Not your typical athletes? Wait until you try Ultimate Frisbee
By Earl Horlyk Journal staff writer | Posted: Wednesday, June 25, 2008
LE MARS - Tossing around a Frisbee with friends on the athletic grounds of his former high school, Paul Utesch doesn't look like an ultimate athlete.
In fact, the bespectacled Le Mars native seems as if he'd be more at home in his university's library than he would in the competitive world of extreme sports. Well, that is until you see Utesch and the team he co-captains in action.
"This is Ultimate Frisbee," Utesch said as he caught his breath. "It's like nothing you've ever seen before."
So, what's Ultimate Frisbee?
It's what happens when two teams of seven players square off around a little round disc. The Frisbee then advances up the field when it's tossed from one player to the next in hopes of ultimately completing a pass on the other side of the goal line.
Which makes it like football or rugby.
But to complicate matters, defenders stick to one another like glue. And anytime the Frisbee's dropped, possession reverts to the opposing team.
Which makes it like basketball.
"I used to think I was in good shape," player Adam Verschoor said, huffing and puffing after a play. "But this is ridiculous, man!"
Verschoor, a Wayne State College student, has been on Utesch's team for the past three years.
"It's a blast!" Verschoor exclaimed. "You're constantly in motion during the entire game. It's a great workout."
Utesch said he's been an Ultimate Frisbee fanatic for more than five years.
"I got hooked on it while I was a (Le Mars Community High School) student," said Utesch, now an Iowa State University senior, "and I've been playing it ever since."
Utesch also pointed out that he was responsible for choosing his team's name.
"We call ourselves Team Backseat," he explained. "That's a name that's been around since middle school. The kids who rode on the back of the school bus always seemed to have more fun than the kids who rode up in front."
For veteran player Tyler Switalski, Ultimate Frisbee seems to run in his family.
"I took up the sport the same time Paul did," he said. "Plus, I got my younger sister Haley involved in it last year."
Although Utesch and Switalski, a recent University of Iowa graduate, began playing the sport in earnest while in college, Ultimate Frisbee has been around for more than 40 years.
The sport can trace its roots to a Maplewood, N.J., high school in 1967, when some teenage athletes decided to take the sport of disc throwing and kick it up a notch.
Incidentally, one of those early disc jockeys was a young Joel Silver. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Silver grew up to become the moviemaking mind behind such Hollywood hits as "The Matrix."
Although they admit to being competitive on the field, Utesch and his fellow flingers aren't likely to see their names in lights. In their world, Ultimate Frisbee is about having a good time and connecting with friends.
"What can be better than that?" Utesch asked with a smile.
In fact, the bespectacled Le Mars native seems as if he'd be more at home in his university's library than he would in the competitive world of extreme sports. Well, that is until you see Utesch and the team he co-captains in action.
"This is Ultimate Frisbee," Utesch said as he caught his breath. "It's like nothing you've ever seen before."
So, what's Ultimate Frisbee?
It's what happens when two teams of seven players square off around a little round disc. The Frisbee then advances up the field when it's tossed from one player to the next in hopes of ultimately completing a pass on the other side of the goal line.
Which makes it like football or rugby.
But to complicate matters, defenders stick to one another like glue. And anytime the Frisbee's dropped, possession reverts to the opposing team.
Which makes it like basketball.
"I used to think I was in good shape," player Adam Verschoor said, huffing and puffing after a play. "But this is ridiculous, man!"
Verschoor, a Wayne State College student, has been on Utesch's team for the past three years.
"It's a blast!" Verschoor exclaimed. "You're constantly in motion during the entire game. It's a great workout."
Utesch said he's been an Ultimate Frisbee fanatic for more than five years.
"I got hooked on it while I was a (Le Mars Community High School) student," said Utesch, now an Iowa State University senior, "and I've been playing it ever since."
Utesch also pointed out that he was responsible for choosing his team's name.
"We call ourselves Team Backseat," he explained. "That's a name that's been around since middle school. The kids who rode on the back of the school bus always seemed to have more fun than the kids who rode up in front."
For veteran player Tyler Switalski, Ultimate Frisbee seems to run in his family.
"I took up the sport the same time Paul did," he said. "Plus, I got my younger sister Haley involved in it last year."
Although Utesch and Switalski, a recent University of Iowa graduate, began playing the sport in earnest while in college, Ultimate Frisbee has been around for more than 40 years.
The sport can trace its roots to a Maplewood, N.J., high school in 1967, when some teenage athletes decided to take the sport of disc throwing and kick it up a notch.
Incidentally, one of those early disc jockeys was a young Joel Silver. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Silver grew up to become the moviemaking mind behind such Hollywood hits as "The Matrix."
Although they admit to being competitive on the field, Utesch and his fellow flingers aren't likely to see their names in lights. In their world, Ultimate Frisbee is about having a good time and connecting with friends.
"What can be better than that?" Utesch asked with a smile.
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