The ultimate: Have a ball with a frisbee By MARK FISCHER it's played on a football field and the players continually go out for passes-but it's not football. Tight man-to-man defense is prac- ticed and participants call their own fouls-but it's not pickup basketball. THE SPORT consists almost entirely of a series of passes and catches-but no. ball is used. The only piece of equipment that is needed, in fact, is a lastic disc, for the game is none other Ohn "ultimate frisbee." JJltimate frisbee? That's a sport? yes, it's a sport in every sense of the word, but if it sounds unfamiliar, don't feel bad. For one thing, it hasn't been around that long. *'HE FIRST game of "ultimate" ever played took place in the parking lot of a Now Jersey high school in 1967, and it didln't reach the state of Michigan until 1974, when a group of adventurous c~llegians organized an ultimate scrimmage in Kalamazoo. The game has spread a great deal slice then, however, and it's growing in ptpularity. "It's really coming on. There's a lot more people playing it now," said Dave Neely, a third-year med student and tri-captain of Michigan's own ultimate frisbee team. "Before it was mainly just a counter culture sport, and it still is, but much better athletes play it these days." At present there are an estimated 200 ultimate frisbee clubs scattered around the United States, including the one ! here at Michigan, where the game ' finally caught on three years ago when Neely and two other University studen- ts founded the Michigan Frisbee Club. LIKE THE sport itself, the Michigan club started small, but it has grown significantly. The self-named "Wolver- bees" (a cross between Wolverines and frisbees) now consist of approximately 25 members, who were established enough by last weekend to both host and win an eight-team tournament of their own at Palmer Field (see details under Club Sports Roundup). The sport's rules are really quite simple. Seven men from each team take the 70-yard-long field at one time. The object of the game is to catch the frisbee in the endzone. The frisbee must be caught there, for "the disc" (as it is called by the players) can only be ad- vanced by passes-one is not allowed to take more than a pivot step while holding "the bee." An official game consists of two 24- minute halves, during which the clock is stopped only between a goal (worth one point) and the ensuing "throwoff," or when the frisbee is thrown or knocked out-of-bounds. NO CONTACT of any sort is allowed. The team without the frisbee may covet both the thrower and the receivers as closely as possible without touching while attempting to interrupt the disc's flight. A player has 15 secon- ds to get rid of the frisbee once he gains possession of it. Anytime a throw is either intercepted or incomplete, the defensive team takes over and the play swings back toward the other endzone. These rules make for a very fast game filled with a lot of running and cutting, as receivers try to break free and defenders try to stay with their men. "It's a wide open game," said sophomore Andy Klum, another of the Wolver-bee tri-captains. "It's a lot bet- ter than other sports because it's so quick." "THE ONLY sport I can compare it to is hockey," said Neely of ultimate's rapid pace. "It's impossible to run the whole game. It takes incrediable energy-it's like playing basketball on a 70-yard field." "It's probably the most tiring sport I've played," said junior Wolver-bee Mike Schwartz. "When you cover a guy on defense, it's like a full court press in basketball.. . like a tight man-to-man defense over the full length of the field." Despite its growth off the field and in- tense pace on the field, ultimate frisbee is still "just a game" to the people who play it. An atmosphere of camaraderie, rather than one of "win at all costs," surrounds most ultimate contests. A manifestation of this relaxed, cooperative atmosphere lies in the fact that no referees are used, even in an- tional tournaments; players call their own fouls and make their own calls. "EVEN THOUGH it gets very com- petitive and you want to win, winning's not the most important thing out there," said Schwartz. "It's fun. Even if you lose, at the end of the game you're not bummed out, becuase it's such a riot playing.'