Best Exercises for Ultimate Frisbee Beginners

Ultimate frisbee is as much a physical game as it is fun. As such, more and more persons are gaining interest in the game, but it raises the worry of where to begin when it concerns exercising for ultimate. In this article, we focus on the beginner. We would be exploring some essential exercises to get you started as an Ultimate Frisbee Beginner.

Now, the focus of these Ultimate exercises is to get you in shape for the sport by helping your body become more adapted to the process and better balance its use of oxygen. As such, subjecting your body to conditions where you’d spend the most oxygen is a great way to increase your aerobic fitness.  However, there is a caveat here – you can only sustain such conditions for just six minutes before fatigue sets in, and it would become practically impossible to go ahead at the same pace because of muscle fatigue. As such, to work around this limitation in beginners, it is recommended to engage in 20 seconds of running at about 80% of your sprint speed. Though it’s not a spring, it definitely would feel like a run. Then, for recovery, 40 seconds of walking, such that there would be a large range of motion in the hips, as opposed to using a slow jog as recovery, which would rather cause very little motion in the hips.

Also, it is imperative that you keep your speed relatively low, enough to make it feel easy for the first 3-4 reps, and over the space of a few weeks, your durability as an Ultimate Frisbee athlete would increase, as well as your speed of recovery between bouts of effort.

Here are some exercises you can incorporate as a beginner in Ultimate Frisbee. And it all starts with a warm-up. Like any other sport, it may very well be the most important aspect, though it’s also the most tempting aspect to skip in your workout routine. So be sure to go through some basic loosening and stretching exercises, preferably with dynamic movements, before you grab your discs.

Lateral Bounds

Lateral bounds may, very well, be the king of all agility exercises and are great option for improving your ability to explosively change direction to an ultimate frisbee player, which is a key physical requirement of the sport. This exercise does a great job targeting and training the muscles.

Box Jumps

Box jumps are a great way to increase your flexibility in executing concentric reps without having to pay so high a price. The box jump achieves this by applying high jumps without the caveat of a hard landing. With box jumps, you get more jumps with less soreness, given that you work out on consecutive days, and the secret is to avoid high jumps. Instead of going for a high jump, rather make it a maximum effort jump, which doesn’t have to push your limits too. It should only be mildly challenging to execute.

Single-Leg Step-Up Jumps

This exercise would help you improve that first explosive step in ultimate that launches you in a sprint, as well as that sprint that you execute on one leg as you reach for a disc. For this exercise to be effective, start off on a small ledge and then steadily increase the height of the ledge until your knee gets to a maximum angle of 90 degrees.

Kettlebell Swings

The kettlebell swing is one of the few exercises that can help you improve your body’s quick-twitch muscles while also getting rid of that bulging stomach as an added bonus. When done correctly, this low-impact wing burns down fat, strengthens the entire back of your body and your core, and improves your overall athletic performance.

To do the kettlebell swing, begin by keeping your spine neutral, bending your legs slightly and keeping them slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, as if you’re going into a squat. Position the bell under you, deadlifting at an inch or two off the ground, then swing it in front of you using only your core and legs. And as you swing, be sure contract your glutes while tensioning your abs at the top of the movement, until it reaches the height of your chest.

Agility Ladder Drills

The agility ladder is a great exercise that would improve your footwork, timing, and coordination. Ladder drills train Ultimate Frisbee players to be able to move fast and effectively from side to side within a small surface area, about the size of a phone booth. Such flexibility and agility are key components to securing a winning catch in Ultimate.  

High-Intensity Rows

It is important that Ultimate Frisbee athletes stay in great physical condition throughout the entire game, and one exercise you can incorporate as a beginner at ultimate is to use a high-intensity row. Now, even though rowing is often associated with slow, plodding cardiovascular exercise, it’s not difficult to get a high-intensity workout from a low-impact machine — and you only need a few minutes to improve your all-round performance. By using the rowing machine for short, intense bursts and mixing in some resistance training, you can make use if this exercise type.

Shuttle Runs

Shuttle runs are another great exercise for ultimate frisbee beginners that helps to develop top-speed and acceleration – the types of speed and acceleration that Frisbee players need to get downfield in a hurry. Snappy high-intensity exercises would definitely pay more dividends than the more common aerobic exercises when it comes to fat loss, fitness, and heart health, too.

Set up a shuttle run by positioning two cones at least ten yards apart in a straight line. This is a four-count exercise that requires you to sprint between them and touch the opposite cone with your hand before sprinting back. This to and fro movement makes up one rep, and completing five of such reps is enough to leave your legs and abs begging for mercy.

Barbell Squats

It is fairly common for Ultimate Frisbee players to perform incredible leaping grabs on the field. Heavy barbell squats build the overall strength required by athletes to leap longer, higher, and quicker.

Begin by putting your feet hip-width apart and keeping your spine neutral throughout your entire body. Get under the bar and place it on your scapula’s spine. Begin the movement by tightening your abs and squatting, as if you were sitting back in a chair. Return to the starting posture by contracting your glutes and squatting back in one forceful stroke. To maintain getting stronger, perform at least five sets of five heavy reps and add at least five pounds to the bar each time you go to the gym. You can enhance the benefits of these workouts by combining them with a cutting-edge diet plan to get you closer and faster to your fitness goals.

Ladder Drills

If a player is not agile, he/she is of limited value in ultimate frisbee. By strengthening your footwork and agility, these ladder activities train your body to effortlessly coordinate intricate motions. Now, a great ladder can cost you quite a bit on Amazon, but a tiled floor will suffice.

Pistol Squats

Pistol squats may be the most advanced and difficult exercise in this ultimate frisbee article, even though they are perfect for developing strong legs and flexible ankles. This is due to the added mobility benefit of requiring proper ankle dorsiflexion.

