Welcome to the first edition of Chicago Union Cares’s resources for teaching ultimate frisbee.

These materials are primarily geared towards PE faculty but we also have coaches in mind.

All activities can be played outdoors or in a gym. Most can be adapted to be more basic or more challenging.

Suggestions about yardage, the number of students for a drill, and the like are based on our experiences as coaches, players, and educators but you may want to adjust them to meet the skill levels of your students.

We recommend the Frisbee discs used by the Chicago Union and the Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA), but Discraft also makes good products. By Spring 2025, a new junior Frisbee that comes closest to the pro-level discs used by the Union and UFA will be available. Do not use light-weight, toy-quality discs.

The softer Dodgebee discs are helpful with the youngest students – whether indoors or outdoors. Indeed, they work well for many indoor ultimate activities with even experienced youth players. If your school’s cafeteria or auditorium stage, for example, doubles as gym space, dodgebees could be a better option; use frisbees for outdoor play.

You will also need saucer cones and tall cones.

If your school serves students of need, we can help with grant opportunities to acquire equipment.

While we use the words “frisbee” and “disc” interchangeably, “FRISBEE” is a trademark of Wham-O, which licenses its mark to UFA and its teams, including the Chicago Union.

At the beginning of our sessions, we ask students to help us with three goals: to (1) be safe; (2) have fun; and (3) raise the level of the whole group, which sometimes means you are getting better and sometimes means you are helping your teammate get better. For the most part, students are incredibly receptive to these goals, especially the third one.

Try the three goals with your students and let us know how they and the rest of these materials are working for you. Please contact Youth Director Jake Rubin-Miller at jake@chicagounioncares.org.

Thank you.

Chicago Union Cares
Charitable Arm of the Chicago Union