Before reading this article, first go throw a frisbee, please. You need to feel the energy of the disc to understand why I'm not so crazy to say that with that flying disc we can make the world a better place.
📷 Photography: Courtesy of World Flying Disc Federation.
All sports have a basic definition, and although the Ultimate Frisbee also has it, it is difficult for me to share a specific concept because once you play with a disc you discover that it has so many characteristics, and that it generates such incredible effects, any assessment falls short. However, Miguel Sicacha, a wise Colombian coach, shared a concept that, for me, is one of the most accurate about what this discipline really means:
"There is a sport with superpowers, something like a super-sport... It has the power to make you a great athlete, to put yourself to travel and to know, to show you the best face of people and of become a magnificent being, in addition to this, it gives you the key to change lives. As if that were not enough, this super-sport puts in your way stories and friends, to live and enjoy. That sport is called Ultimate Frisbee".
As it describes it, it represents much more than just a game, it is capable of positively transforming the life of each athlete in all aspects through the physical demand that demands to run, jump, throw and catch the disc, and psychological for act through the philosophy of the game spirit.
It is that philosophy of Ultimate Frisbee that makes it so special and where all those superpowers are born. It is based on moral values and primarily encourages respectful communication, impartiality, knowledge of rules, fun and avoidance of contact both inside and outside the field.
💥 Superpowers
It is known as "superpower" a quality that reviews the limits of what is possible, but we all have different limitations, and it is common that what for one person is impossible for another is not. What I want to say is that many of those things that seem impossible in the Ultimate Frisbee make them possible.
All athletes have different challenges according to their abilities, and once they begin to overcome all those challenges they gain access to the "superpowers", those "magic" effects that forge new qualities in you and that allow you to acquire new experiences.
❤️ The best of people
📷 Photograph: Courtesy of World Flying Disc Federation.
An Ultimate Frisbee player knows that he is acquiring a superpower when he starts to give his best to overcome the challenges that this sport presents to us. I mean we learn to do what we never do, to use our energy to the fullest, to strive, to be constant and disciplined, and above all to find opportunities in difficulties.
The history of each player is different, but when you see what each one is today it inspires you to know that to achieve each one their level they have given the best of themselves, and they continue to give it to continue growing.
Even, I am a person who was not born with sports talent, but through the Ultimate Frisbee I discovered the special will that I have to achieve my goals. If you want to know my story you can read "I didn't catch the frisbee, the frisbee caught me".
💪🏽 Super athletes
📷 Photograph: Witman Perez.
This sport is totally inclusive. It is for everyone! No matter your physical condition, it does not even matter if you have never played sports, the important thing is that you want to start. As long as you feel like playing, I assure you that one day you will get up and have become an evolved version of yourself.
8 years ago I met the Ultimate Frisbee and in the walk I found many people with overweight, with motor difficulties, who did not have any limbs, or who were not athletes, and who are now great players.
This is a very complete sport since you use your whole body when playing. It is a cardiovascular activity where you develop mainly speed, agility, coordination and strength; using your arms to catch and launch, your legs to run and jump, and your trunk to give power to all the previous ones.
💫 Magnificent beings
📷 Photography: Ed Kung.
As I mentioned before, the moral criteria of a player is totally important during the game since in this discipline there are no referees, it is believed in the honesty of the players themselves to solve any situation. That is to say that the quality of the game depends on the values of the players.
With the Ultimate Frisbee you not only become a good player, but also a good person, through the constant practice of honesty, respect, humility, responsibility, sensitivity in the game and friendship, unconsciously you end up using it in your life outside the field, and that is how you are transforming yourself into a magnificent being.
🤝 Friends and stories
📷 Photograph: The Fountain Productions.
The same energy that is forged in you becoming a magnificent being is also forged in each person who practices this sport, perhaps that is why in Ultimate Frisbee there is so much empathy among their athletes even if they are from different teams, have different tastes , or different personalities.
Here we are all friends of all, and that allows you to add incredible stories to your sides, thus making your friendship more solid. The best thing of all is that many of those people are not only for you when having fun, they also support you in any other circumstance.
Making a friend here is more valuable than winning a trophy, because surely you also earn a family and a house anywhere in the world that is willing to receive you as if it were your own home.
✈️ Travel and know
📷 Photograph: Astrid Robayo.
A frisbee can make you fly very high and far, and I don't say it literally. Through this you learn that there is a giant world that you can go through while playing Ultimate Frisbee at the same time.
The type of competitions that are carried out in this sport involve traveling to other cities and even to other countries, which means that you enjoy the double: playing and knowing. And if traveling is not one of your passions, I may end up being it, just as it happened to me.
Before practicing this discipline traveling was not important for me, but over the years I understood that when dying the only thing that remains impregnated in our spirit are experiences and not material things, that's why I always play Ultimate and I try to appreciate every detail of my environment as if it were the last time.
Now I take my frisbee to all my trips even if I do not go to play, I think that I can always get someone to throw with, or at least take it reminds me how far I can get through this sport.
🔑 Key to change lives
It is through all these superpowers that I believe we can change lives and make this world a better place; forming people with healthier habits for their body and soul, and the best thing is that we only need a frisbee to make it come true.
I always tell people to do what they are passionate about so that, through their example, they can inspire other people and so humanity can get closer to that much appreciated happiness that we all pursue; that's why I spend my time chasing a flying disc.
