Tag: Ultimate Frisbee

Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team activity played by players with a frisbee, flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its athletic requirements, it is unlike most sports due to its focus on self-officiating, even at the highest levels of competition. The term Frisbee, often used to generically describe all flying discs, is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company, and thus the sport is not formally called “ultimate Frisbee”, though this name is still in common casual use. Points are scored by passing the disc to a teammate in the opposing end zone. Other basic rules are that players must not take steps while holding the disc, and interceptions, incomplete passes, and passes out of bounds are turnovers. Rain, wind, or occasionally other adversities can make for a testing match with rapid turnovers, heightening the pressure of play.

Ballistic Books: Ultimate Frisbee

Ultimate Frisbee is arguably The Greatest sport ever invented by man. Ultimate is a fast-moving, low-contact sport with elements of American football and basketball but completely self-officiated even at the highest level. On June 4 the American Ultimate Disc League will return to play after nearly two years of forced hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I’ve been playing ultimate throughout my entire adult life starting at university and continuing beyond. Unlike other team sports, ultimate frisbee attracts a special type of counterculture individual. This creates a hodgepodge of interesting, competitive, and intelligent people, who are fun to be around. Playing tournaments is tantamount to living through ten music festivals in one weekend: high-intensity games during the day, high-intensity parties at night. And when all is said and done, we travel home with a bunch of new friends and lasting memories. There are a number of instructional books on gameplay, tactics, etc. Few books address the novel experience that is ultimate frisbee. In this post, I’ll focus on story-telling only. Ultimate Glory represents the foundations of “the ultimate life”. Gessner’s story is fascinating and he has a wonderful way of describing the ultimate experience for a wide audience. I have read it before and I will read it again. Universe Point is a collection of short stories and articles mostly written for Skyd Magazine. Cramer has been a pillar of the ultimate community for decades contributing to many ultimate discussions and topics with his avid writing style. It’s on my summer reading list. The Ultimate Outsider is the only unknown on my list. It seems to be a novel or adaptation. I found it on Amazon searching for non-instruction books about Ultimate. Immediately, I recognized the wonderful writing style, which leaves me anxious to get my hands on a copy this summer. 

Ballistic books is a series to present literature of interest. Each edition is dedicated to a specific topic. I found it challenging to discover and distinguish good from great literature. With this series, I aim to mitigate that challenge.

1. Ultimate Glory: Frisbee, Obsession, and My Wild Youth by David Gessner

David Gessner is an American author, publisher, and lecturer. You can find David Gessner on Twitter @DavidGessner

2. Universe Point: A book About Ultimate by Kevin Cramer

Kevin Cramer is an American author and screenplay writer.

3. The Ultimate Outsider by Alexander Rummelhart

Alexander Rummelhart is an American author and teacher. You can find Alexander Rummelhart on Twitter @UBER_IHUC

Ultimate: The Greatest Sport Ever Invented by Man by Pasquale Anthony Leonardo and Cade Beaulieu receives my honorable mention least because it has its own, awesome website but it seems to be an incarnation of the spirit that makes ultimate frisbee so incredibly addictive: delusions of grandeur, not-so-serious dry jokes, and extremely-serious competitive spirit. You can find Pasquale Anthony Leonardo on Twitter @leobasq

Here’s one of my favorite highlight reels of ultimate frisbee:

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