Pie Palace

I played my first real (ie, competitive) game of ultimate tonight. The game itself was… meh. We got our butts kicked.

I have to say that I still find the game play jarring. The only time the team without possession has the opportunity to gain possession of the disc (or “frizz” as a member of the opposition tried to convince his compatriots to call it) is when the disc is in the air, or they lose a point. There is no feat of handiwork that the defending team can do to pry the disc out of the possessing team’s hands. By extension, the only way a player can get the disc is when someone passes to them, or the oppositions’ pass fails.

Ultimate feels modal. In the “setting up” mode, the disc is being held by someone who wants to pass it to a member of their own team; while the other team is trying to remove passing opportunities. In the “throwing” mode, the disc is in the air, and players on both teams are trying to get their hands on it. In “setting up” mode, the disc may only be touched by the person holding it. In “throwing” mode, anyone may touch the disc. Each mode gives players different roles. Each mode has a distinct start and end that triggers activity.

My previous team sport experience has been soccer, played with North Americans and South Americans/Europeans/Africans. I’m used to the North American style of play, which involves a lot of passing, and is slower moving. The South Americans/Europeans/Africans have a more possessive style of play, that sees individual players hold on to the ball longer, more one-on-one challenges, and much less passing. The one benefit of that style of play is that an unskilled, tenacious defender can often beat a skilled attacker, gaining possession of the ball.

Soccer feels like it has fewer modalities, and that those modes are less pronounced: any player may touch the ball at any time; the same rules apply at all times. I’m not sure why this feels significant to me, but it does.

Ultimate feels kind of like soccer played In The Rest Of The World: whoever has the ball/disc dictates how the game flows, but without the balancing effect of tenacity. Regardless how tenacious a defender is, the disc cannot be taken from an attacker.

I suspect that as I play more, I’ll find more nuances in ultimate; and I’ll start to enjoy it more. I’m assuming that the mad rush that seems to happen whenever the disc is in the air will flow into the interminable periods when the disc is clenched between someone’s fingers.