Ottawa's Ultimate Community

As completely unqualified as I was to write the "competitive" blog, I'm equally ill-equipped to do justice to this post. Please keep in mind for the first year and a half I played ultimate, my only extra-curricular ultimate activity was going out with my team for a beer the odd time. Being busy with work, introverted, and not much of a drinker, the adjective "odd" might be a tad strong (unless referring to me, where it would be appropriate…and an understatement). However, over the past six months, as ultimate has become less of a pastime, and more of an obsession, my personal experiences in the Ottawa ultimate community have increased.

One of the first observations I made concerning ultimate in the nation's capital is that there tends to be a typical ultimate player. The typical player is athletic, probably transitioning from another competitive sport. The average age of players in OCUA is mid to late twenties. Players also tend to be friendly, sociable, extroverts, who are more interested in having a good time than winning and losing. Although the concept of "spirit of the game" escapes some teams, and there are few creative songs or cheers after the game is over, most players try their best to keep the "spirit of the game" alive. If you need evidence of this, just watch how many times more experienced players provide tips and pointers to new players, and how easy it is for any interested player to pick up on a team.

As one plays more ultimate, on more teams, year round, friendships inevitably start to form. Although these friendships are great, it's really the "acquaintance-ships" that form the base of the Ottawa ultimate community. Even with nearly 5,000 members, when you play enough ultimate, you start to recognize familiar faces who you've tried to defend (or maybe skyed) in various leagues. There's definitely a feeling of connectivity and belonging when you meet someone on a bus, at the mall, or on the street, and realize you have something in common…ultimate! After picking up with a recreational team for a tournament last summer, I spent a 20 minute bus ride with one of their players (who works across the road from me) talking about all things ultimate. This was the same player who invited me into her house and showed me her recent wedding pictures within 5 minutes of meeting, while we waited for our other carpool member to arrive.

Then there's the next step after acquaintances and friendships, relationships. Seeing "ultimate wedding" pictures and hearing about teammates getting hitched used to freak me out. After playing on teams with a high number of attractive, athletic, friendly, single people, I can now see how this sport could lead to engagements. Knowing that the après-ultimate activities are at least as important as what happens on the field, relationships in a sport built on socializing and having fun shouldn't be a surprise. Having said that, after observing the fallout of a few less the successful relationships on teams that I've played on, I'm determined to stick to my "no dating teammates" rule. Of course there are always exceptions to rules, but at this point, the only one I can think of is if I knew there'd be no chance of EVER playing with the person again. I have much more confidence in my ability to break force at will, than in my ability to maintain a successful relationship…or even one that ends amicably.

Another important element of the Ottawa ultimate community is bars. Since I'm a quiet guy whose heavy drinking days were back in high school, my expertise in ulti-bars is limited. However, one easy observation to make is that without ultimate players, certain bars/pubs simply wouldn't exist. Can you imagine the Arrow and Loon staying open without Wednesday and Friday league nights at Frank Claire? Not with their service. How about PJ Quigley's without summer and winter league play at Ben Franklin? Very doubtful. Even the burgers and shake place in Manotick (named 'Burgers and Shakes'?) must eagerly await the summer migration of ultimate players to UPI and SOD. The relationship between bars and players works both ways, since we need a place to relive our past glories / recent failures, discuss "strategy" (huck-and-chase!), and hit on the hotties on our respective teams.

The Internet is another interesting element of Ottawa's ultimate scene. I'll admit to being a lurker on the always entertaining OCUA forums. Although there's probably less than 20 frequent posters on the forums, who hasn't enjoyed a Dave O'Neil rant (really want to meet that guy), a Mike Hall Jones observation (which mean a lot more once you meet that guy), or a Jack Webb-ism (not sure if I could handle meeting that guy)? Quite frankly, some of the recent posts regarding ultimate workouts scare the bejesus out me. Then there's rec.sports.disc newsgroup, where you can read ramblings of local competitive players who take the sport just a tad too seriously. If you need to put some faces to the names, there's always FaceBook. There are groups ranging from Ottawa Goaltimate (highly recommended) to throwing hammers early in the stall count (not so highly recommended). If you're like me, and have searched for subs at the last minute, you'll notice a wide variety of people you kinda recognize as ultimate players show up on your 'Find Friends' list. Lastly, there's the winter "alternative reality site" OHUA, which….I'll cover in a future post so as to temporarily avoid trouble.

An overlooked element of the Ottawa ultimate community is the volunteers who keep things running smoothly. All the league coordinators, tournament directors, OCUA webmonkeys, coaches, and hundreds of other volunteers who make the game enjoyable for us slackers deserve a huge round of applause…or at least a half pint and a pat on the back. One of my goals for this summer is to volunteer at least once in an ultimate capacity, and I'd encourage anyone who reads this to do the same. Having heard one story about a captain who lost his love for the game, I'd also encourage you not to take these individuals for granted. Having personally avoided captaining and even assistant-captaining like the plague, please give these individuals the recognition and respect they deserve. Keeping 14 diverse people organized as a team can be a taxing job.

In a nutshell, Ottawa's vibrant ultimate community is primarily a function of the people who love the game. Until next time, happy hucking!