Ultimate: The Perfect Sport for Every School

I first discovered ultimate in 2007, when one of my old school mates suggested we signed up at my university’s open day. Since then, I’ve played a lot of ultimate in a lot of places, and like many others, have truly fallen in love with the sport. Ultimate is an emerging sport in Australia, previously one that didn’t have many youth pathways and most players got started at university. It’s more commonly played in American schools, but is still most definitely a “fringe” sport, and one that not many people have ever played, or even seen before.

During my undergrad (Sport Science) days, I did some casual work teaching ultimate to mainstream primary and high school students, but it wasn’t until I started my OT degree that I really considered the scope that ultimate has compared to other sports. During a prac in mental health (that later turned into my first OT job), I established a weekly ultimate session that was open to anyone, including those with disabilities, mental health issues, or at risk backgrounds. Seeing the teamwork, perseverance and joy it brought was incredible. To this day, that still remains one of my most fond memories as an OT. It made me realise there is so much more to the sport than I had ever imagined.

Later, whilst working at an autism specific school, I ran some sessions with both primary and high school aged students. One student who had low self esteem and frequently refused to participate in games or P.E. ended up not only giving it a go, but proving to himself that he was capable of succeeding at a brand new motor skill. This was a young man who I had seen become extremely upset and withdraw at the first sign of “failure”, yet he was able to cope with sometimes not catching the disc, or not throwing where he’d intended. The payoff? Eventually catching a goal, and learning to get excited when his teammates did something well. Seeing him initate high fives with his classmates was the best!

It would be easy for me to use my experiences to justify my belief that ultimate should be taught in every school, but opinion shouldn’t hold too much weight. Instead I’ve come up with a concrete list of why I think ultimate should be the sport of choice at all schools, mainstream or specialised learning included! For the parents reading this, there are more and more youth programs emerging all the time. Get in contact with your local ultimate association to find out what’s on offer in your area. The following reasons apply to learning ultimate outside of school hours too!

I could have written supporting statements for so many ways ultimate supports physical, social and emotional well being, but I focused on the areas that set ultimate apart from other sports. Many team sports encourage development of hand-eye coordination, dexterity, team work, fitness, strength, autonomy, flexible thinking, and problem solving. But ultimate stands alone in all the above mentioned areas. If you are looking for the perfect sport to teach a variety of skills to a variety of students, look no further than ultimate!

1. Develops Conflict Resolution Skills and Theory of Mind

Ultimate stands alone in sports for many reasons, but one of the most prominent is the lack of umpires. The game is self refereed by the players, which requires players to develop and hone their conflict resolution skills. In order to do so, players must recognise that the other player has a perception and thoughts around what happened in a situation that may differ from theirs. Understanding that other people have different thoughts, opinions and feelings than we do is called Theory of Mind, and is also crucial for social skill development. Being able to communicate your thoughts, as well as listen and respond calmy to another person’s opinion is so important when dealing with and resolving conflicts. This part of teaching ultimate is always my favourite as students will turn to me with a “they can’t do that!” or “Miss that’s not fair!”. Depending on the student, their emotional state and communcation skills, I will step in and help the interaction to go smoothly, but at the end of the day it is up to the students to decide if they are in agreeance or not. Empowering students to respond to conflict in a safe, supported environment (often with a raised heart beat from the physical exertion) teaches them the skills they will require for situations in the playground, classroom or life in general.

2. Teaches Spirit of the Game

One of ultimate’s most important and defining characteristics is it’s emphasis and reliance upon Spirit of the Game (SOTG). SOTG is pretty much sportsmanship and fair play, but it comes before anything else in the sport, aiming to eliminate dangerous plays, cheating and disrespect betwen opponents. SOTG is how a sport that is self refereed can function, and shows that being competitive and respecting yourself and your opponents are not mutually exclusive.

We so often hear stories of sporting idols cheating or bringing their sports into disrepute due to poor behaviour. SOTG makes every player accountable for knowing and implementing the rules, avoiding fouls and body contact, being fair minded, demonstrating positive attitude and self control, and communicating well with the opposition. These are all qualities that should be learnt by all students, as it teaches them how to take ownership for their actions, rather than relying on a parent or teacher (or umpire) to tell them what is and isn’t acceptable. SOTG also commends players for ensuring their teammates play within the rules, by stepping in if they believe their teammate is in the wrong. It takes strength of character to speak up to teammates (or friends!) and tell them you disagree with their decisions or behaviour. Ultimate teaches us how to both speak out when you have perceived something to be wrong, and also teaches us to listen to and trust our teammates and friends when they speak up.

3. Ultimate Promotes Gender Equality

Another way ultimate sets itself apart from its other sporting counterparts is by leading the way in gender equality. There’s no need for a “Women’s Round” in ultimate! Women and men are equally represented in all levels of the sport, and at the highest level (World Games) teams are mixed gender. Mixed ultimate is highly common from social leagues to world championships. The sport is so serious about gender equality that the US ultimate association refused to endorse the first professional ultimate league in the US as they did not offer equal opportunity for female athletes (as well as going against the Spirit of the Game by introducing umpires). This year Australia will launch the first mixed gender professional ultimate league (AUL). Rather than 7 players on fields (which results in gender imbalance each point), the AUL will have 6 players on field, 3 from each gender.

