If you have never heard of the Gryphon Ultimate Frisbee team, it’s probably because they’re not called Gryphons.
Varsity teams under the name “Gryphons” are run through the University’s Athletic Department and are designated a portion of student fees. Teams that do not fall under that umbrella are not allowed to call themselves Gryphons and, as such, are required to collect their own fees to cover costs like jerseys and tournaments.
Wolfgang Kaufman, who has been involved with the Ultimate Frisbee team at Guelph for the past three years on various levels, explained that the team has been called Meat Loaf for the past several years.
Kaufman said in an email, “The team is currently looking to rebrand ourselves. But in the past the U of G Ultimate program was known as Meat Loaf. The Women’s team was Loaf (Ladies On A Field), Men’s team being Meat.”
There are three Ultimate Frisbee teams at the University of Guelph, two varsity teams and one non-competitive. The two varsity teams are competitive and go to several tournaments during the season. The Gryphons Athletic Department runs Ultimate Frisbee intramurals, but they are not associated with the Meat Loaf teams.
Although the Open team is open to women who want to try out, at the moment, it is made up of only male players. There is also a Women’s team, and the non-competitive Club team. The Club team is open to all levels of players, and anyone can join as long as they pay the club fee. Each player has to pay an athletic fee of $80 per semester, or $120 for the year.
Ultimate Frisbee, simply called “Ultimate” to those who have played the sport, is a competitive sport that involves getting a Frisbee from one end of a field to another. The rules are simple enough: seven players on two teams attempt to catch the disk in the other side’s end zone. When a player has the Frisbee, they cannot run and they have a total of ten seconds to throw it to a teammate. As a result of this rule, teamwork is a deeply ingrained art of the game. Passing becomes just as important as throwing. If the disk drops on the ground, the other team takes possession.
While the rules are easy enough for new players to pick up, the game can become so skillful that playing it really does become an intense experience.
Both the Open and Women’s teams compete in the Canadian Ultimate University Championships (CUUC). Each team plays in two qualifying tournaments: the Steeltown Classic, hosted at McMaster, and regionals, hosted in Kingston.
The top placing teams at these tournaments qualify for the Division One series of the CUUC. All of the teams that didn’t qualify across Canada get one more chance at the start of the CUUC tournament that is held in Ottawa. If they don’t qualify there, they compete in the Division Two CUUC series. Either way, they have the opportunity to compete. Unfortunately, because Ultimate is a developing sport, it is not structured like a typical varsity sport with games weekly or in Guelph. For those interested in watching the games, there are a few YouTube channels that record the games. This is the only way to watch the games, Kaufman says, “Unless you want to travel to Kingston and Ottawa to cheer us on.”
On YouTube, Kaufman recommended searching the “AUDL”(American Ultimate Disc League) or “NGN”(Next Gen Network), both of which broadcast high-level and professional Ultimate games.
Most of the fees that the teams pay go towards tournament fees and uniforms. Other fees cover field rentals from the school and administration costs.
Kaufman says that the most rewarding part of playing Ultimate is the journey of working together as a team towards a common goal.