Uniquity of Ultimate: The Spirit of the Game

Dr. Shapiro, who recently spent a week in Sardinia, Italy to compete in the World Great Grand Masters Beach Ultimate Club Championships (WGGMBUCC), noted, “all the players are trained to officiate the game honestly and that’s a big part of the ethos of how the game is played at the very highest levels. Even at major tournaments the game is self refereed by the players on the field.” With no referees but the players on the field, the players have to be able to trust and respect one another to keep the game going. “I think it’s really, really healthy,” Michael Lowry (12-2) stated; Maroon added, “It really builds community.”

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Ultimate Frisbee was first introduced to the Masterman community relatively recently back in 2008 by a teacher named Sam Sackett. Currently, one of the coaches is Dr. Shapiro: an avid advocate of Ultimate. By his classroom (Room 104), there stands a case full of trophies and photos won and taken by past and present Masterman Ultimate members. “Both boys and girls have gone to [the state tournament] every year for the last several years,” Dr. Shapiro recounted. Great memories blossomed from the state tournament. Parrado recalled, “my favorite memory of Ultimate is going to states freshman year with the girls and boys team. We had such a blast!” Maroon, too, explained, “2019 we actually went to states… in Pittsburgh so we traveled there as a team and we stayed in a hotel and we had a good time. It was a good memory. We came in seventh (we were seeded 11th going into it so we moved up a few places), and it was good fun!”

Dr. Shapiro had coached Ultimate Frisbee before he started working at Masterman. In his “second or third year [at Masterman],” he extended the option of playing Ultimate to the Masterman middle schoolers since he also coached a middle school league outside of Masterman. Shapiro recalled, “those [middle school] players have become very, very good. One of the kids, Ed Brown, just graduated and he’s already joined the top level club team in this area. He’s an extraordinary player, but some of these players who started in middle school are really blossoming now… they've become really high level players.” Two such players are Jose Dasilva (12-1) and Michael Lowry (12-2). Both were recruited by Dr. Shapiro in sixth grade and played for Masterman’s Ultimate team as freshmen; Dasilva is now a captain of the boys team.

Though some players, like Lowry and Dasilva, were recruited by Dr. Shapiro in middle school, other players have different stories. Grace Maroon (11-3), one of the two captains of the girls team, has been “playing Ultimate Frisbee [her] entire life.” She explained, “My dad played and it’s quite a weird sport to be ‘into’ for a long time but I started high school Ultimate when I was in eighth grade on the girls team and it was very scary because I was a middle schooler playing with the high schoolers. But it was a great experience; it was a lot of fun!” Malena Parrado (12-3), Grace’s co-captain, wrote, “my brother [Matteo Parrado (‘19)] got me interested in Ultimate Frisbee. He joined in high school and convinced me to play in a middle school league. I started playing in the 7th grade for Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance (PADA) and then joined Masterman Ultimate as a freshman.”

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In part, the Spirit of the Game contributes to the healthy atmosphere of the sport. Maroon explained, “It's really fun and it’s relaxing. The thing I love most about Ultimate at Masterman is the community because the people are so nice… I’ve made more friends through Ultimate than I have through any other club, sport, [or] class.” The team practices three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. “[This schedule allows] you to hang out with friends, work a job, and more while also being able to play a sport. It’s also the only sport with the same style of competition both in the fall and spring, giving you freedom to play one or both seasons while exploring other clubs or athletic avenues,” Dasilva shared. “There’s a lot of comradery in the sport,” Lowry stated, “I want people to know that the culture is super different [compared] to other sports. Everyone is really, really awesome to talk to and they’re also nice and supportive. Even between teams, people aren’t mean to each other like that.” Parrado seconded that, writing, “Ultimate is such a homey and friendly sport. There is no bad blood between the teams we play against, everyone is friends… It feels like everyone is a family.”

There are several sports to choose from here at Masterman. As the players have tried to recount, although Ultimate is just one sport, it isn’t just any sport. “If you want to go for a sport but you’re not quite sure [which one], it [Ultimate] is a good sport to do that,” Maroon stated, “It’s less of a commitment [but] it’s still a very serious, competitive sport.” Dasilva added, “It’s not as corny as you’d think—there are countless games and highlight reels on Youtube, and if you have no idea at all what Ultimate is, that’s a great place to start!” Parrado later explained, “People should join because it’s a great way to run around in the fresh air and participate on a team… It's an easy sport for beginners to learn, so great for anyone without experience. Everyone gets to play, they just need to show up ready to learn.” Dasilva brought up a similar and important point, “Ultimate is an athletic outlet unlike other sports. Lots of ultimate players don’t fit your typical idea of what an athlete ‘looks like,’ and there are ultimate players of all shapes and sizes at all levels.” Dr. Shapiro agreed to the previous statements, saying earnestly, “you know, one other thing that makes it unique is just how incredibly fun it is.” He exclaimed, “It’s just so much fun—it’s just you're running and you're catching and throwing and so it’s a lot of exercise and oh it’s just tremendous.” In addition, “No other sports use a frisbee besides disc golf but that’s barely a sport (It's like a sport with a ball but it doesn’t use a ball),” Lowry explained.

Although Ultimate may not have been widely known even within Masterman, it is growing in popularity. Dr. Shapiro shared, “The local ultimate frisbee subculture—certainly before COVID—was growing a lot. After the pandemic it’s taken a bit of a hit but it's growing in the city and there's an effort to have more teams in the city among both public and private schools.” In a typical season, Maroon described, “We go to a few tournaments every year. They’re normally two day tournaments so we’ll be playing about two to three games each day. You wake up early in the morning and we all carpool all the way there and then we get to play some Ultimate! Dr. Shapiro is coaching from the sidelines and it's a good day. We get food [and there’s] a lot of team spirit! [click here to watch their spring 2021 highlight reels]” She added, “in the spring, it’ll be a lot about teaching and learning how to play.”

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Trust is important in all team sports as it maintains the team spirit and it keeps its members close-knit. And for Ultimate players, it is also the foundation of the Spirit of the Game. “Ultimate is very much a team sport and everyone has a place on our team” (Parrado).

Some last words from the interviewees:

• If you have questions or are interested in joining, feel free to contact me (Jose Dasilva) at either 215-501-4847 or jmdasilva333@gmail.com, Dr. Shapiro (You know where to find him), our Instagram account @mastermanultimatemofo, or someone who you know is on the team! There will be an informational meeting before the spring season (probably in February-ish), so be on the lookout for that as well! ~ Jose Dasilva

• We’re looking forward to a great spring season! The girls this fall combined with SLA and they had a great time and they beat most of the suburban teams (except for one) but we’re definitely going to split into two teams: a Masterman boys team and a Masterman girls team in the spring and were looking forward to going to states again. ~ Dr. Shapiro

• We’re going to try really hard to improve the team including ourselves in the spring! ~ Michael Lowry