Harvard's ultimate frisbee team is still in its infancy. Founded during the fall, it was granted club status by the athletic department during December. During the past month, the team has been practicing up at the Quad field four afternoons a week, running through passing, weaving and blocking drills, and playing practice games.
At some colleges, ultimate frisbee is a much more high-powered affair. At Hampshire College, the four-year old team, recognized as one of the best in the country, has access to the college's airedome nightly for year-round indoor practices.
A confident Brown team arrived at yesterday's match sporting soccer shoes and brown "ultimate frisbee team" jersies. The Brown athletic department has budgeted the team for $500 next year, to help cover travel expenses.
Although recognized by the University as an athletic club, Crimson players believe that the team is not receiving enough support from Harvard athletics. Players have met their own traveling expenses, and during the winter, the team could find no indoor facility for regular practice.
"The athletics department offered us half a basketball court for an hour on Saturday mornings. It wasn't exactly what we had in mind," said Sara Schechner, player-coach of the team and the only female on the squad.
While the game is obviously grueling and intensely competitive for players on the field, Crimson players yesterday stressed the easy-going, "laid-back" nature of the game, citing the fact that ultimate frisbee is a "gentlemen's game," played without official referees.
No Blood and Guts
"I would never like to see it get to the point of the Harvard-Yale football game, when everyone's out there blood-blood, kill-kill," player-coach Shechner said.
One wonders how long ultimate frisbee will be able to retain its easy-going "people's game" status.
This summer, ultimate frisbee stars from colleges across the country will face off in the first East-West ultimate frisbee college all-star game, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Player-coach Lawrence Wiseman said yesterday that he hopes to be able to send a Harvard player to the all-star game.
In the more immediate future, the team will be looking for its first victory next Sunday here against Wesleyan.
At an International Frisbee Association meeting in December, team representatives from across the country unanimously voted to maintain the "no-referee" game rule. The rule seems to work fairly well; violation calls were disputed only four times at yesterday's match.
"Ultimately frisbee is an inherently anti-establishment game," Crimson flinger Russ A. Kaphan said.