What is ultimate?
Ultimate is a fast, non-contact sport often played by mixed gender, mixed age teams. It’s played with a disc (frisbee), which is passed between players. If the disc is dropped it goes to the other team. Points are scored like American football: a pass is completed to a team-mate in the end-zone. Anyone can score and move anywhere on the pitch, but otherwise movement is like netball: when you have the disc you can pivot, but you can’t move.
There is a real emphasis on playing competitively, but fairly. There are no referees, so it’s incumbent on everyone to play honestly and with good spirit.
The rules of Ultimate
You can download a basic summary of the rules here: WFDF Rules 2021-2024 – basic summary (PDF)
The full rules and lots of explanation are here: Rules of Ultimate
Ultimate in Malawi
In Malawi we have a real mix of experience levels: many of us are completely new to the sport, whilst others have played for years. We currently have regular games in Lilongwe and Blantyre. Everyone is welcome, come and give it a go.
Skills and tactics
If you can run, you can get involved with Ultimate and have a great time; as you develop as a player you’ll need to learn the rules and master these skills as well:
- Catching
- Throwing
- Defending
- Cutting (running into space)
There are loads of great guides to these online, but this introduction from Vancouver Ultimate League covers everything pretty well: VUL Players Guide