It is the spring rally. The blue section in the stands cheers with thundering voices as the freshmen team becomes the victor in the tug of war. It seems as though they have nothing left to give, yet their shouts become a deafening boom as the Kan Jam competition begins. As members of the Piedmont Ultimate Frisbee team, then-freshmen Marcus Lee and Luke Chan mesmerize the crowd by tossing frisbee after frisbee into bins, rarely missing a shot.
The Piedmont Ultimate Frisbee team, made up of over 40 players, is relatively new, and just gained club team status last year.
Coach Kevin Lee, father to Marcus, said that upperclassmen predominantly from the cross country team formed the ultimate team about two years ago. There was also a middle school team last year, and rising freshmen joined the existing high school team.
Sophomore Sophia Ware, who has also competed in individual sports such as swimming and cross country, said she enjoys the team-oriented aspect of ultimate frisbee.
“People are very encouraging, more than any other sport I’ve seen,” Ware said.
Piedmont’s ultimate players have a wide range of abilities, Kevin said.
“It’s competitive and open to developing players. We’re very much open to beginners coming up and learning the sport, but at the same time we have several skilled players. We had four players from Piedmont play for youth nationals this past August,” he said.
This year, more and more players joined the now solidified team, requiring a major change, Kevin said.
“We did not have any field space to practice, so this year, as the team was growing in size and interest, we merged with Oakland Tech’s high school ultimate team and we are now practicing together three times a week,” Kevin said.
Kevin said that as a club team, it was necessary to consolidate their resources more than a PHS athletics team.
Freshman Sage Mosley said that collaborating with the other high school students introduced their own team to great opportunities and people.
“It’s more diverse and I love having a diverse team,” Mosley said.
Marcus, who has also played PHS soccer, said there are perks to being on a club team than a high school team.
“Being on a team for ultimate, I feel a lot closer to the people I am playing with,” Marcus said. “It doesn’t feel as much of a sport but more like a hobby, something I like to do.”
In the past, Piedmont has struggled to get girls to play on the ultimate team, Kevin said.
“Last year, I was the only girl, and there were 24 boys,” said Mosley, who also played as an eighth grader.
To fix this issue, the team specifically holds Tuesday practices for girls only.
“The Tuesday practice is there to promote the development of the girls, specifically giving them a safe place to learn the sport,” Kevin said.
There are ten to twelve girls on the team, but the Tuesday practices are open to all girls interested, Kevin said.
Kevin also said that Fury, a Bay Area women’s ultimate team that has won nearly a dozen national championships since 1997 according to their website, has shared the field with Piedmont’s girls.
“[Fury] helped support them,” Kevin said.
Going into its second year as a club team, Piedmont players are rapidly preparing for the fall season.
“Leagues are once a week, and those are starting up in a couple weeks so we’ve been practicing for a few weeks now. Tournaments are probably about once a month,” Kevin said.
Typical practices consist of warmups, drills, and scrimmages, Mosley said.
Marcus said that as the team expands and hopefully succeeds in this season’s competitions, he hopes for more high schoolers to join the team.
“We’re very much encouraging people to come try the sport, and we’re open to people reaching out and coming to practices to see what ultimate frisbee is about,” Kevin said.