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The identified flying objects being tossed across Lorenzen Field in Larchmont this week are Layout Ultimate Camp Frisbees, and the hands sending them into motion belong to Mamaroneck high alumni Rob Hanley, Charlie Roberts and Jon Morgenstern, founders of the Camp.
Layout Ultimate Camp was founded this year by Hanley, Roberts and Morgenstern, who are currently the captains of the Ultimate Frisbee teams at Lehigh University, Middlebury College and Williams College respectively. The camp will focus on the fundamentals of throwing, catching, and cutting and is open to all ages beginning at age 12.
Interest has grown significantly since I started playing just four years ago, Roberts said. In the past two years, USA Ultimate, the governing body of Ultimate in America, has added a Division III to the college level. More and more teams are forming at both the college and club levels.
Roberts said the sport is now producing more and more college players who have experience at the high school level. Along with the regular camp, LUC is also running CUT (College Ultimate Training) for players ages 16 and older who are interested in playing Ultimate at collegiate and club levels. The program will be held at on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM and will be run like a college-level Ultimate team practice.
As a captain of a college team, it's incredible to see the dramatic increase in the number of athletes who begin college having played competitively in high school, Roberts said. Only one of the nine players in my class had played in high school. This year's freshman class had six athletes who had played in high school.
Hanley loves the physical demands of the sport as well as the comradry he has experienced worldwide.
"I traveled abroad in Shanghai and was extremely impressed by the quality of the people playing in my league, Hanley said. Just like in the U.S., Ultimate players are unbelievably welcoming, friendly people. Of course, I thoroughly love the challenge of the sport too."
According to Roberts, in order to play Ultimate at a truly high level, players need to hone a number of skills. Great players can throw discs in countless ways, from a variety of release points and at all sorts of different angles. Catching is also a skill (as opposed to a talent) often overlooked. Field awareness is as crucial as it would be in any other sport.
Ultimate is a phenomenal workout, Roberts said. It demands both endurance and explosiveness. Players are endlessly sprinting, cutting, shuffling and jumping. It's a great combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
To train for Ultimate, players often actively lift weights, run track workouts, and perform plyometric exercises in order to be as fast and strong as possible.
"It's been a real trip watching ultimate take off in recent years, Morgenstern said. The growth not only in the sport's numbers, but in complexity of strategy and media coverage is unprecedented, and I cannot wait to see where the sport heads in the next few years. It's an exciting time to be playing ultimate."
Those interested in the Layout Ultimate Camp may log on at www.layoutultimate.com or like us at http://www.facebook.com/layoutultimate or email questions to info@layoutultimate.com.
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