Frisbee is often thought of as little more than a hobby, but at the University, it’s a way of life for some dedicated students.

“It’s like our life here. The times we aren’t practicing or going to tournaments, we’re hanging out with guys from the team,” said Rob Herrig, a senior from Decatur and co-captain of the University’s club Ultimate Frisbee A team.

Ultimate Frisbee is quickly gaining recognition and popularity across the country. Peter Dempsey, co-captain and president of the club Ultimate Frisbee A team, said teams are becoming more athletic, and there is even a push to get the sport into the Olympics.

“Ultimate [Frisbee] is every bit as competitive and exciting as any other sport,” Dempsey, a senior from Mobile, Ala., said. “Athletes are sometimes turned off because they don’t think it’s a legitimate sport, but it’s not a hobby at all – it’s a serious sport.”

The University has two two Ultimate leagues – the fall league, comprised of eight intramural teams, and the spring league. Fall league is open to players of all skill levels, and serves as a tool to help recruit players for the spring league.

“Fall league is really laid back. It’s a way for us to stay in shape and find new players for the spring,” Herrig said. “It’s also a good way for people who have never played before to come out and learn.”

The spring league is divided into teams based on skill level. The A team, which Dempsey and Herrig co-captain, is the most experienced. In the fall players from the A team serve as captains for the intramural teams, so each team has experienced players to help teach new players the skills and rules of the game.

The team gets minimal funding from the school since it is a club sport. Dempsey said the money from usually only covers the team’s tournament entry fees.

“The team travels a lot – we went as far as California last year, but we paid a lot of it on our own,” Herrig said. “We travel in our own cars and pay out of pocket for food and gas, so money-wise it’s a big commitment.”

To help with their expenses last year, the team held percentage nights and participated in a letter-writing campaign.

“We focused a lot on fundraising last year and started this year with more money than we would have otherwise, so we want to keep an emphasis on fundraising this year,” Dempsey said. “We also want to get the team involved with community service projects this year,” he said. “We’re thinking about setting up Ultimate clinics in local schools to teach kids the basics of the game.”

Dempsey and Herrig have high goals for the team this year – including winning nationals.

He said the team made it to nationals in the past, but is yet to win.

“The program is on a high enough level now for that to be realistic,” he said.