What do you know about Ultimate Frisbee history? It’s become so common to see people, both kids, and adults, playing Ultimate Frisbee. In fact, according to statistics, this game, which started as a simple pastime, is taking the world by storm. It started off as a way to kill boredom. Nowadays, it’s no longer confined to the northeastern part of the US within a small region. Instead, its popularity has spread all over the world. The latest figures indicate that more than 4 million people, globally, engage in this leisure activity, which has now even been accepted as a competitive sport by world sports governing bodies.

In essence, the game involves two teams which are made up of 7 players, each. It can be men only, female only, or mixed. The goal of the team members is to successfully pass the Frisbee (the disc, which looks like a large saucer/dish) to the fellow players. A team scores when the team successfully reaches the other end zone (opponent’s side) without dropping the Frisbee or without losing it to the rival team. But how did it all begin? Was it always like this? What is the history of ultimate frisbee?

Nowadays, the game is all about speed, agility, grace, and power. A team comprising of fast runners, who are quick at catching the disc is more likely to win over sluggish opponents who are a little slow and tend to drop the Frisbee. Dedicated players use special gear for ultimate, including friction gloves and proffesional cleats. Ultimate is basically a full blown sport, with dedicated pro athletes, and plans are actually to soon include it in the Summer Olympic Games. However, this was not always the case, and the history of ultimate frisbee is quite intriguing…

 

Who Invented Ultimate Frisbee?

Ultimate Frisbee history is fairly recent. The timeline shows that Ultimate Frisbee began in Columbia High School, which is located on the North Eastern side of the US. Joel Silver, who was a student at the institution, as well as part of the Student Council, was the man behind the development of the sport.

His friends, who were part of School Paper, began tossing and passing around the pie dishes that were left behind after having their lunch break as a way to kill boredom. Over time, it became a habit, and the number of student players began rising.

 

When And Where Was Ultimate Frisbee Invented?

After playing an exciting game of Frisbee Football at Hernon Mountain, Massachusetts during the summer of 1967, Joel Silver suggested to the Students’ Council that they should come up with a Frisbee team. Naturally, at the time, this wasn’t taken seriously, since “ultimate frisbee” was more of a boredom killer than a sport back then. His multiple attempts to form a team fell on deaf ears.

However, not about to give up on his dreams, Silver managed to convince some of his friends to form a small team. Towards the end of the year, they were already organizing competitive games during their lunch break.

With the growing popularity, Silver and the other founding members, Jonny Hines and Bernard “Buzzy” Hellring began visualizing a sport that was governed by rules and that could be played just like baseball, basketball, baseball, or hockey. At the time, it was pretty basic and the “sport” itself was not much more than just matter of tossing and passing the dish.

Nonetheless, a rivalry started brewing between the two main groups: the Columbian and the Council. During a match held in mid-fall, the Columbian thumped the Council 11-7. This was a turning point in ultimate frisbee history. It was just a match between rival teams, but it marked the beginning of a fad that, decades later became consecrated as Ultimate Frisbee, and that is nowadays enjoyed by more than 4 million people worldwide. It’s always interesting to see how such ample things have such humble beginnings!

By the start of summer of 1969, the parking lot at the school had been transformed into a play yard. It was well lit, and teams met at night to compete. The matches were extended to include weekend nights, as well as during school holidays.

They soon began playing with a special black-colored 150-gram disc that is used in the Wham-O Master Tournament, instead of the currently used 175-gram proffesional frisbee discs by Discraft (e.g. the Ultra-Star Professional). By the time they left for college in 1970, Silver, Hellring, and Hines printed the very first rules of Ultimate Frisbee, of which some stand even to date. They are pretty much the ones who invented Ultimate Frisbee.

 

Conclusion

If the latest trend is anything to go by, then the popularity of ultimate Frisbee will continue to rise for certain. Having gone all the way from a simple pastime to a full-fledged sport, ultimate frisbee has attracted lots of followers and also caught the attention of professionals and various sports organizations. It’s no longer a sport played in colleges but also one that has its own leagues. In the USA for instance, two leagues have been created and are working hard for the activity to be recognized as a professional sport.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is one of the bodies that are at the forefront of popularizing and pushing the agenda of frisbee to be recognized as a professional sport. Recently, ultimate Frisbee was added as one of the eligible sports, and you will see it feature in the Summer Olympics. The sport has gone a very long way, since its humble start, back in the 60s. So now you know a little bit more about Ultimate Frisbee history and its beginnings.