The ultimate game

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Little did those two American Second World War pilots know, when they created the plastic disc they dubbed a "flying saucer" in 1948, that their new toy would become the focus of what is today a hugely popular sport.

And little did Alison Gresik know, when her husband dragged her into the sport six years ago, when his team needed more women, that she would come to embrace ultimate Frisbee as her "favourite keeping-fit activity."

Other more seasoned players could have warned her. Nick Roberts, general manager of the Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association (OCUA) was a sports enthusiast when he was younger. Today, he terms ultimate "the best team sport that I have ever played."

"It's inexpensive, which makes it appealing to me. It's coed, which is unusual among team sports. And it's very physically demanding. The best way to sum it up: it takes a very short time to learn, and a lifetime to master."

Ottawa can boast it has the largest summer ultimate Frisbee league in the world, according to the OCUA. A non-contact, coed team sport that can be played year round by anyone of any age, ultimate draws nearly 5,000 Ottawans to sign up ever summer to throw Frisbees in outdoor fields around the city, and nearly a thousand continue to play through the other three seasons.

Some New Jersey high school kids developed the fast-moving sport of ultimate in 1968, so dubbed because they called it the "ultimate sports experience." The most important part of ultimate is known as "the spirit of the game," a catchphrase that describes the respect among the players. A game that does not use referees, ultimate relies on trust and resolution without conflict.

More than 300 coed, women's and youth (ages eight to 16) teams make up Ottawa's summer league, which runs from May through August, catering to all levels, from beginner to competitive. In the fall, players can join competitive and recreational coed teams from mid-September until early November. And in the winter, an indoor league takes over until the middle of March.

The OCUA opened the world's first exclusive ultimate park in Manotick in August 1999.

Association president Marc Gobeil is another player who admits he was "smitten" with the sport the first season he began to play seven years ago.

"All week I'd eagerly await my next game, with butterflies . . . I was a horrible player, but that didn't matter, because it was just so much fun running like mad after a floating piece of plastic." Gresik, who is playing with "The Hammers" in the summer league, after keeping up her skills in a coached recreational development league all winter, also confesses she was not much of an athlete when she took up the sport.

"Our coach teaches us strategy and helps us improve our throwing, cutting and defence. It's a vigorous workout, but it inspires me to keep up my weight-lifting and aerobic activities, so I don't poop out on the field!"

With time, Gresik is gaining confidence, learning where to run, how to dog her opponents and how to throw skilfully.

"There's nothing like the high of sprinting down the sideline and catching the disc in the end zone for a point!"

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Susan Hickman