Kelsey Fink is a senior Chemistry and Mathematics major at the University of Notre Dame. She is a captain of the Women's Ultimate Frisbee Club, and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching course.
"Spirit of the Game. Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional infractions, or other 'win-at-all-costs' behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game and must be avoided by all players."
This is an excerpt from the Official Rules of Ultimate: 11th Edition. Ultimate Frisbee, for those of you who don’t know, is played without referees. Although pick up basketball or backyard baseball may also be played without refs, Ultimate is different. It maintains a competitive level and organized rules as would any professional or collegiate sport. And it has been doing this for over 30 years.
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| Members of the Notre Dame Ultimate Team practice on campus. Photo Credit: Maggie O'Brien, The Observer |
Even in championship games, Ultimate
Frisbee is still self-refereed. This unique aspect of the game instills special
characteristics that all athletes should have: honesty, respect, control, and
sportsmanship.
Honesty. If you are self-officiating an
Ultimate game, everyone participating needs to be honest. If you won a game due
to a bad call, the taste of victory would not be as sweet as to knowing you
achieved it fairly. Without honesty, one cannot even hope to understand the
concept of Spirit of the Game.
Respect. Spirit of the Game results from
mutual respect between two teams. As the Golden Rule states, “Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you.” If your team is making the most absurd foul
calls on your opponents, you can guarantee that they will start to do the same
to you. This negative attitude is not what Ultimate is about.
Control. People make bad calls in Ultimate.
It happens. But you cannot be physically outraged if this occurs. Another unique
aspect of Ultimate is that when a foul is called, the involved persons can talk
it out, coming to an understanding. One team I constantly played against over
the summer would start yelling at us whenever we called a foul. Not only did
they lose control, but by doing so they lost our respect. They just had to
learn to breathe, gain control of their emotions, and listen to our side of the
story.
Sportsmanship. Whenever an Ultimate player
thinks of “Spirit of the Game,” they immediately think of sportsmanship. In the
end, that is what Spirit of the Game is all about. By learning honesty,
respect, and control, athletes become more sportsmanlike. Athletes learn to
balance their competitive nature with their inherent character values, making
Ultimate one of the most honorable sports. Furthermore, teams notice when
others have good spirit. You compliment those teams, and they might even win
the “Spirit Award” that some tournaments offer. Those are the types of
impressions that stay with you.... their spirit, not the outcome of the game.
By abiding by the Spirit of the Game,
athletes learn core sportsmanship-like values that may not only be carried over
to all other sports, but to other aspects of life as well. In the end, many people may still think of
Ultimate Frisbee as a “hippie sport,” and maybe it is. After all, we are a
bunch of young adults who just like to play hard, compete honestly, and just have
fun.
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| Members of Notre Dame's Ultimate Frisbee Clubs |
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