Savannah has some pretty tasty temptations. It’s very easy to find an extra 15 pounds here in the land of deep fried and sweet everything.
But you don’t want to end up with a tire around your waist. So here’s a great idea to keep fit, meet new people and have fun.
It’s a plastic disc. Wham-O made the first one in 1957. And if you do what the folks in Forsyth Park do with it, a Frisbee just might keep you off a treadmill.
“It’s super heavy cardio,” says Chris Porcheddu, one of the regulars at Ultimate Frisbee three times a week. Ultimate is the “flying disc” sport invented in 1967.
That’s why I love to watch soccer. Ultimate combines soccer’s speed with football’s end zones, basketball’s traveling rule and other quirks to be very popular at the college level.
“I like what it makes you do on the field,” says player Steven Eckart. “There’s a lot of twisting, turning and jumping to try to make a play.” Take that, Zumba!
Another great thing about Ultimate is that other players don’t zing you. Andrew Aarons picked up the sport at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, where he worked as a contractor.
What? No slashing the legs and having a referee decide if the player “got the ball first?” No! And while I’m at it, there’s no referee, either! Ultimate relies on friendly consensus.
“You have to have that base level of respect and spirit to make it work,” says Chris Gwinner, a Savannah native who went from the park to professional play in New York.
Gwinner now lives in Guatemala. But he’s one of several connections between Savannah and pro Ultimate. And, more importantly, he hits on the main reason you should try it.
The people involved are just so friendly. Heck, they’re called the Savannah Ultimate Disc Society, or SUDS. You have to love a group that refers to beer in their official name!
It’s a no attitude zone that’s also co-ed and free. Only a few players go “way back.” And those that do, you want to know, like Kristin Russell, co-owner of the Sentient Bean coffeehouse.
When I went out, SUDS founder Wolf Buckley (you’ll know him) was encouraging new players from the sidelines and chiding a chummy dude inappropriately dressed.
This guy made the only mistake you possibly could make on your newbie Ultimate outing. Just remember to bring a white shirt, a colored shirt or both. That’s how they identify teams.
Your workout won’t seem like a workout if it begins Sunday afternoons at 1:30 or Tuesday and Thursday evenings at six on the Whittaker Street side of the park.
Great coverage of Ultimate game and players. I’d like to hear a follow up interview with Chris from Guatemala. Thanks ever so for the podcast.
You’re welcome. I appreciate the kind words.