Club Ultimate Frisbee (pictured above) provides a welcoming environment to all students who want to engage in athletic activities and meet new people (Kara Burke / managing edtior).
Many students see frisbee as a fun past time on warm days, but for the Geneseo Ultimate Frisbee teams it is something they practice year-round. The club consists of more than 50 people that make up both men’s and women’s teams, Snail and Escargot.
Ultimate Frisbee has similar elements to football and soccer, with teammates working to move the frisbee into the other team’s end zone.
Senior captain Connor Evans explained that, “Ultimate Frisbee is traditionally a seven on seven sport … I like to say how you’re routinely passing it. There’s always a continuation of disc movement, I guess we’re always throwing the Frisbee. Instead of having a goal at each of the ends up or at each of the sides of the field there are end zones. So basically, you just have to catch the disc in the end zone.”
Both teams practice several times a week, and team captains work on helping their players improve throughout these practices. The team is student-coached, so the captains run the practices.
During the fall season, the club practices co-ed and focuses on player development for the first few weeks, and then splits off into Snail and Escargot to practice for tournaments. The team attends a few less serious co-ed tournaments, but mainly the men’s and women’s teams compete separately.
“In the fall, it’s just kind of like our learning time. Anyone who wants to join can, and we practice Monday, Wednesday [and] Friday at the Letch field—from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. normally,” senior president Kaitlyn West said. “It’s fun, it’s very low key [and a] very welcoming environment. When I joined, I had never felt more welcome on a team before. Then the spring is our competitive season, so we’ll travel to tournaments [at] … a bunch of different places every other weekend.”
The team hosts a yearly indoor tournament at Geneseo, which took place on Saturday Feb. 15 this year. The tournament raises money for their team to help them fund going to tournaments.
Senior captain Camille Montalbano said, “I loved the indoor tournament. It’s a great event because we bring local schools into Geneseo and it’s in our home turf, we split off into five different teams because we have so many players, but it’s really beneficial because the teams are a bit smaller so people get more time on the field. [It’s a] great experience in terms of the skills that they gained from it.”
This season, captains are expecting the team to perform well and suggest both the men’s and women’s team have a shot at nationals.
The women’s team is ranked 20th in Division III nationally, according to Ultiworld. “I think we’re doing well. We did [go] to the championships at regionals last year and we almost went to nationals. We lost in the championship game,” West said. “So, we’re hoping to get that far this year and hopefully win championship games … we’re hopeful. We have a lot of new people this year … they’re doing well, learning and stuff, so I hope that goes well.”
The men’s team is very experienced and expecting to have a strong season. Evans explained, “I would say I think that our team right now is very strong. The last time that I checked, we had maybe 12 or 13 graduating seniors this year. I’d say Anthony Prato leads the team [based on] overall skill and ability. I think he’s a great leader both on and off the field.”
The Geneseo Ultimate Frisbee team members encourage people to join their club and come learn a unique sport in a fun and friendly setting.