It’s 10 p.m. on a Thursday night in early May, and it’s raining. Most students are inside their warm dorm rooms or apartments. However, 15 students are facing the inclement weather to play Ultimate Frisbee on Purchase’s turf field and prepare for the final tournament of their season.
To say that they are simply throwing around a plastic disc does them no justice. The players are constantly sprinting back and forth on a makeshift 70-yard long field while they run routes like wide receivers and play defense like cornerbacks. These students call themselves The Sub-Atomic Puppies, and they are Purchase College’s Ultimate Frisbee team.
During the spring 2009 semester, they travelled to tournaments all over the Northeast in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, New Hampshire, and on Long Island. Although Frisbee is not an official NCAA sport, it is regulated by the Ultimate Players Association. According to their website, the UPA is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1979 and has over 27,000 members.
Team captain Teddy Mason said they came up with their name in honor of the original Ultimate Frisbee team at Purchase, The Atomic Dogs, who played the game on a national level 20 years ago. Throughout the mid-80s, the Dogs won several national tournaments and were recognized in 1989 as one of the top 10 Ultimate Frisbee teams in the country.
“We went with this name because we wanted to sort of continue their legacy,” said Mason. “And considering that we’re not even close to being on the same level that the original guys were, I think our name is pretty fitting.”
Mason formed the team himself over the course of four years through pickup games on campus.
“After constantly asking people and getting faculty involved, I was able to get a real team,” he said. “Unfortunately though, we’re losing a lot of seniors so hopefully people show up next year. I think a liberal school with a bunch of hippies should have an Ultimate Frisbee team.”
For some of these “hippies,” Ultimate Frisbee is the first competitive sport that they’ve ever played. Jen Hanson said being part of an athletic team is something completely new to her.
“This is definitely the first sport I’ve gotten involved with,” said Hanson. “But once I started playing I got really into it and just wanted to keep going.”
The game of Frisbee carries one of the most diverse rosters in all of sports, which is, arguably, what makes this game so special. Of the 20-player squad, five of them are girls.
Erica Evens said that one of the things she enjoys most about being a part of the team is that there isn’t much pressure.
“We have a laid back atmosphere on our team,” said Evens. “It’s all just silly.”
Silly might be the perfect word to describe the overall team morale when they’re not in the heat of a game. To go along with their canine theme, the Sub-Atomic Puppies players have given each other “dog names.” Mason goes by the dog name of “Air Bud,” and another player is called “Snoopy.”
The team might have a mellow attitude, but when it comes to tournament preparation, they’re all business.
“During a typical practice, we’ll run drills and look at plays on the dry board,” said Haydon “Scooby” Wearing. “Despite what most people think, this game does take a lot of strategy.”
Each side puts seven players on the field, and they play a game to 15 points where each score counts for one point. The formation consists of one “handler,” whom Mason said is the equivalent of a quarterback in football. Then there are “mids” and “deeps” that are stacked on the field three-a-piece. This group of seven’s goal is to move the Frisbee down the 70-yard field and score without committing a turnover. The team on offense only gives the disc away by either throwing an interception, letting the Frisbee hit the ground, or holding it for too long, which would be ten seconds of “stall counts.”
Wearing said that the game is not for the physically weak. “It’s an all-weather sport,” he said. “I’ve played in games with freezing rain and an iced over field, and I’ve played on extremely hot days too.”
The weather is not the only obstacle. Wearing said that even though he played baseball, basketball, and football in high school, he’s never run as much as he does playing Frisbee.
During a scrimmage earlier in the season, he dove for the disc and collided with one of his teammates, breaking his collarbone. Wearing had to have his arm in a sling.
While leaning against the chain-linked fence, he points to the field and says, “Watch this.”
“They’re going to try some trick throws,” he said. “There’s a bunch of different ways to throw that thing.”
Mason cleanly releases the disc behind his back after a large vertical sweeping move with his right arm.
“The one Teddy just did is called ‘The Hand of God’,” said Wearing. “I don’t know how they come up with this stuff.”
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