Yoga / Stretching

Yoga towards the end of a workout is a terrific way to treat yourself with some relaxation while keeping your muscles from becoming stiff.

Pro Tips for an Efficient Ultimate Workout

The order you use in your workouts matters. If you prioritize conditioning, for example, you won’t get the much advancements in speed or agility. As such, the general rule is, to begin with, a warm-up, then take on exercises that target the nervous system and metabolic pathway, and then end with conditioning. And this is applied when you are targeting multiple athletic qualities within the same workout. The order should be:

1.     Warmup

2.     Speed and Agility

3.     Strength

4.     Conditioning

Tips for effective conditioning

Effective conditioning for ultimate frisbee entails incorporating workout drills that address the movement and metabolic demands of ultimate. To achieve this, here are a few guidelines to follow:

·       Begin by going over a couple of stability exercises three times per week.

·       Use dynamic workout routines to ease into athletic movement before each session.

·       Engage in activities that raise your heart rate at least twice per week and for at least 20 minutes for each session. Such activities could include dancing, brisk walking, short sprints moderate-intensity running and walking. The general idea is to engage in an activity you’re already used to doing to get you in the spirit to exercise for ultimate.

·       After 2-3 weeks of workout, add another day of activity.

·       After about 4-6 weeks, you’re physically ready to tackle the physical demands that come with pro training for Ultimate Frisbee.

Work with a Long-Term Plan

If you want success at Ultimate Frisbee, then you should consider training beyond the short term. You need to paint a big picture and work towards realizing it. You’re taking steps today that would amount to greater performance, be it in the near or distant future.

As a beginner, it is tempting to want to make improvements about everything all at once. However, for effective training, you should consider focusing on 1-2 complimentary athletic abilities at a time, maybe for about 4-6 weeks before you expect to see returns.

How To Master Ultimate Frisbee And Destroy Opponents

When you start playing you want to get better, quick. These tips will do exactly that. You will learn most important skills in Ultimate. Get ready to destroy your competitors!

These beginner tips helped me the most when I started playing Ultimate Frisbee. In this post we cover throwing, marking, easy but powerful tactics and much more. I already implemented all of these tips.

Trust me! They will make you better very fast!

Let’s jump right into it.

1. Jump higher than your defender

Everyone who played Ultimate Frisbee before has expirenced it.

Your teammate fires the disc all over the field. It’s flying towards the endzone.

You are running after it. Getting closer and closer.

The disc is still high up in the air. You already think about the catch.

Everyone will celebrate you.

The chance to become the hero.

Now you are in the endzone.

You start jumping.

Stretch your arm to reach the disc.

You can almost touch it.

But SUPRISE! Your defender jumped higher and blocked you.

Sucks right?

So how do you avoid this situation in the future?

Jump higher.

I see it every day in our practice. Beginners try to jump but they jump way to early and don’t use their body.

When you are about to jump you need to store energy in your body. Either you do it by excercising to increase your strength or you use the right movement.

Here is a great YouTube Video about excercises to increase strength.

The right technique helps you instantly.

Before your jump make sure to bring your arms down. During the last step lower your whole body by bending your knee and hip.

Then it‘s release time.

Open up your knees and your hip. Stretch yourself.

And fire your arms in the air.

This creates momentum to shoot you high up in the air.

When you are about to catch the disc you stretch one arm even further to get the last height out of your body.

Practice without running first. Go down, bring your arms down and then fire both up.

You can feel and see the immediate improvement.

2. defend a faster player

Worst feeling ever? Marking a fast player! You feel that everything you do won‘t help. Before you catch up the disc is already caught.

This happens to me at least once every practice.

I got super annoyed and asked a more experienced player for advice.

The advice he gave me helped me to really crack to code of defending.

The goal is not to avoid any throw, rather you force the cutter in the direction you want him to go.

And how do you manage to do that?

Use your body and size. If you are a bigger slower player you will probably have always faster ones to defend, so pay attention 😉

You are right! Ultimate Frisbee is a non contact sport therefore defending takes practice.

You want to position yourself in a way, that the cutter has only one option to go.

Open up the space where you want him or her to run.

Yes, you are not allowed to run into them. But so are they!

Use different routes to control the open space.

Another important part is to watch what the cutter is doing during the ultimate game.

If you know where he will go, than you can choose your route to avoid him from pulling away.

That was another tip I got from an AUDL player.

Stop faster players from speeding up by cutting them off. Don’t foul them!

This takes even more practice and requires game intelligence.

If you get it down, faster players are not fast anymore! And then you have the size advantage as well.

In short: move the cutter where it is best for you.

My biggest advice would be to use your size. It can be a huge advantage. Start nice and close to your person so you can touch them and use your body to keep them from using any speed they may have over you.

If you set up in between them and the space they want to run to they need to figure out a way to get around you. If you can move side to side to keep chipping them they can’t get up to speed.

It’s more scary and higher risk/reward but if you practice this you will be able to prevent them from being fast and then they have to play the size game with you.

3. Stop the disc from tilting during hard throws

Still one of my biggest problems! I am always a bit scared when I have to throw the disc at the start of each point (throw-off).

The goal is to send the disc over the whole field. Therefore you need a lot of power.

Oh man I fucked that up a lot.

The worst was when we played inside and the disc went of to to right. I took down the emergency exit sign.

Everyone laughed.

This is the moment many beginners are scared of. But hey… I am still alive.

A great tip i got was to tilt the disc in the opposite direction. When you pull a long throw an the disc always tilts to the right. Then release it tilted to the left.

This needs some practice but it really helps to balance out the throw.

The second little tip to avoid a bad throw that goes of to one side, is to position your fingers right.

Sometimes the disc sticks to the fingers and ends up almost killing a spectator.

Make sure your index finger sits on the rim and does not touch the inside of the disc.

With this litte change I could avoid most of my bad throws.

