(the dear reader will notice why so much of my incessant chatter about ultimate – frisbee, though we don’t even use the discs from them at all – seems in a way an attempt to promote the sport. Well, after all, there aren’t a lot of players, especially in Singapore, and it always helps to have a lot of people play the sport – look at how many football games there are! Why, to be able to play Pro Evolution Ultimate or Ultimate Manager … er, moving on. and, besides, if you love something, you simply want to exalt it to the world.)
I enjoy ultimate frisbee. To anybody who even spends a small amount of time with me it will become readily apparent. I never seem too far from a match and indeed, sound like I spend most of my waking hours thinking about it (which I do, but that will be in the next post, Why Ultimate Frisbee Is Taking Over and Ruining My Life).
To me it is not simply the game itself that warrants loving, but first things first, I shall begin with a basic examination of the game itself.
The Game Itself.
In order to discuss the game you must, unfortunately, bear the weight of knowledge of a few facts of a game. Without throwing the rulebook at you, here are some things you need to know
- it is played with a frisbee, and
- it is a team sport. generally seven-on-seven is the competition standards, although four-on-four is enough for a kickabout and three-on-three doable (with some slight modification of game mechanics).
- oh, and no running with the frisbee (which would make the game a lot easier and too severely unbalanced.)
And some things you might want to know.
- you pass it by throwing it to a team-mate, who catches it. You can throw it to opponents, although then you lose possession.
- three important things; you need to be able to throw and catch at least over a short distance in order not to let your team-mates hate you, you need to keep possession if you don’t want your enemies to steam-roller you, and your team must have at least one old fart with ridiculous throwing skills if you want to win.
- the culture of the sport is something to be dealt with later, but briefly; the game promotes itself by means of pick-ups; games whereby complete strangers turn up and play the game with each other. they are not only welcome, but encouraged to join – if coaching is required, the more responsible ones will gladly do so. This promotes the game by making it easy for beginners to get in and get hooked, while satisfying the older ones by ensuring a common pool of players (random aficionados and new kids) to play with and show off to.
The game rests crudely on the triangle of sport; that is, athleticism (or physicality), skill, and strategy/experience. You cannot win a game merely by bruising and beating the other team out of contention, nor will superb disc-handling skills bring you anywhere. Strategy and experience are just as important; know where to arrange your players, how to defend against the opponents, and how best to apply each player’s individual skills to maximum effect. It is distilled sport; and the scoring system dictates attacking, so there will not be any worries of dull, drab defensive plays and bore draws.
END OF PART 1.
next part; ‘esprit du jeu – I’m the Referee here – Pick-ups – Frisbee Players as a Consequence – Final words.
next edition; Why Ultimate Frisbee Is Taking Over and Ruining My Life : obsession, addiction and destruction.
