MCs Ultimate Frisbee Team competes in NY Metro Sectionals Tournament.
@MANHATTANCOLLEGEULTIMATE/ INSTAGRAM
By Maizy Swift, Production Editor/Asst. A&E Editor
After performing well in their recent tournament, the Manhattan College ultimate frisbee team looks forward to competing again in the next season.
Although they could not move on to the finals due to traveling conflicts, the ultimate frisbee team hopes to be able to participate in future tournaments and is proud of their recent success.
Keller Peterson, a sophomore, is captain and coach of the ultimate frisbee team and started playing ultimate frisbee in high school. Peterson gave some insight as to what the team is working on and hopes to accomplish in their upcoming season.
“More advanced techniques is something we need to do, and then there were catches, we got a lot of drops towards the end,” Peterson said. “Those are the main things we need to work on.”
Peterson expressed that having more people on the team would be very beneficial.
“I wish we had more people because we can run out of energy at the end of the tournament, but if we had more people, I think we could have definitely gotten higher,” Peterson said.
The team hopes to gain more players but also wants to show the benefits of playing the game and even establish their team as co-ed.
“Frisbee is a great way to get outside exercise, it’s really fun, it’s unique,” Peterson said. “The team is very close despite only being together for about a year. We’ve developed a long-standing friendship so we’re also very inclusive. We’re also looking to get other girls’ teams or co-ed teams started.”
James Cullen, another sophomore and player on the team, felt that although there were some challenges, the team has shown growth.
“In October, we would have lost that game and just stopped trying as hard,” Cullen said. “But we came back and we beat a team that wasn’t bad by any means at all so I thought that was a big thing for us.”
Cullen discussed other goals the team has going into its next season.
“Our goal was probably just to get more people on the team, [and] stay competitive against those teams at the very least because we’ve gotten a lot better since September,” Cullen said. “We’ve gotten a lot better since December, even in the last couple of months, so the main goal was that we were competitive against a lot of smaller schools, so next year, it might just be time to be competitive against bigger ones.”
Christian Molina, a junior and captain of the team, gave more insight as to what techniques the team is working on.
“One of the things we’ve been working on since the tournament has been, just short, pop passes, also playing in the wind, that’s a big thing that we’ve been trying to work on,” Molina said.
Molina, like Peterson, started playing in high school. However, his position as co-coach has led him to learn more about how to get the team organized, something else the team will now know for next season.
“A lot of the reason we have played in so many tournaments is because we were trying to figure out how to create a USA team, register our team and get everyone on that team because each person needs their individual registration,” Molina said.
Molina explained that the team is open to anyone who is interested.
“There were only two kids on the whole team that ever had experienced actually playing on a frisbee team,” Molina said. “We were starting from nothing, so there’s no worries about coming in with no experience.”
The ultimate frisbee team practices on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 pm to 10 pm.