Wednesday, Aug. 04, 2010

Ultimate Frisbee team performs on world stage

Becky LeDonne admits she moved from Chicago to Raleigh four years ago to play Ultimate Frisbee, and if a move like that doesn't mean she loves her sport, then there's not much more she can do to prove it.

LeDonne and her women's team, Backhoe, returned home from Prague, Czech Republic, last month after finishing ninth in the women's division of the 2010 World Flying Disc Federation World Ultimate Club Championships. They received nothing more than bragging rights for their efforts, but that's reward enough for a feisty team with an odd name.

The team's website answers the burning question.

"How did we ever pick the name Backhoe? Frustrated with names that didn't stick, team members decided to commit to the name that came with the most success at a tournament," the website explains.

The team played tournaments using different names, chosen at random, until they won while playing under the moniker "Backhoe." The name stuck. The team has been together 13 years.

"Most people think anything having to do with Frisbees involves a dog," LeDonne said. "But I wear cleats and play the game on a football field. Ultimate is a team sport in which we play seven on seven and score goals by throwing a Frisbee."

LeDonne, 33, started playing the sport a decade ago, when her older brother signed her up for his team in Chicago. "He said, 'I signed you up for the summer league. You're on my team, and we're going to win,' " LeDonne recounted.

The team went undefeated that season, and she was hooked.

LeDonne's teammate, Sarah Morrison, 29, also started playing 10 years ago when she was a high school student at the N.C. School of Science and Math in Durham. She went on to play for the N.C. State University club team and joined Backhoe four years ago. Morrison's sister, Kate, plays for Backhoe, too.

Both women live and work in downtown Raleigh. LeDonne is a paralegal, and Morrison is an environmental engineer. Morrison took two years off from playing to work for the Peace Corps in Honduras but never lost her skills.

"I went to Honduras to design drinking water systems," she said. "The time away gave old injuries time to heal."

Backhoe is a nationally competitive women's Ultimate Frisbee team based in the Triangle. USA Ultimate, the national sanctioning body for the sport, ranked Backhoe seventh in the nation among women's club teams for 2009.

The 2010 tournament in Prague, which took place July 3-10, was the team's first appearance on the world stage. It received its bid to compete at the last minute.

"We had 48 hours to decide whether or not to take our team to the worlds in Prague, which was two months away when we were invited," Morrison said.

The decision to go was not difficult. The world championships are played every four years; this would be the final opportunity for many of the players. The next world event will be in Colombia in 2014.

Thirty-five countries sent 136 teams to Prague, including 32 women's teams. Backhoe played 10 games over six days.

"We played four games against Japanese teams," LeDonne said. "The Japanese players are extremely adept at throws. They work together like a machine. They are very fast."

Ultimate is played between two teams of seven players on a large rectangular field with two end zones. Players are not allowed to run with the disc, and when they catch it, they must stop and try to throw it to another player as they work their way toward their end zone where they can score.

The sport requires players to be fast and well-conditioned, and while Ultimate is technically not a contact sport, players often crash into each other in their zeal to catch the disc.

"Ultimate is not a rough sport, but it's tough," LeDonne said. "It's physically grueling, especially at higher levels."

In North Carolina, Ultimate is a year round sport, and its main playing season is during summer and fall. In season, most players devote up to 20 hours a week to training and playing.

For LeDonne and Morrison, the world championships was an opportunity to experience the sport on a near-Olympic level.

"We really were pleased with our finish in Prague. We always played above our own level, and finished fourth among all of the teams from the USA," Morrison said. "We won our last three games in a row to get to ninth place overall. It was an amazing emotional experience, and I get chills just talking about it."

In world class Ultimate Frisbee, chills and thrills are what it's all about.