More than 300 players and fans of Ultimate Frisbee gathered at the Universidad de Guadalajara Sports Club last weekend for the 2012 Mexican National Tournament in this fast-moving team sport, which uses a flying disk instead of a ball.
Of the 12 teams that battled it out for the Men’s Open title, the winner was Mexico City’s Fenix (a team from the UNAM university) which beat Malaki of Queretaro in the finals, 15-10.
Seven teams of women also competed and once again a Mexico City team—Kowamorras—triumphed.
“Ultimate,” as it is normally called, is played in more than 50 countries and has about five million players in the United States alone. The game originated in 1968 and was first played at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. One of the originators of the sport, a student named Joel Silver, claimed at the time that it was “the ultimate game experience” and the name stuck.
In a certain sense, Ultimate resembles football because it has two end zones. If a team member inside the end zone catches the disk, it’s a point for his or her team (which consists of seven members). In stark contrast to football or rugby, however, Ultimate is not a contact sport at all, unless a couple of players accidentally collide with each other. Taking the frisbee away from someone is forbidden, but the moment a player catches the flying disk, he or she is obliged to stand still and has ten seconds to pass it to someone else. Because brute force has no place in the game, mixed teams of men and women, youngsters and oldsters, are common.
Perhaps the aspect of Ultimate that most impresses players is “the spirit of the game.” Unlike other sports, Ultimate usually employs no referees, depending on each player’s honor for all decisions. This aspect of the game, according to aficionados, produces a special community spirit unique in the sporting world.
While the Kowamorras team will go on to a tournament in Portland, Oregon, Fenix will participate in the World Flying Disk Federation Ultimate Championships in Saki, Osaka, Japan in July.
These championships are held every four years and each participating country is allowed to send only one team in each division. One goal of the event is to support victims of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami disaster. Seventy teams from 25 countries will participate in the competitions.
Meanwhile, here in Jalisco, two important Ultimate competitions are in the works between now and December: “One will be held on the beach,” says organizer Gustavo Mitra, “and the other in Guadalajara. Check our Facebook page, UltimateGDL, for more information.”
As for future national tournaments, Mitra hopes the UDG Sports Club, which is situated 15 kilometers west of the city, will again serve as a venue.