sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Spencer Tibbs played tennis at La Cueva. Jade McLaughlin played basketball and ran track at Eldorado, then played rugby at UNM.

But after that, what? For post-scholastically scratching that athletic itch, what鈥檚 the ultimate?

Frisbee?

You betcha.

Tibbs and McLaughlin are members of the Fort Collins shame. (small s, period at the end), a national champion ultimate frisbee team 鈥� they and others who play the game prefer to simply call it ultimate 鈥� with strong sa国际传媒官网网页入口 ties. In October, they and their teammates flung, ran, leaped and caught their way to the 2023 USA Ultimate mixed-division club title in San Diego.

McLaughlin, named the 2023 Mixed Division Player of the Year by Ultiworld, said in a phone interview that she loves ultimate not only for what it is on the field, a challenging and exciting test of skill and athletic prowess, but for how it has expanded and enriched her circle of friends.

鈥淗ands down, the community is what keeps you coming back,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou just get so close, playing tournaments on the weekend, staying together, hanging out, socializing 鈥� working hard and trying hard for each other.鈥�

For Tibbs, ditto.

鈥淩eally, what drew me to this sport was the people, the camaraderie, the spirit,鈥� he said. 鈥淩eally, it鈥檚 rare to find a sour person amongst all the frisbee players. They鈥檙e all pretty nice people.鈥�

Pretty nice is an understatement when evaluating shame.鈥檚 2023 season, which ended with a 28-1 record.

It was not, McLaughlin said, always that way.

鈥淚t did take us plenty of time to finally be successful,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e made it to nationals a number of years, and we finally kind of pulled it together with a little bit more organization than we鈥檝e had in the past.鈥�

In previous years, Tibbs said, 鈥淲e did well to a certain point, then we鈥檇 crash against a team that had developed strategy, that had structure, and we didn鈥檛 have that structure. We just threw the disc far and relied on our athleticism to get there.

鈥淚 think this past year or two we started developing a structure, developing a game plan, strategy that worked with our athleticism. When you do that, we鈥檝e crushed teams.鈥�

Still, it鈥檚 more the creative side of the sport, McLaughlin said, that she revels in.

鈥淐ompared to the other sports that I鈥檝e played, there鈥檚 a lot of creativity,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting, because some teams play with a very strict strategy and I think our team plays a little bit looser.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more like kind of just reacting to what the defense is doing and making decisions on the fly, which I prefer personally, to teams that play really strict strategies.鈥�

The always-growing sport of ultimate has taken Tibbs, McLaughlin and their teammates all over the United States and to foreign countries as well. They鈥檝e competed in Amsterdam, at the appropriately named Windmill Tournament, and have booked flights for a trip to Japan next spring.

Mostly, expenses for such trips are on their own dime.

Tibbs lives in Denver and works as an engineer for a construction company. McLaughlin lives in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and is a field biologist, research scientist and teacher.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all kind of out of pocket,鈥� Tibbs said. 鈥淗opefully that will change, maybe, but, again, it鈥檚 really worth it.鈥�

There are professional ultimate frisbee leagues, and McLaughlin has competed professionally/semi-professionally in women鈥檚 ultimate for the Arizona Sidewinders and the Colorado Alpenglow.

鈥淭hey (pro teams) pretty much pay all your expenses to play, and then you get a very small income,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough money to quit your day job or anything like that. But the nice thing is, you鈥檙e not paying for travel or hotels or any of that, which is great.

鈥淲hen we play club, that鈥檚 all out of pocket, on us.鈥�

Players like Tibbs and McLaughlin are free to play as professionals and with club teams like shame.. With professional ultimate still in its toddler stages, McLaughlin said, club competition remains the 鈥� yeah, that鈥檚 right 鈥� ultimate challenge for most players.

鈥淭he national (club) championship is pretty much the highest level right now,鈥� she said. 鈥溾�� Not all of the best athletes necessarily will play pro, but pretty much all of them play club.鈥�

With McLaughlin living in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Tibbs in Denver and other shame. players living in Fort Collins or elsewhere, one might think team chemistry could be a problem. Though team members do meet for practice weekends from time to time, Tibbs and McLaughlin said they all know the game and each other so well that they simply pick up where they left off when tournament time arrives.

鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to reconnect every time,鈥� McLaughlin said. 鈥溾�� We鈥檝e known each other for so long, it just comes right back together again.鈥�

In addition to Tibbs and McLaughlin, shame. players from sa国际传媒官网网页入口 include Alex Daniels, Marilyn Reich, Kasey Anderson and Matt Russell.