University Daily Kansan, October 12, 1984
Page 7
The Ultimate spirit
After losing in the final game, members of the Grass Carp join with members of the team that beat them. Nemesis, of Chicago. These photos were taken at a recent tournament in Springfield, Mo.
In Ultimate, the frenzy on the field stops when the game ends.After the game the goal is friendship.
Photos and story by Chris Magerl
Mike Whittington of the HorrorZontals passes the disc around a member of the Ozone Outlaws of Columbia, Mo.
Cries of "dose" fill the air as two players race down the field chasing a living Frisbee.
He hasn't caught a trying Poseis.
Both leap for the disc, trancantly trying to catch it before it hits the ground.
One lands with the disc, and the action continues.
The action is Ultimate, a non-contact sport played by two teams. The object is to score goals by passing the disc to a teammate in the pad zone.
The disc may only be passed, no steps are allowed, and any time a pass is incomplete, an immediate change of possession occurs. The disc must be held by someone to lose their defenders, and play stones only when a point is scored.
The sectional qualifying tournament for Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma will be in Lawrence tomorrow and Sunday at the fields on the northwest corner of 22nd and Iowa streets, from noon until last until dark. Play Sunday will start at 10 a.m. and run until about 4 p.m.
THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS Association, a national group of team enthusiasts, has compiled rules for the game. Two teams, however, are free to use and variation upon which the game is played without referees.
Before each game, players huddle in spirit circles.
Said team member Matt Jefferson, Oshkosh, Wis. senior, "It's a way to get adrenaline flowing, I really get psyched up in spirit circles. We're chanting to increase confidence and unity."
Some team members also paint their faces with streaks of red, yellow, blue and green. Jefferson said the paints were "a way to psych out the other team. Our team is for our incredible psych and spirit."
But players also say that Ultimate relies on the spirit of sportsmanship, which gives them the responsibility for fair play.
PLAYERS MUST SOLVE conflicts themselves, said Brad Westmoreland, Independence, Mo. senior and captain of the Horror Zonks, one of the three Ultimate teams. He says, however, they untable compromise can't be reached
Another player, Laurie Cone,
Liberty, Mo. senior, is a member of
the Grass Carp, the only women's
team at the University of Kansas.
"If it comes down to that, that they can't decide, you just play it over," he said. "It's just a game.
"It's just as hard as any sport, but it also involves a lot of respect and fair play," he said.
"I know that Ultimate is played as hard as any other sport, but to me that doesn't mean it's more competitive," she said. "I feel that we have a lot more of a unified feeling of the two teams on the field. It isn't us against them as much as it is that we both have to play as hard Ultimate as we can."
BOB EGAN, TULSA, OKLA,
senior and a member of the Zontals,
sees Ultimate as unique among
sports.
"In Ultimate, you play and you play hard, and then you go party together," he said.
Westmoreland said many Ultimate players competed in high school sports, and that the game was a way for former high school athletes to remain active while allowing enough time to be serious students.
Heidi Schiltz, Bigfork, Mont. senior and a member of the Grass Carp, agreed but said high school students wasn't required to be good at the game.
"Speed is an important thing, followed by disc handling skills," she said. "You really need to be able to handle the discs and to be pretty coordinated, overall."
"ON DEFENSE, YOU'RE USING your arms and legs, going all out to try to block," Schiltt said.
Part of the camaraderie of Ultimate is developed through the team's travels. In the past 15 months, the Zontals have travelled to 16 tournaments, including College Nationals last spring in Boston.
Other tournments have taken them to Tempel, Artz, Boulder, Colo., Chicago; and Minneapolis. Most of the time, they pay their own way, find their own place to stay and drive all night to work a two-day tournament into their school schedule.
To save money, they stay with friends.
"When you get 15 people spread out on the floor of two rooms, you really get to know each other," said Doug Zenthal and a senior and a member of the Zontals.
Egan said he liked the chance to get to know his competitors.
"WHEN THE GAME IS over, we don't get on a bus and head home. We get a chance to meet the people who are on the other teams," he said.
Schiltz said that knowing her opponent was important.
"We see the same teams, three tournaments a year for three years, and you get to know people," she said. "We enjoy playing against teams we know. The whole attitude on the field is much better if you know the others. It just seems like everybody is rooting for each other."
The top two finishers at this weekend's tournament will advance to regionalists in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday. The team will head to Santa Barbara, Calif., Nov. 23, 2015.
Glenda Luttrell of the Grass Carp tries to block a pass by Amy Bekken of Nemesis.
HorrorZontal member Bob Hughes goes up for the disc behind a member of the Ozone Outlaws.