Why Ultimate Frisbee is a Sport

Whenever I tell people that I’m the captain of our school’s Ultimate Frisbee team, usually their first reaction is “Uhhh that’s not a sport. Ultimate Frisbee’s stupid.” Are you fucking kidding me? First off, it’s rude to tell a player (let alone the captain) that his activity is not worth doing. Second, Ultimate Frisbee is a lot more of a sport than most other socially acceptable “sports.” Dictionary.com defines sport as:

“An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing etc.”

As we can see, the definition of sport is relatively vague. Racing (essentially driving a car), Fishing (essentially sitting down), and bowling (why don’t we include ski-ball or air hockey as sports, if bowling is?) are in the definition of a sport. I’m not out to bash other “sports.” But I am out to prove that Ultimate Frisbee fulfills all of those qualifications, plus more.

I think a lot of the hate for Ultimate Frisbee comes from 1.) its name (come on, they couldn’t have picked a name with a little more umph, like simply “Disc?”) and 2.) ignorance surrounding how the sport is played. I’ll tell you a little about the rules of the game, think about me as an educator.

It’s kind of like American football or even handball… no wait, more like basketball… Actually, it’s really its own animal. The size of the field is thinner than a soccer field, but just as long, with deep end zones. The game starts with a “Pull” kind of like a kickoff. One player launches the disc to the other team of seven players, standing on the end line. The team moves the disc up the field and a point is scored when the disc is caught in the end zone and tapped on the ground. The game is usually to 15 points, win by two. However, when catching the disc, you put your pivot foot down, and that doesn’t move. The only way for you to move the disc upfield is to pass it. Possession of the disc is overturned at the specific spot where the disc hits the ground, or goes out of bounds, if it does. When scoring, the team pulls to the other team. Of course, there are more rules (fouls, stalling, etc.) but those are the basics.

It requires a ridiculous amount of running, athleticism, technical skill, and strength, all of which fit nicely under the sport definition, while other “legitimate” sports simply don’t have. There’s even a professional Ultimate Frisbee League that sometimes is shown on ESPN. Your school probably has a team, why don’t you see for yourself how much of a “sport” it is. To call Ultimate Frisbee anything otherwise is just wrong.

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• 3 Reasons Ultimate Frisbee Still Remains Obscure (bleacherreport.com)