Most people start playing Ultimate Frisbee with friends, a church group or joining a random group playing a pickup game. Usually these games are pretty raw and follow the simple rules of the game; kickoff, throw and catch the disc, if a drop occurs, it’s a turnover and eventually someone will catch it past the goal line for a score, then kickoff again. These games are fun yet can be very chaotic with no limit of the amount of players on the field, concept of boundaries or standard of physicality. So transitioning from the pickup level of play and deciding to join a formal league or team takes courage. First off, there’s the level of intensity. Yes, people take this game seriously. I’ve always said that if there’s a game people play recreationally, someone has taken it to the competitive level – there are yo-yo competitions. Watch ESPN when the Spelling Bee is on and you’ll get what I mean. Secondly, the rules are different and enforced. This is the real reason I’m writing this too.
Here are my five rules every player needs to know when transitioning to “competitive” Ultimate (yes there are more and this is not the official wording):
- You can’t drop the pull/kickoff. You can’t even touch the disc before it hits the ground. Usually leagues are “nice” when it happens your first time but it’s still embarrassing.
- If the disc is turned over in the end zone, you can bring it to the front line (straight to the line, don’t go to the middle). And if the disc goes out of bounds in the end zone – bring it to the cone.
- You have to establish a pivot foot and keep it in place – this isn’t the NBA, there are travel calls in Ultimate Frisbee even if you just slide your foot on the throw. Come to a stop as quickly as you can after catching the disc and no more dancing around when you have the disc in your hands.
- If you hit or get hit by someone when trying to catch the disc, most times it’s a foul – you call it. Simply put, if the player disagrees then they contest your call and it’s a do-over. If they agree with you then they say ‘no contest’ and you get the disc.
- Also unlike the NBA, picks are illegal in Ultimate Frisbee. A pick in Ultimate is when you are following an offense player within 10 feet and you have to change your speed or direction because your path is impeded by another player, offensive or defensive. When this happens, yell “PICK”. I won’t get into what then happens with continuation of play or turnovers but everyone needs to stop and then you either catch up or the offensive player comes back to you. Also when you hear “PICK”, try to stop.
Runner’s up: college football rules of one foot in/out of bounds calls, stoppage on injury calls, timeouts, pulls that go out of bounds, best perspective, and catching the disc before a line, running past and then resetting at the line.
For all the rules and the exact wording visit the USA Ultimate site
