October 2000 [ Sunday Times ]
Kids spin out on ultimate sport
Township kids are becoming hooked on a radically new team sport that uses a frisbee instead of a ball. Described as a cross between basketball, rugby and soccer, the game of ultimate frisbee is taking off among primary school children in three Cape Town townships.
Fresh, from the world championships, the South African ultimate team has been taking the sport to the people. The team, a member of SAFDA, is running a development programme in Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Guguletu for more than 150 children.
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The fast, non-contact game is played seven-a-side by both boys and girls and involves hurling the frisbee to teammates in an effort to reach the scoring zone. Coaching clinics are held twice a month in Khayelitsha, where members of SAFDA train the students.Tournaments are organized regularly, allowing the children to compete and show off their skills."Ultimate Frisbee has made a big change to the community," Louis Diniso, Eluxolweni Primary School Teacher . " It has brought spirit and sportsmanship to both students and spectators."
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A low-budget activity, ultimate frisbee was proving to be an extremely successful development sport, said Diniso.All that was needed was a frisbee and a field. " We have recently introduced the sport to high schools in the area and ultimately would like to see one of our teams participating at the world championships." said Ryan Males, development officer.
The rules of the game are uncomplicated, making it easy for young children to grasp.The object of the game is for a team to pass the disc from player to player, all the way up the field and catch the disc in their endzone, which scores a point. What makes the sport even more interactive is the absence of a referee. The players themselves call fouls, deciding together who gets possesion of the disc. Diniso claims this aspect of the game instils honesty.
The website Livesport365.com has even called for Olympic stautus for ultimate frisbee
March 2000 [ Cape Review ]
Ultimate Frisbee
Frisbee is what you get up to with your mates, or your dog, on the beach when all the babes are in hiding, the water is to cold to dip in more than you baby toe and you're bored of cultivating your melanoma's basking in the sun.Yes, there are some people who are brilliant at it, but it's hardly a serious sport, surely ?The members of the cities Ultimate team,Big Strong Arm, adamantly disagree .With seven players per side on a rectangular field (not beach) 70 metres long. Ultimate is a kind of frisbee netball (although it started off more like rugby when it was first imported into SA ).The goal is to score in the endzone, although you are not allowed to run with the disc and have to pass it within ten seconds.It's an ideal co-ed sport with no real requirements (physical contact is out of bounds) other than a willingness to chase after a flying disc.The spirit of the game is the most important rule stressing sportsmanship, respect and the basic joy of play, with players doing the refereeing themselves on line and foul calls, even in championship finals.Other versions of competitive frisbee play include freestyle [tricks], Maximum Time aloft, and Guts a particular nasty gem where you throw the frisbee as hard and awkwardly as possible at the other team - " Its a broken finger, collarbone kind of game."
Although the national team was ' roundly thumped' two years ago in the Ultimate World Championships, those players who can afford to go in April (with the help of sponsorship) plan to compete in Perth against some of the 10 000 Ultimate teams worldwide.
The SA flying disc association imports its own frisbee for around R50-00 and has also kicked off development programs for the sport in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu with a junior school league.
October 2002 [ SL magazine ]
Most Fun Wins
Frisbee used to be between us and Fido, now it's between countries. PAUL EDMUNDS catches up on one of our newest national sports. "One player obligingly removes his kit, is hoisted onto the shoulders of others, and paraded around the field with a disc neatly wedged between the buns"
Some 10 years ago, a bunch of post-adolescent Capetonians got wind of a goal scoring team game played with the flat ball which had just enough of a fun quotient for recent school leavers, no longer compulsorily herded into teams and games for which they had no propensity. Five years later, thanks to some Canadian visitors, they discovered that the game had some rules. Soon the South African Flying Disc Association (SAFDA) was born - although flying disc is the actual name for a frisbee, appropriate as that is, it's like calling a windsurfer a sailboard. Cape Town is the only place in the country where the sport is formalised in this way, but there are apparently regular games in Durban, Johannesburg and Secunda.
Frisbee with rules? The result is a fiercely competitive and remarkably fun game called Ultimate. You must understand though, that this is no ordinary competitive sport. It was, after all, invented by Americans in 1965, is governed by the motto 'Most Fun Wins', is infused by the Spirit of the Game and features no officials or referees. Ultimate, one of a number of frisbee 'disciplines', has its own world championships and was showcased at last year's World Games. Despite a shaky start on Clifton Beach - where 3rd Beach is to frisbee what Loftus is to rugby - South Africa now has several clubs and a national team (called the Amababata or 'Those that Fly') which have competed in four World Ultimate and World Ultimate Club Championships.
