By Glypie Grider
Nearly 100,000 people play Ultimate Frisbee in the United States, and U of L senior Ryan Watson wants that number to increase. As co-founder and captain of “UL-timate,” the University of Louisville Ultimate Frisbee team, Watson encouraged more college students to come out and learn the basics of the game.
“It’s one of the fast-growing sports in the world, and I really want people to come out and learn how to play,” he said. “We want to teach and practice the game in an organized fashion, and we want to travel and compete in both college and club tournaments.”
UL-timate is open to both graduate and undergraduate students and travels to regional colleges and universities to compete.
The game Ultimate Frisbee has had an organized presence in Louisville since 1999, when a few players formed a club team called “LouEvil” that traveled and participated in tournaments. Watson has been a member of this team for two years.
But Watson wanted to take it a step further and bring it to the college campus.
“I joined the [LouEvil] league and had a really good experience. It helped me grow as a player and really opened up my eyes to how big the Ultimate community really is,” he said. “That really motivated me and inspired me to start a team here at U of L. After all, they had one for the city, why didn’t they have one for the college?”
In the spring, Watson went before the U of L Student Government Association and convinced the governing body to recognize his UL-timate team as an RSO (Recognized Student Organization). “It was very time-consuming, but fortunately I had some of my good friends and teammates help me bring it all together,” Watson said.
With one semester already under their belt, the UL-timate team is already preparing for a couple of fall tournaments, and, ultimately, their spring semester. The Ultimate Players Association college league starts in the spring.
UL-timate is slated to compete at Indiana University on Nov. 5 and 6, and then turn around the next weekend and compete at Berea College on Nov. 12 and 13.
While Watson said he expects the team to do well in both tournaments, he said sportsmanship is more important than a win. “Of course, when you compete, you want to win, but your integrity as an athlete is very important, and UL-timate promotes that,” he said.
U of L had its own club team six years ago known as “Cardinal Sins,” but less than a year after its inception, that team dissolved.
“I don’t think they had anyone they could really turn the team over to,” Watson said. “It was a bunch of guys about the same age, and once they graduated no one really wanted to pick up where they left off.”
Kyle Redmond, a 21-year-old English major, helped co-found the UL-timate team with Watson. He said that even though he and Watson are seniors, he feels confident the sophomore class will be able to take over and help promote the sport.
Redmond also said that although the U of L team is still in the “baby stages,” it will soon rival other campus teams like Western Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky, both of which have multiple teams. “They have co-ed, all male, and beginning leagues – all sorts of teams for every level. If there is enough interest, [UL-timate] can compete with all those teams.”
Redmond said no women are currently on the UL-timate team. “They haven’t really shown interest. It would be awesome if they wanted to come out and join,” he said.
