Ultimate enters the realm of the local media
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2005/04/15/ugmo_ult.DTL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, April 15, 2005 (SF Gate)
Bay Area Ultimate Has an Ugly Monkey on Its Back
Ian Hart, Special to SF Gate

In the United States and Canada, ultimate (aka ultimate Frisbee) has
always had a solid presence on college campuses, but recently it has begun
to grow in popularity as an organized club sport. This weekend Cal (UC
Berkeley) and other local colleges will be playing in the Bay Area
sectionals tournament in Livermore, the first of the three weekend-long
elimination tournaments that culminate in the May 27-29 College
Championships in Corvallis, Ore. Ian Hart, Cal student and former college
ultimate player, chronicles the trials of a team that is struggling to
regain its former top-ranking status in a field that is growing in
formidability.
The knee-length mesh shorts give them away: the seven guys jogging around
Edwards Track at the University of California at Berkeley aren't runners
by trade. Clearly uncomfortable with the slow pace, they have the awkward
lumber of guys who know only two speeds: neutral and sprint. These men are
one-third of Ugly Monkey, better known as UGMO, Cal's men's college
ultimate squad.
UGMO spent most of last year ranked No. 1, traveling the country and
amassing a 34-4 regular season record. In the postseason, the team went
undefeated through three elimination tournaments to play in the 2004
College Championship game for the first time in 12 years. That was when
things got ugly. On a characteristically gray Seattle day, Colorado handed
Cal the worst defeat of its season, in every respect.
The team's rise and heartbreaking loss went nearly unnoticed on the
Berkeley campus, where prevailing wisdom still holds that ultimate is
mostly a game for hippie stoners. For all the blood, sweat and ibuprofen
that UGMO expends, the sport hovers just below the Berkeley campus radar.
"We're playing for our own satisfaction," said Nat, the team's returning
co-captain. "People ask. 'Do dogs play?'" But the sport's rapidly growing
participation and athleticism indicates that the notion of ultimate as a
stoner's sport may soon be on its way out. When UGMO straps on their
cleats, they wear the game faces of intense competition.
When this academic year started, UGMO had retained eight members of last
year's A-Team, most of Thug-Mo (the B-Team), and attracted more than 30
potential recruits. Eight months later, the A-Team has 21 members -- a
young squad with many players learning on the field. This weekend, UGMO is
taking a 9-16 record into the Bay Area sectionals tournament in Livermore,
the first step back to nationals.
UGMO is a squad that doesn't have the experience, but it does have the
right attitude: these men are learning nothing if not how to readjust in
the face of adversity. When practice fields get rained out, they hit the
track to do their drills.
Nat's bushy blond hair and sleepy eyes suggest Jeff Spicoli of "Fast Times
at Ridgemont High," but that's where the similarities end. UGMO's
returning co-captain is a senior Civil Engineering major and future
Structural Engineering graduate student who freely quotes Sun Tzu's "Art
of War" in an e-mail to the team: "According as circumstances are
favorable, one should modify one's plans." Modification is key when every
game is a learning experience. In anticipation of the nonstandard track
workout, Nat refers to his planned series of sprints jotted in the margins
of the university's "Daily Californian" sports page. While many of their
classmates are taking a lunch break, UGMO will be sprinting.
When fields aren't closed, UGMO practice involves two sweaty hours of
plyometrics, throwing drills, offensive and defensive plays and strength
and speed building. The emphasis is on focus and athleticism. "I've never
gone to practice and felt so tired," says Cadillac, a Berkeley Chemistry
Ph.D. student and four-year veteran of University of Virginia ultimate.
"How a team is at man (one-on-one) defense is the difference between the
bad teams and the good teams," says Nat at one practice. "It separates the
good teams from the great teams. And the great teams from the best teams."
Nat and his co-captain Boo focus on building a team that out-sprints,
out-leaps, and out-maneuvers its opponents.
Dropping the "Frisbee"
2005 is the 35th anniversary of ultimate's first written rules, now in
their 10th edition. The sport's U.S. governing body, the Ultimate Players
Association, was founded in 1979 and currently boasts 19,000
player-members.
"(Ultimate) has always been popular on college campuses," said UPA
representative Michael Degnan. But recently its popularity as a club sport
has surged. The number of competitive college teams has tripled since
1995, which Degnan attributes to students discovering the sport and
realizing "they could compete and represent their schools." According to
the UPA, the number of intercollegiate players is approaching 10,000 --
not counting intramural players -- and the fastest growth is in the South
and in the West's smaller colleges. The flexible tournament format allows
for indefinite growth, though Degnan suggests the UPA may some day
consider a tiered system with multiple divisions.
Numbers aren't the only change. "You're seeing a lot more people who
consider themselves serious athletes," said Will Deaver, UPA championship
director. Physically, ultimate involves the speed and endurance of soccer,
the strategy of lacrosse, the leaping and diving of volleyball, and the
hand-eye coordination of handball.
