New to Ultimate

When most people think of ultimate frisbee, they think of barefoot hippies with dogs or mistakenly think of frisbee golf. Happily, there are still many such hippies around, but at its highest level, the sport has evolved to a fast-paced and well-structured game played by top athletes around the world (who wear cleats). There are competitive middle school and high school leagues, a nation-wide competitive collegiate and club scene, and international tournaments like the World Games. Whatever your level and whatever your footwear, get involved and see for yourself why we think ultimate is one of the greatest games ever invented!

• The Basics
• More Information
• Get Started!

The Ultimate Players Association defines ultimate as a "player defined and controlled non-contact team sport played with a flying disc on a playing surface with end zones in which all actions are governed by the 'Spirit of the Game™.'"

Most ultimate is played on grass fields with endzones (like a small football field). Two teams of seven players each compete against one another. There is also beach ultimate, played on the sand with four or five players per team. In either case, the rules are similar.

The objective of the game is to catch a pass in the opponent’s endzone. To do this, the offense must pass the disc in the air from person to person without turning it over; turnovers include the defense blocking or intercepting the disc, the disc touching the ground, the disc going out of bounds, or a player holding the disc for more than ten seconds. When such a turnover occurs, the other team immediately gets possession and tries to advance the disc to their opponent’s endzone, making for a very fast-paced game. Players may not run with the disc; they must establish a pivot foot (as in basketball) and throw the disc to a teammate. There are no referees in ultimate; games are self-officiated in line with the official UPA rules (or for beach the official BULA rules), the 'Spirit of the Game', and a tradition of good sportsmanship.

What’s a foul? How long are games? For answers to FAQs and more information, you can refer to the UPA's fact sheet on ultimate. Wikipedia's ultimate frisbee page contains some good background information as well.

Are you ready to start playing? San Diego has a rich ultimate community. There's a way to play any day of the week. Just check out our Ultimate in SD page for how you can start playing today in San Diego. Ultimate players are typically friendly and happy to teach you how to throw, so don’t be afraid to join a pickup game or DUDE league!