4. Block the throw like a boss

You made a mistake and the defender got the disc? Now you need to make up for your loss. You want to see the disc hit the floor! A straight monster block would let you feel like a boss.

How do you block a throw right away?

There are three tips that helped me:

First you need to be unpredictable to stop the thrower from waiting for the right moment. This means moving your arm like a moron. Go up and down, left right with no real pattern. The player won‘t be able to find the perfect time to throw the disc.

Second tip is to appear smaller than you are. This takes a few times to get it right. You want the thrower to think your reach is smaller.

How is it done? During the first few seconds you try to move with the thrower. But make sure you only do 80% of your actual reach.

The thrower will see how far your arms go out. When he or she is really about to throw they will go a bit further than before, so the disc goes past.

But then you use the last 20% you were hiding. And surprise them with your reach. And boom! You blocked them from throwing.

The hard part is to figure out when the player is throwing. Take your time and try it in your Ultimate practice first.

This is a tip which can only used rarely and only once or twice on the same thrower. So choose the right moment, young padawan!

Third tip is to read your player. This is probably the typical coach sentence and no one knows what it means.

Let me explain a bit.

An Ultimate Frisbee Game goes on for quite some time. Use this time to watch the players.

How do they look when they are faking a throw?

Is there a hint in their movement when they are actually throwing?

Are they looking around or have they focused on a target?

What about the grip? Forehand or Backhand?

All this questions give you a look in the future. You know where and when they are throwing before they even know it themself.

Very common habit for Ultimate Frisbee beginners, is that they only have two or three patterns of movement they use to fake a throw.

Just watch them for some throws and you know which combination they are doing.

If you implement these tips you will be able to block more throws. And you can really get into the head of your opponent.

This is even more fun! You don’t even have to block but they are so scared you know their next move that they stress and make stupid throws.

5. How to nail every throw

This sounds to good to be true right? Especially as a Ultimate Frisbee Beginner, when you are maybe scared to take the disc.

Don’t worry! Everyone has that fear in the beginning!

I had it in every sports I played before.

Until I started playing Ultimate Frisbee and got this tip.

It‘s a simple tip but the one that helped me the most.

Now I am one of the best throwers in our team.

The tip is: Take your time!

Boring right? And you heard that before. But do me a favor! Remind yourself.

As soon as you get the disc. Breath and wait. You have 10 seconds to throw. That’s an eternity.

It’s very hard I know. But just stop and watch the field. Don’t care about your defender counting. Look where your mates are running and where a gap will appear.

Try to predict the movement of the different players.

And very important! Don’t pivot around all the time.

Many beginners are on fire and try to break every block and just pivot around. This will prohibit you from watching the field.

Remember to watch and breath!

Please try it in your next Ultimate game! This changed everything for me.

When you try it a few times you gain confidence with every throw. And then you test out new throws, deeper throws and so on.

Then you supercharge your learning and get even more confident. This is an upwards spiral!

My best day was when I tried my first hammer in a game. Keep in mind. Been insecure all my live when I had the ball (played soccer)

But I stayed calm. Watched the field. And saw my teammate running towards the edge of the field.

I just went for the hammer and it landed perfectly.

Afterwards I felt like a hero.

Summary

These tips helped me the most as a beginner. Some are easy to implement and work right away. Others take time and make you better step by step.

If you want to read more about tactics, throws and tips about Ultimate Frisbee, read more articles in this beginners guide.

Thank you for reading and have don’t forget to have fun my dudes!

Ultimate Frisbee Tactics for Beginners

When you start playing Ultimate Frisbee the focus is more on learning the throws and how to mark your opponent. As soon as you get better at these skills you ask yourself what else can you improve. Then its time for some tactics.

In this article we will cover one easy tactic for the offense and one for the defense.

I got into tactics when we played a game in our practice. The opponent team used one of the mentioned tactics.

Oh boy… we lost. I was just running after my opponents but there was always one completely open. It was impossible to defend as an Ultimate beginner with no knowledge about tactics.

Now lets start with the first tactic!

The vertical stack (offense tactic)

This easy tactic even for ultimate frisbee beginners is highly effective. As I just said this one actually killed me. It was zero fun playing against that one.

What is the vertical stack in Ultimate Frisbee?

If you play the vertical stack you play with two people who are responsible for throwing the disc (handlers). The rest of the players are standing in one line. They are responsible to run and catch the disc (cutters).

If you play outside you have five cutters. Inside you have three. All the pictures contain only five players in total so the drawings don’t get to crowded.

The circles are players (guess you figured that out) and the filled black circle represents the player with the disc.

How does the vertical stack work?

One of the two handlers picks up or catches the disc. The cutters all stand in one line (the stack). Then the first one in the line (closest to the handlers) starts running fast (cutting). As you can see in the picture down below.

She or he can run either towards the handlers or try to run away from them (go deep). The last option is the riskier one but if it works you travel a further distance.

If the cutters doesn’t get the disc he or she should end up in the end of the stack. If there is no way for one handler to throw the disc to the cutters, the other handler can come to help.

When the first cutter is gone, the second one can start running. Either on the same route or another one.

Why to use the vertical stack in a Ultimate game?

The one purpose of the vertical stack in ultimate frisbee is to give the cutters space to run. Every player of your team has a defender on them. This can make the field very crowded.

If one player has the disc and wants to throw, there are many players in the way. On the other hand cutters can’t run into any open space.

If you compare that to the vertical stack, the field looks way different. By standing in the stack the defense players get also dragged into close to it.

This creates a lot of space. Every player is almost in one place. Now the cutters can choose into which direction they want to run.

This opens up so many options which makes it hard to defend against that. Just look at the picture! How it opens up the whole fields.

Remember that I told you about my first experience with the stack?

This killed me. I tried as hard as I could to chase my player I marked but it was a unfair game!

But there is a way to defend that!

