Frisbee Frenzy

Thirty-six college and community teams participated in the 9th Annual Disc-o-lympics last weekend at USF’s Intramural Fields, but USF wasn’t one of the teams playing. USF’s absence in the frisbee tournament was due to a lack of players and an organized team, according to team captain Ivan Fountain. USF missed a chance to defend its home turf as the teams fought for bragging rights in more than 100 games in four divisions: open, women’s, coed and college. The open final proved to be most competitive, with the Gainesville defending-champion Vicious barely knocking off Tampa 15-14 after Tampa rallied back from a 14-10 deficit.

But the other finals were lopsided. In the women’s final, Tampa’s Hot Dog Stand washed away the Miami Riptide in an 11-4 romp, while the University of Florida easily defeated Georgia Tech. The coed final turned into a battle of Atlanta when the city’s two teams, Gridlock and Socagawi, faced off. Socagawi burned up Gridlock 15-8 to defend its championship title.

In spite of the tournament’s success, the National Frisbee League wants to recruit more teams and players.

“Frisbee is as tough a workout as you’re going to get,” said publicity director Leonard Cho. “Anyone is welcome as long as they’re willing to learn.”

UF junior Julia Vila said the best thing about frisbee is the spirit of the game.

“There are no referees,” she said. “It’s up to the players to be fair and make the right call. If the players don’t agree, then the play is repeated.”

Captain Fountain needs 12 players to have USF’s “Discoriented” ready for February’s tournament at USF’s New College campus in Sarasota. South Florida will also compete in Gainesville’s Frostbreaker tournament in March.

“A large percent of this activity is social, so students are bound to meet people and have a good time,” the captain said. Interested students should contact captain Fountain at (727) 278-7147 or usf_ultimate@yahoo.com.