Despite an abrupt stop last March, LT’s Co-Ed Ultimate Frisbee team is returning to twice-a-week practices behind the Corral. The official competitive season began in March and ends with a state championship at the end of May, coach Emilee LeDonne said. 

With original club sponsor and science teacher Jim Mshar stepping down in 2017, English teacher Toby Casella stepped up to lead the club. 

“Ultimate is really an equal opportunity sport, in every sense,” LeDonne said. “Every player on the field is critical. Every person has a role to play. The team belongs to everyone. I am the coach, but we really try to have the kids run the show as much as possible.”

Austin Castle ‘21 has been participating in Ultimate Frisbee since eighth grade when one of his middle school coaches started a club for it.

“I needed something to play in my free time to stay active and in shape, so I decided to join ultimate,” Castle said. 

Although a lot of people do not understand the rules of ultimate frisbee, no prior experience is needed to join as the students do a good job teaching each other the game, Drew Blouin ‘21 said. 

Because many students join without prior experience, it is much less intimidating than walking into other sports that people have been doing their whole lives, Ledonne said.

“My role on the team is as a leader on and off the field,” Blouin said. “As a senior, it is important to lead the team the best that I can. That includes helping with new drills and teaching about certain plays and abilities in the game to the younger players.” 

While the team has a good balance between both competition and fun, they are always competing to win another game, Blouin said. 

“The team has grown a lot over the years,” Castle said. “However, our goals for the season are to gain even more experience in the game and continue to get better every day. We are prioritizing working on communicating and strengthening our defense as well as making efficient cuts and throws on offense.”

Practice varies from indoors to outdoors and includes stretches and drills, but the team mainly relies on games to build experience and confidence, Castle said.

This season will be different, as the club will not participate in as many tournaments. Instead, they will mainly play single games every week against eight different schools around the area, Castle said.

“Ultimate players are so welcoming and excited to have new people out,” LeDonne said. “It’s just a great environment and a great group of people to be around.” 

Blouin’s favorite ultimate memory from being on the team was when the team played at the NV invitational tournament and secured a win at the last second. 

“Everyone on the team was excited because it was our first game of the year and all of our hard work at practice had paid off,” Blouin said.  

Despite the decreases in games, the athletes are excited to get to playing games again, Castle’ 21 said. 

“Even though this is my last year at LT, I want to get more people involved in the club,” Castle said. “It’s super laid back, and all about being active and having fun, so everyone should join.”