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By Susan
Hickman
Little did
those two
American
Second World
War pilots
know, when
they created
the plastic
disc they
dubbed a
“flying
saucer” in
1948, that
their new
toy would
become the
focus of
what is
today a
hugely
popular
sport.
And little
did Alison
Gresik know,
when her
husband
dragged her
into the
sport six
years ago,
when his
team needed
more women,
that she
would come
to embrace
ultimate
Frisbee as
her
“favourite
keeping-fit
activity.”
Other more
seasoned
players
could have
warned her.
Nick
Roberts,
general
manager of
the
Ottawa-Carleton
Ultimate
Association
(OCUA) was a
sports
enthusiast
when he was
younger.
Today, he
terms
ultimate
“the best
team sport
that I have
ever
played.”
“It’s
inexpensive,
which makes
it appealing
to me. It’s
coed, which
is unusual
among team
sports. And
it’s very
physically
demanding.
The best way
to sum it
up: it takes
a very short
time to
learn, and a
lifetime to
master.”
Ottawa can
boast it has
the largest
summer
ultimate
Frisbee
league in
the world,
according to
the OCUA. A
non-contact,
coed team
sport that
can be
played year
round by
anyone of
any age,
ultimate
draws nearly
5,000
Ottawans to
sign up ever
summer to
throw
Frisbees in
outdoor
fields
around the
city, and
nearly a
thousand
continue to
play through
the other
three
seasons.
Some New
Jersey high
school kids
developed
the
fast-moving
sport of
ultimate in
1968, so
dubbed
because they
called it
the
“ultimate
sports
experience.”
The most
important
part of
ultimate is
known as
“the spirit
of the
game,” a
catchphrase
that
describes
the respect
among the
players. A
game that
does not use
referees,
ultimate
relies on
trust and
resolution
without
conflict.
Ottawa's
Ultimate
Summer
League
More than
300 coed,
women’s and
youth (ages
eight to 16)
teams make
up Ottawa’s
summer
league,
which runs
from May
through
August,
catering to
all levels,
from
beginner to
competitive.
In the fall,
players can
join
competitive
and
recreational
coed teams
from
mid-September
until early
November.
And in the
winter, an
indoor
league takes
over until
the middle
of March.
The OCUA
opened the
world’s
first
exclusive
ultimate
park in
Manotick in
August 1999.
Association
president
Marc Gobeil
is another
player who
admits he
was
“smitten”
with the
sport the
first season
he began to
play seven
years ago.
“All week
I’d eagerly
await my
next game,
with
butterflies
. . . I was
a horrible
player, but
that didn’t
matter,
because it
was just so
much fun
running like
mad after a
floating
piece of
plastic.”
Gresik, who
is playing
with “The
Hammers” in
the summer
league,
after
keeping up
her skills
in a coached
recreational
development
league all
winter, also
confesses
she was not
much of an
athlete when
she took up
the sport.
 “Our
coach
teaches us
strategy and
helps us
improve our
throwing,
cutting and
defence.
It’s a
vigorous
workout, but
it inspires
me to keep
up my
weight-lifting
and aerobic
activities,
so I don’t
poop out on
the field!”
With time,
Gresik is
gaining
confidence,
learning
where to
run, how to
dog her
opponents
and how to
throw
skilfully.
“There’s
nothing like
the high of
sprinting
down the
sideline and
catching the
disc in the
end zone for
a point!”
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