. Neely concurs. "The emphasis is on sportsmanship and just having fun," he said. "To me one of the best parts of it is that there are no refs. The best part of the tournaments is that you're just here with other crazy people." The game certainly has, the potential to continue growing as both a par- ticipant and a spectator sport. It takes very little equipment to play, it's ex- cellent exercise, it's fun, and it's ex- citing to watch. Who knows, in a decade or two there may even by a professional ultimate frisbee league. There are some people, however, who wouldn't welcome the increased com- plexity, competitiveness, and deper- sonalization that such growth would en- tail. "I hope it stays just the way it is," said Neely. "Hopefully we'll never need refs." SPORTS [.iTAP BASEBALL April 14 WAYNE STATE, 3 p.m. April 15 at Western Michigan (DH) April 18-19 INDIANA (two DH), 1 p.m. SOFTBALL April 14 at Toledo April 17-18 Big Ten Tournament, At Evanston April 20 EASTERN MICHIGAN, 3 p.m. MEN'S TRACK April 18 Michigan State Invitational, at East Lansing WOMEN'S TRACK April 18 Central Michigan Invitational at Mt. Pleasant MEN'S TENNIS April 16 at Michigan State WOMEN'S TENNIS April 14 CENTRAL MICHIGAN, 2 p.m. April 17-18 at Purdue with Indiana MEN'S GOLF April 17-18 Kepler Intercollegiate, at Columbus The Michiaan Daily-Tuesdav. Aoril 14. 1981-Pane 9 Club Sports Roundup LA CR OSSE This past' Sunday the Michigan Lacrosse Club defeated the Chicago Lacrosse Club, 15-6. John Miller, Ed Anderson, and player-coach Rick Bays led the way for Michigan, scoring three goals apiece. Michigan's leading scorer, Matt Dawe, chipped in with one goal and three assists. Goalie Mike Keyes played another outstanding game, recording 15 saves. Michigan remains undefeated in the club division with an 8-2 record. They play MSU on Tuesday at East Lansing and Bowling Green at 8 p.m., Wed- nesday on the Tartan Turf. R UGBY The London, Ontario Rugby Football Club invaded Fuller Field this past weekend to face Michigan's rugby club. Michigan's 'A' team emerged vic- torious by a score of 24-18. The team captain, Tony Menyhart, scored two tries for Michigan. David Sharp and Tom McLoughlin added one try apiece. Jack Goodman kicked two conversions. Michigan's 'B' squad defeated London's 'B' team, 18-10. Dan Recinella scored two tries, followed by Mike Lisi with one. Cleland Child added one try and kicked one conversion. Friday the Toronto Irish invade Fuller Field at 4 p.m. followed by the Sar- nia Saints on Saturday at 1 p.m. ROWING The University of Michigan Rowing Club traveled to South Bend, Sunday to compete with Notre Dame, Purdue, Chicago, and Wayne State in an 1,800 meter race. Michigan's women's Varsity '8' took first place with a time of 6:22, while the women's Junior Varsity '8' finished second with a time of 6:56. Michigan's time of 7:09 was good enough to finish second behind Pur- due in the men's Varsity '4.' In the men's Varsity '8' Michigan placed third behind Purdue and Wayne State, respectively. JUDO On April 4, Michigan's David Matsumoto took third place in the heavyweight division of the National Collegiate Judo Championships in Columbus, Ohio. There were 45 schools at the tournament, with over 200 competitors. Matsumoto is a third-degree black belt. UL'M ATE FRISBEE The Michigan Frisbee Club won five out of five games to top an eight team field and win the Michigan-sponsored ultimate frisbee tournament held at Palmer Field last Saturday and Sunday. The eight teams-Purdue, Kentucky, Michigan State, Grand Valley State, Earlham College (Ind.), Ferris State, Madison (based at the University of Wisconsin), and Michigan-were divided into two groups of four. On Satur- day, the eight teams played three round-robin games each in order to determine a set of four semi-finalists. Michigan and MSU both went into Sunday's games undefeated and on top of their divisions, and the two squads ended up meeting each other in the finals after Michigan beat Grand Valley and MSU defeated Madison. The Ann Arbor hosts then eked out a close but sweet 16-15 victory over their visitors from East Lansing to win the tourney. The Club Sports Roundup relates briefly the activities of Michigan's club sports teams during the previous week. This week's information was compiled by Daily sports writers Mark Fischer, and Buddy Moorehouse, and Alan Goldstein. AP Photo RICH DAUER, second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, dives over Boston's Rick Miller as he attempts to steal second base during the fourth inning of yesterday's American League game at Fenway Park. Miller was tagged out and the Orioles went on to beat the Red Sox, 5-1. MAJOR LEAGUE ROUNDUP: Orioles roll over Red Sox, 5-1 BOSTON (AP)-Pinch hitter Jose Morales delivered a two- pout bases-loaded single, scoring two unearned runs to snap