There’s nothing like a throwing around a Frisbee on a nice summer day at the park. Isn’t that what makes the activity of “ultimate Frisbee,”  or just simply “ultimate,” so alluring?

“People are stuck in the idea of a dog on a beach when they hear ‘Frisbee,’” Mark Lloyd, ultimate player and next year’s co-captain for Western’s team, said.

So, ultimate is more than just throwing around a Frisbee?

“After running around for an hour or more, or getting torched by a nice strike deep into the end zone, or laying out for that perfectly led throw, [you will] know both the fitness required and the strategy developed to play competitively,” Campus Recreation manager Gareth Cunningham, another ultimate player, said.

To the uninitiated, ultimate appears to be nothing more than catching a frisbee. But to players, it’s a competition requiring an immense amount of athletic ability and dedication — an activity viewed not only as a sport, but as a lifestyle.

Previously known as ultimate Frisbee, the game is played in over 80 countries and is one of the fastest growing sports in North America.

“I have played a multitude of sports, [and] ultimate blows every other sport away in terms of the atmosphere,” Jordan Meron, a member of Canada’s under-23 women’s ultimate team, said. “You can play on a team for a week and feel comfortable with each and every person.”

However, ultimate faces an uphill battle in its quest to be viewed alongside more recognized sports. Players insist the problem doesn’t lie with the sport itself, but with the lack of awareness about it.

“All of the people who don’t think that ultimate is a real sport just don’t know enough about it,” Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, a second-year student in media, information and technoculture, said. “Ultimate is growing, and as players we’re all ambassadors for the sport and we do our best to make people aware.” Mertins-Kirkwood will co-captain alongside Lloyd next year on Western’s team, the Sharks.

So how is this sport played?

To start, ultimate is a non-contact team sport. The game is played seven-on-seven, with the object of the game requiring the movement of the disc downfield until it is caught in the opposing team’s end zone. Possession of the disc switches if the disc is caught out of bounds, intercepted or touches the ground. Once the disc is caught, the player has 10 seconds to pass it to another team member.

According to Mertins-Kirkwood, teamwork is absolutely essential to succeed.

“Once you catch the disc and establish a pivot foot you can’t lift that foot until you’ve passed the disc, so one player can’t dominate the game in the same way an ‘Ovechkin’ or a ‘LeBron’ can carry it end-to-end.”

The rules are relatively simple and since the only equipment needed is a pair of cleats, ultimate is a relatively budget-friendly sport to get involved in. Plus, with proponents of the sport claiming it combines the best elements of soccer, basketball, volleyball and football, ultimate creates a new hybrid sport that immediately hooks players.

“When I started playing ultimate in grade nine I knew almost right away that this was my sport and I haven’t really looked back,” Mertins-Kirkwood said.

A frequent criticism of ultimate is its lack of referees, with the sport instead relying on putting the integrity of the game into players’ hands — the “spirit of the game” as it’s known in the inner circles of ultimate.

“Since there is no officiating in ultimate, players need to be honest about their calls on both offence and defense,” Meron said. “In my opinion, ‘spirit of the game’ is just another word for good sportsmanship.”

At Western, ultimate has established itself in both recreational and competitive divisions. According to Cunningham, intramural ultimate is offered in both the summer and fall terms. Each year sees up to 70 teams registered, amounting to around 850 participants.

“For at least the past five years, [it] has been a very popular intramural sport opportunity at Western Campus Recreation,” Cunningham said. “I believe the popularity is here to stay, and in fact will only grow over the years.”

Recently, the Western Sharks men’s team was a dominant force at the intercollegiate level, winning the 2009 Canadian Eastern University Ultimate Championships and placing second at the Canadian University Ultimate Championships.

But at a university  like Western, where varsity sports like football and hockey dominate the campus, ultimate remains stuck in the shadows, unable to escape the social and cultural biases preventing it from being considered a “real sport.”

“Anyone who has ever played ultimate at a higher level will immediately try to defend ultimate’s legitimacy as a sport seeing as they know the athletic ability needed to compete and succeed,” Lloyd said.

Mertins-Kirkwood agreed the best way to defend ultimate’s legitimacy isn’t by pulling out a rulebook or by reciting the history of the Frisbee. Instead, they invite all the doubters to come out and watch a game.

“If you take any of those people and make them watch a high level game of ultimate, they’ll immediately reconsider their position,” Mertins-Kirkwood said.

Ultimate has a long way to go before it joins the ranks of the ‘Big Four’ in the sporting world. But thanks to positive strides, it’s possible that ultimate will one day receive the same amount of respect given to more established sports.

“Everything that it takes to play a sport like hockey or soccer is also needed to play ultimate, and people are beginning to see that,” Meron said. “If you look back at where the sport was 10 and 20 years ago, you would be blown away by the progress it has made.”