The connection with playing a relaxing game of frisbee on the beach quickly evaporates when you see this variant. Standing still is actually not an option: the players of ultimate frisbee are running all over the place. Teams can consist of only men or only women, but usually they are mixed. As is the case at Ultimaas, UM’s student sports association. Officially, it is an outdoor sport, where two teams of seven players compete against each other on a field of 100 by 37 metres with an ‘end zone’ of 18 metres on either side. The players can only score in these zones by catching the frisbee in this section. But today, they are playing indoors on a smaller pitch, five against five. “That is a completely different game,” says Marco Rietjens, the club’s treasurer. “For example, there is no wind inside, but the pitch is smaller. So you can’t throw as far.”
Basketball
He played basketball since he was six. Twenty-year-old Belgian student Pierre Henrot is the first to arrive in the hall. He has been a member of the club since September. Henrot discovered ultimate frisbee during an exchange programme in Ireland last year. “I was a bit fed up with basketball and wanted to try something new, something different.” So, when he returned to Maastricht, he took a look at Ultimaas. “I can use a lot of my basketball skills, like running to a free position and covering opponents. You also have to be able to change direction quickly.” But there is one big difference, he says: there is no physical contact.
Competition
Belgian Jérôme Deridder is on the sideline coaching his team. He started about eight years ago in his hometown, Brussels. “Everyone can participate and is welcome,” he smiles. Some are here purely for fun, others really want to get better. But, as a coach, can you then keep everyone happy? “That is indeed tough,” he agrees. Before Covid, his predecessor had two different types of training: one focussing on competitions and one for everyone. “Unfortunately, that ended during the pandemic, because we couldn’t play in competitions anyway. After that, we got a considerable number of new members.” Ultimately, Deridder wants to get back to the former set-up. “We are now playing competitions again, and there you also have different levels: from beginners to professionals.” Henrot adds: “I recently played in a beginners’ tournament in Utrecht. Only one experienced player was allowed to participate in a team.”
Spirit
Twenty-five-year-old student of medicine Teun Wich has been a member of the association for about 6.5 years. “I knew about it from secondary school. Our gym teacher at the time explained that sportsmanship was the most important thing with ultimate. There is actually no referee; you have to solve things together.” And does that always work? “There has never been an argument. Raising your voice is not even a thing. If the teams can’t work it out, they just take a step back in the game and start again.” It can even be found in the scoring: sportsmanship, ‘spirit of the game’, counts. “For example, if a losing team continues ‘to compete’ during the game, this can yield a lot of spirit points. Helping opponents is part of it too. It happened once that an experienced player made a foul on an inexperienced player, who didn’t even realise it. The offender admitted his foul.” In football this would be different, says Wich. “It would be all-out war. Here, we even cheer when our opponents score a great point.”