Playing a sport that celebrates both genders equally at every level is a vast contrast to sports that prioritise one gender over another. It allows new and young players of both genders to see experienced and talented players of their gender. And we know that the prescense or absence of same gendered role models influences the number of young people that participate in sport. In Australia, the creation of a women’s Australian Football League resulted in the formation of 1700 new women’s teams, and a 22% increase in participation… in one year. There is an abundance of talent of both genders in ultimate, easily accessed via YouTube, athletes pages or ultimate specific blogs/websites. The accessibility and frequency of mixed ultimate also demonstrates that male and female athletes can successfully play competitive sport alongside each other. This breeds respect and understanding for the qualities each individual brings to a team, regardless of gender. For a fanstatic example of the highest level mixed ultimate at work, check out this video: https://youtu.be/S2st1A8Ai-w#t=04m22s 

4. Encourages Social Communication and Cooperation

Ultimate is a team sport in every meaning of the word. Unlike sports such as basketball or soccer, where individual “star” players can get the ball and score with no input from teammates, ultimate relies on everyone on and off the field doing their part. This means that even those not directly involved in a score may have contributed to the success. Players are not allowed to run with the disc, so rely on their teammates to get in positions that the person with the disc can throw to. Almost always, multiple passes will be required to move the disc down the field to the endzone to score.

This level of team work requires players to communicate and cooperate with each other. Communication can be both verbal or non-verbal, with gestures, eye contact and facial expressions playing just a big role as yelling or calling. This is great for students who may have difficulties understanding communication attempts from others as they have many opportunities to practice, communication attempts can be scaffolded as needed, and the payoff is highly motivating (a completed pass or score!).

5. Throwing Encourages Children to Cross their Midline

If you’ve ever talked with an OT about child development, I guarantee the term “crossing the midline” would have been mentioned at some point. And for good reason! Crossing the midline refers to moving body parts (most commonly the hands/arms) across the invisible line that runs down the front of the body, from head to toes. Being comfortable crossing the midline is important for all kinds of skills including reading and writing, as well as to develop handedness. Children who have trouble crossing the midline will often bring something (such as a pen, toothbrush, paintbrush etc) to the middle of their body and then swap hands, halving the practice they get to develop strong hand dominance.

When throwing a disc from a backhand stance, the throwing arm crosses to the otherside of the body, and then performs the action of throwing the disc. This helps develop a strong connection between both sides of the brain, plus it’s both fun and rewarding!

6. Affordability

Ultimate is a super cheap sport to set up. All you need is some space, a disc (we aren’t supposed to call them “frisbees” as Frisbee is a brand and ultimate uses a different type of disc) and 8 cones (or any type of marker, shoes and drink bottles work equally as well!). Ultimate is typically played on grass (or sand) but can be played on any flat surface (such as a basketball court). All schools have access to some sort of playspace that would be appropriate for a game of ultimate, or ultimate related “spinoffs” (see ‘adaptability’ for more information). While the travel aspect for athletes looking to compete at a national or international level can be pricey, playing the sport at a local or school based level is extremely cheap.

Discs typically cost about $10-$20 when bought at wholesale prices, and they are the most expensive investment. Discs for younger students that are smaller or made of foam cost as little as $5 each (and even cheaper when brought in bulk). Bibs or sashes can make a game run smoother when students don’t have different coloured uniforms, but really aren’t essential if a school is on a tight budget. All in all, ultimate is a sport accessible regardless of socio-economic status or geographic location.

7. Throwing Builds Self Confidence

One thing that has stood out to me time and time again when teaching new players, especially those with “poor” coordination or sporting ability is the immediate gratification they recieve from throwing a disc. Unlike a ball, which requires some degree of force to be propelled, a disc can fly with little force or practice. Sure, it might not be the best throw, it might not go far or where it was intended, but it goes. Compared to the mechanics of a ball, a disc is much more aerodynamic, which results is greater “success” with less work. This immediate feedback is highly encouraging for new players, and I have witnessed (like the student I mentioned above) students who generally don’t participate in sport or PE, having an absolute blast because they CAN.

8. Adaptability

I absolutely love watching the Paralympics because it is the perfect example of how adapting the environment or occupation can allow individuals to successfully participate in what they want to do. Ultimate is a sport that is perfectly designed to be adapted. The core components: teamwork, spirit of the game and respectful competition can still be embedded via a variety of modifications.

I’ve mentioned how I have taught ultimate in a variety of settings. Once the basics of the game are understood, it’s easy to adapt and modify activities or mini games to match the needs of individual participants. Ultimate Australia have some fantastic resources available online (https://afda.com/school-resources) and have coaches available to train school staff wherever the sport in played locally.The Kaos Ultimate Club (the longest running women’s club in Australia) partnered with Wheelchair Sports Western Australia to run wheelchair ultimate sessions, which by all accounts were a tonne of fun! There are so many people passionate about ultimate who are available to help to provide ideas for modifications and inclusion in schools, all you need to do is ask!