As part of the YouLead Initiative, our YouLead Warriors learn about the basics of solar technology (“Playing with Solar”); hiking in nature; community service and they get to partake in fun sports activities – such as Ultimate Frisbee.
Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact team sport that is played on a field that looks a lot like a rugby field – with two end zones, but without the poles. The frisbee gets thrown from one person to the next until the team catches the disc in one of the end zones. That’s a ‘score’.
To be able to throw and run is equally important in Ultimate Frisbee. But the most essential and truly unique element to Ultimate, is the Spirit-Of-The-Game. No referee in recent history has ever governed a game of Ultimate, unlike soccer that always needs a referee. In Ultimate Frisbee, the players on the field control the game and make sure that it is played fairly. Knowing the rules of Ultimate and respecting everyone on the field is every player’s responsibility. Another exciting aspect is that Ultimate gets played not only amongst men or women but also has a mixed division where men and women play together as equal partners.
Ultimate Frisbee has been played in South Africa for many years with the Ultimate Community growing and new teams being established every year. Project 90 by 2030 recognised that Ultimate Frisbee was not only a beneficial physical activity, but also a sport that could teach leadership skills and sportsmanship to young people, and thus entered into a partnership with one of the local frisbee club teams – Catch 22 – in order to teach YouLead Warriors this sport.
Between February and June 2019, the boys and girls of the YouLead team had 4 training sessions with the club members. During this process, they not only learnt how to throw and catch a Frisbee or how to run and apply the rules of the game, but they also fell in love with the sport.
Many of the YouLead players demonstrated excellent skills at the schools tournament on the 20 July – including great team effort and good spirit. Other schools that participated in the tournament were Claremont High School and Michael Oaks Waldorf School. The three teams played a round robin with 5 vs 5 players, and then mixed it up in the end for more game time!
In the end the YouLead team lost all their games against the more experienced schools but they really gave the other teams a run for their money, and everyone had to play their best to succeed. Spectators on the sideline came to witness amazing throws and defence and even a number of dives for the Frisbee. Most impressive were the positive attitudes displayed by players’ at all times and how all players participated in the game. 
