Spirit of the Game
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| Highest governing body | World Flying Disc Federation |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | ultimate, ultimate frisbee, disc, flatball, or frisbee |
| Characteristics | |
| Team members | grass: 7/team, indoor: 5/team, beach: 5/team (sometimes fewer or more) |
| Mixed gender | In some competitions and most leagues |
| Equipment | flying disc (disc, frisbee) |
| Presence | |
| Olympic | Yes, is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), also is included in the World Games |
Ultimate, originally known as ultimate frisbee, is a non-contact team sport originally played by players with a flying disc (frisbee). The term frisbee, often used to generically describe all flying discs, is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company, and thus, though still extremely common in casual usage, the sport is not officially called "ultimate frisbee". Points are scored by passing the disc to a teammate in the opposing end zone. Other basic rules are that players must not take steps while holding the disc, and interceptions, incomplete passes, and passes out of bounds are turnovers. Rain, wind, or occasionally other adversities can make for a testing match with rapid turnovers, heightening the pressure of play.
From its beginnings in the American counterculture of the late 1960s, ultimate has resisted empowering any referee with rule enforcement, instead relying on the sportsmanship of players and invoking the "spirit of the game" to maintain fair play. Players call their own fouls, and dispute a foul only when they genuinely believe it did not occur. Playing without referees is the norm for league play, but has been supplanted in club competition by the use of "observers"/"advisers" to help in disputes, and the professional leagues employ empowered referees.
In 2012 there were 5.1 million ultimate players in the United States. Ultimate is played across the world in pickup games and by recreational, school, club, professional, and national teams at various age levels and with open, women's, and mixed divisions. The 2014 World Ultimate Club Championship was held in July in Lecco, Italy, where US teams won Gold in all three divisions. The 2016 WFDF World Ultimate & Guts Championships was held in London in 2016, where US teams finished first in every division.
Team flying disc games using pie tins and cake pan lids were part of Amherst College student culture for decades before plastic discs were available. A similar two-hand touch football-based game was played at Kenyon College in Ohio starting in 1942.
From 1965 or 1966 Jared Kass and fellow Amherst students Bob Fein, Richard Jacobson, Robert Marblestone, Steve Ward, Fred Hoxie, Gordon Murray, and others evolved a team frisbee game based on concepts from American football, basketball, and soccer. This game had some of the basics of modern ultimate including scoring by passing over a goal line, advancing the disc by passing, no travelling with the disc, and turnovers on interception or incomplete pass. Jared, an instructor and dorm advisor, taught this game to high school student Joel Silver during the summer of 1967 or 1968 at Mount Hermon Prep school summer camp.[5][6]
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