drive the students to some of the games that are further away, and most of the games are grouped all on the same day. And in terms of team uniforms and gear, the team does its own fundraising. “A lot of people keep asking us why we don’t try to become a varsity sport,” so that it can receive funding and help from the school, Wong says. “Since Ultimate Frisbee is a relatively new sport, it’s hard to find a coach. And we don’t mind not being a club affiliated with the school. We schedule our own practices. We schedule our own games. It is a lot more freedom.”
It’s simply a matter of commitment, Wong says. “Since we’re not technically a sport, you can’t really force people to come to practice. It really shows who’s committed and who’s not. It really shows when we play. We placed second and we have no seniors on the team. We’re all juniors, sophomores, and freshmen.”
With the team’s second place finish in the states, Wong says everyone is preparing for next year’s fall and spring seasons. “From second, we all want to move up.”
