WOMAN (British): Thank you all for coming. I’m happy to be here today to tell you about our city’s first ultimate club. Ultimate is a relatively new sport on the world scene, so I’ll first give you an overview of the sport itself. Um, this could be boring for those already familiar with it, so please bear with me. Then I’m going to tell you about our new local club, and explain how to join.
All right… So, ultimate is a fast-paced, non-contact field sport that is really a mix of football, soccer, and basketball. The idea for the game originated in 1968 with two American high school students named Jared Kass and Joel Silver. Um, they were from New Jersey, I believe. Anyway, they were playing around with a Frisbee and came up with a way to play something akin to “Frisbee football”…uh, American football, that is…and eventually their idea developed into what we now know as ultimate.
The game is played by two teams, usually with seven players on the field for each side at one time. The point of the game is to catch the Frisbee in the opposing team’s endzone. For, uh, for those who aren’t familiar with American football, an endzone is basically the far back edge of one team’s side of a rectangular playing field. The field itself is the same length as a soccer field, or about 110 meters. But the width is only 37 meters, or about half of a typical soccer field. The endzones on each end of the field are about 23 meters in length.
Right. So, the players…the person holding the Frisbee can’t run, but can pivot as in basketball. They try to pass it on to other players towards the opposing team’s endzone, but can pass the Frisbee in any direction. One point is scored for every catch within the endzone. And games are usually played to 13 points. But, uh, this varies from region to region, with some going up to as high as 23.
As you can imagine, all of this running really requires players to be in good shape. It’s definitely not a sport for the lazy! But it’s also a lot of fun, and is a great exercise in teamwork. And the best part is that men and women of all ages can play it. Quite inclusive, really.
Now we are really excited to be able to formally bring ultimate to our city. As of this week, New Castle has its very own ultimate club. No fancy name, just New Castle Ultimate. Our playing season will be from April until the end of October, although we hope in the future to offer indoor training workshops. We will start off with three teams, and add more as the numbers grow. The teams will practice independently and then square off in games every month.
To participate in the club you have to become a member, and there are two membership options. The first is to become a guest member. Guest membership lasts for one season and costs £45. For the cost of the membership you are allowed to participate in two skills workshops, are placed on a team, and have access to the club’s online forums and events calendar. The cost does not cover your uniform or gear.
You can also choose to be a full member, which is a permanent membership that costs £85 per year. In addition to everything offered to a guest member, as a full member you have unlimited access to our trainings and workshops year-round, and get to vote at the Annual General Meeting. Oh, and you are also covered by our liability and accident insurance.
Whatever membership you choose, you do need to follow a few rules. First is appropriate sportsmanship. This basically means that you act in a respectful way towards other players, but there is more detailed information about good sportsmanship on our website. And, uh, secondly, you can only miss four practices per season. If you miss more than that, your team can choose to replace you. The same goes for games, but you can only miss up to two of those.
For those of you who are still uncertain as to whether you’ll even enjoy ultimate, we have a beginner’s workshop set up the next weekend on Saturday. Come and spend a few hours learning how to play, and see if it’s a good fit for you. The workshop is free, and is open to the public. But we do require registration. I’ll pass around a sign-up sheet for that purpose.