On Saturday, Jan. 13 the beaches of Santa Monica exploded with Frisbees being thrown, spirit abounding, and players dressing up in different costumes to represent their team. This was not some kind of alien beach party invasion, it was beach ultimate Frisbee.

For the uninitiated, ultimate Frisbee is a sport where players receive a Frisbee off an initial throw (or pull) from the other team, and then work the Frisbee up-field by throwing the disk to their teammates. 

Those teammates are then tasked with catching the Frisbee, stopping, then throwing the Frisbee to other teammates until someone catches it in the end zone to score. If the Frisbee touches a single grain of sand or blade of grass it is a turnover, and the other team gets a chance to do the same towards their goal. 

Beach ultimate differs from garden variety ultimate only in that the field is smaller, it has five players on the field per team, and takes place on, you guessed it … the beach. 

Beach ultimate and ultimate Frisbee in general is different from many other sports in the way that it is a self-refereed sport. Central to ultimate Frisbee is what is called “Spirit of the Game” which governs this self-refereeing aspect. “Spirit of the Game” (often referred to simply as spirit), goes beyond simply having integrity when making calls on the field – it also extends to being spirited before and after the game. 

My beach Frisbee team, “D’s From The Depths” – Portland’s primer sea monster adjacent, beach ultimate team showed up to be the most spirited team on the beach that day. A goal we succeeded in being ranked second out of 80 teams in spirit. Rankings are based on spirit scores that every team fills out after a game.

To D’s from the Depths this means being an inclusive team that accepts and supports people of all genders, sexualities, and races. We also strive to just have fun playing against every team we play. We play spirit games after every match where we have the other team look for buried treasure in the sand while the “sea monsters” distract them with pool noodles.

We also met some amazing teams from all across the country. One team that stood out was Ultimate Peace which is an “International, non-profit, youth, peace building ultimate Frisbee program.” The team hosts camps in North America, Israel, and Palestine. 

The team hosts a camp where youth members bond through the “Spirit of the Game”, and play ultimate together. “Spirit of the Game” asks that players put aside all their differences so that they can communicate and self-referee the game. 

Without mutual respect, the game of ultimate falls apart. This is what makes ultimate and “Spirit of the Game” such a great medium for communities to heal – everyone must work together and put their differences aside to play the game they love.

Beach ultimate is, in my opinion, the penultimate form of ultimate. It takes the best aspects of ultimate (Spirit, diving for the Frisbee, and making incredible plays) and cranks them all up to 11. 

Dives (or as they are referred to in ultimate Frisbee, bids) are easier and more plentiful because of the soft sand. Spirit is generally better because the environment is all about having fun. 

Injuries are also much rarer because of the lighter impact the sand has on your body compared to the grass field of ultimate Frisbee. I know grandmaster teams that have players that are still playing beach ultimate Frisbee in their 50s and 60s. There are even great-grandmasters divisions where the minimum age to play is 50.

Ultimate is a sport that will bring people together that never would have otherwise met. It makes them work together and it can make you some life-long friends. It offers you a community of supportive and friendly people.

Ultimate can give you so much and all it asks is you give it the respect it deserves through the “Spirit of The Game”.

If you are interested in beach ultimate there is a recurring summer pickup game at Golden Gardens. There is also an annual beach tournament called “Sea Plastic” in Ocean Shores Wash.