The first UH women’s intramural ultimate Frisbee team commenced practices this fall. With only five members, however, the team is still looking to gain new members as well as some added momentum within the upcoming months.
For history junior and UH women’s ultimate team captain Annie Longley having a women’s divison will not only offer a less threatening atmosphere for girls to play, but will also help the entire UH ultimate program as a whole.
"Having a separate women’s division is safer for one, and it gives us some flexibility for the whole (ultimate) program," Longely said. "It’s just a more inviting environment to come into and it gives us our own place to start working from."
Since both ultimate teams are under the same umbrella organization, the women can technically play with the men. The goal set for the women’s team is not to be separate from the men’s team, but to be able to actually work with them in future tournaments.
"Girls can play (one the men’s team) if they want, but it’s not to the men’s advantage to have girls on their team," Longely said. "Plus, it’s a lot harder to play against guys as a woman. You just have to have a little more heart and self-motivation for that."
Every Wednesday night, the team gets together for practice. They start out with simple warm-ups and drills and then they scrimmage. They seem like a well-rounded team, but what the team is lacking is more players.
Ultimate is a unique sport. It’s the only one that combines soccer’s athletic endurance with football’s passing skills. Another unique aspect of ultimate is the "spirit of the game," which sets it apart from other competitive sports. In accordance with the "spirit of the game," the teams self-referee. ultimate is also a no-contact sport.
"It started as a hippie sport in the 1960s as a way to promote good sportsmanship," women’s ultimate team member and university studies junior Leslie Crow said.
Now, ultimate is a sport that has dominated most colleges around the nation. The Ultimate Players Association estimates that more than 100,000 people play ultimate in the U.S. alone.
Most colleges and universities have some form of a competitive ultimate team, Crow said, but UH is one of the few universities that doesn’t.
There are two divisions when it comes to competitive ultimate: the fall semester when only club teams play and the spring semester when college teams play. The difference is club teams are open to men and women and can be considered a co-ed or Open Division team. College teams are split into women’s teams and men teams and cannot compete against each other.
UH is aiming to get competitive, Longley said.
Longley has been playing ultimate for a year and a half, starting with the Open Division team in the fall, and is trying to get more girls involved for the new women’s ultimate team.
"The biggest thing is getting the word out," Longley said.
Since the team is not fully established, she said, it’s hard to recruit new players. Longley said a lot of people consider playing ultimate, but busy schedules prevent anyone from actually joining the team.
Though most don’t start playing ultimate until college, Crow started playing in high school.
"It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing a sport," Crow said.
The team needs more players, Longley said, before they can get competitive. At first people don’t realize how athletic Ultimate is, she said, there’s a lot of running involved.
"We’ve had girls come out every now and then, but it’s been hit and miss," Longley said.
So far, the team has put out flyers encouraging women to try ultimate out. Within the next couple weeks, the team will be playing pick-up games, which are open games, Monday through Thursday during rush hour to show people how fun the sport is.
"It’s competitive against yourself, but not so much against each other," Longley said.
Longley expressed that anyone interested in giving the game a try should send her an email at [email protected].
"Don’t be scared if you don’t have any experience at all. We want you to come out," Longley said.
