Ultimate is ‘the coolest’

• By SONYA KIMBRELL
• Ascension staff writer
• Published: Dec 4, 2008 - Page: 1H - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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ST. AMANT — It’s a bright, clear afternoon just as classes let out at St. Amant High School.

On the fields behind the stadium, pockets of students practiced various sports, soccer here, flag football there.

A handful of teachers and students waited to see if enough players would show up for one of the newest clubs at St. Amant — Ultimate Frisbee.

Ultimate is a limited-contact team sport played with a disc. The object is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone. It has similar elements as football, soccer and rugby.

It was originally called Ultimate Frisbee but is often simply called Ultimate because Frisbee is a trademark name for a line of discs made by the Wham-O toy company.

The game is marked by a laid-back attitude and sportsmanship but there are national and international associations, regulation play and competitions.

Math teacher Matt Owen said Ultimate’s not a new thing for students at St. Amant.

“They learned some of the rules in P.E. last year,” he said.

He said he and two other math teachers — Maggie Fazekas and Valerie Menter — decided to try to start a club in September.

So far, he said, there are about 20 students who have joined.

They meet every Monday after school and then head to the practice fields to play.

“It varies how many show up,” he said, “We’re losing some to soccer right now but we’ll pick up some from football now that the season is over.”

Owen said he had played on the collegiate club at Tulane University.