Club sports open the door for Trinity students to become involved with athletics as extracurriculars. Among the many club sports Tigers can participate in is ultimate frisbee. The men’s and women’s ultimate frisbee club sports teams, Turbulence and Altitude, head into this year with new recruits and goals on the horizon.
One of the first anticipated events of the year for ultimate frisbee is a game against the University of San Antonio (UTSA), whom Trinity hosts this fall.
“Every fall, we play UTSA and it’s a showdown, and it’s just one game,” Nathan Ashworth, a senior Turbulence captain, said.
“The men’s teams play each other and the women’s teams play each other and it’s like a rivalry and we have it actually on the Trinity fields and we have alumni that come out. Sometimes we have a livestream that’s set up with Tiger Network and they stream it and it’s a lot of fun.”
“We typically do a college showdown, which Nathan mentioned,” Hannah Jackson, sophomore and co-captain for Altitude, said, “which is like, a game against UTSA that’s here, and I feel like it’s definitely very hype [and] it definitely gets spirits up.”
Jackson joined last year when she visited the club’s table at Coates Student Center.
“I saw the table and I was like, ‘What is this? Like, is this a joke?’” Jackson said. “I thought it was fake.”
Jackson played basketball, soccer and volleyball before joining Altitude. It wasn’t until Jackson started throwing the disk around at the interest meeting when she knew she wanted to join.
“It was kind of like the best of both worlds,” Jackson said. “I got to meet a ton of new people and make new friends on campus, ‘cause that’s pretty daunting, especially as a [first-year], and I’m from out of state, too.”
Jackson said having good sportsmanship and team spirit is an essential part of ultimate frisbee.
“We try to carry that into our practices and the culture of the team,” Jackson said. “We want to make sure that first and foremost, people are having fun, right? We want to make sure you’re having fun at your sport, that you’re being treated with respect, and you’re treating other people with respect because that creates a healthy environment for sports. We’ve tried to put that into what we’re doing and then we just, like, talk to them, throw around [and] have fun.”
Paul Jackson, senior co-captain Turbulence, said that the main focus for the team is team development, particularly for rookies by getting them their first playing experience.
“We want to get our rookies their first playing experience and then continue to improve for our veterans as well,” Jackson said.
Turbulence was one game short of making it to regionals last year, which Jackson said he wanted to advance to.
“We lost the game that we needed to win to go to regionals, which was very disappointing,” Jackson said.
“But if our only focus is on results, then we failed for the season just by losing that one game, but our focus always has to be primarily on the process and last year. I felt like we continued to take steps forward to being a better and better team, and we’ll love to continue that this year. Even if we fail, so long as we continue to trust the process, I’ll be happy.”
Ashworth said that there are many benefits to joining ultimate frisbee beyond the field.
“If you want to join a group that you know everyone’s name,” Ashworth said, “they know yours, you hang out with each other, you go to Whataburger with each other, you’re throwing on the disk with people, you’re going to tournaments, you’re staying in Airbnbs and hotels and you’re having a blast doing it all and it’s free, then join ultimate frisbee.”
Both Turbulence and Altitude practice at the football field from 8–10 p.m., with Turbulence practicing Mondays and Wednesdays and Altitude on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students interested in joining ultimate frisbee can reach out to Nathan Ashworth at [email protected].
