Ultimate Frisbee at Rockway
Rockway’s new co-ed ultimate frisbee team had a fantastic inaugural season finishing in second place at the District 8 Championships held on May 30th. For such a new sport it was amazing to see the high level of Ultimate play at this tournament. Our players have come such a long way from those first practices in the gym back in March when they could barely throw the disk straight. Most of the championship games were incredibly close with Rockway showing a lot of heart coming back in the final stages of a few games to pull out important wins. One of the neatest things about this team is the way it brought together guy and girl players from across all the high school grades to form a cohesive playing unit.
Ultimate is an exciting new sport emerging at the high school level. It combines the intense running of soccer, with the excitement of football long bombs, with the aerial acrobatics and strategy of basketball. Most of our team were raw beginners, and the learning curve was steep to get game ready. Players learned quickly how to throw flicks, play various positions and run plays. Ultimate is a sport that emphasizes “the Spirit of the Game”. One implication this has is that there are no referees on the field. Players are expected to make their own foul calls, and solve their own conflicts on the field through discussion (How “Mennonite”!). While the games were always very competitive, having fun and respecting the competition always took priority for our team.
Thanks to all the Ultimate players for making this such a great season. We really loved coaching this team!
Steffen Pauls & Bryan Berg
