(Scott Chia -- The Beacon)
By Joanna Goodwin, Staff Writer -- goodwin12@up.edu
The sport is called Ultimate for a reason. Players have to combine skill and sportsmanship in order to make it to the top.
"To be a good Ultimate player you need athleticism and situational awareness," junior Spencer Boland said. "Ultimate involves near constant running so good players must be able to play continuously on a high level."
Last Saturday, Boland's team, the Cub Clubbers, lost against their rivals, The Champions. Co-captain Brent Groulik appreciates his team's hard work and believes it had the factors that set them apart as winners.
"Communication on the field is key. We use our girls a lot more than most teams, all the better teams will use their girls. Strong girls are key to a strong team, and our girls are awesome," Groulik said.
Despite their loss, the Cub Clubbers worked hard and are still proud of their successful work at the tournament.
"We got second place. Our team historically does well during its seasons," Boland said. "We took second place three times in a row now, so I don't mind saying we had pretty good chances,"
During the game, they knew they had to focus on certain parts of the competition in order to keep up with the challenge.
"Our team works together through communication off and on the field and respect for each other's talents," Boland said.
They may have had a strong communication, but in order to make it to that first place spot next year, Boland knows what they need to work on.
"We need to practice our decision making. Any mistake your team makes is just a break for the other team," Boland said.
Other teams aren't as lucky as the Cub Clubbers.
"Unfortunately my team, Por Ti Volar (the name of the song that the two brothers sing at the end of "Step Brothers"), lost in the first round of the tournament," freshman Katie Schloesser said.
Despite losing early on, Schloesser and her team don't have a hard time remembering that it is just a game.
"We just have fun with it. I mean, there's a little competitiveness but if we lose then who care? It's just intramurals, we are here to have fun and we do," Schloesser said.
Both Boland and Schloesser agree that fun is what Ultimate is all about.
"It's easy to learn and a lot of fun, and it's a great way to be play a sport competitively while in college," Boland said.
Boland may have years of experience, but Schloesser was new to the game and still recognized the excitement Ultimate has to offer.
"I hadn't ever played before I got to UP so it was fun to experience a new sport. I like that in Ultimate you are forced to work as a team, you can't have one person as a one man team and hogs the disk," Schloesser said. "You have to work together and rely on your other teammates."
Both teams hope to someday claim the championship for their own.
"Winning would be a huge accomplishment!" Schloesser said.
But Boland had different priorities.
"Winning would finally mean that we finally won one of them T-shirts," Boland said.
The victory and T-shirts now belong to The Champions, who are proud of their accomplishments.
"Really, I just liked how we were able to back up our overly cocky name that a teammate came up with," Groulik said.
