Sprinting down the field. Flying through the air. Leaping for the catch. Ultimate Frisbee isn’t the sport it once was back in the late 1960’s.
"You’ve got to be quick. You’ve got to be able to run all day. The other thing that you have to be able to do, is you have to be able to transition really fast from the mentality of relay intensity to picking up the disc and having the calm of a quarterback. Then moving right in to being a receiver." Said De Smet Ultimate Coach, Peter Lenzini.
Whether you’re a basketball player, a football player, or a soccer star, it all translates in Ultimate. Where fun, finesse, and endurance are all rolled in to one.
Lenzini added, "There’s no sport in which you have the opportunity more often to be horizontal 3-4 feet in the air, uh making a play. That’s why they eat it up."
Ultimate is also unique in a sense that there is no other high school sport where the athletes who are playing the game, are also officiating the game. You won’t find a referee on the sideline. It’s up to the players to make the right calls.
"I think that’s a big part in helping us become boys from men," said De Smet Jesuit senior Eric Bracken. "We get to take control and it really comes down to how we take control."
His teammate, Cole Arnold, who is also a senior on De Smet's Ultimate team added, "It’s like a gentleman’s game because it’s self-officiated and you kind of have to take the rules into your own hands and take the game as your own."
It’s one of the biggest reason’s Lenzini loves the game.
"I can’t think of a better sport to help show kids the importance of their decisions," as he gazed out at the field. "You know we put kids in highly competitive situations and we ask them to make their own calls and they do it."
Lenzini played Ultimate at Vanderbilt and has been involved in the program at De Smet for the past 15 years. He's created a winning culture as the Spartans recently came off of their 9th straight state title.
As of last August, the International Olympic Committee officially recognized Ultimate Frisbee, which means disc sports are now eligible for future Olympic Games. There are currently 26 professional teams in the United States.
For more information on the De Smet Ultimate team and its summer camps, click the link below:
