After attending the Club Sports executive meeting on Monday regarding the Oregon ultimate men’s season, I left the room extremely unsettled. I transferred to the University of Oregon in the fall of 2007 where I knew hardly anyone. The ultimate program was the first and only group of people that I felt and still feel accepted in. Both men and women from the program took me under their wing and taught me everything I needed to know about frisbee. It didn’t matter that every time I picked a up disc I held it wrong, or that it flew 20 feet in the wrong direction when I threw it. The point is: They were willing to teach me with an open mind and open heart. I had always played sports, but had never found any sport that focused on the love of people and human connection the way ultimate does. Dusty Becker said it correctly in the meeting when he claimed, “Ultimate is a counter-culture.” It really is, and that is exactly what attracted me to it. Ultimate is a sport unlike any other. It is a sport where all people are accepted, where it’s OK to be weird, it’s OK to be a little bit quirky, and it’s OK to play games wearing entirely pink spandex. Since beginning to play ultimate, I have been on the field in a dinosaur costume, I once played a point entirely painted blue, and yes, I’ve played nude (not at Oregon of course). A naked point in ultimate is not unheard of; in fact it’s rather common. Please understand that these young men had no intention of misrepresenting the University of Oregon’s Club Sports program in any way in this incident. I do believe that sometimes it’s hard to distinguish what is right and what is wrong in such a liberal sport, and I feel as though they have learned their lesson.
The decision that has been made will only widen the gap between the men’s ultimate program and Club Sports that the team is working so hard to close. Please reconsider the extremity of the decision to cancel the 2009 men’s ultimate season and reconsider or provide other alternatives.