Ultimate Frisbee takes on conference ahead of Nationals

Cougar women win regionals ahead of Alberta and Winnipeg

While most of U of R’s fall sports teams are starting to gear up for playoffs, so are the often overlooked club sports. University of Regina’s Ultimate Frisbee teams played host to their regional tournament at the university soccer pitch Oct. 5-6. The teams played well, as both prepared for Nationals over the weekend. The women won their tournament ahead of varsity rivals Alberta and Winnipeg, losing only to a composite club team from across Saskatchewan.

For Georgina Lee, women’s team head coach, this marked progress for the new roster.

“Seeing as most of them haven’t played for more than three weeks, they did very well. With the conditions that we always have to play with in Regina it’s tough to teach, because if you can’t throw in 40km/h winds, you can’t win. They are doing really well right now.”

Lee and her fellow coach, Raynelle Fischer are heavily involved in the ultimate frisbee community and see the Cougars team as a great opportunity to grow the sport.

“The Cougars have been around for five years, and I’ve been around since the beginning. We do a lot with the juniors as well; we help run the junior girls and junior boys programs provincially.”

Ultimate Frisbee is indeed a fast-growing sport in Saskatchewan. Beginning in just 2002, the Saskatchewan Ultimate Frisbee Association has already grown to over 1500 members across the province, and Fischer has been around since the start.

“I’ve been playing since 2001, and I started coaching with the Cougars in their second year.”

For Lee, the Cougars Ultimate Teams represent an opportunity to continue playing their sport at a high level.

“This is kind of a next stepping stone for those kids to come to university and play.”

The next test for the new team is a big one; they have Nationals in just two weeks in Brampton, Ontario. The Canadian University Ultimate Championships will be a tough test for the new roster. They will play the best teams from eastern Canadian universities. Despite this challenge, the team is taking it step by step. For coach Fischer, the goal there will be to continue growing the team.

“Our overall goal for the team is to get sustainability, to have the players come back year after year. Our roster is usually half new players and half returning players, so we go there inexperienced. Really our goal is to get players back to play.”

Cougars frisbee captain Karly Koronkiewicz was also happy with her team’s winning performance and is already looking to Nationals.

“I think we started off rough, but we definitely improved over the games. I think we will do really well at Nationals, we will be in the B division, which will be good for our skill level.”

The Canadian University Ultimate Championships run Oct. 18-20.