As much as I enjoy playing basketball, if I could play one sport for the rest of my life it would be Ultimate Frisbee. All the different ways you can throw and catch a frisbee, the strategy that goes into the game, and the acrobatic plays make the game very attractive. The sport has caught on at the family barbeque, but not so much in the greater American sports landscape.
I didn’t even know there was an Ultimate Frisbee league until recently. Actually, it isn’t really a league comparable to say the NFL, rather it’s a league where there’s a bunch of scheduled tournaments instead of a game every Sunday. Read more about the USA Ultimate Club division.
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Seattle has its own team, the Seattle Sockeye. Like I said earlier, the team mainly plays in tournaments, so their play times and locations are sporadic. They recently won tournaments in Eugene, Oregon and Vancouver, British Columbia, so they mainly stay within the Northwest.
By adding up crowd noise and rough attendance numbers, I would guess that the average attendance to one of these games is 200-500, depending on the importance of the game.
The players are really interesting to watch. Most of, if not all of them are athletic freaks and can make spectacular plays on the Frisbee when need be. The precision of every player’s passes is startling.
However, while I do think Ultimate Frisbee is awesome to play, I didn’t actually think watching an entire game would be entertaining. Shockingly, it was. Think of Seattle Sockeye Ultimate Frisbee like a faster paced soccer game with more amazing plays to keep the average American sports fan’s attention. If you REALLY have an extra 30 minutes on your hands where you’re doing absolutely nothing, watch the Sockeyes take on NextGen in an exhibition game. You won’t regret it.
Keep in mind all of this is coming from an average American sports fan, not some hipster who is against all mainstream sports. I hope I’ll be able to attend at least one of the Sockeye’s games in the coming year, just to see what it’s really all about.
OFFICIAL TEAM WEBSITE
Upcoming Tournaments
Emerald City Classic
August 14th + 15th
Burlington, Washington
Labor Day Championships
September 3rd + 4th
Santa Cruz, California
USAU Wash/BC Club Sectionals
TBA
USAU Northwest Club Regionals
October 1st + 2nd
Burlington, Washington
USAU Club Championships
October 27th – 30th
Sarasota, Florida
Reach Nathan Parsons at nathanparsons98@yahoo.com
