The San Diego Growlers, a member of the American Ultimate Disc League, play their home opener Saturday against the Seattle Cascades at Balboa Stadium.

The Growlers (1-1) are in their third season and are pushing to reach the playoffs for the first time.

Their sport, Ultimate Frisbee — which in October will be celebrating its 50th year since its inception in a parking lot in Maplewood, N.J. — is in its own fight for legitimacy.

Having battled since its early years to be taken seriously in the U.S. and international market, the sport has made strides in recent years as professional leagues such as the American Ultimate Disc League pop up and the sport gets more exposure, securing broadcast deals with ESPN and the new wave broadcast network Stadium.


The sport was recognized by the IOC in 2015 and, according to Andy Lee, the managing director of marketing, communication and brand at USA Ultimate — the governing body of the sport in the U.S. — Ultimate could be in the Olympics as soon as 2028 in Los Angeles.

But it is still working to shed the label of being a stoner sport.

Although, according to Will Griffin, a part-owner of the Growlers, the sport has already rid itself of that distinction.

“It may have already shed it,” Griffin said. “But people don’t know that yet.”


Ultimate Frisbee and marijuana have been seen for years as being synonymous, and incidents like those at the 2014 Mixed National Tournament, during which a pair of players from Seattle were taken to the hospital for adverse reactions to marijuana-laced brownies they ate after a win, don’t help what is already an uphill battle.

“Something like that certainly reinforces the perceptions that are out there,” Lee said.

“(But) that is an antiquated perception that hasn’t really existed since the 1960s or ’70s. Ultimate (frisbee) is no more interconnected with marijuana than the NFL or NBA.”

Beginning in the same era as the hippie movement, Ultimate is connected at the joint to that counterculture, and at its core, the sport embodies that spirit.


Players self-officiate, basing their calls off of the “Spirit of the Game;” they master and use advanced throws called hammers, scoobers and chicken wings, and, unlike most other team sports, Ultimate boasts a mixed gender division.

But Josiah Reeve, the captain for San Diego State’s club team, the Federalis, said the long-held connection is beginning to dissipate.

“When it started, it was a bunch of dudes, tossing the disc around and getting high,” Reeve said. “I feel like the whole weed-to-Frisbee culture has died down as it’s becoming more legitimate.”

The true distinction in Ultimate may lie in the level of competition.


At its most laid-back level of organized play, and especially at the college level, you will see players lighting up blunts and joints on the sidelines of games and openly smoking during postgame team stretch circles.

“A majority of the teams in college are just messing around,” Reeve said. “But club is a whole different level. … It’s like moving up in any sport. It gets way more intense, and the level of play gets way crazier.”

Ultimate is, at its highest level, a sight to behold.

Highlights of players laying out — the term players use to describe diving for the disc — and making spectacular leaping catches often grace “SportsCenter’s” Top 10 Plays.


But the issue, Griffin said, is that fans and players are getting into the sport too late, or are swayed by their preconceived notions of what Ultimate is.

“We’re in the education business more than anything,” Griffin said. “I run into people a lot who ask me if dogs are on the field or if we play barefoot, who don’t really understand the sport. ... But once you check it out, you see the crazy athleticism.”

Reeve said he didn’t start playing until college, so he has been slow to pick it up.

“I’m in my fifth year now and I feel like I’m just starting to get it now.”


Griffin, who started playing in the early 2000’s when he was still in high school, said Ultimate has the advantage of being a grassroots sport.

“Unlike those other sports we have a real grassroots feel,” Griffin said. “We’ve been doing clinics at middle schools and high schools. … you’re starting to see growth.”

It is certainly becoming more popular: In the U.S.; there are over 60,000 players registered with organized teams, according to Lee, and one state, Vermont, approved it as an official varsity sport last year.

Griffin said the sport is just beginning to develop its base.


“Kids want something with a little more style, and Ultimate definitely has that flair,” Griffin said. “As I get older, it’s (hopefully) something my kids will play.”

It is those same kids that may be the first generation of Ultimate players in the Olympics.

What a 60th anniversary present that would be.


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Engberg is a Union-Tribune intern.