Think again! Ultimate Frisbee is one of a number of frisbee related sports. It is a team game combining elements of American football, Basketball and Football. It is played with teams of seven players on a pitch 40 x 70 yards with 25 yard endzones. The object is to pass the disc up the pitch to the endzone in order to score. Sounds easy? Not quite, there's a small catch. There is no running with the disc - once you've caught it you have to stop running! This little twist makes possession quite an important factor. During play it is the attacking team's job to pass the frisbee (disc) and move it upfield. Any time the disc hits the ground without being held by an attacking player, a turnover occurs and the defending team takes possession. Ultimate frisbee has no referees and players make their own foul calls. Competitiveness is always encouraged but never at the expense of Spirit.

Photo by Jon Hope

Spirit of the Game The Spirit of the Game (or SotG) is the first rule in Ultimate and governs every game at every level. It states that all players shall play in a safe, fair manner with respect for the opposition at all times. This rule holds above all others and violating Spirit is highly discouraged. It allows Ultimate to function without the need for referees - since players realise the need for fair play, and since there are specific rules to govern disputes among players, bad spirit is very rare.

The Call Another unique aspect of Ultimate is the Call. Introduced to help teams socialise more and maintain Spirit, at the end of every game, players on both the winning and losing teams get together and play a game of some kind - making a human pyramid, playing Kabaddi, even drinking cheap Tesco lager etc. This allows everyone to unwind and get to know the opposition, and prevents major grudges from forming ... almost.

Photo by Paul Hurt

Practise Time! Updated 2nd November 2006: Brrr its cold out! All the new players we picked up at the Freshers Fair are getting on great despite the increasingly freezing weather! To check when we will be having more practices (and indoors training), check out the mailing list and get a piece of the Ultimate action (Disc Doctors Mailing List). We have practises in HYDE PARK on WEDNESDAYS at 2PM and SATURDAYS at 2PM (See the map). Our indoors practice are done on a per week basis, usually SUNDAY, so get on the list to find out where and when!

The Party
Partying is a very important of Ultimate. The Three Pint Challenge is the premier drinking game, but nearly all Ultimate players are well versed in a variety of different drinking games and stupid ways to party. Normally tournaments are run so that people play on the Saturday, party in the evening and go back and play on Sunday too. We can't do that, so instead there will be a major party on the 3rd of June to crown the winners of the Summer League trophy and generally have a good time. There is trophy for the winning team, and awards for the best spirited team and the sharking award - the award given to the player who pulls another player at the party in the most outrageous manner. Previous known Sharking winners have won for pulling 5 different men at the same party, neither of whom knew about the others, and one player who pulled an 18 year old girl who was out with her mum, and later got her number. From her mum.

The Gallery
If by this point you still can't imagine such a game, never fear! The Disc Doctors Gallery is here with photos from practises, social events, tournaments and of the team themselves.
Check out The Old Gallery (2004-2005) by clicking on this link, but if you want the brand spankin new gallery click here

Match Reports
Do Disc Doctors compete? We sure do! Check out the match reports if you want to find out a bit more about what goes on during the tournaments, on and off the pitch!
Check out Match Reports by clicking on this link.

Feel free to e-mail the president, Matias ( disc-doctors-president(at)imperial.ac.uk )