Useful resources for Ultimate (the disc sport...)
Posted on May 09, 2006 at 12:00 PM
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I just promised my new team that I'd post some resources about playing Ultimate that I've collected so here they are.
Ultimate is a very cool sport but it's still fairly new (I didn't hear about it until about 1998) so I'd say that people are still developing the techniques and strategies. But there are some really good websites now that have animations and things like that describing the sport.
Start with the Ultimate Players Association which is the governing organization in the US. Then have a look at the Hamilton Ultimate Club (aka HUC) , the club that I play in. HUC uses the UPA rules, 10th edition , they might seem like a dry read, but if you want to know what is and what isn't, that's where to go. Some of the more interesting bits (and perhaps less understood) are the "Captain's Clause", "The Marker", and the "Continuation Rule".
Anyway, enough with that boring stuff. That's not why you came.
Probably the best guide to ultimate right now is the Ultimate Handbook . It's got photos from flickr but best of all... flash animations of all kinds of plays, and everything. He starts with some really good advice for beginners :
Learning to throw a disc can be SUPERFRUSTRATING. This prevents many people from playing ultimate. But everyone has to go through the learning process and everyone sucks at the start. Let’s get you past that before you decide to quit.
How true. It took me ages to get just my game backhand going. There seems to be some stuff missing though from the old ultimate Handbook, such as this cool guide to throwing in the presence of a mark which is something I personally find/found difficult sometimes.
Ultimate Skills by Tom Brennan and Jonathan Potts is also very good stuff. It takes you through everything from basic to advanced throwing, zone defences, and everything in between. With pictures and diagrams.
The nearby Toronto Ultimate Club has it's own strategy pages . Wikipedia also has a page on different ultimate throws . There are of course, some weblogs dedicated to Ultimate . And finally, a guide to all of the crazy ultimate lingo (like huck, pull, outside-in, etc etc).
Last but not least... what's this "frisbee" thing? It's a disc! And the sport is called ... Ultimate.