Ultimate Frisbee Team Travels to State Tournament

One of the school’s most successful teams, with a record of 15-2 this year, is also one of the most unconventional.

Senior+Zac+Register+throws+the+frisbee+to+a+teammate+for+a+drill+during+practice.

Photo by Grace Yarrow

Senior Zac Register throws the frisbee to a teammate for a drill during practice.

One of the school’s most successful teams, with a record of 15-2 this year, is also one of the most unconventional. It’s also not even considered a sports team.

Ultimate frisbee has been a club at the school for around six years, but this season has been their most victorious yet, especially with their only two losses being against teams who were in higher-ranked leagues than theirs. This weekend, marks a significant time for the team, as they will travel to Fresno to compete in the state tournament.

The team has four captains, Zain Khan, Timothy Nguyen, Kyle Pereira and Lance Sunshine, and, including captains, 18 total members who are going to participate in states. The first game begins on Saturday, May 18, and each ultimate team will play four games that day, which are each 90 minutes long.

“That’s a lot of running. It’s not fun for the team, but it’ll be good,” said Pereira, one of the captains. “And then the next day, we play until we lose two games.”

Since they have an especially impressive record this year, the team is hoping to succeed, but Sunshine and Pereira agree that the focus of the team is mostly to have fun.

Photo by Grace Yarrow
The ultimate frisbee team held their last practice before states on Wednesday, May 15.

Pereira adds that the team dynamic has been what allowed them to improve their record this year.

“[We are] a big, happy family and just having a fun time, while also just being really good at the sport,” Pereira said. Sunshine adds that some special traditions that go along with games that add to the friendly atmosphere even during competitions.

“For the spirit circle, we sit down with most teams unless we don’t have time. We sit down with teams after each game. And we talked about how we were challenged by them, and then how we feel like we can improve and take that into our next game,” said Sunshine.

Since much of the team will be graduating this year, the team is hoping to recruit as many new members as possible in the 2019-2020 school year. The team will be recruiting new players at the club fair in the fall.