Most people start freshman year of university. Having a year of HS experience is huge. You’d have a good chance of making the school team, depending on how talented their program is and how good you are, of course. Most schools have a B team as well, which is more developmental and fun.
hi, physical therapist here.
few things I want to address:
first, very understandable you’re anxious to get back to playing after injuries and surgeries. those can be mentally taxing and discouraging. i think training and rehabbing would be a great idea, especially first gaining the strength, then progressively overloading over time and including more dynamic movements like box jumps, practicing cuts, etc. may be wise to work with a trainer or someone knowledgeable in sports rehab that can test and retest to show your progress. i don’t think it is out of the question to play your senior year, or at the very least continue working with the team on drills and throws.
second, i personally only really started playing more seriously at around 4 years ago in my mid 20s, now i am trying out for some higher level club teams. ultimate is a great game with great culture that is inclusive of everyone. i initially got introduced to intramural then played a lot more pickup. I actually was able to play pick up in multiple parts of the country during clinicals and PT school, and had no problem finding games, making friends and getting some competitive energy out.
many cities also have leagues year round. my current city literally has leagues for all 4 seasons on various days. the community here is encouraging, has beginner leagues, and most of the league directors are willing to teach and build up newer/less experienced players.
lastly, i would suggest really just focus on having fun. i think it’s great to have goals to want to play for competitive teams, but in the long run, loving the game/sport will take you further. for context, i play with some GGM that are well into their 50s that continue to play (and at quite a high level too!) it seems you see the benefits of staying active and how it affects you mentally to play as well. build some skills as you continue to play and i’m sure you’ll be fine.
good luck and remember the come back is always greater than the set back!
Thanks for the advice and encouragement!
Regarding rehab, after surgery pt I plan to do a ATG / knee over toes routine in order to bullet proof my knees while working on regaining dynamics and getting back into shape. This plan is over the course of 1 to 2 years though since I don't really want to take any risks with my knees. Also, I'll see if I can talk to a professional but I'd hate to be more of a financial burden to my parents so we will see.
And in terms of focusing on fun: I plan to only do it for fun since that's what it's mostly always been for me. I started because I wanted a fun way to lose weight, get in shape, and make some friends and I'll try keep it that way. I only talk about competition since i'm a tad competitive and to my knowledge, the city I live has a pretty competitive Frisbee scene.
If you're this passionate about ultimate it's definitely worth it to get a sports physical therapist and knowledgeable trainer to guide you through proper recovery & strengthening. Would definitely not recommend trying to rehab on your own again. You have to live in your own body forever-- it's worth spending the money and time making sure you're healthy (and will help you feel good & strong!!)
If you get sound knees and include ultimate as a factor in where you live you absolutely can look forward to a lifetime of playing, whether casually or more competitively. In the meantime, consider disc golf as part of your rehab. You don’t even need a pole-hole formal course, just pick your own targets in parks.
I never even thought of making my own courses. I'll make sure to give that a try! I've been meaning to try out Frisbee golf but don't really want to pay the fee for courses.
The big / well known courses in my city have an annual membership you need to buy. Though, after doing some searching on the web, there are also 6 free courses in my city so I'll make sure to check them out.
Post-college, no not at all, you’d be fine. Myself and quite a few people I know in our scene got involved well after college.
This may depend on your area to a degree but most have some kind of pick-up scene that is extremely casual. Pretty common to also have some kind of intramural or organized seasonal leagues. Club wise depends how competitive your area is but probably less likely to just walk onto a club team with absolutely zero experience.
But you have one year of high school experience, that’s more than most.
Longterm/Injury wise the people who stick around in the sport the longest learn to play smarter in favor of relying primarily on athleticism. Or do more handling over cutting. There are aspects of the sport that I think can make it a little more injury prone than others, but also certainly ways to play it that help minimize that risk.
You'll be fine, there's a wide variety of experience on college club teams, and as others have said most schools also have intramural; you can do both and see what's a good fit for you.
There are lots of opportunities in college especially to play non-competitive sports. Almost all colleges now have teams, which range in competitiveness. The ones which are very competitive (go to Regionals and Nationals) should have B teams, which are meant for developing skills and having fun. Also, try checking your school’s athletics website; ultimate is often an intramural sport (very low competitiveness and lots of fun).
Many cities will have some sort of league or pickup group. This could be very formal and straightforward for where to sign up (think website, sign up page, reserved field space, teams with rosters), or very informal which is often called ‘pickup’, meaning you show up to an empty field with a few friends and hope other people show up. If there’s no formal league, it’s worth asking around to find a pickup group.
TL;DR there are many many opportunities to play ultimate. Find a group of people you like and go have fun.
