SPORTS
Ultimate Frisbee
grabs hold of
UNC Asheville
A.V. Sherk
asherksunca.eau - :^ports eairor
It all started with a Flying
Snatch.
Ultimate Frisbee is UNC
Asheville’s most recent addition to
the list of competitive sports.
“Ultimate Frisbee was
really more of a recreational club
for the first 10 to 12 years. In 2010,
there was a group of guys who were
really devoted to making it more
competitive,” said Sam Fontaine,
senior and Ultimate captain. “Each
year since then I’ve been a captain
and we’ve been slowly making
our way toward a more legitimate
standing.”
' The Flying Snatch was
once a recreational team, but UNCA
recently gave permission for the
team to use the Bulldogs and UNCA
as their club title.
“It’s a pretty small step,
we’re still a long way from being
a varsity sport. That would have to
come at a more national level first,
unfortunately. But it’s taken a big
step forward in terms of the team’s
legitimacy and the competitive
nature of it. We compete every
year in the USA Ultimate college
championship series.” Fontaine said.
Ultimate Frisbee matches
are played to 15 points and the first
team to score plays defense the next
point. According to Fontaine, the
easiest way to understand Ultimate
Frisbee is to reference other well-
known sports.
“The easiest way to
think about it is a combination of
basketball, soccer and football,”
Fontaine said. “It’s similar to
football because there are two
endzones and each team is trying
to score in the opposing team’s
Photo courtesy of UNCA Ultimate Frisbee
Joe Baker rises above the competition in a weekend tournament.
endzone. The movement is very
similar to soccer with cutters
moving without the disk just like
they would without the ball in
soccer. And it’s similar to basketball
because when you catch the disk
you aren’t allowed to run with it,
you have to pivot foot and you can’t
move or it’s called a travel.”
rett McCall coaches the
Bulldogs’ Ultimate team. Previously
a professional player, McCall’s
experience with Ultimate reaches
back over 20 years.
“The first time I was
introduced to Ultimate Frisbee was
through MTV. Back in the day, late
‘80s early ‘90s, there was ‘MTV
Extreme Sports’ and they covered
Ultimate Frisbee in one of their
episodes.” McCall said. “Then I
went to Europe and played with the
Hungarian National Team and I had
a really great time traveling all over
Europe. In the early ‘90s it was still
a small sport so (Europe Ultimate
Frisbee) was really hurting for
numbers.”
Around the same time,
McCall’s brother played Ultimate
at LSU. When the brothers
got together and realized they
were playing the same sport in
tournaments, it brought them closer
together, according to McCall.
“It was one of the coolest
things that’s happened to our family.
We’ve played for about 20 years
together.” McCall said.
McCall found the transition
from player to coach very natural.
According to McCall, he almost
always found himself in a leadership
position on his team and coaching
allows him to give back to the sport
he loves.
“Coaching now is a dream
come true. I love it because the
work I have to do is with every
single one of them, versus the work
I used to do was mostly with myself
I’ve always wanted a team that
would was willing to do anything
I put in front of them. These guys
have proven to do more than that,”
McCall said. “Ultimately, it’s their
team. I’ll come out here and give
them anything I can give them, but
at the end of the day it’s up to them
to do with it what they do. I love it.”
UNCA hired McCall three
months ago, and according to
McCall, he will have some tough
challenges against their regional
rivals in the spring season.
“Our regional rivals are
Wake Forest, Elon, Catholic
University, Davidson and the Naval
Academy. It’s kind of a range of
teams from South Carolina all the
way up the Atlantic coastline to
northern Maryland.” Fontaine said.
This past Saturday, the
Bulldogs’ competed in a weekend
tournament and defeated the host
team, Wake Forest, 13-9 before
falling to N.C. State after a hard
fought match 15-13.