The Force (Defense Tactic)

Again a very easy defense tactic for Ultimate Frisbee Beginners. As soon as you apply that in your games it makes your life as an defender way easier.

What is the Force in Ultimate Frisbee?

This easy Ultimate Frisbee Tactic basically cuts the field in half. You have two sides of the field. The home side and the away side. This helps the defenders by drastically decreasing the area to defend.

If you look at the picture above, the defenders (red) have no clue where the disc is going to be thrown. So they line up left and right of the stack and just try to run after the cutters.

How does the Force work in Ultimate Frisbee?

In the beginning of each point you decide as a team, to which side of the field you want the force the disc. As a defender you position yourself to only let the handler throw towards one side of the field.

So you only open up the home or the away side.

This reduces the options of the offense to only one side. On the picture you can see the red marked zone. This is way smaller compared to the black zones mentioned in the vertical stack part of this article.

This makes it much easier for the defenders. They know the disc is going to end up in the red zone.

If the player you mark starts running out the zone, you don’t have to follow as close and safe some energy.

If they use the vertical stack, you as the defending team can line up on the side you are forcing towards. And you know almost where they are running towards.

If you are more advanced you can start to even force cutters towards a specific direction. Eiter towards the handlers or deep. This works by opening up the space where you want them to end up.

The Past, Present and the Future Of Ultimate Frisbee

The game of Frisbee is beyond a lazy game of catch at the beach. We call it Ultimate now. A serious sport with Olympic potential. Today, Ultimate is played by athletes tall and lean, whose skills mimic those of soccer players, wide receivers and they can jump as well.

“More than 10,000 college students currently participate in the sport with over 600 teams scattered around the world, according to UPA (Ultimate Players Association).”

Throwing and catching a Frisbee is a very healthy activity since you have to chase and jump to catch it. In addition to providing a cardio workout, Ultimate Frisbee also requires many new skills to master, making the game continually interesting. 

The purpose of this article is to pick up the discussion and show how ultimate has evolved as well as what the future may hold for it.

What is the Game of Ultimate?

It starts with a throw off that resembles a kick off in American Football. The sport of Ultimate consists of two to seven players competing on a field nearly the size of American football with two goals at each end.  Offense teams throw and catch the disc, while defensive teams cover the offense in either zone or man defence. Catching the disc allows the player up to three steps before establishing a pivot foot. Running with the disc is not allowed.

“In a regulation game you can score up to 21 points or you can play for a set amount of time.”

When the disc is dropped by an offensive player and hits the ground, goes out of bounds, is intercepted or is knocked away by the defense, it is considered a turnover. It is a touchdown when a disc is caught in the opponent’s endzone by the offensive team. One point is awarded. In the second phase, the defensive team receives the throw off on the opposite side of the field. 

“An Ultimate Frisbee Tournament requires a very high level of fitness and stamina – on a two-day tournament, teams play up to eight games, with each game lasting up to 75 minutes.”

What Makes Ultimate Frisbee So Great?

Ultimate’s inventors struggled to define a foul as the background for Spirit of the Game. In the first definition of a foul, any action that causes your opponent to become incensed was considered a foul. WFDF Ultimate Rules include Spirit of Game as the first section.

It is the ultimate player’s responsibility to praise and support the actions of both teams. When the opponents are introduced at the beginning of each point, it is customary to wish them a good game. Each team then stands in a circle and discusses the game and sings a song for the other team after the game. But the spirit of the game extends beyond following rules. 

“Based on the results of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association’s annual Sports and Fitness Participation Report, there were approximately 4.7 million players of Ultimate alone in the United States in 2010.”

A unique aspect of Ultimate Frisbee is that players themselves can decide how disputes are resolved. A player is expected to play the game according to the rules in an honest, friendly, yet competitive environment as part of the Spirit of the Game (SOTG). 

Ultimate is based on the philosophy of the Spirit of the Game, which is the most important rule of all disc sports. Self-officiated sports do not have referees since they are played on a self-officiated basis. It is the players on the playing field who call fouls and line violations. 

The History and Evolution of Ultimate Frisbee:

Which Country Started It? Founded in Maplewood in 1968 by students in Columbia high school in New Jersey, Ultimate Frisbee has become a major international sport in recent decades. World-wide, ultimate disc sports are gaining popularity. 

On August 10, 2000 in Heilbronn, Germany, 1800 sportsmen from 23 nations competed in the 10th World Ultimate & Guts Championship. 

“Approximately 7 million people worldwide play Ultimate, of which 2.2 million perform actively (more than 12 times a year), according to the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF).”

1.52 million players played 13 times or more per year, defined as core participants. Participation in gymnastics in the USA, with 4 million total participants and 1.89 million core participants, is quite similar to that in field hockey. 

Our competitive athletes aren’t the only ones who have thrown a flying disc at some point in their lives, whether at the beach, in the backyard, or in a park. Most potential spectators are familiar with the “Frisbee” and continue to be fascinated by its flight path.

Ultimate Frisbee In History: A Rundown

  • For decades before plastic discs were available, student culture at Amherst College featured team flying disc games use to play with pie tins and cake pan lids. 
  • The frisbee game evolved from concepts from American football, basketball, and soccer in 1965 or 1966. 
  • Kass was an instructor and dorm advisor at Northfield Mount Hermon School summer camp from 1967 to 1968, where he taught this game to high school students.
  • As a student at Columbia High School, Maplewood, New Jersey, Joel Silver began developing ultimate with Jonny Hines, Buzzy Hellring, and others in 1968.
  • In 1971, Millburn formed the first conference of ultimate teams, along with three other high schools.
  • In 1975, 8 college teams participated in the first ultimate Frisbee tournament hosted by Yale, won by Rutgers. It was introduced at the Rose Bowl during the Second World Frisbee Championships that summer. Ultimate was thus introduced to the West Coast.
  • A showcase event for ultimate was launched at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championship in Toronto in 1975. 
  • The Canadian Ultimate League began in Toronto in 1979. Toronto Ultimate Club is one of the oldest clubs in ultimate.
  • Throughout the late 1900s, gamers including youths and professionals became familiar with the game.

