The Ultimate Frisbee

I love, love playing Ultimate Frisbee. It's one of my favorite sports. Not that I'm particularly good at it (Jeff is though), or even come every week, I just really like pretending like I can catch and throw. It's also fun because Jeff and I get to hang out with Matt and Haley, who are ridiculously good. I swear they practice daily in their backyard. Sometimes I get embarrassed when I'm on their team and drop it. It's worse though when you're NOT on their team and you're up against one of them on the opposite team. You feel like the bearded guy in the picture above... only more scared.

HOW TO PLAY ULTIMATE FRISBEE:

*You will need about 10 players

*One Frisbee

*Ultimate Frisbee is similar to soccer, you will want people to play

midfield, forward and defense.

*You will want to set up the field like a soccer field,

with goal posts obviously for the goals. Football fields work great.

*The goal is to throw the Frisbee between your team until

you get to the opposite end of the field and then score a point.

Have each team split up evenly, with one team taking the Frisbee to their end of the field. Once each team is on opposite ends, the team with the Frisbee will kick off to the other team. They'll yell "ULTIMATE!" and throw the Frisbee as far down the field as they can. The team throwing the Frisbee can start running to the other side as soon as the Frisbee is thrown in order to gain ground. The other team can catch the Frisbee, or they can let it hit the ground, but the Frisbee is belongs to them for the play. There is a lot of running in this game, but once you have caught the Frisbee you must stop. You can take one step to slow down, and you can leave one foot planted and turn, but you can not move. If you fail to catch a throw from your team, or the other team intercepts it by catching the Frisbee or by knocking it out of the air to the ground, then the Frisbee goes to the other team. The other team must throw it from where they caught it, or from where it landed on the ground. Once a player has the Frisbee in their hand they have 10 seconds to throw it to their team or forfeit the Frisbee to the other team. However, when someone has the Frisbee and is trying to throw it to their team, the opposing team may NOT knock it out of their hands while they are holding it, the Frisbee must be in the air. You also must give the person with the Frisbee sufficient room to throw the Frisbee, they should be able to have their arm fully extended without the opposing team blocking it. You may NOT hand the Frisbee to a team member-it must be thrown. Once you have control of the Frisbee in must cross the goal line to score. If you caught the frisbee 2 inches from the line, you would still need to throw it to someone who is standing BEHIND the goal line. Often times there are a LOT of plays near the goal line as people try to throw it to each other. Think of soccer and football rules mixed a little, except there is no kicking a Frisbee.

If you are in the Houston Texas area and would like to play...

We play every Tuesday night at 7 on the Westfield High School fields. We will be playing through August 2009. Sometimes we end by 9, sometimes earlier. Usually afterwards we head over to Sonic for ice cream. To get to the fields head W on 1960 (towards Kuykendhal) and take a left on Ella. The school will be on the right, and the fields are behind the school. Park more towards the left side of the lot.