In regulation ultimate, two teams of seven play on a 40-yard-wide,
70-yard-long field, with 25-yard-deep end zones. Teams line up in opposing
end zones, and play begins when one team "pulls" or throws the disc to the
opponent. The disc can be moved only in the air, and players can hold onto
the disc only for ten seconds. Players cannot run with the disc or make
deliberate contact with opponents. If the disc is dropped or intercepted,
the opposing team takes possession. A team scores one point when a player
catches the disc in their opponent's end zone. Losers walk, and the
scoring team pulls. The first team to reach 15 points or more with a
two-point margin wins. Games can last more than 90 minutes.
Ultimate is self-officiated, with players calling their own fouls.
Temptation to abuse this provision is kept in check by the "Spirit of the
Game," the belief, according to the UPA's Ten Simple Rules, that
"competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect
between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play."
"Young athletes like the self-officiated/Spirit of the Game aspect of the
sport," Kyle Weisbrod, UPA director of youth development, wrote in an
e-mail. He attributes the rise of the sport's popularity to its being
"exciting and fun . . . discs do a whole lot of things that balls can't."
Years back, "Frisbee" was dropped from the sport's name, partly because
Frisbee is a registered trademark of Wham-O. The "Discraft Ultrastar 175
gram Wixom mold" has replaced the Frisbee for tournament play. To ask
"What's the difference?" is to never have thrown a disc a thousand times.
The difference is all in the disc's lip, and while the eyes might fail to
differentiate, the fingers know.
A New Recruit
Aaron played rugby for two years at Piedmont High School. He's built for
the scrum, with a 5'7" frame that's dense from his calves to his neck. But
despite his physical attributes, Aaron wasn't very good and he didn't have
much fun, so he quit. A quarter of the way into his senior year, he and a
friend started throwing the disc in the park after school and he caught
the bug. "I definitely wanted more," he said of his arrival at Cal.
"Schools have a limited number of spots on their varsity and junior
varsity athletic teams for people to participate," according to Weisbrod,
but "ultimate has traditionally been very inclusive." High school ultimate
is growing fast, and UPA registration among players of high school age has
quadrupled since 2001. Weisbrod estimates there are now between 400 and
500 high school teams nationwide, and Washington, Minnesota and
Massachusetts now boast middle school leagues.
In August, Aaron signed up at an UGMO information table. He enjoyed
practice from the beginning, playing with experienced players and learning
the throws and strategy. At the end of his first semester, he was one of
the five first-years named to the UGMO A-team. He plays handler, a
position not unlike football's quarterback, except there are three on the
field at one time. "It's definitely a challenge to be thrown into this
(team) that's been good and being expected to be good off the bat."
Aaron has separated himself from the pack not only by his disc handling,
but because he has thus far kept his birth name. Nicknaming, especially on
a team that goes by Ugly Monkey, is part ritual, part chaos. To hear the
teammates talk with each other, you wouldn't know Cadillac, Money, T-Bot
and Stryder went by any other name.
Nickname or not, Aaron is an ultimate devotee. Still, his new faith has
not blinded him to one aspect of the sport: "For the most part, people
think of it as a picnic sport."
That preconception vanishes when you see your first game.
Game Time
When the 2003 national champion Wisconsin Hodags pull to Cal's UGMO, there
is a moment of relative tranquility as the white disc cuts the air. It's a
cold early-March Sunday morning in Palo Alto, and by 8 the first point of
the Stanford Invitational tournament is underway. When the disc reaches
Cal, the field explodes with activity, with players cutting according to
called plays.
Ultimate is played year-round, but it is the spring semester that counts
toward college rankings. Games are played in weekend tournaments that
typically feature four to five games per day. Several carloads of UGMO,
and more than a few friends, family and Thug-Mo players, woke up before
dawn to drive to Palo Alto for one of the most competitive tournaments of
the regular season.
Cal turns it over in the first point, but Wisconsin's possession is
short-lived. Nat reads his opponent and lays out for the D (diving
defensive block), returning possession to UGMO. When Cal turns it over for
the second time, Wisconsin capitalizes, scoring on a short throw into the
end zone. Wisconsin pulls again, Cal turns it over again, and the Hodags
are up 2-0.
On its next possession, UGMO overcomes a defensive sideline trap to get
its first point, and the team rushes the end zone to celebrate. Minutes
later, Cal throws it deep, and Boo makes a nearly full-field sprint to
make the catch for the team's second point. This time the team rushes the
field chanting, "Ug-Mo! Ug-Mo! Ug-Mo! Ug-Ug-Ug! Mo-Mo-Mo!"
The all-team celebrating is a tradition that holds through every point,
every game. UGMO players have each other's backs. Even when there is
grumbling -- the team miscommunicates, commits unforced errors and blows
plays -- they keep aggravation in check and outclass several other teams'
open infighting.
