2024 Fall Youth Clinic (10 weeks)

Dates: Saturdays, September 7 - November 9, 2024

Time: 10:00-11:30 AM

Likely Location: Parkway Central Middle School

(grass fields behind the school)

Cost: $20

Ready to register? ➡️ the link will be posted soon!

Questions? ➡️ tim.dorsch@cru.org or 314-518-7363

Level of play: All skill levels are encouraged to play

Fall Youth Ultimate is open to all 4th to 9th graders. You'll have a blast even if you've never thrown an Ultimate disc! Each week, we'll play Ultimate and use fun activities to grow as players. We may also split up by skill level. Join us! Bring water and cleats if you have them. Registration note: Make sure to register the player (not the parent/guardian). To get to the fields, use the road on the north side of the middle school, go to the back, and then take the sidewalk up the hill.

Our vision is to help kids develop as people, have fun, and learn the sport. For those kids who really enjoy Ultimate, our hope is that doing this will enable them to participate in Ultimate as a "real sport" (which it is) both now and in the future. Perhaps they will fall in love with it and consider playing it in high school, college, and beyond. 

Youth Ultimate is coordinated by me (Tim Dorsch) and Jonathan Gunasingham. We also help coach the Parkway United Ultimate high school teams. The teams are open to all high schoolers (some middle schoolers also play) regardless of their experience. Our teams serve as Parkway’s teams and are also open to all students who aren't already enrolled in a high school that has an ultimate team.

New to the sport?

Ultimate is straightforward but challenging, fast-paced, and tremendously fun—and that’s why those who play it often get hooked! To a new observer, there are many familiar elements from other sports: scoring in the end zones (like football), the flow of the game (like soccer), and advancing the disc by passing rather than running with it (like basketball, minus the dribbling). I have and do enjoy many different sports, but my favorite sport to play is Ultimate. 

St. Louis has a thriving Ultimate community with a 24-team high school league, traveling club teams, and leagues that run all year long (for example, there are four summer leagues with players aged 13 to 60+). In the future, St. Louis (like some other U.S. cities) will have a league specifically for elementary and middle school players.

Want even more details?

1. Recommended equipment

   • We will have some extra discs on hand, but if your player enjoys ultimate, I recommend buying a good ultimate frisbee disc. For $10-$15 at Academy Sports or Amazon, you can buy a Discraft Ultra-Star (“Discraft 175 Gram Ultra Star Sport Disc White”) rather than the Wham-O brand that you'll find in Target. The former is a higher-quality disc that is used in games and costs the same as the latter. (We recommend white since you’ll get used to looking for the color that’s usually used in games.)

   • Cleats help but are not required. I recommend lacrosse or soccer cleats, but football cleats also work.

2. Invite your friends! 

3. Although I don’t recommend unsupervised YouTube watching for younger kids, watching some Ultimate videos together can be fun! I put together this playlist of videos for our high school team, which range from mastering basic skills to more advanced techniques and strategies. The former would be potentially helpful whereas the latter would be more helpful at the high school level and beyond. My older boys love watching these videos with me to learn new things. There are also some fun highlight videos. If I had to pick one video that shows a young player what Ultimate can look like—even at the youth level, I’d pick this one: highlights from the annual World Junior Ultimate Championships where the world's best Under-20 players compete for their countries (this one was held in Poland).

4. Here’s a Spectator’s Guide that our high school teams use. It includes “Ultimate in 10 Simple Rules,” which is sufficient to get going. If you like details, go here for more about rules.

5. A brief word about me: I’ve been super-happily married to Aubrey for over 20 years, and we have five sons ranging in age from 18 to 10—and they all love Ultimate! I’m a Wash U and Covenant Seminary grad, and both Aubrey and I work with Cru City.

6. Lastly, Ten Things To Love About Ultimate Frisbee!

1. Most importantly, it's a lot of fun! That's the main reason it has taken off at colleges (and now high schools).

2. The fast pace and flow of the game make it a great team sport.

3. It's relatively easy to learn compared to other sports.

4. It helps players be in good physical shape without being super-taxing to the body.

5. It's safe. The non-contact nature makes it a safe sport for players of all ages, sizes, and abilities.

6. Sportsmanship is a super-high priority at all levels. For example, at the high school level, both teams circle up and complement each other about specific things.

7. It's self-refereed at all levels except the professional level; this teaches maturity in competitive situations.

8. It's affordable! A disc costs about ten bucks. Cleats are a good idea. Not much equipment beyond that.

9. It's a lifetime sport. These days, most young people play it at least a little by college-age, and it’s common to see players in their fifties.

10. The sport is growing! There are 24 St. Louis high school teams (co-ed, men's & women's), and many universities have official teams. It is an official Olympics-recognized sport and is being considered for inclusion in the Olympics.