a tie and triggering a four-run ninth inning yesterday, lifting the Baltimore Orioles to a 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Rookie righthander Steve Crawford allowed seven hits, one unearned run and struck out five before Ken Singleton led off the ninth with a double off the wall in left-center. Tom Burgmeier replaced Crawford and ran into trouble as short- stop Glenn Hoffman committed a throwing error putting runners on first and third. PINCH-HITTER Gary Roenicke got an infield hit, filling ,the bases. Burgmeier then retired the next two batters but Morales grounded a single under the pitcher's glove to center scoring two runs. Lenn Sakata ran for Morales and then Roenicke scored on the front-end of a double steal. Rich Dauer followed with a double for the fourth run of the inning. Dwight Evans sent Boston into a 1-0 lead in the first inning with his second home run of the season, a drive high into the screen in left-center off Baltimore starter Jim Palmer. Blue Jays 5, Yankees 1 TORONTO (AP)-Al Woods keyed Toronto's three-run fourth inning with a two-run single as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees 5-1 in the Blue Jays' home opener yesterday. The Yankees scored in the first when Jerry Mumphrey singled to center and Dave Winfield followed with an RBI, double to left. CLANCY THEN settled down and at one stretch retired 14 consecutive Yankee hitters. The Blue Jays, who were held to one single over the first three innings, finally got to Tommy John, 1-1, in the fourth inning. With one out, Lloyd Moseby singled and one out later John Mayberry walked. Otto Velez then doubled to left, scoring Moseby. Woods followed with a two-run single to left. The Blue Jays added two runs in the seventh on Alfredo Griffin's two-run bloop triple that scored Woods and Ernie Whitt. Griffin punched the ball to shallow right field and it short-hopped past Oscar Gamble. Phillies 5, Pirates 1 PHILADELPHIA (AP)-Steve Carlton, 1980 National League Cy Young Award winner, earned his first victory of the season, and the Philadelphia Phillies took their home opener 5-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates last night before a crowd of 60,404. The Phillies took a 3-0 lead in the second inning off loser John Candelaria. Manny Trillo walked to start the inning and, after Garry Maddox flied out, Larry Bowa doubled Trillo to third. Bob Boone singled Trillo home, with Bowa advancing to third. Carlton grounded to first base, and Bowa scored when Bill Robinson threw home too late. Smith forced Carlton at second, but Boone scored when shortstop Tim Foli, thinking it was the third out, flipped the ball to Carlton as he rounded the bag. The Phillies made it 4-0 in the third inning on singles by Gary Matthews and Maddox and a sacrifice fly by Bowa. SCo's American League Sexand Detroit, Kansas City (ppd. by rain) a nd Toronto 5, New York1 M athematics Baltimore 5, Boston i Heredity or Socialization? National League Philadelphia 5, Pittsburgh I Support the April 15 4-6 pm. West Conference Room March of Dimes Rackham Bldg. 8l RTH DEFECTS FOUNDATION Speakers: Terry Adler and Carol Mdgley Research Associates Girls and Math Project, Psychology Department Kathy Yih, Graduate Student n Biology Sponsored by: Graduate Women's Network 4121 Michigan Union 313/994-5148 NOWC NDERO 20 thru April U :I 17 A IVnU' Catr~atFish and Salad Bar Synchs swim to second By J. CHAPELLE Michigan's synchronized swimming team placed second in the United States Synchronized Swimming Central Zone Championships, garnering 119.56 poin- ts; Ohio State, the favored team at the meet, took first scoring 124.46 points. The Wolverines' top two swimmers, Cathleen O'Brien and Betsy Neira, took sixth and ninth respectively in the solo event, qualifying to compete in the U.S. synchronized swimming Senior Cham- pionships to be held in Ft. Lauderdale this summer. Neira and O'Brien also teamed up to capture fifth place in the duet competition. Two other Wolverines, Mary Crumrine and Bridget Schneider, placed eighth in the same event. O'Brien and Neira also qualified for the Sports Festival team and to com- pete in the Canadian National Syn- chronized Swimming Championships to be held in Toronto this summer. ATTENTION ALL RECIPIENTS OF ~br 3rbigwu BaaIt i4'rabernljtp #urvieQ: Please return your survey response as soon as possible. message. pt , t t- FOR A LIMITED TIME...enjoy all the fish filets and all the salad you can eat. Dinner also includes baked potato and warm roll with butter... all for one low price! Ii I l