The Hodags haven't had much sun this winter, but it hasn't hurt their
game. With the sun still poking through the trees, the first half ends 8-4
in Wisconsin's favor.
At the beginning of the second half, Nat goes up for a disc and gets
clobbered from behind. He calls "foul," but the Wisconsin player is not
having it. Boo runs up the sideline, not missing a moment to support his
co-captain.
"Nat, that's a great call!"
Wisconsin owns the second half, with Cal scoring only one more point in
what becomes a 13-5 loss. Of the four games that follow, Cal will win only
one. Wisconsin will go on to win the tournament and finish the regular
season ranked No. 1.
The Shadow of '04
The UGMO that won only one game in Stanford this year is not last year's
UGMO. In 2004, the team lost only four games in 38. For the No. 1 squad,
the four-to-five weekly A-team practices paid off. The running and
throwing for upward of two hours during off days paid off. The hours
planning practices and fund-raising and the cumulative days spent
traveling to tournaments also paid off for Cal.
The only thing that didn't pay was the university. Cal Club Sports has
limited funding, and the college's contribution barely dented the team's
budget. UGMO raised more than $3,000 in fund-raisers, and players kicked
in more than $300 apiece to cover the costs of field rentals, tourney
entry fees, travel and uniforms. But if these distractions were affecting
the team, they didn't impact their play.
Last year's UGMO went undefeated in the Bay Area sectionals and Northwest
regional tournaments, the two hurdles to the finals. The Championship
tournament was held in Seattle weeks after Cal's graduations. On the first
day of the tourney, Cal had two extremely close games, winning each by
two. The next day, UGMO ended the seasons of North Carolina State and
Brown University. By 6 o'clock, only two teams remained: California UGMO
and the Colorado Mamabirds.
California bested Colorado twice during the regular season, but while UGMO
had recent history on its side, Colorado had finished in the semifinals or
better in three of the previous four years.
"They'd been there before," conceded Nat.
Sunday morning at Tomahawk Field was prototypical Seattle: mid-60s and
cloudy with a chance of showers. California broke their pregame huddle -
"UGMO! You know!" The No. 1 team in the nation started with the disc, and
after both teams turned the disc over a couple times, Cal drew first
blood. They scored again quickly, going up 2-0.
Costly turnovers allowed the Mamabirds to come back, first to tie, then to
go ahead. At halftime, UGMO was down 8-5. The score reflected a team that
was out of its game, as it had been all tournament. "We relied more on
athleticism than on . . . set offenses and plays," says Nat. "Finals was
when it caught up with us."
In the second half, UGMO tried to change the tone of the game by throwing
a zone defense. The tactic slowed the game by forcing Colorado to make
more throws, but a couple of unlucky breaks opened the game wider. A
Colorado hammer (upside-down overhead throw) to the end zone ended both
teams' seasons. The final was 15-7, a point differential worse than UGMO's
four regular season losses combined.
The College Sports Television correspondent concluded, "You look at the
Berkeley squad, and you see disappointment."
Refocusing
Boo almost never smiles when he is on the field. Nor does he mince words.
"We played the worst game of our season, it just happened to be at the
most inopportune time... Guys we relied on didn't (play to potential)."
The team's new co-captain is a junior from Orange County and an A-Squad
veteran. He is tall and dark with "that's how the ladies like it" shaggy
black hair. On a field in West Oakland, he's warming up his throws. The
March rain has let up long enough for the city to open the field, but it's
a muddy swamp that passes for practice space.
Rebuilding the road to the national finals is the primary task of Nat and
Boo, and controlling expectations and morale is key. The team leaders took
early losses in stride. "Nat and I, we know what we want to work on."
At 8 p.m. sharp, Nat calls the team in to a loose huddle. "Tonight we're
going to run a bunch of defense drills. Everyone should be intense."
Nat and Boo front two lines. They "check in," a moment of silence when
team members quietly reflect on their objectives, before a warm-up jog
that transitions into a series of plyometrics exercises.
"This year is about getting back to regionals (the qualifying tournament
for nationals)," says Boo. "All the losses we're having -- that's fine, as
long as by regionals we have it together."
Earlier in the year, Nat talked about a former teammate who had gone to
nationals with Stanford. After they won the championship his freshman
year, he figured they'd never return.
"They went back (to nationals) two years later," recalls Nat.
"He told us this after our loss to Colorado. We realized that it could
happen again. Maybe this year, maybe next."
If it's going to happen this year, it's going to have to start at this
weekend's Bay Area sectionals tournament. UGMO, currently ranked 43rd
nationwide, will have the chance to face local rivals Stanford (No. 8
nationwide), UC Davis (No. 20), and UC Santa Cruz (No. 33). One hopes that
with focus and maybe a little luck, the postseason gets "ugly" for Cal's
monkeys.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 SF Gate