AMANDA FIRST
For The State News
On a day of rain and tornado warnings, about 400 students from all over campus left shelter and congregated on Munn field to play Ultimate Frisbee.
The students participated Sunday in the first MSU coed pickup Ultimate tournament hosted by the MSU men’s Ultimate team.
Ultimate is played on what resembles a football field, with two teams of players moving the disc down the field to their respective goal lines by stopping and passing the disc to each other. A player may be guarded, like in basketball, and the point of the game is to catch the disc in the end zone.
Students were encouraged to gather six of their friends and sign up. The tournament was free, with food available and T-shirts given to the top teams. Each team was guaranteed to play two games.
“The teams that keep on winning get to go to the semifinals and finals,” said Luscious Delicious, men’s captain and philosophy and computer science senior.
The tournament began because Delicious wanted to involve more people in the sport.
“He was trying to find ways to introduce Ultimate Frisbee to the campus,” said Julie Stein, a women’s Ultimate member and English senior.
Delicious was able to register 42 teams.
Denise Drexler, a psychology freshman from Central Michigan University, came with a group of MSU friends.
“We used to play it back home,” she said. “When we found out that there was a tournament, we decided to play to bring back memories.”
Both the men’s final game and the coed final game were postponed because of a tornado warning, but Delicious said the games would be played at a later date.
One unique aspect of Ultimate is called Spirit of the Game, which, according to the Ultimate Players Association’s Web site - www.upa.org - is, “a spirit of sportsmanship which places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged but never at the expense of the bond of mutual respect between players.”
Players said they like Ultimate because of its spirit.
“Our rule for the game is no yelling and always being positive,” said Kiel Phegley, an English sophomore. “Ultimate is a great sport because you don’t need training and equipment - anyone can play, you just have to come out.”
Although Ultimate has recently become more popular, the sport has been a part of MSU’s campus for 26 years.
“The men’s team started in 1975,” Delicious said. “(One of the people) who invented Ultimate transferred to MSU and started a team here.
“Some of the original members of that team still play pickup games in East Lansing - it’s kind of like living history.”
Though the rain made for wet fields that Sunday, students said they had fun and Ultimate thrives on MSU’s campus.
“I’ve played so many sports,” Delicious said. “But it’s the coolest game I’ve ever played.”
