Sociogenesis of Ultimate (Frisbee)

In 1938 at a beach in Santa Montica, CA, Fred Morrison and his wife were offered 25 cents for a pie tin that they were throwing to each other. The pie this tin previously housed cost the couple 5 cents, and, seeing ought but dollar signs, they decided to resell the tins for a profit of 20 cents and a pie (not bad). Eventually Morrison formed a company and registered a trademark by which to call these flying discs: Frisbee. Flying discs have since become a household toy and everybody knows what a Frisbee is.

It wasn't until 1968, however, that the game called Ultimate was created in Maplewood, NJ. Two students of Columbia High School, Joel Silver and Jared Kass, decided to make a game centered around the flight of the Frisbee so they devised some rules similar to football. A point was scored when a player possesses the disc in the opposition's end zone and there was a kickoff to start each possession. Nobody could run with the disc and they were allowed only to pivot on one foot. A team lost possession if they let the disc touch the ground or if a pass was intercepted by the other team.

The game was originally only played by students of Columbia High School. Eventually, a nearby high school started playing, and the first interscholastic game occurred in 1970. By '72, the high schoolers had taken their game to their respective colleges resulting in intercollegiate competitions between Rutgers and Princeton. The game spread across the US and internationally from the mid-70's onward.

The rules originally created by Silver and Kass have remained largely intact. They are general rules: don't run with the disc, possess the disc in the end zone for a point, don't drop the disc. Various organizations have specified certain dimensions such as disc size and weight, field length and width, end zone length, number of players and substitutions.

There was never any uniform for Ultimate. Originally a back yard game, the first game was likely played in the manner of Shirts v.s. Skins. Today, teams generally wear track shorts and matching shirts, but a team can show up in any type of clothing, provided it doesn't confer any unfair advantages.

An event of note for Ultimate is when Wham-O, owner of the Frisbee trademark, released the 80 Mold in 1977. Previously, the available frisbees were flimsy and light, but this new frisbee weighed 165 grams and was sturdier. It was embraced by the Ultimate community and set today's standard for discs.

sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Ultimate_field.svg
http://www.zume-games.com/sites/www.zume-games.com/files/dizk-tough-soft-touch-great-grip-flying-disc-3.jpg
http://ultimatefrisbeeinfo.com/ultimate_frisbee_history
http://www.usaultimate.org/archives/default.aspx

Sport in the US

There are many sports played and watched in the US, but not all are played and watched equally. The three biggest in the US are "-ball" sports: football, baseball, and basketball. These three sports have the largest fanbases, most advertising, highest salaries, and greatest media attention, and, accordingly, bring in the most amount of money. Like most other sports, these three are very similar in spirit. They value winning and fierce competition, they value rivalry and story lines, and they value big personalities.
On game day there is excitement and suspense. Almost as valued as the games themselves are the pregame rituals and parties fans hold. Tailgating, barbecuing, hot wings, burgers and beer. Baggo, touch football, whiffle ball, various sport video games, twenty one. Whether they are at home or at their stadium's parking lot or a bar nearby, everybody likes to prepare for the game in some way. Almost as if the game is ceremonial and the rituals are sacramental preparations, fans treat game day like the sabbath of their religion with their team's victory just a cherry on top. The value of tradition can be reinforced through game day rituals and neighbors with little to talk about can find common fround in their local teams.
In the US, different people measure success in different ways. Many people say a successful athlete is one who makes a lot of money. True, an athlete's sport is their profession and if salary depends on performance than how much money they make should be a good way to measure success. Another measure of success in the US is championship wins. Earning the title of the best in a season is what every player and team strives for each year--it's about those precious metals. Even another way to to measure success is purely by stats. People want to set records and break them, they want to have the highest amount of one stat, or the highest average of all stats. But all these measures can are loosely related in that a successful athlete will usually excel in all those measures. How much a player os paid depends on success, or expected success, which is asserted from how well they've previously done (or their stats).
But what all these measures ultimately depend on is whether or not the player is actually skilled. An extremely skilled player can "bust" and never achieve success, but rarely does an unskilled player achieve greatness. Many people use those measures of success to decide whether a player is good or not without looking at the actual play of the athlete, and that can be unjust to those who despite their great skill never won the big game.

The Sport Ethic

The sport ethic is a value system. It's the criteria which qualify somebody as a "true athlete" or not. There are four beliefs which are commonly thought of to be central to the sport ethic; they are defining factors as to whether somebody identifies, by others and by themselves, as an athlete. It makes clear that sport isn't only about fun, winning or friendship. The four beliefs can extend beyond sports and encourage rigorous personal development in any field.
The first belief is that personal sacrifices must be made for The Game. People with a strong sport ethic put their sport above other interests and make sacrifices to keep it there. They put the needs of their team and sport above their personal needs consistently. The second belief concerns the desire to be distinct--to be recognized for one's performance and to be rewarded or it. With perfection being to highest possible route to distinction, a person striving for distinction tries to climb the pyramid, to push themselves and, in result, push others. The third belief is that risks and pain are completely necessary for sport and that both must be accepted, even welcomed. Integral to sport is challenge, and to bow in the face of challenge is to lose. Athletes in the face of fear, pain or pressure must show courage by standing strong and persevering. The fourth belief can drive a game's development: looking for the greatest of possibilities while rejecting any limits set by others or oneself. This belief is about overcoming one's beliefs about how good they could become and finding new limits (and breaking them)
It's easy to see why most athletes conform to this belief system. While it is very useful and strategic to have these beliefs in sport, this value system is a basic framework around which one can live their life. This system is basic and yet the results it yields can be gratifying and profound. There are some athletes, however, who overconform to these beliefs which can lead to deviance and negative behavior. The authors suggest two reasons for this: the experience of playing in their game can be so exhilarating that their motivation to continue playing is extreme, and the prospect of sponsorship drives them to embody what sponsors look for (hint: sport ethic).
I personally subscribe to the belief that there is no gain without any pain. I don't find any resulting motivation from this belief, however, to pursue painful endeavors with the aim of benefiting; rather I cope with situations I am already in by viewing the hardship or pains as necessary, or even as perfect opportunities to come out on top, a better person. When I exercise, I don't start initially with the thought of going until I can go no more, for this would defuse any motivation preemptively. I rather begin on an easy workout and just do what I can. Then, when I approach breaking point, thoughts about the pain and breaking through it, creep in and drive me further. I try to apply this approach in many aspects of my life, and so far it has been fairly successful.