The heat pounding from the west is little match for the excitement happening across the fields below.
    As the sun slowly sinks, the fields of the Peters Recreation Complex are flowing with running bodies and cheerful shouts. The atmosphere surrounding an evening of Ultimate Frisbee is unlike that of any other sport; it is based solely on the integrity of the athletes and the love of the game.
    During June and July, more than 190 people, including both K-State students and Manhattan community members, registered and played in the Manhattan Ultimate Summer League. Captains then divided these individuals into 10 teams, each designated by a name modeled after the works of Dr. Seuss: Horton Hucks a Who, 7 Hump Wump, Star Bellied Sneetches, Foxes in Soxes.

IT STARTS WITH VARIETY
    The Manhattan Ultimate tradition began in 1998 when Shawn Kokenge, Manhattan resident and founder of the MUSL, became bored with playing his favorite sport against the same competitors.
    “I started playing Ultimate when I moved to Manhattan in [1992]. Every summer, we’d be playing four on four, and I just got tired of playing with the same old people,” Kokenge said. “I got the idea that there are softball leagues — why couldn’t there be an Ultimate league?
    “We just started out with four teams, and everyone had fun, so it slowly built from there.”
    As years passed and the league grew, old players drew in new players, and the Ultimate experience spread like wildfire to accumulate record numbers.
    Megan Crane, senior in English, donned an Irish-green shirt this summer to play for Lorax’s Axes. Encouraged by friends already in the league, she entered into her first real Ultimate experience.
    “I played it some in the past but nothing quite like the caliber of what the Manhattan Summer League is up to,” Crane said. “It was kind of a shock when I started playing because there is so much more strategy [compared to high-school gym class].”
    Strategy was not the only skill the summer Ultimate athletes said they learned.
    Matt Krehbiel, non-degree graduate, acted as captain for the 7 Hump Wumps decked in daisy shirts. Entering his 15th year of playing Ultimate Frisbee, Krehbiel confessed it was an athletic culture shock when he was introduced to such an integrity-based sport.
     “I played football in high school and loved it, but this was completely different,” Krehbiel said. “In most of the sports that you play on the field, the attitude is just to win.
    “The attitude in Ultimate is to play to win, while playing with respect. It was initially a completely different experience.”
    Learning to play a sport in which the very nature is to be competitive is an acquired skill. Ultimate is even devoid of referees and based completely upon the participants’ honor.
    “[Learning to play with integrity] does take a little bit of time,” Krehbiel said. “Some people take longer than others, and some choose to still play in a way similar to other sports. It depends on the person and the atmosphere.”

DEDICATED members
    As long as the integrity exists, players are drawn to the fields. Similarly to the United States Postal Service, those who play Ultimate will come rain, sleet, snow or hail, and Krehbiel admits to having played in all of these conditions.
    He said the only condition that will halt game play is lightning. Unfortunately, lightning put an end to several games at the beginning of the summer.    “It seems like the entire first half of our season was stormed out,” Crane said. “Out of the first four weeks, we only actually played one game, so then we had to move to two-a-days. We were playing two games every Thursday.”
    Even with unpredictable weather patterns, Crane said she enjoyed the relaxed conditions of playing on a club team. For individuals like herself, who are not athletically prone, the atmosphere is perfect, she said. At the end of the season, Crane was even named the most improved player on her team.
    “There were some really fun moments when I would successfully guard someone on defense or make a catch,” Crane said. “Just becoming really successful at pulling off a technique that you’ve practiced [is rewarding].”
    Practice makes perfect. The willingness to run hard and try, no matter what, are skills Kokenge emphasized.
    In the end, it is the willingness of the individual and the integrity of the team that create a community, he said.
    “I feel like Ultimate just has a sense of community about it that I think other sports might not. If you play Ultimate, that’s something special, as opposed to playing soccer or basketball, because those are sports everyone has grown up playing,” he said. “You form a community. Everyone has fun and gets together afterward.”

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