Energetic, frenzied and good-natured, Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact sport - on the field, at least, writes Eoin Butler
ACROSS A ROUGHLY delineated playing field of freshly cut grass, two teams of seven players are lined up to do battle. After some good-humoured trash talking, the Green captain raises his arm to signal the start of play. He hurls the white Frisbee downfield toward the opposition and both sets of players charge after it. A goateed Red team member rises highest, plucks the disc out of the air, pivots and looks for someone to offload it to. His teammates jostle to see who can offer the most incomprehensible advice. ("Vertical stack, Jim! Vertical stack!" yells someone.) The game is on.
Ultimate Frisbee (or Ultimate, as it is simply known to its aficionados) is a fast-paced team sport that has become hugely popular on campuses across Ireland. With universities in recess, Herbert Park in Dublin 4 is currently hosting a Monday night summer league.
The rules are pretty simple. It's a non-contact sport, in which the Frisbee is passed at high speed between teammates. The player in possession of the Frisbee has 10 seconds to release it, during which time they must remain stationary. A successful pass to a teammate in the opposition's end zone results in a score. If the Frisbee is intercepted by an opponent, however, or if it falls on the ground, then possession is turned over.
As in basketball, there is no limit to the number of substitutions that can be made. So with his team one-nil ahead, Red captain Ben Sweeney opts to take a breather, and plonks down next to me on the sideline. He first took up the sport four years ago, he says, after coming across the club's stand during Freshers' week in Trinity College. As it happened, he and some friends had just spent the summer messing about with a Frisbee one of them had bought on a whim. "At the time," Sweeney says, "I really wanted to take up a new sport. So I decided to give it a go." He wasn't disappointed. "It's a really cool game, lots of fun and great exercise."
The attractions of the game are obvious: it is exciting, fast-paced and easy to learn. Teams are mixed and there are regular weekend tournaments away, meaning plenty of opportunities to get better acquainted with teammates of the opposite sex.
So is Ultimate Frisbee actually just another one of these sports (such as roller hockey and tag rugby) whose entire raison d'être is to help twentysomethings get off with each other? Sweeney laughs. "Not at all," he smiles, shaking his head. "It's very competitive. You have to be agile. You need to be able to sprint. It requires really good hand-eye coordination to catch the disc in the air. Some people are naturals, but it still takes a long time to master your disc skills."
He talks me through the various throws. First up, obviously, are the forehand and the backhand. Then there's the hammer throw, which involves releasing the Frisbee above your head at a 45-degree angle. The blade throw, meanwhile, is similar to the forehand except very hard and very fast.
He is interrupted by a loud cheer. The Greens have just equalised. Sweeney rushes back onto the field, with his friend Michael replacing him on the sideline. Michael is out of breath.
"There tend to be a lot of substitutions," he concedes. "It takes so much out of you that most people will need a break after a few minutes." Though it seems rude to say so, my own impression is actually quite the opposite. If anything, Ultimate Frisbee seems to me a singularly undemanding sport. Players spend half the time chatting among themselves on the sidelines. And once on the field of play, a sizable chunk of their time is spent huddling, high-fiving and taking time-outs. This is in sharp contrast to, say, five-a-side soccer - where one isn't deemed even to be trying until one has coughed up a lung or two.
"The mixed games are more relaxed," another sub admits. "But that's the beauty of the game: you can participate as intensively or as casually, as you like." So this isn't all just a big ruse to meet women then? "No," he smiles. "This is a serious business. Ireland is sending two teams to the world championships in Vancouver this summer. But, of course, the social aspect is also a big part of it." Another score prompts another round of substitutions. "By the way," the sub adds, before he rejoins the fray, "we're going to the pub after this, if you're interested in coming along? Should be a bit of crack." I'm sure it would, lads. I'm sure it would.
The Ultimate Frisbee World Championships take place on the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, Canada, from August 2nd to 9th, with Ireland represented by a men's and a women's team