Once school has cleared out for the day and the South Lawn appears vacant, one under-recognized team takes the grass.

They arrive in sports attire, equipped with special cleats and dozens of Frisbees. And although they consist of less than 20 players and are not considered an MCAL league school sport, it’s their small numbers that bring the Ultimate Frisbee players together.

The sun begins to dip in the sky as multiple colored disks whiz through the air from player to player, zigzagging in a fast paced manner just above the grass. Although not considered a particularly athletic sport, the players then warm up with a series of stretches, a short jog followed by crunches and pushups – not too unlike many other sports teams – before beginning drills and scrimmages.

“It’s just as athletic as any other sport,” said freshman and first year player Zack Brannan. “People don’t really consider it a sport. It’s the sport that nobody knows about.”

But there is more to Ultimate Frisbee than athleticism. It’s the spirit of the game that makes Ultimate such a unique sport.

“The great thing about it is when we play we always have each others back and because we’re such a great bonded group, we seem to really get along well, which brings a whole new aspect to it,” said senior Matt Walter, who became interested in the sport his freshman year, and has been playing ever since. “People just throw a frisbee because it’s fun but there is a completely different level to it that we have because we play Ultimate Frisbee.”

It can take a while to truly master the sport, but according the Walter, once he joined the team, he received an incredible amount of support and was able to pick up the game relatively quickly.

“The first day they really took me aside and taught me everything – they’re really welcoming,” Walter said. “We really want players because we don’t get a lot of support or have a lot of people wanting to join. If we have more people, then we look like a stronger group. It’s a great way to expose the school and these players to a new thing.”

In a sport where integrity and sportsmanship are founding principles, as well as having a smaller group of dedicated players that must work together, the Ultimate Frisbee team is already pretty close-knit at this point in the year. It is essential for the players to establish a basic sense of trust and security with their teammates so that they can be competitive in tournaments.

“I’ve never once met a Frisbee player that I didn’t like, and I’ve been playing for years,” said senior Luke Garrison, who has participated in Ultimate at Redwood since freshman year. “They’re all really good, nice people.”

The team’s coach, Margaret, was a talented Ultimate player who from Redwood graduated in 2009. She is a Redwood Ultimate Frisbee legacy – her dad, Ron, started the team at Redwood when he was a student in the 1970s. She currently represents the only female on the field during practice this year.

There has typically been a low attendance of girls on our team, although they are always encouraged to play. This is not the norm for high school teams across the state and country according to freshman Jordan Stern, who has been playing on the Redwood team since he was a 7th grader.

“Because [Margaret] is still our age, she still understands us – it’s that nice, same-age connection,” Walter said. “We all think her experience is really helpful, and she is able to teach us a lot of things that we wouldn’t know otherwise.”

The team attends tournaments at least once a month, located everywhere from Oakland and Berkeley to a beach tournament and they always attend the State Championship Tournament somewhere in California.

The majority of the Ultimate Frisbee team members at Redwood participate purely for the enjoyment of the sport. They are incredibly enthusiastic about the game and are happy with its status as a club sport, although they do see some benefits in changing to a school sport, such a being able to use a better field, having a larger team, and getting to compete more often.

Multiple players said that they plan to pursue Ultimate Frisbee further in college.

Practices run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays after school. Anyone is welcome to join, regardless of their skill level.