History of Ultimate Frisbee

The sport of Ultimate originated in the fall of 1968 when a student at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey named Joel Silver proposed his idea of a new sport to the student council. Silver had learned about the sport from an instructor, Jared Kass, at Mt. Hermon summer school earlier that year. The next year, the first game was played between students and the sport quickly took off from there.

Within a few short years, the first collegiate game took place in 1972 between Rutgers and Princeton. Coincidentally, the two schools played the first game of Ultimate on the same ground that the first collegiate football game was played on exactly 103 years prior, with the result being the same - a two point victory for Rutgers.

The sport grew from it's East coast beginnings and soon spread across the United States. In 1984, the first College Nationals made up exclusively of collegiate teams took place with Stanford being crowned the winner. With tremendous growth of college and club teams, there was also the creation of players associations. In 1979, the Ultimate Players Association (now USA Ultimate) was formed and has been a leader in growing the sport and organizing tournaments throughout the country.

Ultimate soon found it's popularity internationally and in 1981, the European Flying Disc Federation (EFDF) was formed. EFDF went on to form the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) to be the international governing body for disc sports. In 2001, Ultimate was included as a medal sport for the first time at the World Games in Japan.

The sport of Ultimate has consistently been among the fastest growing sports in the United States over the past couple decades. In just over 40 years, the sport now boasts almost five million Americans who play the sport at least once per year.

More information about Ultimate the sport can be found on the USA Ultimate  (governing body of Ultimate Frisbee in America) website: www.usaultimate.org.

Ultimate in 10 Simple Rules

1. The Field: A rectangular shape with end zones at each end. A regulation field is 70 yards by 40 yards, with end zones 25 yards deep.
    
2. Initiate Play: Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their respective end zone line. The defense throws ("pulls") the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.
    
3. Scoring: Each time the offense completes a pass in the defense's end zone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score.
    
4. Movement of the Disc: The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run with the disc. 3 steps only. The person with the disc ("thrower") has three seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower ("marker") counts out the stall count.
    
5. Change of Possession: When a pass is not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception), the defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.
    
6. Substitutions: Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury timeout.
    
7. Non-contact: No physical contact is allowed between players. Picks and screens are also prohibited. A foul occurs when contact is made.
    
8. Fouls: When a player initiates contact on another player a foul occurs. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
    
9. Self-Officiating: Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
    
10. Spirit of the Game: Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.