Ultimate Encounter

The St. Cloud Encounter, the SCSU Men’s Ultimate Frisbee club team just wrapped up their outdoor season last weekend and they did it in successful fashion.

“We ended up third in the tournament out of like 32 teams. We played really well; we moved the disc around really well,” said Kyle Ward, one of the Encounter’s cocaptains.

This year has been a rebuilding year for the team and with a lot of new talent the team has not been at the level they want to be.

“We’ve been doing a lot better than last year, but we still have things we can work on, to continue to improve, but overall I think we’ve been pretty good,” Ward said.

His co-captain agrees.

“We haven’t been overall that good, but were showing tons of improvement from the beginning of the year,” said Matt Banks, Ward’s cocaptain.

The two co-captains are roommates and joined the Encounter last year.

“It was something that I did in high school, just messed around with friends. [I] found out there was a team here in St. Cloud, and me and my roommate went and tried it to see how it was, after that we were kind of hooked on it. Now we’re both captains of the team,” Banks explained.

Ward provides a different explanation of how the pair joined the Encounter.

“Me and my roommate were just throwing around a frisbee and the captain of the team last year came and talked to us and told us there was a team. We went to practice and just stayed there,” Ward said.

Now that the outdoor season is complete, the cold Minnesota weather will force the team indoors.

“I like the indoor season better, probably because there is less people on the field,” Ward said. “I like playing indoor because there is no wind, I can play in the wind, but I don’t really like to, I prefer no wind.”

The indoor version of ultimate frisbee consists of teams of five, where as the outdoor version usually uses seven.

Banks disagrees with Ward on the preference of the indoor versus the outdoor season.

“I would have to say outdoor, its way better to play on grass than on gym floors and stuff,” Banks said.

The sport is still around, because of its appeal and the atmosphere it provides, the duo said.

“It’s nice to have something to be involved in while in school. It’s always fun, it’s a great way to stay active and have a good time with people,” Banks said.

Ultimate frisbee is a recognized club sport by SCSU, much like rugby, la crosse and rowing.

“It’s appealing because it’s a sport, but it’s not a St. Cloud sport it’s a club sport. You don’t have to pay to sign up; you can just show up and be on the team. We take it seriously, but at the same time a lot of people are there and we have a lot of fun,” Ward said.