Anna Hartig
Staff Writer
The Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, Betty Gone Wild, has started their season out strong as they traveled last weekend to a mixed team tournament. This fall, the team has been practicing three times a week along with playing a combined scrimmage with the men’s team on Fridays. Their current focus at practice is to teach rookies how to play Ultimate Frisbee and let them get a feel for the game. The tournament allowed many of these incoming players to get a grasp of the game.
Captain Natalie Rummel ’18 said, “Ultimate [Frisbee] is very community-based. On the women’s teams we have captains who lead practice, but often the upperclassmen, especially seniors, all have an important role in teaching our rookies and creating a fun but also focused environment.”
The team hopes to keep up this positive attitude throughout the rest of their offseason during practices, located on the residential quad from 4-6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as on Wagner Field on alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same time.
During the fall, Betty has kept the focus on getting as many people involved as possible. In the past years the team has been short on players and they are hoping to get as many first-years as possible to join if interested. It is also common for many sophomores to join after learning more about the team as the year goes on. Information about the practices is on posters hung up inside many freshman dorms. All are invited to join the team on the quad for practices.
“Ultimate is played with two important positions,” Emma Brinton ’18 said. “Mainly we have handlers and cutters. The handlers tend to be more experienced players who throw and catch the disc more. The cutters are often trying to get open to gain yards on the field and get us closer to scoring in the end zone.” While these are the primary positions for Ultimate Frisbee, incoming players do not need any prior experience and the captains dedicate this fall season to getting everyone acclimated to throwing the frisbee.
Rummel said, “In the fall we do not travel too often and stay mostly within the Cleveland and Columbus area, going to schools like Denison or Kenyon for tournaments. In the spring, we have our competitive season and we go to tournaments every other weekend starting right before spring break.”
Make sure to catch the team in their upcoming scrimmage against the men’s team this Friday. The two teams are also planning on holding a “Hat Tournament” on Wagner Field from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 16. The Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team, RamJam, has been practicing alongside Betty Gone Wild to start their season.
Last year, RamJam had their most successful season in team history. Captain Jeff Skoroda ’18 said, “This success is in large part thanks to our amazing senior class that helped to build the team to what it is now. We lost almost a dozen players from last year, but are still focused on performing to the best of our abilities with this year’s team.”
Due to their achievements last year, the team was classified as a Five-Star program by USA Ultimate, the governing body for Ultimate Frisbee. This caused RamJam to receive a lot of attention from incoming high school students who expressed interest in the team. Skoroda is hoping this allows the team to continue to build from their past success but also encourages all students to come and emphasizes a culture of inclusiveness on the team.
RamJam requires everyone to participate in order to maintain their strong team structure. The captains are in charge of practices, games and overall team dynamics. The Cabinet is in charge of all behind the scenes work such as scheduling tournaments and scrimmages, as well as funding for team activities. They also have other important jobs, such as the rookie outreach coordinator, and the coordinator for their big spring break trip to a tournament in Myrtle Beach. Along with the Bettys, the two teams tackle tough competition in Myrtle Beach for a nationwide tournament called High Tide, featuring over 100 teams.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to join Betty Gone Wild or RamJam this semester: they are building up for a competitive season in the spring, and both teams maintain a very inclusive environment, hoping to have all that are interested in attendance. Both teams have the goal of working hard and having fun, and they hope that others will join the fun as well.