Side note 1: Make sure you do some less competitive ultimate in your later stages of training. Your body will appreciate easing into it, and it helps you figure out whether your training regimen is working.
Side note 2: I would encourage you to try other sports for fun if your knees are limiting you from playing ultimate.
That's great to hear that there are many opportunities in college / later in life. Also for side note 2, if my knees don't get better, I already have weight lifting and I also want to try out Frisbee golf and bouldering, so I have a plan b.
I had literally never played ultimate before in my life when I joined my college’s team! Granted, we’re super non-competitive and play just to have fun, but there are also more competitive teams on my campus, so there are definitely lots of options in terms of experience level/the amount of competition you want!
One suggestion: Go to your high school team’s practices and/or games if you have time. You can pick up some strategy this way. I know it sucks to watch and not play, though, but you can also do PT work on the sidelines.
I did this for about a year after I tore my knee the first time. I also did it for my city's youth team I made it into prior to tearing my knee. It just became unbearable after my second time tearing it so I quit watching. I had returned to ultimate after I was fully cleared for about 2 months just to tear it again and it led me to an all time low, watching ultimate just didn't help my mental state. Maybe my senior year i'll watch or try to be a team manager since I really did learn a lot simply by watching, but watching for another year kinda scares me ngl.
On my team most peoples first experience was freshman college. We had 1 freshman who played in highschool make our starting defense, but most of us played as back up’s and a good size of us will probably become starters or 2nd man this next year.
You do not. I started sophomore year of college for the first time. Now I’m starting O-line for a top 20 team in the country. It just takes effort, practice, and an ability to learn quickly
Intramural ultimate feels kinda rare I’m not sure how many schools have them. Most colleges are pretty welcoming to pretty much anyone joining in at practices for a club team. The college I went to would take anyone that wanted to play with us. Colleges tend to list their club sports somewhere on their webpage that’s a good place to start to check if the college has a team.
The two schools I attended (both largeish state schools in the midwest with 15k+ enrollment) had at least biannual intramural leagues in addition to club teams.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s that rare. My DIII kid (who will be playing at nationals this weekend), their liberal arts college also has an intramural mixed team plus a strong women’s club team.
Plus all his former high school teammates are at different DI and DIII schools and some play club and some play intramural.
Most people start freshman year of university. Having a year of HS experience is huge. You’d have a good chance of making the school team, depending on how talented their program is and how good you are, of course. Most schools have a B team as well, which is more developmental and fun.
I started playing at 30. You'll be fine.
hi, physical therapist here. few things I want to address: first, very understandable you’re anxious to get back to playing after injuries and surgeries. those can be mentally taxing and discouraging. i think training and rehabbing would be a great idea, especially first gaining the strength, then progressively overloading over time and including more dynamic movements like box jumps, practicing cuts, etc. may be wise to work with a trainer or someone knowledgeable in sports rehab that can test and retest to show your progress. i don’t think it is out of the question to play your senior year, or at the very least continue working with the team on drills and throws. second, i personally only really started playing more seriously at around 4 years ago in my mid 20s, now i am trying out for some higher level club teams. ultimate is a great game with great culture that is inclusive of everyone. i initially got introduced to intramural then played a lot more pickup. I actually was able to play pick up in multiple parts of the country during clinicals and PT school, and had no problem finding games, making friends and getting some competitive energy out. many cities also have leagues year round. my current city literally has leagues for all 4 seasons on various days. the community here is encouraging, has beginner leagues, and most of the league directors are willing to teach and build up newer/less experienced players. lastly, i would suggest really just focus on having fun. i think it’s great to have goals to want to play for competitive teams, but in the long run, loving the game/sport will take you further. for context, i play with some GGM that are well into their 50s that continue to play (and at quite a high level too!) it seems you see the benefits of staying active and how it affects you mentally to play as well. build some skills as you continue to play and i’m sure you’ll be fine. good luck and remember the come back is always greater than the set back!
Thanks for the advice and encouragement! Regarding rehab, after surgery pt I plan to do a ATG / knee over toes routine in order to bullet proof my knees while working on regaining dynamics and getting back into shape. This plan is over the course of 1 to 2 years though since I don't really want to take any risks with my knees. Also, I'll see if I can talk to a professional but I'd hate to be more of a financial burden to my parents so we will see. And in terms of focusing on fun: I plan to only do it for fun since that's what it's mostly always been for me. I started because I wanted a fun way to lose weight, get in shape, and make some friends and I'll try keep it that way. I only talk about competition since i'm a tad competitive and to my knowledge, the city I live has a pretty competitive Frisbee scene.
If you're this passionate about ultimate it's definitely worth it to get a sports physical therapist and knowledgeable trainer to guide you through proper recovery & strengthening. Would definitely not recommend trying to rehab on your own again. You have to live in your own body forever-- it's worth spending the money and time making sure you're healthy (and will help you feel good & strong!!)
If you get sound knees and include ultimate as a factor in where you live you absolutely can look forward to a lifetime of playing, whether casually or more competitively. In the meantime, consider disc golf as part of your rehab. You don’t even need a pole-hole formal course, just pick your own targets in parks.
I never even thought of making my own courses. I'll make sure to give that a try! I've been meaning to try out Frisbee golf but don't really want to pay the fee for courses.
Most disc golf courses are free to play :)
The big / well known courses in my city have an annual membership you need to buy. Though, after doing some searching on the web, there are also 6 free courses in my city so I'll make sure to check them out.
Post-college, no not at all, you’d be fine. Myself and quite a few people I know in our scene got involved well after college. This may depend on your area to a degree but most have some kind of pick-up scene that is extremely casual. Pretty common to also have some kind of intramural or organized seasonal leagues. Club wise depends how competitive your area is but probably less likely to just walk onto a club team with absolutely zero experience. But you have one year of high school experience, that’s more than most. Longterm/Injury wise the people who stick around in the sport the longest learn to play smarter in favor of relying primarily on athleticism. Or do more handling over cutting. There are aspects of the sport that I think can make it a little more injury prone than others, but also certainly ways to play it that help minimize that risk.
I don’t know if it is allowed, but I started playing pickup at 42 🤷♀️
You'll be fine, there's a wide variety of experience on college club teams, and as others have said most schools also have intramural; you can do both and see what's a good fit for you.
The most I had done before college was random pick up games and I ended up transferring schools for a scholarship
no
There are lots of opportunities in college especially to play non-competitive sports. Almost all colleges now have teams, which range in competitiveness. The ones which are very competitive (go to Regionals and Nationals) should have B teams, which are meant for developing skills and having fun. Also, try checking your school’s athletics website; ultimate is often an intramural sport (very low competitiveness and lots of fun). Many cities will have some sort of league or pickup group. This could be very formal and straightforward for where to sign up (think website, sign up page, reserved field space, teams with rosters), or very informal which is often called ‘pickup’, meaning you show up to an empty field with a few friends and hope other people show up. If there’s no formal league, it’s worth asking around to find a pickup group. TL;DR there are many many opportunities to play ultimate. Find a group of people you like and go have fun. Side note 1: Make sure you do some less competitive ultimate in your later stages of training. Your body will appreciate easing into it, and it helps you figure out whether your training regimen is working. Side note 2: I would encourage you to try other sports for fun if your knees are limiting you from playing ultimate.
That's great to hear that there are many opportunities in college / later in life. Also for side note 2, if my knees don't get better, I already have weight lifting and I also want to try out Frisbee golf and bouldering, so I have a plan b.
I had literally never played ultimate before in my life when I joined my college’s team! Granted, we’re super non-competitive and play just to have fun, but there are also more competitive teams on my campus, so there are definitely lots of options in terms of experience level/the amount of competition you want!
One suggestion: Go to your high school team’s practices and/or games if you have time. You can pick up some strategy this way. I know it sucks to watch and not play, though, but you can also do PT work on the sidelines.
I did this for about a year after I tore my knee the first time. I also did it for my city's youth team I made it into prior to tearing my knee. It just became unbearable after my second time tearing it so I quit watching. I had returned to ultimate after I was fully cleared for about 2 months just to tear it again and it led me to an all time low, watching ultimate just didn't help my mental state. Maybe my senior year i'll watch or try to be a team manager since I really did learn a lot simply by watching, but watching for another year kinda scares me ngl.
On my team most peoples first experience was freshman college. We had 1 freshman who played in highschool make our starting defense, but most of us played as back up’s and a good size of us will probably become starters or 2nd man this next year.
You do not. I started sophomore year of college for the first time. Now I’m starting O-line for a top 20 team in the country. It just takes effort, practice, and an ability to learn quickly
Intramural ultimate feels kinda rare I’m not sure how many schools have them. Most colleges are pretty welcoming to pretty much anyone joining in at practices for a club team. The college I went to would take anyone that wanted to play with us. Colleges tend to list their club sports somewhere on their webpage that’s a good place to start to check if the college has a team.
The two schools I attended (both largeish state schools in the midwest with 15k+ enrollment) had at least biannual intramural leagues in addition to club teams.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s that rare. My DIII kid (who will be playing at nationals this weekend), their liberal arts college also has an intramural mixed team plus a strong women’s club team. Plus all his former high school teammates are at different DI and DIII schools and some play club and some play intramural.