Ultimate Frisbee is a rapidly growing, but relatively new sport. There are several avenues one can take to participate in the sport, the primary ones being college frisbee, club frisbee, and the UFA (Ultimate Frisbee Association). College frisbee is played, as the name suggests, in universities and colleges, being the traditional entry point for most Frisbee players who did not play in high school. The UFA is a for-profit, professional frisbee league with regional teams, such as the Carolina Flyers and New York Empire. Club frisbee consists of independent teams with vastly varying levels of skill. The elite club teams are considered the pinnacle of Ultimate, and are where the best frisbee is played. These avenues toward sport are allowing it to gain popularity, but it is still young and has its imperfections. One of the biggest imperfections attached to the sport is the name itself. Let’s be honest. “Ultimate Frisbee” is an incredibly dorky name. However, this quirkiness is not something the sport shies away from. Instead, it is something the community has come to embrace. The imperfections that are woven into the framework and history of Ultimate Frisbee are what give the sport its authentic charm.

Most frisbee games operate without a referee, which introduces a concept called “spirit of the game”. This concept emphasizes sportsmanship above all, prioritizing honesty over winning. Essentially, it is the idea that you will play without calling fouls on clean plays, dispute calls respectfully, and not abide by a “sweep the leg” mentality. There is not always a formal authority keeping watch over you, meaning the responsibility of playing the game honorably rests entirely on the player’s shoulders. One might think that this cheapens the game, opening up an opportunity for players and teams to easily cheat their way to the top. I would argue it does the opposite and actually enriches the game. It reminds me of one of the tenants that drew me to Davidson, the honor code. It is expected that the type of person who would go to Davidson upholds a certain level of integrity, and this rings true for Ultimate as well. The honor code is what made Davidson feel special to me, as I knew I was gonna be dropped into a community of like-minded people. I have now discovered that same community in a group of people who have bonded over a 175 gram piece of circular plastic. This community would not have the same sense of unity without the inherent imperfections which exist within the sport. If there were observers at every game, this idea of upholding the spirit of the game would be the responsibility of officials, not the athletes themselves. 

The strength of the community is not only bolstered by the sprit of the game, it is also greatly reinforced by the tight-knit nature of the society. This is especially true for the professional players. While top-end professional players do get paid, nobody is able to live solely off the income they receive from frisbee. In spite of this, professional players are putting in enough time into the sport for it to be considered a second job. This creates a unique bond between the players at this level of commitment. They are putting in extensive hours throughout their lives into a sport that the world passes off as a quirky, strange extracurricular activity, and can only share this passion with other people in the frisbee world. It creates a bubble around those who share the passion. This sense of fellowship would be dampened if the sport was as popular as basketball or soccer, as the bubble would expand too far, eventually popping.

A longstanding tradition in frisbee history is the Donovan and Callahan videos, known for their gritty filmmaking along with the personality participants can put into their videos. These videos are submitted in an attempt to win the respective awards for the Donovan (DIII Frisbee) and Callahan (DI Frisbee). Each team nominates one player, typically the best senior on their team, to participate. These contenders create a highlight reel on YouTube of their best moments throughout their four years of Ultimate. These videos are so special because of the fact that the players make them themselves. They are far from perfect, but they are loaded with inside jokes, personal moments, and creative liberties. This differentiates it from highlight videos of athletes from other sports, often lifeless highlight reels created by stats analysts, lacking the creativity which stems from Callahan and Donovan videos.