Wednesday, May 5, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
Ultimate Frisbee teams reach national tourney
By Torrie Jones
by torrie jones
sports at kanson.com
Kanson sportswriter
Most people's Ultimate Frisbee careers ended on the playground pitches of recesses past, but the University of Kansas has two Ultimate Frisbee squads that continue to play, taking advantage of the game's increasing worldwide popularity.
The HorrorZontals men's team and Betty women's team will be traveling to the Ultimate Frisbee national championships on Memorial Day weekend in Boulder, Colo. Both teams won regional championships on April 24.
"Our move to the Southern Region enabled us to play teams that aren't as gifted as some of the teams in the Northern Region," said Sarah Camastro, Evansville, Ill., graduate student. "The game is a lot bigger on the East Coast, so games tend to be more competitive."
The HorrorZontals also are going into the 12-team, single-elimination national championship tournament, hoping to continue their undefeated season.
The Ultimate Frisbee season is hard-fought, and the game is much more structured than the gym-class version of the same sport. The college game is played to a score of 15 in seven-on-seven matches that can last as long as two hours.
"This game definitely will get you in the best shape of your life because it involves a lot of running, cutting and jumping," said Stef Kerr, Kansas City, Kan., senior.
There are seven positions on an Ultimate Frisbee team. There are three handles, who generally throw the disk most often; two middleers, who do most of the cutting; and two longs, usually the team's highest jumpers.
Although college Ultimate Frisbee is more rigorous and rule-oriented than its playground counterpart, the game's atmosphere is laid-back, and the matches are played in the spirit of sportsmanship and unity.
"We are out here playing to emphasize the need for people to take good care of their bodies and to integrate sisterhood among the team members," Kerr said.
The Horror Zontals' trip to the single-elimination national tournament has the players excited about the possibility of winning the school's first Ultimate Frisbee championship.
"We haven't been in five years, so it's been a long time coming," said Jet Quenemoen, Minneapolis senior. "This season we had a lot of incentive because there are some members of our team that are playing in their last year."
The teams also compete in a Lawrence summer league that is open to players of all ages and will be held.
Tennis teams lacking KU support
Continued from page 1B
He also said that for the teams to remain successful, tennis needed to be publicized at Kansas.
"We have to try and sell tennis here at the University if we want to be able to compete with the Texases and the Texas A&Ms of the Big 12," he said.
David Dusek, a senior editor at Tennis Magazine, said the lure of money and fame had also done a great deal of damage to college tennis.
"There's a very small window o opportunity for the very top players to cash in on their abilities." Dusek said. "If you go to college and you play for two or three years, that's two or three years where you're not accepting prize money, and that's potential income that you're losing."
Dusek said it was because of this logic that many promising young players opted to play on the pro tour as an alternative to college tennis.
"A player with John McEnroe's ability today never goes to Stanford," he said. "Players of that caliber don't play college tennis. They've already made a decision to turn pro."
Take 17-year-old phenomenon
Anna Kournikova, for instance. By the time she was 12 years old, she had already signed with the IMG sports agency. In doing so, she decided that college tennis was not in her plans, even before she was old enough to be in high school.
"The money is certainly out there," Dusek said. "If you're good, it's difficult to turn it down."
Many college tennis experts say they think a recent decline in tennis' following throughout the United States explains the lack of support college tennis tends to receive. Although tennis is booming throughout Europe and South America, viewership has declined in recent years in the United States.
"The American population and society has so many different things to watch and be captivated by." Dusek said. "In other countries, there isn't nearly as much media hype around everything. It makes it difficult for tennis to take the spotlight here in the States."
Riley said one remedy to tennis' recent decline in the United States could come in the form of promotion. Riley said he thought tennis needed to be advocated toward the youth of America.
He said tennis camps had done wonders in promoting the sport to young players throughout the country. He also said physical-education classes could advocate the sport better than currently.
"People need to be exposed to tennis at a younger age," Riley said.
Although a number of reasons can be cited for college tennis' under-
appreciation at Kansas, both the men's and women's tennis teams have learned to take it in stride.
Glasgow recounts practices' speed, toughness
Although universities like Stanford can draw as many as 7,000 fans to a given match, Kansas fans only seem to filter in and out by the handfuls in recent years. It has become abundantly clear to Kansas tennis teams that home is not necessarily where the heart is.
"Regardless of the crowd, you still just have to go out there and play your hardest," Uribe said. "At times I don't even want to play at home when we play outdoors. The weather can affect us and we don't have as much support because of the facilities."
— Edited by Liz Wristen
That Friday, we only had one practice. After lunch, we had a meeting, and they gave us our playbook. And when you see this thing that has got to be 400 pages long, and you are just like "God!"
Continued from page 1B
Here at KU, you put on helmets, and you go out in shorts, and you're walking through everything. Not at
the NFL level.
Everything's about three times as fast.
And we were basically full-contact during
the practices. The second day was similar to a normal two-a-day practice here at KU. Wake up, practice, meetings, lunch, meetings, practice, meetings. I played left guard behind (starter) Kevin Gogan.
The whole minicamp was designed for the rookies to get as many reps as we could. My feeling is that Miami as a whole is really stacked right now. They're going to be a great ballclub. As far as making the team, my chances are probably not as great as they would be if I would have gone somewhere else. But I think I have a chance of at least making the practice squad.
My offensive line coach said that they're talking about a couple of veterans leaving, so he told me I have a good shot of making the practice squad. And when I signed with them, he said that they're not looking for someone to step right in. The whole idea is to bring someone in and develop them and hopefully get them on the team within a year.
On the last day, Coach Johnson is known for his end-of-practice gut check for the rookies during mini-camp. So he had us run 10 110-yard sprints. You had to finish them under 19 seconds and only got 45 seconds rest in between. Coach Johnson's deal is that when you run sprints, you can't show any sign of weakness. So after a sprint, you can't bend over or lay down. You have to stand there and act like it's no big deal. I was in pretty good shape, but it still broke me down. I made them all, except for one, and most of the guys fell out after six of them. We had one guy, a free agent offensive tackle they brought in, who's about 6-5, 360 pounds. He, needless to say, didn't do too well. On the last one, he was basically walking.
Get some
The thing was that all the rookies, right after the last practice that Sunday, left for the airport. So all the rookies are scrambling to get to the airport on time. Well, that guy basically collapses in the shower while we all left. So the weekend was interesting, to say the least.
Edited by Allan Davis
Attention: Nontraditional Graduates!
You are cordially invited to attend a reception in your honor
Recognizing Nontraditional Students who are graduating from the University of Kansas with Bachelors Degrees in 1999
Monday, May 10, 1999 3:00-5:00 PM Strong Hall Rotunda
Refreshments will be served. Commemorative tassels will be given to participating students.
You must RSVP to receive a tassel. (785)864-4064
Sponsored by The Student Development Center With a grant from Coca-Cola
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