I came across this article from the New York Times on Ultimate Frisbee and thought I would share it. I don’t know any sports ministry that offers Ultimate Frisbee but they should. As you can see, it’s very popular among young adults, you don’t need a lot of expertise to play, and it’s great for relationship building.
Below are some excerpts from the article (bolding mine):
Adult leagues and pickup games are often improvised amalgams of like-minded eccentrics, forever in search of adequate field space. The sport is very popular in Canada. You know something is misunderstood when you look to Canada for a sense of identity. I’ve been playing ultimate for 25 years.
Leave it to a bunch of weirdos to invent the perfect game. Ultimate is intensely physical, a mix of measured teamwork and bursts of individual athleticism.
[…]
We don’t have or need referees — we play with a commitment to fairness. Our hippie forefathers reasoned well: ultimate is a game; it should be fun and only fun. It is.
[…]
I look forward to playing this weekend. I’ll see my friends, people I’ve been playing with for years, many of whom I know only in this context. Doctors, economists and firemen among us. Our day jobs have nothing to do with the game — if anything, ultimate offers respite from all that. We’re here to lose ourselves in, and to, the game, and it works every time.
Because Frisbees float as they arc through the air, the game feels as if it’s playing out in slow motion. (How unexpected that we often experience this sensation only when moving at top speed.) You run down a long throw, catch it with your fingertips only inches before it touches the grass. Scoring yields a burst of elation, an instant of incontrovertible victory. This sense of glory lasts until play resumes. Once it does, the past is forgotten.
I’ll play this weekend because the unique sense of exhilaration the game offers exists only in the present tense. I also need more glory. Come join us. You, too, can be a weirdo. We have the last laugh. In degrees of excellence only one word can aptly describe our game. Are you really going to make me say it?