Popularity spread quickly, with many seeing the sport as a liberating alternative to traditional organized sports. In recent years, ultimate has become more competitive and athletic as traditional athletes have become involved, challenging its laid-back, free-spirited roots.

Ultimate Frisbee: Around the World

In ultimate Frisbee, the United States is typically at the top. Canada doesn’t trail behind. Following them are Germany, Great Britain, and Australia. A total of 44 countries participate in ultimate frisbee on a global scale. There are thousands of Ultimate players in over 90 countries, and the number is growing constantly. 

Tournaments

In North America and Europe, competitions take place almost weekly at local, national, and international levels. Columbia hosted the 2013 World Games in 2013, which brought a truly international lineup of Ultimate teams, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Japan and Australia. This was a hot country that hosted some of the world’s hottest Ultimate games and saw crowds from around the world.

World’s Best Tournaments Of Ultimate Frisbee: 

  1. WUCC / WUGC / WUBC / World Games
  2. USA Ultimate Nationals, Dallas, Texas
  3. Dream Cup, Fuji City Japan
  4. London Calling, St Albans, near London, Uk
  5. Windmill, Amsterdam
  6. Poultry Days, Versailles, Ohio
  7. Bubblepest, Budapest, Hungary
  8. Potlatch, Redmond, Washington, USA
  9. Torneo Eterna Primavera, Medellín, Colombia
  10. Spinning In Paradise, Jelsa Croatia
  11. Bangkok Hat, Bangkok Thailand
  12. Kaimana Klassik, Waimanalo, Hawaii
  13. BO, Grenoble, France

“1980 marked the first time national teams competed in a European Championship. The winning team was Finland, followed by England and Sweden.“

The duration of a tournament is usually between two and five days. They can either be held outdoors (grass tournaments) or indoors (beach tournaments). Consist of both the hot competition for the European Championships and the World Ultimate Club Championships, friendly, fun tournaments aimed at player development and interaction. 

Leagues & Associations:

In some countries, there are Club Nationals, University/College Nationals, a Junior League, as well as city or local school leagues. 

  • Ultimate Players Association (UPA) was formed as the first national player-run organization in the United States in December 1979. USA Ultimate became the organization’s new name in 2010.
  •  The European Flying Disc Federation (EFDF) was founded in 1981.
  •  As the world’s governing body for disc sports, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) was established by the EFDF in 1984.
  • Europe’s governing body for ultimate is the European Ultimate Federation. It was founded in 2009 and is a member of the European Flying Disc Federation (EFDF) and the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF).
  • Ultimate Canada was formed in 1993. Ottawa hosted the first National Canadian Ultimate Championships in 1987.
  • The BUCS accreditation program was introduced to universities in the UK and Australia in 2006. 

In addition to the expected venues such as Japan, there are teams and competitions in the Philippines and Vietnam, countries that are perhaps less thought of. 

There are more players in the US than anywhere else in the world. USA Youth Division members numbered 11,000 in 2014, and College Division members numbered 14,000 from 700 colleges. During the regular season, a series of tournaments are held, including the US National Championships and flight-specific events.  

Ultimate Frisbee, Is It Really a Competitive Sport?

A fast-paced sport, Ultimate is a lot of fun to watch. The game includes hucks at the end of the field, diving defenses, man-to-man coverages, and intricate throws that exploit the disc’s characteristics as it reacts to the wind. 

During the 2009 World Games, Flying Disc – also known as ultimate – was played in a 55,000-seat stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Under the patronage of the IOC, the International World Games Association (IWGA) organizes and governs the World Games. An international multi-sport event, the first World Games were held in 1981, intended for sports not contested at the Olympic Games.  

Aside from competitions organized under the auspices of the WFDF, Ultimate has also participated in competitions organized under the auspices of the World Games since 2001. The Flying Disc event took place at the Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero stadium in Cali, Colombia, during the 2013 World Games.

Ultimate has transitioned to a quadrennial format following the first World Ultimate Championship in Sweden in 1983.  

In the latest edition of the World Ultimate Championship in Osaka, Japan, there were 1400 competitors from 23 nations competing in 5 divisions. Over 160 clubs and 3,500 athletes are expected to participate in the 2014 World Ultimate Club Championship. The World Juniors Championships took place this August in Dublin, Ireland, with nearly 1,000 competitors.

Ultimate is an up-and-coming sport that is well known by the younger generation and meets the spectator expectations of today, compared to other established sports that are slightly slower-paced and increasingly only enjoyed by a greying audience.

The Future of Ultimate Frisbee In Olympics 

Ultimate players compete internationally in competitions all over the world. There is no greater pride than representing your country, and the best Ultimate players will go to any extent for one goal: to be the best.

Disc sports should be included in the Olympics, according to a global survey. Almost half of respondents said it should be the top priority or at least extremely high.

The World Games, which are the largest multi-sport event after the Olympics, have included ultimate as a medal sport since 2001. The WFDF explicitly listed inclusion in the Olympics as one of its seven strategic goals in its Strategic Plan for 2019-2024, and it is actively working towards securing a spot on the 2028 Summer Olympic Programme in Los Angeles. Olympic participation would be a net positive for this sport and its athletes since the Olympics remain the pinnacle of sports.

The WFDF was granted full recognition by the IOC on 2 August 2015. This provides the organization with the chance to receive IOC funding and become an Olympic Game.

Athletes aspiring to gold can expect the next edition of the World Games to take place in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, in 2022. The Olympic Programme should be considered due to the numerous ways it can enhance so many of our highest priorities: growth, gender equity, inclusiveness, diversity, propagation of Olympic values and attitudes, and a healthy lifestyle. 

