WOMAN (British): Thank you all for coming. I’m happy to be here
today to tell you about our city’s first ultimate club. Ultimate is a
relatively new sport on the world scene, so I’ll first give you an overview of
the sport itself. Um, this could be boring for those already familiar with it, so please bear with me. Then I’m going to tell
you about our new local club, and explain how to join.
All right… So, ultimate is a fast-paced, non-contact field sport that is
really a mix of football, soccer, and basketball. The idea for the game
originated in 1968 with two American high school students named Jared Kass and
Joel Silver. Um, they were from
New Jersey, I believe. Anyway, they were playing around with a Frisbee and came
up with a way to play something akin to “Frisbee football”…uh, American
football, that is…and eventually their idea developed into what we now know as
ultimate.
The game is played by two teams, usually with seven players on the field
for each side at one time. The point of the game is to catch the Frisbee in the
opposing team’s endzone. For, uh, for those who aren’t familiar with American
football, an endzone is basically the far back edge of one team’s side of a
rectangular playing field. The field itself is the same length as a soccer
field, or about 110 meters. But the width is only 37 meters, or about half of a
typical soccer field. The endzones on each end of the field are about 23 meters
in length.
Right. So, the players…the person holding the Frisbee can’t run, but can
pivot as in basketball. They try to pass it on to other players towards the opposing team’s
endzone, but can pass the Frisbee in any direction. One point is scored for
every catch within the endzone. And games are usually played to 13 points. But,
uh, this varies from region to region, with some going up to as high as 23.
As you can imagine, all of this running really requires players to be in
good shape. It’s definitely not a sport for the lazy! But it’s also a lot of
fun, and is a great exercise in teamwork. And the best part is that men and
women of all ages can play it. Quite inclusive, really.
Now we are really excited to be able to formally
bring ultimate to our city. As of this week, New Castle has its very own
ultimate club. No fancy name, just New Castle Ultimate.
Our playing season will be from April until the end of October, although we
hope in the future to offer indoor training workshops. We will start off with
three teams, and add more as the numbers grow. The teams will practice independently
and then square off in games every month.
To participate in the club you have to become a
member, and there are two membership options. The first is to become a guest
member. Guest membership lasts for one season and costs £45. For the cost of the membership you are allowed
to participate in two skills workshops, are placed on a team, and have access to the
club’s online forums and events calendar. The cost does not cover your uniform
or gear.
You can also choose to be a full member, which is a permanent membership
that costs £85 per year. In addition to everything offered to a guest member, as a full member you have unlimited
access to our trainings and workshops year-round, and get to vote at the Annual
General Meeting. Oh, and you are also covered by our liability and accident
insurance.
Whatever membership you choose, you do need to follow a few rules. First
is appropriate sportsmanship. This basically means that you act in a respectful
way towards other players, but there is more detailed information about good
sportsmanship on our website. And, uh, secondly, you can only miss four
practices per season. If you miss more than that, your team can choose to
replace you. The same goes for games, but you can only miss up to two of those.
For those of you who are still uncertain as to whether you’ll even enjoy
ultimate, we have a beginner’s workshop set up the next weekend on Saturday. Come and spend a few
hours learning how to play, and see if it’s a good fit for you. The workshop is
free, and is open to the public. But we do require registration. I’ll pass
around a sign-up sheet for that purpose.
Any questions?