ALCI HOME


PROGRAMS


HOW TO APPLY


CALENDAR & COSTS


HOUSING


TRANSPORTATION


STUDENT SERVICES


STUDENT LIFE


CHICO AREA


CSU, CHICO


FAQs


HELPFUL LINKS


CONTACT US

Want updated ALCI news? Join our mailing list.

Ultimate Frisbee to play in Regionals
By: Colin Thompson, The Orion Online

Ultimate Frisbee has been a club sport on and off at Chico State for decades, embodying an odd sort of camaraderie among the players.

The games are self-officiated. The Chico State ultimate Frisbee team plays out of uniform in a variety of muddy shirts. The team members house visiting teams.

At the end of a recent tournament, the team had a winning record, securing a position in the top five and a trip to Canada for the regional finals.

Collin Biondo, one of the team captains and a fourth-year veteran, said the team is young, with only about eight veterans. The team conditions and practices twice a week and has tournaments on the weekends.

The official matches are all tournaments. With the size of the school and expenses involved for all the schools, the costs are deferred a bit, Biondo said.

The team never stays in hotels.

"We either find a place to stay," Biondo said. "Or we find a place to stay. We always bring sleeping bags."

The games feel more relaxed than most of the other sports at Chico. The sport is becoming more competitive though, said Kyle Harper, another of the team's captains.

Biondo said the West Coast has some of the best teams. Stanford and Oregon State University are probably the two top college teams in the nation.

The higher competition is good and bad, Harper said. Some of the new teams only have seven or nine players, and half of the teams that came to the tournament will not go on to regionals he said.

"On the sideline it's friendly, but on the field it's very competitive," Biondo said. "There's no joking around on the field."

But the sport holds onto its more laid-back elements. The games are self-officiated with players making rule calls as they come up.

"It's on your conscience to make it a clean game," Harper said. "As long as people are abiding to the spirit of the game, it's pretty clean."

Michael Jasinski, a first-year player, doesn't remember how he came to play. He plays soccer and water polo as well, though not competitively. He plans to stay on the team, because he enjoys how the players and fans get into the games, he said.

Jeff Croshal is new to the team as well this semester, having been drawn into the sport after stopping by the team's booth.

"I didn't know about it before I came out," Croshal said.

"I've heard stories that guys on the team, the veterans, when the season starts up again, if somebody doesn't show up, they'll hunt them down," Croshal said.

Biondo denied this.

"When a new year starts and an older player leaves, there's not a lot you can do. You talk to them and hope they come back," Biondo said. "But you're still friends. A lot of people get burned out on the competitive aspect."

Harper said it was about half and half for players staying. This is a good thing for the future of ultimate at Chico he said.

Aram Novosel learned about the team from friends, he plans to stay on the team as most of the new players chose to.

"It's serious but at the same time, it's never really relaxed," Novosel said. "It's such a different community and culture then any other sport."

Colin Thompson can be reached at cthompson@orion-online.net