Gainesville’s Ultimate Community
What is ultimate frisbee you might be asking? Ultimate frisbee
is a non-contact game that is a mixture between soccer, football, and
basketball played on a field with a disc, eight cones, and no referees.
It’s called spirit of the game, where you call your own fouls, picks,
etc. No dogs or goals made out of chains are involved with playing ultimate,
perhaps just some dogs on the sideline though. There are fourteen total
players on the field at a time; seven from each team with and offense
and a defense. Both teams take turns working the disc up and down the
field to the endzones to score. Usually teams play a game to fifteen or
to a time limit. During the game all sorts of things are happening from
marking, cutting, catching to throwing, laying out, and stacking. These
are the ten simple rules of ultimate:
Ultimate frisbee is a great way to have lots of fun, get an awesome workout, meet many new faces, make many new friends, sometimes travel all around the nation or world, and go to lots of gatherings/parties. It’s this wonderful atmosphere of great people that have the same passion about playing the game of ultimate as you do. No other sport is really like ultimate frisbee. Now you might be wondering where are those places all around Gainesville to play ultimate frisbee, well if you’re just starting out in the sport you’ll probably want to play pick up. Pick up ultimate is where you can go out to the field and play with a bunch of people when you want, its not too serious just pure fun. It’s no pressure and no commitment. You can just come out and play ultimate. Some places to play pick up are: random spots around UF campus like the front of the stadiums, Norman field, Flavet field, Hume field, and Lake Alice field. At these places you’ll see people throwing around and playing a little pick up all throughout the week. Then there are some other places to play pick up that play
a little more organized team play than just random play. They are JJ Finley,
Gator Christian Life (GCL), Squirrel Ridge Park, and Campus Crusades.
Directions to Flavet field: Take 13th St. South, go right on Museum Rd, go right on Woodlawn Dr, the fields are up on the hill.Squirrel Ridge Park currently plays on Sunday and Friday at 5:30pm out on Williston Rd. Directions: Take 13th St South past Archer Rd. towards Williston Rd. At Williston, go West (take a right), big field on left. Campus Crusades play on Monday nights at Flavet field at 9pm. All four of these groups play co-ed pick up games. JJ Finley and GCL have competed in Gainesville tournaments like Frostbreaker, Heatstroke, and Fallout. If you are a UF student interested in ultimate, there is a UF ultimate frisbee class you can take. There you will learn about the game and how to play. There is also UF ultimate frisbee intramurals. This is where organized teams play one another various nights of the week and at the end of the season there is a semi final and final game. You can find out more details on intramurals and the frisbee class on UF’s website. www.ufl.edu There is something else for UF and non UF students, it’s called League. There is a winter and summer league. This is where anyone and everyone, all skill levels, can come together on teams and play each other for the league championship. Winter league starts in January and goes until April. Summer league starts up in May till June. For more information on Winter League contact Sara Puyana at sepa81@hotmail.com. For more info on Summer League contact Jill Durham at jillsgr8@backpacker.com. Then there are those ultimate fanatics that are very serious
and competitive about the game that travel to tournaments all over the
nation. If you attend UF, there are men’s and women’s ultimate
frisbee club teams where they do just that. UFUCT (men’s) and FUEL
(women’s) UF club teams’ season is from January till May.
They play all throughout the year, but this is the college season where
teams from all around the nation compete at tournaments and compete at
sectionals, regionals, and nationals. UFUCT and FUEL practice on campus
at Flavet fields Tuesday and Thursday from 8-10pm beginning September.
Both teams are also recruiting for more players. New players can come
out on Wednesdays at Flavet field also from 8-10pm. Currently both teams
play in the fall with the open club teams. These are Gainesville’s
men’s and women’s non-UF student highly competitive, organized,
traveling ultimate frisbee teams. Vicious Cycle (men’s) and Diva
(women’s team currently in the process of changing their name) are
made up of students, parents, young professionals, entrepreneurs, teachers,
and professors who come together two to three days a week and play a sport
they enjoy thoroughly. Both teams have competed at the national level
where the best teams from all around US and Canada play. They both travel
to various tournaments throughout the year, but their season is in the
fall from September to November where they go to sectionals, regionals,
and sometimes nationals. They practice from May-August at Citizen’s
field Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm. Then from September to April at Flavet
field Tuesday and Thursday 8-10pm. Here are some tournaments in Gainesville you could get involved with. Heatstroke Hat Tournament, this is a tournament where anyone can come to and play. Players are put on equal teams according to skill level. It’s a one day tournament and lots of fun. Another Hat tournament is called Fallout. Same thing just Fallout is in November and Heatstroke is in July. Florida Winter Classic is a college tournament on UF’s campus in January. This is a tournament where college teams compete for the championship. You would have to play college to be eligible to participate in this tournament. Lastly, Frostbreaker is a Gainesville tournament that has been going on for over twenty years. It’s usually held in March at Citizens field. This is a tournament where teams from all over come and compete with one another. Usually you have to be on a team already or sometimes you can just show up and pick up with another team. This past year was the first year Frostbreaker went Co-ed, meaning all teams were co-ed teams and there were several Gainesville teams that were formed to play at Frostbreaker. JJ Finley, GCL, UFUCT, FUEL, Vicious Cycle, and Diva all combined to play at Frostbreaker this past year. There are many websites on the internet that have lots of information about ultimate frisbee. Here are some if you’re interested in knowing more about the sport. http://www.upa.org/
I do hope that this article has led you to be more informed about Gainesville’s Ultimate Community and hope that you might want to get involved. It’s a great way to spend some of your time and now you know where and when ultimate is happening in Gainesville. If you have any questions or comments about Gainesville’s Ultimate Frisbee Community, feel free to contact myself. Thanks for reading and BE ACTIVE, STAY HEALTHY, PLAY ULTIMATE! Written by Jillienne Durham Jill Durham has been playing ultimate for about four years.
She is the captain of Diva 2003 and 2004. She was the winter league director
2003, summer league director 2002, 2003, 2004, co-director of Frostbreaker
2004, and she is an employee at By the way, Diva is currently looking for sponsors
to aid them in reaching their goal of making it to nationals by traveling
to costly tournaments all throughout the nation. If you are interested
in helping these ladies reach their goal, contact me asap. |