The disc used is not your common or garden variety frisbee with teethmarks from a Border Collie, but a milk-smooth item of 175g, preferably made by Discraft. Teams comprise a squad of up to 30 players of whom only seven may be on the field at any one time. The game contains elements of both basketball and American football. Just don't mention that it bears a passing resemblance to netball. The field, a simple grass patch with touchlines and endzones, measures 113x37m (don't ask, it can only be some funny imperial/metric crossover and players are generally pretty flexible on the size anyway). There is no contact allowed between players and, a frisbee being the measure of all things, competitors must remain at least one disc's diameter apart at all times.
The aim of the game is to successfully pass the disc to a player on your team who is in the opponent's endzone. This is not as easy as it sounds with all the variables that attend a piece of plastic orbiting through the air and the tight one-on-one marking tactics that characterise the game. Players are not allowed to run or 'carry' the disc and once they have received it, must pass within a count of 10, which is made by the closest opposing player. A 'turnover' occurs when a pass is dropped or intercepted by an opposing player. Possession then changes. When a point has been scored, teams switch ends and players may be substituted.
There are no referees and the players make all the calls themselves. This is informed by what is reverentially referred to as the Spirit of the Game: the great unwritten rule which determines that every player will play and call as honestly as possible. So precious is this notion that gentle spectators, without the use of physical abuse and without sporting gargantuan beer guts, have been known to influence decisions on the field.
Not that this is anything like a game of rummy between prefects. It is a very physical and demanding game played with a remarkable amount of flair, athleticism and tactics. And not just a little mischief either. With moves such as the 'dump' and the 'floater', you might be led to believe this is an entirely different ball game! The Americans apparently have a penchant for the 'landshark', a complicated manoeuvre not strictly related to what's happening on the field. One player obligingly removes his kit, is hoisted onto the shoulders of others, and paraded around the field with a disc neatly wedged between the buns. Famously, in the 2000 World Ultimate Club Championships in St Andrew's, Scotland, two teams decided to play a couple of naked points. Which brings up something else: Ultimate is played by both men and women and competitions are obliged to feature mixed teams as well. Since there is no offside rule, both sexes seem to have reached consensus on the laws. Predictably, Ultimate is replete with Americanisms such as 'zone', 'huck' and 'dude' and North America is undeniably the spiritual home to the game. Title of top dog, oddly enough, often goes to teams from Scandinavia. Ultimate is rumoured to be the third most popular sport in Sweden and the next World Champs are to be in Helsinki. It is often said though that Ultimate doesn't have many fans, only players.
But if you've been picturing a highly competitive game peopled by a rare breed of bohemian jocks, you've been misled. Right from the outset, SAFDA has included a development programme as part of their agenda and has until recently run a league in Khayelitsha. The game only requires a patch of grass, a disc and at least six people. Of course, not all of those are always available in this under-resourced township, but the programme has borne fruit. To raise money, SAFDA designed and sells a disc in the US that supplements what they manage to squeeze out of local corporates. Recently a group of advanced players, who initially played in the league programme, was identified and they now play at least one SAFDA sanctioned contest a month and are funded to come to weekly practices. They have benefitted from the generosity of the US-based Three Bears Foundation, comprising three players who have all spent time and played Ultimate in Cape Town. The foundation bought boots (pretty much like hockey boots) for the entire team. SAFDA members pay a monthly subscription, which will be used to take two development players over to Helsinki in 2004. UCT has an Ultimate team, as does the Constantia Waldorf School.
In August this year, four South Africans returned from Hawaii where they partook in the World Ultimate Club Championships. Their team, Tsetse Fly, was complemented by a number of Americans who had previously played with the team, as well as three Hawaiians. Their performance was the best yet from South Africa, with some close games against formidable opponents and a placing several rungs up from the bottom. More importantly, they managed to beat an Australian side. Because of the cost involved, the Tsetse Fly squad was much smaller than those of most of the North American and European sides. With some games lasting two hours, a lack of fresh legs can count against you.
The frisbee as we know it was originally developed in 1957 by Arthur Melin and partner Rich Knerr, who ran a company called Wham-O. They apparently wanted to make a toy that mimicked a flying saucer. But later in life, Melin was quoted as saying, 'We didn't want it used as a toy, we wanted it to be a sport.' Perhaps it's this ambivalent origin which informs the use of their invention today: the mingling of the free spirit of play with the healthy competition of sport. And most fun wins.
If you want to find out more about the game, e-mail info@safda.org.za. Regular games are played on Monday and Wednesday from 5.30pm at the Tech Gardens Rugby Club in Gardens, and imported 175g discs can be purchased for R100 from SAFDA.
