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They’re called “The Ninjas.” And they’re serious about what they do.
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Tyler Boehmke catches the frisbee and scores a point for his team, "The Wrath of Mjollner", while Bryan Molitor of the "Rampage", tries to knock it away during their ultimate frisbee game Friday in Winona. Boehmke and Molitor are both students at Winona Senior High who play in the intramural style frisbee league with Boehmke’s team going undefeated for 2 years running. |
“We’re the hardcore team,” said Jordan Frederickson, 18, who did somersaults and kicks with her teammates before they started the game.
The students are part of an Ultimate Frisbee league, Winona Senior High School’s only remaining intramural sports league. Today they’ll play their final games of the season, but a summer league starts soon.
The game, often referred to as ultimate, is a noncontact sport that’s a cross between soccer and football, but played with a flying disc. It has no judge or referee because the sport is played on what often is called the “spirit of the game,” an honor code that allows players to call their own fouls.
Now in its 11th year as a Winona Senior High intramural sport, Ultimate Frisbee started with two students who were interested in starting a league. When the league was announced, about 120 people signed up. The sport includes grades 9 through 12, with one team of students from the Winona Area Learning Center.
And it’s cheap — $5 per student for the season.
Dwayne Voegeli, league supervisor, said the teams are a diverse crowd of students that bring together people who are very involved and in other sports, as well as others who do not participate in any other extracurricular activities.
Many of the students are familiar with the sport, having played it in physical education classes.
Classes aside, they play it for fun with their friends.
Playing games behind Winona Senior High, dozens of students threw discs by the green, bluffs and trees near Lake Winona.
Wearing a T-shirt for the hard-rock band Pantera, Jordan Scott, 17, is part of a team that has won championships two years in a row. They’re called “The Wrath of Mjollner,” named after a hammer used by a mythological thunder god named Thor. He said he likes the camaraderie of ultimate.
Teammate Ethan Kohner, 17, said he’s not involved in any other activities, and looks forward to the sport as his athletic and social outlet. “I wait all year for Frisbee,” Kohner said.
SUMMER LEAGUE
For more information on the summer Ultimate Frisbee league in Winona, call Winona State University assistant sociology professor Todd Paddock at (507) 457-5426 or e-mail him at TPaddock@winona.edu.
Britt Johnsen can be reached at (507) 453-3519 or bjohnsen@winonadailynews.com.
That's Where wrote on Jun 5, 2007 1:28 PM: