Discs go flying around Segalla Field

NORTH CANAAN — As children most of us remember tossing around Frisbees, plastic discs about the size of a dinner plate. In 1968, a student at Columbia High School in Maplewood N.J., proposed the student council establish a Frisbee team, turning what had been “play” into a sport with rules. The idea spread to other high schools as well as to colleges and universities. Players started to call their new game Ultimate Frisbee — but because of a copyright on the word “Frisbee,” the new sport eventually became known simply as Ultimate.Now a sanctioned international sport, an Ultimate summer youth program has come to North Canaan for the second year in a row. Salisbury resident Annie deBoer, who will be a senior at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., studying art history and environmental studies, administers the program with North Canaan Recreation Director Adam Bunce. DeBoer is assisted by recent Hotchkiss School graduate Tavo True-Alcalá who will also attend Wesleyan in the fall.The two back-to-back one-week programs were offered from Aug. 1 to 5 and Aug. 8 to 11.“Tavo and I run the program and the town provides the field and provides insurance coverage,” deBoer explained. “And Hotchkiss School coach Dave Thompson lends us the Frisbees, cones and shirts.”The first week of the program had 11 students; 16 were signed up for the second week. A few youngsters registered for both weeks.The students met daily from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.In Ultimate, two teams of seven players face off on the field. Each team has an end zone. The objective is to score by moving the Frisbee downfield to the end zone. Players are not allowed to move when in possession of the Frisbee; it must be passed (flown) to the next team member in the direction of the end zone.There are several unique aspects to the sport of Ultimate, deBoer said. There are no referees; players call their own fouls and police themselves in the “spirit of the game.” Because of its self-officiated nature, Ultimate requires a strong sense of sportsmanship and respect from the players.Last year, when the program was first offered, it was free of charge and the program lasted a single week. This year, due to the success of last year’s effort, the two-week session was offered, and participants paid a fee of $25. No plans have been set yet for next summer.