By Alex Kearns
"This year we will win state," announces senior Matt Nash enthusiastically of East's Ultimate Frisbee team. After placing sixth in the state of Colorado after practicing for only three months last season, the team expresses their excitement for the coming season.
Although many students at East are unaware of the popularity of Ultimate around the state and the country, "Ultimate is the fastest growing sport right now," states East Ultimate assistant coach Tina McDowell. "A lot of high schools in the past five years have started teams. It's becoming really big." McDowell started playing Ultimate as a freshman at the University of Georgia. "The Denver Metro area is becoming one of the national hot spots for high school Ultimate now," adds head coach Derek Gottlieb. "There are at least 17 established high school programs in the area, and four new this year."
Almost all Colorado high school Ultimate teams are currently co-ed. "That's the first stage in the sport's development in a given area;" says Gottlieb. "Later on, in the next couple of years, the league will have a boys and a girls division. Interest hasn't grown to the point where we have enough players to do that yet."
"Ultimate is not really an unusual sport," comments junior Nicole Proulx. "You have offense, defense, and end zones; it's like a mix between football, soccer, and basketball." The basis of the game is to throw the disk into a team's specified end zone and to score a player must catch the disk while standing in the end zone. Players can only move by throwing the disk. "It's a competitive, but non-contact sport," adds sophomore Brenna Hokanson.
This season East's Ultimate team is not only hoping to participate in the state competition, but are also participating in nation-wide tournaments. "Later in our season we are going to Madison, Wisconsin for a national tournament called the Mud Bath," states Nash. "We are also playing the women's Ultimate team from the University of Colorado at City Park sometime in early March," comments sophomore Michael Reher, known as "Goofy" among the team. "After playing C.U., we will host a tournament here in Denver, and we will invite teams from other states. It will be great, so everyone who can should come watch," adds Reher.
In order to raise money for their upcoming competitions, the Ultimate team will be selling wristbands, disks, hats, and bumper stickers. For more information on these items visit Ms. Wagner in room 215.
"We have a lot of good and dedicated players, so I'm sure we'll have a fun and excellent season," mentions sophomore Chris Wielga. "Our team is ‘crispy’ which means we have a great D and a grand effort," adds coach McDowell. The team was unanimous in deciding that one of their biggest goals for the season was to beat their adversaries. "We will beat Lakewood this year, who won state last year," says Hokanson. "There is a rival between us and Colorado Academy because they have experienced players, but we can and will beat them," declares Wielga.
Although East's Ultimate team already has twenty-five players, "we are still looking for freshmen and other young players to join the team," states Senior Matt Steninger. "Anyone is welcome to come and have a good time."
Originally published in the "East High Spotlight." March 4, 2005