Any former high-school athletes now at Ohio University wishing to act on their “competitive fire” need look no further than the wide-open grass fields on West State Street in Athens.
The fields, adjacent to the Ohio University driving range, are home to the men’s club ultimate frisbee team, which practices as many as six days a week and is currently ranked 15th in the country by USA Ultimate, the sport’s national governing body.
“We’re really looking for ex-high school athletes, guys that played football, basketball, in high school … they’re just looking for a somewhat more relaxed competitive outlet and that’s kind of what we provide,” said Mitch Cihon, a senior studying mechanical engineering, and co-captain of the team.
The national ranking is nothing new for the program, which ended last season ranked 21st . But the current team hopes to earn something unprecedented — a trip to this year’s national tournament in Boulder, Colo.
“Throughout our history we’ve always been pretty competitive regionally, but never really at the national level,” said Andy Ball, a senior studying accounting and management information systems and another co-captain.
“The past two seasons we started going to some bigger tournaments and competing against more national contenders. Based on how we do in the conference championships, we should qualify for the regional tournament, and the goal there is to finish high enough to qualify for nationals.”
USA Ultimate divides the country’s 600-plus collegiate club teams into 10 different regions, with the regional champions automatically advancing to the national tournament in May. The next-highest ranked team from each region then receives a bid as well, for a total of 20 finalists.
Though a trip to nationals this year is well within reach for the Bobcats, the program’s expectations have not always been so high.
“We have a core of about six, seven guys who have been playing for four or five years,” Cihon said. “We all kind of came in at the same time, and when we got here the team was in the worst shape it’s been in in a long time.”
Watching the national tournament in Columbus as underclassmen motivated Cihon and other teammates to improve their level of play.
“That year, we all drove up there (Columbus) to watch, and we were astounded at the level they were playing at, and it really motivated us to say, ‘By the time we graduate, we want to play there,’” he said. “For the past three years, we’ve really worked our asses off.”
Cihon and Ball cited increased team commitment as the largest factor in the program’s rise. Strength and conditioning are especially essential for ultimate due to the set up of tournaments. Most tournaments consist of between 16 to 20 teams, meaning teams play as many as seven or eight games over a typical two-day weekend.
“That’s one of the unique things about ultimate, is that it’s not a one-game event. A lot of it has to do with being able to win consistently,” Ball said. “You get used to it, but it definitely takes a toll … Lots of Gatorade, lots of Clif bars, lots of cramping.
“People take it serious, and the level of commitment is really there.”
nc606411@ohiou.edu
