ULTIMATE: 40 YEARS YOUNG

NOT QUITE THE FRISBEE POWERHOUSE IT ONCE WAS, NEW YORK STILL OFFERS TOUGH COMPETITION By Adam Bloch For the uninitiated, it's all a bit perplexing: more than a dozen players running willy-nilly, chasing after a capricious plastic disc fluttering among the air currents, and shouting out game-specific jargon like "break side" or "force away." This was the scene last Thursday in Riverside Park South, where two teams from the Manhattan Ultimate Disc (MUD) league were engaged in a tune-up game before the playoffs began. "It's a great scene," said John Kim, a Sutton Place resident and one of the league presidents. "The people who play ultimate with us have a lot of talent. We have some national-caliber players and a lot of very good college players." For many, it is still the archetypal game for hippies, like the zonked-out college airheads in the movie PCU. But the truth is that ultimate can no longer be considered just a niche sport, not after the sort of growth it has experienced over the past decade. Ultimate (not "ultimate Frisbee" because the latter word is a trademarked name) is a seven-on-seven team sport played on a field 70 yards long with two end zones. The goal is simple: get the disc into the end zone by passing it among teammates. The catch is that the player holding the disc cannot run with it, and there is a change in possession anytime it falls out of bounds or touches the ground. The game is also self-officiated according to a strict code of conduct. There are no referees, even at the highest levels. At its best, ultimate is a pursuit of exceptional speed, athleticism and finesse played at an occasionally breakneck pace. The sport is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the future looks bright. The Ultimate Players Association, the national governing body of the game, has experienced consistent double-digit growth on a yearly basis and now has more than 27,000 members. It estimates that more than 1.3 million play ultimate nationwide. Kim created MUD with a friend this past spring in response to the sport's increasing popularity in the New York City area. "We wanted to have a real, bona fide ultimate league," he said. "There were all these people in the city who wanted to have a challenging league in the area to play in. The demand was overwhelming. The ultimate population in the last five years has seen an incredible increase. It's one of the fastest-growing sports, and every year the ranks increase with people who not only play, but also play very well." MUD took the place of a defunct league, and has already completed spring and summer seasons, with the latter concluding last Sunday. Kim's team, the Yellow Bananas, won the championship. (Most ultimate teams have amusing, often fanciful names.) The prize was simple but satisfying. "Bragging rights and that's it," Kim explained. "Believe it or not, those bragging rights are pretty important to people." MUD's fall season will likely begin in September. More information can be found at www.manhattanultimate.com. In the meantime, there is plenty of opportunity for both beginners and experienced players. For years, the "Dust Bowl" in Central Park (a grassless patch of turf near the Fifth Avenue and East 97th Street entrance) has hosted pickup games on Tuesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. and on Sunday at noon. The Great Hill in the northwest corner of the park is often the site of a Saturday game, and Prospect and McCarren parks are reliable outer-borough destinations for casual competition. The Ultimate Players Association conducts extensive local, regional and national tournaments for players in different age groups, ranging from teenagers to a masters division for those over 30. Manhattan teams include college squads from Columbia University and New York University, as well as several high school teams. Beacon High School, for example, experienced particular success this spring, with its boys team reaching the New York State Championship game and also finishing ninth at the Eastern United States Championships. At the highest level, the city is not the powerhouse it once was. A club team named New York, New York won six association national championships between 1987 and 1993, but the top ultimate teams in the country are now elsewhere. There are still a few good local squads, though. Above and Beyond finished 10th in the country in the masters division last year, while Ambush placed 16th in the women's draw. Overall, the consensus is that the ultimate scene in the city is average, though improving. Boston and Washington, D.C., for example, provide envious comparative examples, as each boasts strong leagues and organizations. New York, it seems, has too few fields and not enough players with the spare time on their hands to build up an ultimate infrastructure. "There are a lot of ultimate players in New York, but I don't think a lot play competitively," said Chris Richardson, a MUD player and Kim's teammate on a year-old club team called No Grass For You (named for the arid conditions at the "Dust Bowl," where most of the members first met). "There are more ultimate players in New York than other cities, but those other cities tend to have their stuff together more. We should be winning more games at national tournaments with the kind of players we have here." Even Kim admitted that the administrative paperwork that goes into running his nine-team, 200-person league is starting to burn him out. Despite such concerns, he maintained his optimism. "It's only a matter of time until we're looking at a very robust league," Kim said. Richardson, a teacher who lives on the Upper West Side, echoed that confidence. "There's a good summer league and pickup games," he said, "so I'm hoping things will start getting off the ground."