The fluorescent frisbee soars through the bright sky. A hand hastily snatches the frisbee from the air landing in the endzone. The united efforts of the WW-P ultimate frisbee teams are brought to yet another win.
“The flow of the game is so smooth and exhilarating. It’s really unpredictable and in almost every play someone is jumping over the top of another and grabbing the disk out of the sky,” said player Chetan Koneru (‘25).
Ultimate frisbee, a fall and spring sport, is a lesser known activity within the WW-P sporting community because it is unaffiliated with the WW-P Athletic department. The student run teams can sign themselves up for tournaments and games and have more flexibility when it comes to practices.
Captain of the boys ultimate frisbee team David Yoo (‘25) said, “after losing a lot of members, both South and North teams kind of disbanded and decided to join together, but then we were no longer supported by the schools.”.
After this change of management the ultimate frisbee teams were put in a new position and had to learn how to organize and collect players for a team without association with the WW-P Athletic Department.
As of now, there are no coaches for the boys ultimate frisbee team, which means it is fully student run. Meanwhile, Coach Victoria Ng is the singular coach for the United Girl’s Ultimate FFrisbee Team.
The upside to boys frisbee being student run is that the team dictates their practices, matches, workouts, allowing them to build leadership skills and allows players to better balance their athletic and academic lives
“Sometimes if I feel weighed down by academic responsibilities, a practice or even tournaments can help me feel like I’m enjoying a more team based life, rather than individualistic,” Yoo said.
During the fall, the team focuses on training and introducing new players to the sport, while the spring season centers around tournaments and competition.
Even with only two to three practices a week, and occasional breaks throughout the season, the team always comes prepared. This preparation resulted in an achievement when the boys team ranked third in the state level tournament in 2022.
When asked about the difficulties of being an independently-run team, Koneru said, “Since we’re not school recognized it makes it harder for people to find out about our team and people don’t know how fun the sport really is until they try it for the first time.”
Both the girls and boys teams look to take on new recruits this fall season in preparation for a competitive spring season.
Ultimate frisbee is a great way to make friends, learn academic and athletic management skills, and take a step out of one’s comfort zone. “I found that this sport is all about teamwork spirit, and resilience, helping me to view challenges as gateways for growth,” said girls team captain Fouzia Sheik(‘27).
This united team combines the talent of South and North to have a succesfull season, all while having fun and working together.
The ultimate frisbee team cultivates a spirited community that values friendships, academic balance, and fun. The comfortable supportive environment of the team makes returning players hopeful for potential growth and new players.
“I believe that as long as you start, you can get into it. No matter what skill level you are, it’s definitely a very fun sport.” Yoo said.