How I Track Ultimate Frisbee With My Fitness Watch

Welcome to my next blog post. We will talk about how I track my Ultimate Frisbee exercises and games with my fitness watch. I am a sport loving person. And I do all kinds of different sports. For example, running, going to the gym, biking, swimming and now I added the team sport Ultimate Frisbee to it. If you have a fitness watch already you sometimes want to track your activities and can’t find the right way to do it.

I found a way to track Ultimate Frisbee and will share it in this article with you. If you have a better way or other improvements feel free to share it in the comment section. Everybody will have an advantage from your contribution.

About half a year ago, in March 2021 I bought my first fitness watch, the Garmin Fenix Six to track my every day exercises. Mainly I bought it to use it while running. Now I can watch my calories, I can see the exact effect my workouts have and if I have to increase or decrease my load.

How I track Ultimate Frisbee Exercises with my fitness watch

As soon as I started my journey as a beginner in Ultimate Frisbee I was interested to see how exhausting it is. Therefore I wanted to track it with my fitness watch. Unfortunately we play inside during the cold season. This means, that my watch has no GPS signal.

I looked only and couldn’t find the right solution. In the Garmin Connect IQ Store I could not find any plug ins to use for Ultimate Frisbee. But for me I found out, that tracking it as a Treadmill Activity has the best results.

The watch uses only my steps to calculate the distance. It is not that accurate but for me as an Ultimate Frisbee beginner its enough. Through my heart rate the calories and trainings effect is calculated. This gives me a good overview how exhausting the practice was.

When I am just outside and play catch with a friend we don’t run that much. Therefore I just record it as a classic Cardio Exercise. Sometimes you need to chase a not well thrown disc. For someone who tracks their calories this will make sense. If you don’t you can only track the games and practices.

I can just say, that is very interesting to see how exhausting the practices are. If you track more games or practices you can compare them to each other. And you can see a positive trend if you get better. I can truly recommend a fitness watch for every sport enthusiast! You will learn so much about yourself. And it’s a big influence on your activity level.

How exhausting is Ultimate Frisbee

When I started out it was a good workout. Ultimate Frisbee is an intensive sport and if you have a bad fitness you will be exhausted after the first few practices. But you will soon get better!

As a beginner you will run a lot in every game. But when you get more advanced on one hand your fitness level gets better and on the other hand you play much wiser. In the beginning you just run around and try to get everywhere. Step by step you learn more tactics and strategies.

For example as the offence team you soon adopt the stack technique. Basically only one player runs at a time. As an Ultimate Frisbee Beginner everyone runs at once. This and many other improvements make the game way easier to play and less exhausting.

For the defence team you try to force the thrower on one side of the field. That results in a large decrease of running for you as a defender. Because you know already where the disc will end up.

Now we take a closer look at my last Ultimate Frisbee Practice. In the beginning be focused on throwing. First throwing only backhand and then only forehand. After that we practiced being a cutter (running to catch the disc) and being a handler (throwing the disc to the cutter). After about 30 to 45 minutes we started playing games.

In the whole Frisbee practice I burned 1173 calories, ran 8,00 km (5 miles) and we played for about 2 hours and 15 minutes. You could say that is was a really good workout.

The two pictures show some more data of my last Ultimate Frisbee Practice. Keep in mind I am a beginner, heavier gym dude and with the treadmill tracking it is not 100% accurate. And yes it’s in german but I will translate for you.

On the top left you can see the pace in minutes per kilometer. This shows that a game and the exercises consist out of short and fast runs. On the lower left corner you can see my heart rate. It goes up and down a lot but a rate of almost 180 bpm is quite a lot. On average my heart rate was around 137 bpm which is a good area.

In the top right corner you can see the Training Effect of the Ultimate Frisbee exercise. I don’t want to get too much into detail what the two different numbers mean but you can look at this article if you are interested.

Aerobic Effect increases during rhythmic exercise like running with constant tempo. Anaerobic Effect increases when you for example quickly sprint. It had a good effect on my Aerobic Fitness and a smaller effect on my anaerobic.

In the lower right corner you can see my steps per minute. They vary a lot because of the short sprints to get the disc in an Ultimate Frisbee Game. I would say the data on the right is useful for everybody even beginners. And the data on the right is for the ones who love data and analysing their fitness.

Which fitness watch do I use for Ultimate Frisbee?

I use the Garmin Fenix Six Pro to track my Ultimate Frisbee practices. I bought this watch because you can basically do anything with it. It’s a multi sport watch because as I said in the beginning I do many different sports. Going to the gym, hiking, running, swimming, Ultimate Frisbee and biking. And I really love data..

Yes I am a nerd. But I just love it.

I get so many insights. You get heart rates, trainings effect, you get even a coach, you get stress level, body battery, sleep tracking, current state of training, VO2max and now I already geek to much.. sorry 😀

Besides all the nerdy but fantastic and helpful data you are completely influenced. But in a good way.

Frist you pay a good amount of money for the watch so you have to make it worth every penny you paid. And then the whole ecosystem is build to make you better every day.

Garmin has a Newsfeed where you can see all the activities of your friends. Five or six of my friends have a Garmin and if you are about to be lazy the activities of the others will motivate you.

Every month you get challenges. For example run 10 km this weekend. For every done challenge you get points which will get you to a higher level. Then you have different badges for achievements which also give you points.

The whole gamification and social connection make it really easy to stay fit.

You can check out my watch here. And they have a lot of different options. Cheaper ones as well.

For my runs I also use a heart rate belt. This one goes around the chest and gives you even more data! Better heart rate monitoring, balance between left and right, length of you steps, vertical movement and time of ground contact. This is only for real runners or data freaks like me.

Conclusion

You don’t need a fitness watch to play Ultimate Frisbee. But it’s very interesting to see how good your fitness is and how you develop over the time. It’s a good influence to stay motivated.

