Ultimate frisbee, which has been present on USAO’s campus for over a decade, officially became a university club this fall. The Ultimate Frisbee Club (UFC) plays in the Oval at 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ultimate frisbee is a competitive sport in which two teams toss the frisbee to each other with the objective of scoring in their endzone.
“Ultimate Frisbee is not very dissimilar to football; the goal is to get into the endzones and there is a lot of running involved. The biggest difference of course, is that there is a frisbee, and you know, you don’t tackle anybody,” Paul Tointigh, UFC’s president, said.
Tointigh continued to say that the community aspect of UFC is his favorite part, along with the growth that the sport has seen on campus. He said when he first started playing there were roughly ten people present, but now the club sees around 30 people out playing.
“It’s a diverse club, we want to be as diverse as possible, and you can clearly see that,” Tointigh said. “The best thing to do is to go out there and be involved.”
Tointigh said the club plans to fundraise and advertise to further grow UFC’s attendance and community. He said the groundwork is in place for fundraising and the club has a bake sale coming up soon.
“We believe that there is a lot of community involvement, and we want to be able to provide stuff for our community members that come out every week and play, we want to provide cleats for players who can’t afford them, we would like to get some jerseys that players can throw on, so that it is easier to differentiate who is on what team.” Gary Jackson, UFC’s vice president, said.
Jackson said that consistency is key, as the group will stay together and keep playing every week.
“Even if you do not have an athletic gene in your body, just go out and participate anyway. It’s something new and we are always wanting new players. We are very inviting,” Jackson said.
While the club meets twice weekly, the members enjoy throwing in random practice times and even glow-in-the-dark games in the evenings. To stay up to date on UFC, follow their Instagram (@usao.ultimate).
Christian Booth is a first-year early childhood education major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
