Pi Cup Ultimate Frisbee Tournament
Sponsored by Atlanta’s Paideia School, 16 elite high school teams, including one from the Middle East, will compete April 12-13 at Python Park, 1201 Clarendon Ave., Avondale Estates. Information: paideiaschool.org.
If you think the sport of ultimate is about flicking a disc around in your bare feet, you might want to check out the upcoming Pi Cup Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. The competition, sponsored annually by Atlanta’s Paideia School and taking place this year on April 12-13, will feature powerhouse high school teams from across the country, and even one from the Middle East. To understand more about the sport and its increasing popularity in the metro area, the AJC turned to Miranda Knowles, a Paideia high school biology teacher who also coaches varsity girls’ ultimate and assists with the junior high team. Knowles played ultimate as a student at Paideia and was on the U.S. coed team that took gold in the 2005 World Games.
Q: Can you explain the sport for those who don’t know much about it?
A: It is a combination of the field movement of soccer and the ball skills of basketball. Like American football, you score by passing the Frisbee to a teammate in the end zone. There are no referees — it is self-officiated.
Q: How does that work out?
A: Great. There is a strict mandate that coaches cannot influence the outcome of calls. Ultimate players need to be calm, talk to each other and resolve conflict, which is part of what I really love about the sport. It grows you as a person, not just as an athlete.
Q: What do you need to be good at the sport?
A: The cool thing is that there are places for specialists — for people who are really fast but not necessarily super skilled, for people who are short or tall or really strong or not as strong. There is not one body type for an ultimate player.
Q: Do people still think of ultimate as tossing the Frisbee around?
A: That is starting to disappear as more and more people from more and more walks of life are playing the sport competitively and seriously. The U.S. now has professional leagues that are drawing athletes who could compete in track and field, football or other sports.
Q: Is the South catching on late, as we did with soccer?
A: Atlanta is not the biggest youth ultimate city. The sport has grown a lot here. There are a lot of amazing teams, including Grady, Woodward and Lakeside high schools. There is a thriving middle school league. Part of the Pi Cup is to bring the best competition from around the country to push and challenge us.
Q: Can you talk about the team from the Middle East?
A: They are a multicultural group of high schoolers, including Palestinians and Arab and Jewish Israelis, who have dedicated themselves to pursuing peace in their region. By playing ultimate Frisbee together, they are able to apply the conflict resolution, trust and joy that they share on the field to their real lives. (To check out the program that guides them, go to UltimatePeace.org.)
Q: Why is ultimate so popular at Paideia?
A: In this relatively new sport, there is a lot of interesting strategy and skills that have not necessarily been worked out to perfection. We have a lot of bright kids that gravitate to the puzzle of how best to play the sport.
Q: What drew you to ultimate?
A: The people who play. I have made friends literally all around the world. The trust and fair play built on the field with self-officiation cause you to trust players off the field.
Q: How was winning the World Games?
A: As a kid, I watched Olympic athletes stand on the podium as the national anthem played. Standing on the podium at the World Games was a real live dream come true.
Q: Will ultimate ever be a sport in the Olympics?
A: It is challenging for a sport that is self-officiated. Some people want to consider adding referees to the further the sport which I think compromises some of the values that ultimate players hold very dear. If ultimate could enter the Olympics as it is, that would be great.
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