I track my practices as a treadmill activity and when I just play catch with the disc I track it as normal cardio without GPS.

Ultimate Frisbee is a real sport and sometimes very exhausting. As soon as you develop from beginner to more advanced you run less and your fitness level increases.

I use a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro to track Ultimate Frisbee and all the other sports I do.

Do you use a Fitness Watch and how do you track it?

Ultimate Frisbee: the rules (short)

This is a short take on the rules of Ultimate Frisbee for beginners. We won’t cover every detail! The goal is to get you playing right away. We will cover the outdoor rules. If you want to view the complete rules check out the official site of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF).

How to play Ultimate Frisbee for beginners:

  • 7 players on each side
  • field has an end zone on each side
  • Points can be scored by catching the disc in the end zone
  • You can’t run with the Disc
  • Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact sport
  • There are no referees
  • Throw the disc within 10 seconds
  • If the disc touches the ground or goes out-of-bounds it is a turnover

The following post is structured by commonly asked questions. This post is for beginners who want to get started quickly and play for fun. Let me know if you have any additions.

How does Ultimate Frisbee start?

It starts with a so called throw-off. The defending Team throws the disc as far into the other half of the field as they can. The attacking Team tries to catch it or they can start playing where the disc landed or left the field.

After each point the disc is thrown by the team that scored the point.

Can I tackle in Ultimate Frisbee?

In short, no it is not allowed to tackle. Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact sport. If a player gets tackled a foul can be called. The case is then discussed by the two involved players. Make sure to play responsible and respect your opponent.

Does Ultimate Frisbee have referees?

No, Ultimate Frisbee is played without referees. If a player spots a foul or is involved in one she or he can call it out. The case is then discussed by the two involved players. If both agree that the outcome would be the same with or without the foul the play stands. If they disagree the disc is returned to the thrower for a check.

What Field is Ultimate Frisbee played on?

The playing field is 100 meters long and 37 meters wide. Both end zones are 18 meters long. This results in a length between the two end zones of 64 meters. The end zones are marked with bright plastic objects (cones) on every corner.

When does an Ultimate Frisbee game end?

The game ends when one team scores fifteen (15) goals. The game is separated in two half. When one team scores eight (8) goals the first half of the game ends. After each other goal score the game is continued immediately.

Which Disc to play Ultimate Frisbee?

Basically any disc can be used, if both captains of the each team accept the disc. There is an official list from the WFDF which recommends discs to play with. In the following only the pro level discs are listed (I know you want the official gear right away).

Official Discs for Ultimate Frisbee are:
  • Discraft UltraStar, Westland Mold – Hot Stamp
  • Discraft UltraStar, Westland Mold – Supercolor Center
  • Discraft UltraStar, Web Mold – Hot Stamp
  • Discraft UltraStar, Web Mold – Supercolor Center
  • Discraft, UltraStar, Web II – Hot Stamp
  • Daredevil Gamedisc
  • EuroDisc 175g 4.0 Organic – Hot Stamp
  • X-COM Ultimate Standard – Hot Stamp
  • Yikun, UltiPro

If you want to show support, you can buy an official disc through this affiliate link: Discraft UltraStar, Westland Mold – Hot Stamp

I will always tell you if I include an affiliate link. This won’t cost you more. If you don’t want to buy it through this link feel free to do so.

Do you have any further questions about the Ultimate Frisbee Rules?

How to throw a backhand like a pro!

An easy guide to throw a backhand in Ultimate Frisbee. You will learn how to use the right grip, make it stable and throw far. These are tips that helped me to improve my backhand. I will update this post every time I find a new trick.

How to throw a backhand?

  • Use the right grip
  • Move your whole body to accelerate the disc
  • Flick your wrist
  • Keep the disc stable during the throw
  • Start slow and increase speed step by step

The right grip

When I started Ultimate, I just played, but soon I developed my usual competitiveness and wanted to get better. I started watching YouTube videos (a lot of them). And in the beginning focused on how to grip the Disc.

This is my new improved grip. More stability and better control over the release.

Here you can see my old grip. Sometimes the Frisbee got stuck at my index finger when I wanted to release the disc.

My current grip is having the fingers completely inside sort of stretched and the thumb on top. Because in the beginning, I grabbed the Disc with the fingertips on the rim inside.

When I threw the Disc, sometimes it sticked to my index finger, and then it went off completely to the right. I couldn’t release it in time. Now I try to have my finger straight in there. So that my fingers touch the inside and not the rim.This helped me a lot to improve my backhand in Ultimate.

Get the movement down

For the backhand and any other technique it’s important to try it out a lot. Just play catch with a friend. When you throw the Disc 1000 times, you get the technique down and you can always try different things. Ultimate Frisbee is about trying yourself out!

The next important thing is, that you make the complete movement with your arm. Use every joint of your arm to throw the disc.

  1. Bend your wrist
  2. Bend your elbow
  3. Bend your shoulder
  4. Turn your spine

By bending every joint, you are able to store energy. Which is then used to accelerate the disc. Remember to to flick your wrist at the end! As you would use a whip. This will make the disc stable.

Try to overdo the movements in the beginning. Make sure you do it on an open field, with just a friend. Because in the beginning the Frisbee will end up somewhere far off. But if you continue, you will get better at it fast. Then you can tune the right amount of force for every distance.

But remember, in the Ultimate game long throws don’t matter that much.

Keep it flat, dude!

Now that you know how to use the right grip and the movement in ultimate frisbee, you can adjust other details.

My problem in the beginning and still to this date is, that on hard throws the disc tips over. Especially while doing the throw-off (start of every point where you throw the disc to the other team).

I didn’t find the ultimate formula yet! Eighter the disc tips over or it lacks power and won’t make it to the other side. But here are some tips that helped me so far to improve my throws.

