Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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Frisbee and Hacky Sack ' ultimate ' games it means different things to different people. While some may find the wrist action of tipping a cold Coors stimulating enough, ot hers devote leisure time to developing skills in games of challenge and finesse. Games that became popular on the campus are !kicky Sack, Frisbee Golf and Ultimate. Hacky Sack is played with a small leathery sack filled with beans and became popular in many residence halls. The object is simple in theory. All that is required is to keep the sack in the air by using any part of the body but the hands. In practice the game looks like a twisting torture for flying arms and legs. The game does not require any special talent, just limber people, Charlie Ray, sophomore in computer science, said. Larkin ' — Dave McNaghten. junior in archictecture shows his skill with the Hacky Sack ball. The game makes for limber limbs. as players attempt to defy gravity to keep the ball In flight. SOJII Looking for an out — Brad Loucks. senior in milling science. searches for a teammate. then sneaks the Frisbee past guard John Steeves. junior in pre-veterinary medicine during a game of Ultimate. 18 games

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According to Ray. the game calls for agility and coordination and is now being used in other sports as a warm-up exercise. We like to warm-up with a game of Hacky Sack before we play Ultimate. David Zentz, senior in marketing, said. It loosens up the muscles and puts you In better condition to play. Developed in 1968 by Joel Silver and Buzzy Hellring, of New Jersey, Ultimate is a Frisbee sport that requires running as well as catching and throwing skills. At K-State students get together for a friendly game only to discover that the pain of twisting limbs is overlooked in the midst of competition. The game can get pretty intense at times. laughed Mark Styles, senior in biology. It ' s a lot like soccer or basketball in that it can be real hard on the body. Members of the K-State Flying Disc Liberation Army are well acquainted with sore joints and even occasional knee surgery, but despite these, they continue to support their sport. According to Zentz, the club started informally with friends calling each other to start a game when they had free time. After being kicked off their playing field at the Old Stadium, however, they decided to become affiliated with the University. We used to play on the field where the band practiced. but we got kicked off that too, Zentz said. Now that the club is registered with the University, it is allowed to play by checking out the stadium for a certain amount of time. We don ' t get to play that often, so when we manage to find time when all of us aren ' t busy we go for a game, he said. In a typical game of Ultimate, the object is to gain points by scoring goals. It is similiar to football because it is played on a field that Is approximately the same size, but no contact is allowed. The frisbee may only be passed, and a goal is scored when a player successfully passes the disc to a teammate in the end zone which that team is attacking. With seven members on each team all scrambling to gain control of the same object, play becomes fast and furious. It ' s like any other game, how good you are depends on how much you play. It takes practice, Zentz said. While the KState members play primarily for enjoyment, they also enter tournaments and competitions with teams from other areas. It ' s a lot more involved than you would think. Styles said. The half dozen teams that qualify for nationals are very serious about their game. Each team t rys to psych out the opposing team by developing Interesting defensive and offensive strategies, he said. Styles played Ultimate when he lived in California and found enthusiasts to be even more zealous there. It ' s amazing, for some guys it ' s like a job. People get to the point where they really devote a lot of time and energy to It, he said. When members of the K-State club travel to tournaments the money must come from their own pockets. Entry fees for e ach team can be anywhere from 330 to S50 and if many teams are represented, Incentive Increases accordingly. Styles said. We recently went to Springfield. Mo., for an Invitational, Styles said. We weren ' t taking things seriously — just going mainly to have some fun but we made $225. For Frisbee enthusiasts more interested in developing the individual aspect of the sport, there is Frisbee golf. According to Styles this is one of the highest paying Frisbee sports because there is a professional disc golf association. A 14-hole golf course is located on the K-State campus but players are careful to play when it isn ' t crowded with students going to class. We made a map of the course for Rec service to distribute so that people would know where we were playing, Styles said. We try to stay on the edges of the campus because not too many people appreciate getting a frisbee thrown in their face. 1E21 by Sharon Riley