THE BASICS AND A SHORT HISTORY OF ULTIMATE
The Basics
Ultimate is a fast-paced, exciting sport that combines rules and playing styles from many popular competitive sports. Ultimate is played around the world at all competitive levels. The Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) is the premier professional ultimate frisbee league in the United States.
The dimensions of ultimate fields vary a bit across competitive formats. In the UFA, the field of play is 80 yards long and the end zones are 20 yards long.
Each team consists of seven players.
A point is started when the defensive line throws the disc from their end zone to the other team standing in their own end zone. This is called the "Pull.”
Scoring is similar to football and rugby. One team must advance the disc inside the opposing team’s end zone in order to score a point. However, unlike football and rugby, you can’t run with the disc.
To advance the disc you must pass it back and forth with your teammates until you score, or you no longer have possession.
Once you have caught the disc you have to slow down as soon as your momentum allows and establish a pivot foot like in basketball. If you run farther than your momentum takes you, or move your pivot foot while throwing, you have committed a travel violation, and a 10-yard spot penalty is incurred.
Once you’ve scored, your team goes on defense. The “Mark” is the player, or “marker,” on defense that is guarding the offensive player with possession of the disc. While the Mark is defending the thrower, the referee will count to seven. This is called the “Stall Count.” If the count reaches seven and the thrower still has the disc, it is a turn-over and the thrower must drop the disc.
A Short History
Ultimate would not exist without the invention of the flying disc, or "Frisbee," as it is commonly known. The first known contemporary tossing of a disc was by Yale undergrads in the early 20th century. The Yale campus was close to Connecticut's Frisbie Pie Company, whose pies were sold in metal tins that could be thrown over a short distance.
The sport developed with the invention of a plastic flying disc by Fred Morrison in 1948. This disc was much more durable and flight-worthy than anything made of wood or metal.
This invention led to the first mass-produced disc, called the "Pluto Platter," made by the Wham-O toy company beginning in 1951. A year after the Frisbie Pie Company's closing in 1958, Wham-O registered the name "Frisbee" as a name for its flying disc products.
The beginning of Ultimate, also known as "Ultimate Frisbee," occurred within a year of the first mechanical patent on a flying disc by Ed Headrick in 1966.
Joel Silver and others at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, introduced their idea of an ultimate Frisbee game to the student council in 1967. The first known game was played in 1968 between the student council and the staff of the school newspaper. The newspaper staff was victorious in a game where the only boundaries were the goal lines and other natural side boundaries.
Yale hosted the first ultimate tournament (eight college teams in attendance) in 1975, which was won by Rutgers. That summer, ultimate was introduced at the World Frisbee Championships at the Rose Bowl, aiding in the development of ultimate on the west coast of the USA.
Iacovella, M. (2011). An Abbreviated History of Ultimate Compiled by Michael E. Iacovella. https://wfdf.sport/history/history-of-ultimate/