To avoid the disc from tipping over during an Ultimate Frisbee game, I focus on my movement from the beginning on. I use three factors to adjust my throw:

  1. Energy storing phase (the way back)
  2. Acceleration of the disc
  3. The Release
Energy storing phase (the way back)

As mentioned above, this is the stage where we store energy in the body. Try in the ultimate game, when you catch the frisbee, to bend your wrist already on the way back or already after your catch. When you want to throw you already used the complete range in your wrist to accelerate the disc.

Acceleration of the disc

Now it’s time to open up all the retracted joints to create speed and power. But don’t forget to focus how you move the frisbee. It’s important to keep the disc flat. This avoids any unwanted movements in the disc at the time of the release.

Try to practice the movement very slowly. Step by step you can try to get it faster. Once your body saved the movement, it is able to recreate it under any condition. Even in a fast game of Ultimate Frisbee

The Release

This is what impacts the steadiness of our throw the most! This is all about the right wrist movement. And this is the so called flick at the and. Imagine you use a whip. Flick your wrist hard at the end of the throw. The disc will start to rotate and this makes it stable.

If the disc still tips over when you throw you can try to release it with an angle. In the pictures below you can see in which direction you can turn the disc.

By pointing the frisbee to the ground you counter the movement the disc gets from your body. It’s normal, that you release the disc with a slight rotation to the right.

Conclusion

A great backhand in Ultimate is a mixture out of grip, movement and disc angle. In short: grip the disc with stretched fingers to avoid wobble and missed targets, use your whole body to accelerate the frisbee and focus to keep the disc flat during the movement. And most importantly flick the wrist.

If you combine practicing with a friend to get the technique down with real Ultimate Frisbee game experience, you throw amazing backhands even under pressure.

Do you have any tips I didn’t mention?

If you liked this post check out my other ones about Ultimate on my blog.

The best Ultimate Frisbee player (USA)

The American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) recently announced their most valuable player of the 2021 season. They vote every season for one player of their league to become the MVP.

The best player 2021

Ben Jagt #4

Ben Jagt is the best Ultimate Frisbee player in the AUDL 2021.

Team:New York Empire
Position:Hybrid
Height:6′ 6″ (1,98 m)
Goals:52
Assists:47
Throwing Yards:1,403 (1282m)
Receiving Yards:4,493 (4108m)

Why Ultimate Frisbee is the best sport in the world!

I really fell in love with the sport! I basically started one month ago in September 2021. And I only heard about Ultimate Frisbee once before. It was from MKBHD or Marques Brownlee, he is the only famous guy I know who’s playing Ultimate Frisbee.

I watched a few videos of him playing Ultimate and it looked very cool. When they throw the Frisbee and they catch it high up in the air. And there’s something relaxing to it. How a Frisbee flies across long distances. It’s floating in the air like basically an UFO. So, so relaxing. Some sort of meditation. Maybe there is something wrong with me.

Ultimate Frisbee is the best sport:

  • Beginner friendly
  • You see improvements very quickly
  • No referees
  • You just need a Disc
  • Looks very very cool

Why did I start playing Ultimate?

Then I heard about Ultimate Frisbee recently again. I’m here in Sweden for an exchange semester, and at the university, they had tryout weeks for the university sports. And Ultimate Frisbee was one of them and then I went to the first practice.

I’ve thrown a Disc before, yes. But not really good, only backhand basically. Yeah, and then they showed us a bit how to throw a better backhand. Then how to have a better grip on the Disc. After that we just played Ultimate Frisbee.

If you compare that to volleyball for example, to get a really good game, you need at least two weeks or something. So that everybody can hit the ball right and the ball stays up in the air. But with Ultimate Frisbee it’s just way easier to start. They tell you the rules, how it’s going to work, and you play.

You should try it out!

Throwing the Frisbee, everyone can basically do it. Some better, some not so good, but it doesn’t matter because, the long throws in the beginning, won’t go anywhere. It’s about the short throws and they are easy.

I always tell new people to try it out. You can immediately play the game and have fun. And you see improvements really really quickly. I got really interested in it, and now I’m already starting this blog. I watched almost every video out there on Ultimate Frisbee.

One week after I started playing, I bought my first frisbee, the Innova pulsar. We went out on the football field in front of our accommodation and just played catch.

What I did to get better at Ultimate Frisbee

Then you start learning different things. How to grip the Disc, how to throw a backhand and then you quickly try the forehand throw. If you nail that you’ll basically look like a pro At least you feel like one.

It’s just so nice to play, and you can either play just catch with your friends and then try a little bit here and there to get better. If you have always one or two things you try to focus on. You will get better, step by step.

Before every every training (we train on Thursdays and Sundays). I watch some technique videos, then I try it there. Because it makes a huge difference if you just play catch or play a real game. You have to hurry up in the game situation and feel the pressure.

You only need a Disc

Another advantage it, you don’t need a lot of gear. Basically you need shoes (we are playing inside right now) and that’s it. Ultimate Frisbee is a really nice sport everyone can play.

You have no referees so it is, very relaxed, no aggression. You just discuss if it was a foul or not. There are no difficult rules. And you don’t need complex tactics to get starting.

So no difficult tactics, easy to play, loads of respect for each other and cheap gear.

I try to get other people to play the sport because it’s so nice and doesn’t get enough attention. Because soccer and football is everywhere. That shrinks the attention down.

Just tell your friends and start throwing a Frisbee, they’re not that expensive. Maybe start your own team in your town.

And a little tip, watch the highlight videos on YouTube, because they are amazing. How they throw the frisbee and catching it in the air. Just watch. A very good way to motivate your friends to play 😉 Send them a link and ask if they want to try it.

I tried every sports imaginable. Then started going to the gym for a long time. Now I found Ultimate Frisbee and I can’t get enough of it. Already have two Discs at home. And I annoy everyone to come and play with me.

Try it out and you will love it!