As the Oberlin defender tipped the Frisbee out of bounds, Daniel Slattery sprinted towards the goal line. The disc began to curve back onto the field, and Slattery dove head first into the back corner of the end zone, snagging the Frisbee mere inches off the ground, giving the University of Akron’s ultimate team a point just before half time.

Several 2011 Revere graduates who began playing ultimate Frisbee at Bath Community Center have advanced to playing ultimate Frisbee on club teams at college, including the University of Akron’s men’s team and The Ohio State University’s women’s team.

Revere graduates Aaron Fassinger and Slattery play ultimate on the University of Akron’s club team, Good Squad Five. Slattery started playing with a group of Revere classmates in the summer before college, along with a few of his brother’s friends. The group quickly grew from fewer than ten members to well over twenty, with members coming to meeting at Bath Community Center at a prearranged time and splitting into “pickup” teams. Slattery described the rules of ultimate Frisbee in depth.

“The official rules for ultimate Frisbee [say that it] is played on a field that is 40 yards wide by 120 yards long. There are two end zones which are 25 yards deep each, so the part of the field that is not the end zones is 70 yards long. The game is played seven versus seven. The objective of the game is to advance your disc into your opposing team’s end zone to score a point. After a point is scored, substitutions can be made. The disc is then thrown off by the team that just scored. Contact rules for Frisbee are just like the rules for basketball. You cannot run with the disc after catching it. You move the disc by throwing it to your teammates. If your teammate drops the disc it is the opposing team’s disc at the spot it was dropped. If the team on defense catches the disc or knocks down the disc, it is now theirs,” Slattery said.

He said that he first became involved with Akron’s ultimate team at Roofest, the Sunday before the start of fall classes where most of the university’s groups set up booths for prospective members. He also noted the challenges of balancing a club sport with college schoolwork.

“I have enjoyed my experiences with playing on a club team. It has provided a great opportunity to go and play competitive Frisbee against other schools. However, it has also been challenging due to the time commitment it creates, especially since tournaments take up your whole weekend. If my course work wasn’t as rigorous as it is, I think I would participate in club Frisbee more,” Slattery said.

Fassinger’s experiences with Frisbee began in elementary school, but he first played ultimate in middle school and started playing seriously with several classmates at Bath Community Center later in high school, in the same group as Slattery. He readily sought out the club team at Bowling Green State University before he transferred to the University of Akron and played for Good Squad Five.

“I had played ultimate at Bowling Green, so when I transferred, I anticipated playing at Akron. I went looking for the club and found it through Daniel Slattery…. Our ref is the ‘spirit of the game,’ meaning there is not referee, and we call our own fouls. We play at fields near colleges, and usually friends and family spectate,” Fassinger said.

Fassinger also said that in his experience, playing club team ultimate can be as time consuming as one wants, depending on the player’s dedication to the sport. He enjoyed the spirit of competing on a club team.

Alanna Dyko, a junior at The Ohio State University, played on the women’s Fever Ultimate team for two years, one of the top women’s teams in the country. She started playing with other Revere students, including Slattery and Fassinger, in the summer prior to starting at OSU.

“I started playing pickup at Bath Community Center the summer before my freshman year of college. It was a great way to hang out with my friends before we all went our separate ways. I basically had zero experience before I started playing, but learned to throw a little just from pickup,” Dyko said.

Once at OSU, Dyko’s roommate encouraged her to try out for the club team. When she made it, Dyko compared the difference between her pickup experience and college level ultimate. She also noted the huge impact the team had on her life.

“[From pickup] I learned how much running there really was in ultimate Frisbee and also how to do some basic throws. Once I was on Fever, the girls were really supportive and happy to show all the ‘rookies’ how to throw the ‘backhand,’ ‘forehand’ and ‘hammer’, and they walked us through all the different formations. College club ultimate and matches were much more intense than I had ever thought, but I always had fun no matter how hard the game or practice,” Dyko said.

She said that Fever Ultimate quickly became her support group, as the team practiced three to four times a week with tournaments usually once every two weeks. Her favorite memories of playing Frisbee include her first trip to the national championships in Boulder, Colorado.

“[Nationals] was an awesome and almost overwhelming experience, seeing so many other people who were passionate about ultimate like I was. We made it all the way to the semifinals, and even though we lost, it was the furthest Ohio State Fever Ultimate had ever gone at that point. It was amazing seeing all our hard work finally pay off and being a part of that experience,” Dyko said.

Even though they now play at the college club level, these Revere graduates still play pickup games at Bath Community Center with their classmates from Revere. All three graduates from Revere’s Class of 2011 have found a niche in playing competitive ultimate Frisbee in college.