"The Spirit of The Game"
The foundation of a beautiful sport
Ultimate (as it is commonly known) is a non-contact team sport played by hundreds of thousands around the world in pickup games and by recreational, school, club, professional, and national teams at various age levels and with open, women's, and mixed tournaments. Having a unique set of rules, it is usually played between two teams of seven players on a rectangular pitch with a disc weighing 175 grams.
Played in more than 80 countries by an estimated 7 million people
The sport is based off a few, more established sports including, American football, basketball, and soccer. For example, a player cannot travel with the disc (like in basketball), scores a point by getting the disc past a line drawn at either ends of the pitch creating two "endzones" (American football), and the defending team attempts to stop the team with the disc from making progress upfield by marking them (soccer or basketball).
It was in the fall of 2013 that I was introduced to the fast-growing sport of Ultimate by a group of friends at college. Picking up the basics and playing as many times during the week, although not at a competitive level, has gotten me hooked onto the sport. Just like all sports, Ultimate is full of ups and downs; it can leave you exhilirated, frustrated, and invigorated at different points in a game or sometimes, all at once. Since starting university at Sheffield, I have continued playing as much as I can by going for more formal training sessions and taking part in a couple of tournaments.
Ultimate has since come a long way from the time it was introduced by Joel Silver in 1968. Its rapid growth can be marked with the recent recognition of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), the body that governs Ultimate, by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which allows the sport to be potentially include in future Olympic games.
Apart from the sport making it mandatory for men and women to be part of the same team, the other thing that sets Ultimate from other sports is its lack of referees. Ultimate relies heavily on "The Spirit of The Game", the spirit of sportsmanship that places the accountability of fair play on the players themselves. That simply means any dispute on the field will be handled by the players without the help of referees in every game of Ultimate ranging from pickups to tournaments.
All actions are governed by "The Spirit of The Game"
This honour system works just fine in Ultimate because this is part of the culture of the sport that has been baked into its DNA. Ultimate players highly value "The Spirit of The Game"; when you have a culture of a people treating each other the way they want to treated by others, anyone behaving otherwise will be called out. It just looks horrible when you are the only person being mean to another player. Sure, you do get a person or two who goes out of line once in awhile, but that isn't the norm. I can confidently enter the playing field knowing that I just can just focus on the game itself.
Ultimate is just as highly competitive as any other sport. Yet, the level of sportsmanship that can be seen in the sport can't be compared to other sports that I've played and it is one of the many reasons that I keep coming back for more. Games are always more fun without any hostility.
Play hard and fair. Have fun. Go again.
Update: This post originally stated that major tournaments rely on "The Spirit of The Game". AUDL and MLU are the only 2 pro leagues in the world and these two leagues both uses referees. USAU (U.S.A ultimate) uses observers for all its competition (nationals, regionals and sectionals).
WFDF recently started using observers for its major tournaments. This means most (if not all) of the major tournaments do not rely solely on "The Spirit of The Game" to govern its games.
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