Ultimate Frisbee Handouts
Ultimate Frisbee Handouts
Ultimate Frisbee Handouts
Flight Plate: The flat surface on the top of the disc. The disc design (hot stamp) is placed on the
flight plate.
Lines of Headrick: The flight rings are named after Ed Headrick, the perfecter of the flying disc.
Adding these raised ridges helped stabilize disc flight. When Wham-O's patent for the flight
rings expired, Discraft added them to the Ultra-Star and became the go-to Ultimate disc.
Line of Shelton: The mold line that runs around the lip of the disc. Named after Jay Shelton, a
professor of physics and one of the first people to study the flight characteristics of a disc. Not
to mention, a world distance record holder, plus a champion disc golfer & an individual Frisbee
world champion.
Navel: The center of the disc, There is usually a small, subtle spot left over from
the manufacturing process.
Script Band: Acts like a big flight ring with an imprint of the disc name and model.
Slope of Morrison: Named after Fred Morrison, the inventor of the Frisbee. This is the bent
slope from the flight plate to the lip/rim. It was a major improvement from pie tins and popcorn
lids and kept the disc from turning on its side on every throw.
Important Events in Ultimate’s History
1940 – Frisbie Pie Company sold pies to neighboring Yale students. The owner of the pie
company is William Frisbie. The students threw the pie tins to each other for fun because they
actually flew pretty well.
1948 – Fred Morrison researched how to make a flat object fly straighter and further, and thus
the first patent for a flying disc toy was born (Flying Saucer).
1951 – The first mass-produced disc toy, called the Pluto Platter, was sold.
1957 – Frisbie Pie’s closed down. Yale students nicknamed the infamous pie-tins Frisbies, which
caught on enough for Whamo to change the name of the toy to “Frisbee.”
1966 - The invention of Ultimate, also known as "Ultimate Frisbee," occurred within a year of
the first mechanical patent on a flying disc, by Ed Headrick.
1968 – In Maplewood, New Jersey at Columbia High School Joel Silver and few other
students first introduced a Frisbee-based game to the student council.
1969 – The first team had been formed. They practiced on the high schools parking lot.
1970 – Joel Silver, Buzzy Hellring, and Jon Hines created the 1st edition rules. The first
interscholastic game took place between Columbia High and Millburn High. Columbia won 43 –
10
1972 – First intercollegiate game between Rutgers and Princeton, located at Rutgers University.
Exactly 103 years earlier the two teams battled it out on the same site in the first American
Football game. Rutgers won in both sports by a margin of two points.
1975 – First organized tournament took place. Eight teams attended at Yale University. Rutgers
won yet again.
1979 – Ultimate Players Association (UPA) was founded, now called USA Ultimate.
1983 – The First World Ultimate Championship which was located in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1984 – The World Flying Disc Federation was founded, the international governing body for all
disc sports.
1989 – Ultimate was shown as an exhibition sport during the world games in Akita, Japan.
2001 – Ultimate is officially a medal sport in the world games in Japan.
2012 – Over 100,000 players across the globe.
Present – Almost every college has some presence of Ultimate Frisbee, whether it be an official
team, club, or people that just meet up to play. Local town leagues are popping up everywhere
and many high schools are starting to add Ultimate into their athletic programs. Ultimate
Related companies are on the rise attempting to earn market share in the rapidly expanding
market. Who knows where Ultimate will be in another 80 years. Just respect the spirit of the
game and never stop playing, the rest is history.
1. The Field
A rectangular shape with end zones at each end. A regulation field is 64 m long by 37 m wide,
with end zones 18 m deep.
2. Starting Play
Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of opposite end zone lines. The
defense throws (“pulls”) the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.
3. Scoring
Each time the offense catches a pass in the defense’s end zone, the offense scores a point. The
teams switch direction after every goal, and the next point begins with a new pull by the team
that just scored.
4. Movement of the Disc
The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may
not run with the disc. The person with the disc (“thrower”) has ten seconds to throw the disc.
The defender guarding the thrower (“marker”) counts out the stall count.
5. Change of Possession
When a pass is not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception, stalled), the
defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.
6. Substitutions
Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury
timeout.
7. Non-Contact
Players must attempt to avoid physical contact during play. Picks and screens are also
prohibited.
8. Fouls
When a player initiates contact that affects the play, a foul occurs. When a foul causes a player
to lose possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player that the foul
was called against disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
9. Self-Officiating
Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
10. Spirit of the Game
The foundation of the rules in ultimate is Spirit of the Game, which places the responsibility for
fair play on the player. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect
between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.
Handlers - A handler in ultimate frisbee is someone who has good disc skills.
They will be responsible for fielding the pull, keeping possession of the disc, and
running the offense.
Cutters - A cutter is someone who will typically be downfield of the disc and the
handlers. When the pull comes, cutters need to get downfield and start
preparing to cut for the disc.
Poachers - camping out on the field, usually in a cutting lane, rather than playing
tight defense on the cutter the defender is supposed to be guarding.