Ultimate Frisbee at 3,500m? Sure, why not!

The past two Sundays, I have ventured to the Zona Sur – an area in the southern part of the city to partake in Ultimate Frisbee (or Ultimate, or Ulti) with the Alti Chasquis team. The Alti Chasquis were formed just over a year ago by a couple of Canadians and an American who were keen on keeping up with one of their favourite activities. Since then, another team of primarily Bolivians has formed and new members are always joining.

For anyone not familiar with Ulti, it is a game played with 2 teams of 7 (or fewer) players on the field whose goal is to mark a point by passing the disc between members of their team until reaching the end zone. For more details on Ulti, Wikipedia has a great overview here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_%28sport%29

For more news on Ulti in Bolivia, check out this article (page 27) that was recently published in the Montreal Ultimate magazine "Le Discours" – but be warned, c’est en francais so be sure to either dust off those French skills or find a friend in Google translate!
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1zfre/Discoursdition2012/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffree.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F634529%2FDiscours---dition-2012

What has been interesting for me is that after spending most of last summer catching friends’ Ulti games and tournaments, I never did get into playing the sport but now that I am in a country where sprinting (let alone running) can be a challenge for me, I have been out practicing drills and learning how to play. Sometimes it just takes a whole new place to really get you out of your comfort zone – and perhaps it’s just yearning for some kind of cardio as I long for my bicycle...

And so, if any of you find your way to Bolivia (or any of the other countries with Ulti teams) and would like to play some Ulti, be sure to seek these teams out; more than likely you will be able to find them on Facebook!




Photos:
1) Cecilia arriving in style to another day of Ulti;
2) The field in La Paz.