Club Sports: Proving ultimate Frisbee takes dedication
Amara Grautski
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: Sports
The club men's ultimate Frisbee team, the "Gentlemen's Club", is set on breaking the stereotype that club sports can't be competitive.
The team is coming off of one of its best seasons, finishing second in the sectionals tournament and fifth in regionals. On Saturday, the Gentlemen's Club will head to Lancaster to compete in this year's sectional tournament, facing teams from Boston College, Harvard and Tufts.
But this kind of success doesn't come without hard work.
The club, which practices an average of four times a week and travels to tournaments across the country, like a recent one in Las Vegas, has a history of scaring off freshmen, who don't pay enough attention to the "ultimate" in ultimate Frisbee.
"My sophomore year … we started out with 25 freshmen," said junior captain Dave Picard. "We made it very clear, very early, that it was not a joke-around team. We currently have zero people from that year … we went from 25 to zero in a two-month span."
Picard, who has been with the team for four years, said this is a typical occurrence for the club.
"We have a connotation of being a non-athletic sport, but people find out very quickly that it is an athletic sport and it is a time commitment." he said.
The half who stay are generally made up of people who are ready to take the sport seriously, said Andrew Medeiros, a senior captain on the team.
"People who stick around usually have played sports in high school," he said.
But that doesn't mean someone who wants to try out needs to have previous experience.
"I think ultimate takes on the qualities of a lot of different sports," Medeiros said.
Those interested should, however, be in great physical condition.
"You definitely need to be conditioned in a general tournament. You play about seven games and that comes out to about 11 hours of playing," Medeiros said. "When you are playing, at least at a high level, you are sprinting as hard as you can non-stop."
The team is coming off of one of its best seasons, finishing second in the sectionals tournament and fifth in regionals. On Saturday, the Gentlemen's Club will head to Lancaster to compete in this year's sectional tournament, facing teams from Boston College, Harvard and Tufts.
But this kind of success doesn't come without hard work.
The club, which practices an average of four times a week and travels to tournaments across the country, like a recent one in Las Vegas, has a history of scaring off freshmen, who don't pay enough attention to the "ultimate" in ultimate Frisbee.
"My sophomore year … we started out with 25 freshmen," said junior captain Dave Picard. "We made it very clear, very early, that it was not a joke-around team. We currently have zero people from that year … we went from 25 to zero in a two-month span."
Picard, who has been with the team for four years, said this is a typical occurrence for the club.
"We have a connotation of being a non-athletic sport, but people find out very quickly that it is an athletic sport and it is a time commitment." he said.
The half who stay are generally made up of people who are ready to take the sport seriously, said Andrew Medeiros, a senior captain on the team.
"People who stick around usually have played sports in high school," he said.
But that doesn't mean someone who wants to try out needs to have previous experience.
"I think ultimate takes on the qualities of a lot of different sports," Medeiros said.
Those interested should, however, be in great physical condition.
"You definitely need to be conditioned in a general tournament. You play about seven games and that comes out to about 11 hours of playing," Medeiros said. "When you are playing, at least at a high level, you are sprinting as hard as you can non-stop."
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