Sports > October 16, 2008

By Phillip Brame | Staff writer

Take a walk on almost any college campus in America and you are bound to find ultimate Frisbee being played in some form or another. At Wake Forest, ultimate Frisbee is one of the numerous club sports on campus.

The team goes by W.O.M.B, which stands for Well Oiled Machined Baby.

The men’s Frisbee team recently placed fourth in a tournament at Elon University. The team’s upcoming schedule includes tournaments in Raleigh at N.C. State as well as a trip to Boone for a tournament hosted by Appalachian State University.

During the spring season the team plans to compete in about five or six tournaments at various locations in the southeast.

The team president is senior Mick Gier and seniors Christopher Cosgrove and Jake Wright are the team’s co-captains.

Sophomore John Malloy says W.O.M.B. is heavily reliant on its upperclassmen.

“Our biggest strength this year is returning almost every player from last year. Only one senior graduated,” Malloy said. “The core of the team consists of about nine or 10 current seniors who have had a large amount of playing time the past three years.”

“In addition to this, we have a good group of sophomores and juniors as well as a couple quite good freshmen who have joined the team which helps with our depth.”

For those unfamiliar with ultimate Frisbee, the sport relies on a mixture of football, soccer and of course Frisbee elements.

The standard ultimate Frisbee field is 120 yards by 40 yards with end zones 25 yards deep. Each team fields seven players, and the Frisbee is advanced down the field by only the passing of the Frisbee.

Once a player catches the Frisbee he or she cannot take steps, only pivot as in basketball. Similar to soccer, the changes of possession, no matter where they occur on the field, are crucial to a team’s success.

The game at first appears simple but, as Malloy explains, has evolved to the point where teams employ set defenses and offensive schemes that are tailored to fit personnel as in most team sports.

Any student is welcome to join the Frisbee team and Malloy encourages anyone who has not done so, to do so quickly.

“If someone would like to get involved still, I suggest they do so soon because as the year progresses, the new members learn the offenses and defenses and by late fall and early spring for sure, any new additions would be behind,” Malloy said.

Last year the Deacons fell in sectionals and have a goal of making it to regionals this year.

“It would be a really big step for our program to make it to regionals and I definitely think we have the talent to do it,” Malloy said.

“With rigorous practice I think we can put together a team that can compete with bigger, more intense programs than ours that traditionally advance further.”

Last year the women’s ultimate Frisbee team, RUCKUS, made it all the way to Nationals in Denver, Co.