Want to join
a team? Try www.upa.org
and click on "Pickup." Select "Oregon" and you'll find
six groups in Portland and two in Beaverton. Also check
the Portland Ultimate Frisbee Federation page (www.lclark.edu/~arthur)
for a pick-up schedule and contacts.
"In basketball there is the slam dunk, in baseball you've
got the grand slam and in ultimate you have what's called
getting horizontal; the Frisbee flies just enough ahead
of you that your feet leave the ground as you dive for
the disk horizontally," says Tracey Satterfield, explaining
the graceful play that is to ultimate what the triple-axle
is to skating. The co-captain of Schwa, Portland's high-caliber
female ultimate team, adds that blown-out knees and torn
rotator cuffs are not uncommon.
Widely regarded as a hippie's game in the tradition
of slow-moving stoner sports like Hacky Sack, ultimate
is in fact a hugely athletic game that requires even
more running than soccer.
Look no further than Schwa for proof that this is not
a game for burnouts. This week the Portland team is
one of 24 international squads competing at the World
Ultimate Club Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland.
The team's logo is the upside-down "e"--the pronunciation
symbol known as schwa. Schwa, as grammar geeks know,
is the mid-central vowel sound in English. Formed in
1995, the club today consists of 18 women ranging in
age from 21 to 39 who practice 12 to 16 hours each week.
The intense regimen doesn't scare these women--many
of whom spend their free time mountain biking, snowboarding
and climbing.
The Northwest is a magnet for outdoor enthusiasts,
both recreational and pro. The region has a reputation
for spawning some of the most competitive ultimate teams
in the United States. The ultimate circuit is divided
into six regions. The Northwest ranges from northern
California to southern Canada and is considered to be
one of the toughest circuits around.
Ranked 11th going into the world championship, Schwa
has endured a rebuilding year in which the team replaced
seven of its team veterans. Satterfield says she wants
to come home in the top eight but notes that the October
regional finals will exact even tougher play than the
Scotland tournament: "The U.S. is dominant in ultimate,"
she says. That makes sense, given that the game was
developed in the States.
Ultimate combines aspects of football, soccer and basketball;
the goal is to score points by passing the Frisbee or
"disc" down the field to an end zone. Possession turns
over when a pass is intercepted or incomplete. Light
on rules, ultimate is a game that almost anyone can
learn. Many people don't discover the game until in
their 20s and find it a good alternative to soccer,
hoops or softball. At the novice level, ultimate requires
minimal skill and can be played with uneven teams.
Ultimate earned a reputation as a hippie's sport because
of its lax structure and benevolent guiding principle,
the Spirit of the Game. Though highly competitive play
is encouraged, the spirit is about respecting other
players and sticking to the mutually agreed upon rules
of the game. There are no referees, only "passive observers"
reserved for the top competitions. But violate the Spirit
and, well, that's just bad karma. Good sportsmanship
is expected in most sports, but in ultimate it is the
first and foremost tenet. Particularly for female enthusiasts,
the spirit is an important part of the game. Camaraderie,
as we have seen in women's soccer, is as important as
competition. "We play for the social aspect. While guys
get their testosterone kicking, women like to hang out
more," says Satterfield. Warm and fuzzy as it may sound,
ultimate is a sport for players, not bench warmers.
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Willamette Week | originally
published July 28, 1999
