The ultimate game is back in town

Already a popular game in much of Canada, Ultimate is gaining ground in Bracebridge.
Ultimate, often referred to as Frisbee, first arrived in Bracebridge as a sport offered by the town last year. While many areas offer it as a pick-up game, Kim Ball, Bracebridge’s recreation programmer, said there was a need for something a little more formal.
“We had seen Ultimate Frisbee growing in other municipalities. It’s been a popular sport at universities and there seems to be a need in our community and interest in our community in doing something that was a little more organized,” said Ball.
Last year was such a success, the season was extended an extra four weeks for playoffs this year, resulting in a 12-week season. They also upped the cap on the teams from 12 to 16.
“(We) added that little playoff round at the end for some fun and to keep people motivated till the end of the summer,” she said.
The number of people on a team is difficult because of the flexibility of people’s summer schedules. Some weeks all the players for a team will show up, other weeks there will only be seven, enough for one lineup.
Currently about 60 people are signed up on the four teams — red, yellow, green and blue.
They may add more teams next year if there’s interest, said Ball.
The game of ultimate is based on the spirit of the game, putting sportsmanship and honourable play to the responsibility of the players. There are no referees, even on the professional level.
Ball said in Bracebridge the goal is fun anyway.
“Given a summer sport, I think that we definitely know that the goals of the league are for a little bit of fitness, but also I think people are primarily out there to have fun with some friends,” she said.
Next year they are looking at offering clinics for those interested in playing with some of the seasoned players before the season starts to go over the basic game rules and plays.
Bell is hoping that will bring more people out to play. She said there are some existing players who are already interested in running the clinics.
“The town of Bracebridge has been really happy with the league and we definitely would like to see it expand in future years,” said Ball.

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