First NZ Mixed team prepare for Ultimate World Champs

Ultimate is a minor sport, gaining minimal recognition and funding.

Following the New Zealand U24 Mixed team at their training camp, this profile highlights why Ultimate and its athletes deserve to be taken seriously.

Streets lined with vineyards and traditional villas surround us. The perfect summer location for mature holiday goers, but today is a quiet, winter evening for Martinborough.

The Marae beside the Rugby Club replaces the hotel which usually accommodates national athletes. But nonetheless, spirits are high.

An echo of laughter and chanting breaks the calm scenery. “Stack!”, “Cut!”, “Poach!”. Unusual calls that’s for sure. It comes from behind the eggshell coloured club rooms.

Figures of all shapes and sizes charge up and down the damp fields. Black and white t-shirts, oddly paired with bright patterned shorts, cover their bodies.

That notorious fern plastered on the right hip of some.

The weary bodies continue to dash around each other while the next in line recover.

Panting, hands perched on their hips. A stern voice, “Go!”. Their limbs pump aggressively and in the process, their boots form mini potholes on the field.

Powerful strides and sharp fakes broken by sudden halts as their hands sandwich the disc. What follows is a graceful, flick-of-the-wrist release. Eyes fixed on the circular piece of plastic which flails through the air from one hand to the next.

This is not what comes to mind when we hear the word “frisbee”. Instead, a relaxed afternoon flinging a disc around at the park is what most imagine.

But this is not your typical, sluggish bunch of frisbee-throwers; this is the New Zealand U24 Ultimate team in the midst of their training for the World Club Championships.

The unique sport is a fusion of Netball and American football. As a self-refereed sport that requires players to pass the disc to advance, there is little time for ball hogs and foul play.

In the centre of the, now, torn-up paddock stands a man with a clipboard. Clothed in all black, it would seem he is a man of serious demeanour. But unlike many coaches, he mentors his team with a grin strewn across his face.

Nick Pannu is his name. A 34-year-old frisbee fanatic.

Clipboard still clutched in his left hand, he tells me about his transition to the sport twelve years ago.

From “Classic high-level football” where the opposition rejoiced in his failures, to Ultimate.

“A completely different experience,” he says.

He unconsciously clicks the pen in his right hand as he delves into his Ultimate experiences.

The tempo of his speech increasing as he becomes excited.

“I once scored a point from a long pass, and the guy who was marking me came up and gave me a high 5 and said nice play,” he says giggling at the memory.

“It’s that kind of environment”.

This is not to say Ultimate players are wimps.

Quite the opposite.

I watch as bodies are flung around the pitch, desperate to have the disc in hand.

At last, a water break for those waning, and a chance for myself to nab a couple of players.

A young woman, with silky brown hair wrapped back in a pony-tail, and a solid built young man who wears his hat backward and a singlet over his t-shirt.

The young woman is 20-year-old Zeana Mansell, a new convert who says she stumbled across the sport in high school.

Put off by the competitive nature of mainstream sports she decided to try something new at university.

Her fingers intertwine as she talks. “It trumps everything else,” she says, her rosy cheeks puff into a smirk.

She says expertise, skill, and knowledge are irrelevant when you step onto the pitch.

Instead, it is about developing the Ultimate community.

Her team mate, 22-year-old Keegan Miskimmin stands beside her, a whole head taller.

A seasoned player who was taken under the wing of experienced players when introduced.

He curves his hands to outline a frisbee as he says other players “taught him how to throw this weird plastic thing that does weird things in the wind”.

Despite a total contrast in appearance, their attitudes are comparable.

They roll their eyes when discussing discrimination towards Ultimate.

“Most people have never heard of the sport let alone have any idea of how to play it,” Keagan says.

His flatmates gave him slack for playing until they gave it a go.

Zeana’s own family make remarks about how Ultimate isn’t a real sport.

The pair fling their arms into the air as they scream “try it”. Urging people to do so before judging the code.

Another barrier when playing high-level Ultimate is the cost.

Keegan’s smile disintegrates as he uncovers how he is funding the $5000 World’s fee.

“As a niche sport, the cost is beard on the athletes,” he says reverting his eyes.

Give-a-little pages, selling chocolates, and sports grants, are among the choices of cost assistance.

Zeana has a sombre expression for the first time since we started speaking.

“I have to work around 20 hours a week on top of studying full time, and all my trainings.

It can be a bit much”. Naturally, her smile returns and she gives me two thumbs up “But it’s worth it!” she says.

Nick Pannu and his players advocate the sport saying participation numbers are thriving amongst New Zealand Universities.

A contrast to school participation. You can expect to see ten people show up for an Ultimate training at Wellington College.

Not a large number for a seven-a-side game.

However, Sports Coordinator, Amanda Wilkins says, participation numbers were much lower in earlier years.

The high school has had a team since 2013 which compares to Ultimate’s vacancy in most high schools.

Their training commences, 13 boys, no coach. There is a relaxed nature and little structure.

Three boys take the lead, setting up and running the drills.

Wilkins tells me the three senior students have taken ownership of Ultimate at the school.

She suggests “not enough coaches willing to coach teams” is the barrier to the sport thriving in schools.

But “The boys love it as it’s fast moving, decision making in the sport, and has fantastic spirit,” she says.

Similar laughter heard on the fields of Martinborough ricochet off the walls in the Wellington College gym.

The future of Ultimate looks promising.

Not only are participation numbers increasing at school and University levels, but our national teams are training hard to defend their top 10 world ranking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsoIK9NeFyI

Ultimate is an extremely physical and technical sport which deserves recognition, and most importantly, deserves to be taken seriously.