Rise of Ultimate Frisbee in Singapore

With the end of the Ultimate Frisbee in Singapore, let's talk about the beginning of Ultimate Frisbee in Singapore! Let's start with the frisbee disc itself. It was called a Flyin-Saucer, a product that was created by Walter Frederick "Fred" Morrison, who got his inspiration from throwing popcorn lids into trash cans with his girlfriend who would become his wife.

in 1957, he sold the rights to Wham-O, a toy company based in the US, and to market this unique flying disc, the name "Frisbee" was coined, in reference to the pie company Frisbie Pie Company, whose pie pans were similar to the flying disc by Wham-O.

The game of Ultimate, however, was created in the 1960s by Joel Silver and a group of high school students in Columbia High School, New Jersey (WFDF). One of the high school students, Robert (or more commonly known as Bob) Mittelsdorf, is currently residing in Singapore! A living legend among our ranks! Try to find him in the old photo taken in the 1970s!

The first competitve game of Ultimate was played between Rutgers and Princeton on November 6, 1972, with Rutgers taking the game 29-27. The rest, as we say, is history.

In recent years, the momentum of Ultimate Frisbee has been rising around the world, with an Olympic recognition and 2 major Ultimate leagues being formed in US, joining the likes of the NBA and the NFL.

Rise of Ultimate Frisbee in Singapore

The presence of Ultimate Frisbee could be traced back to the 1990s when games are played between expats and players who knew about the game of Ultimate. The first Singapore Ultimate Frisbee Open was held in Sentosa in 1999 and once again, the rest is history.

In Singapore, there is also increased news coverage about the sport itself. Since 2013, the Singapore Ultimate Frisbee Opens has been covered by the local news and Singapore teams has been sent to prolific overseas global tournaments in 2012 and 2014, performing well given the tough competition. There was a myriad of articles recently on the sport as well! 2014 also saw the first time that a Singaporean team clinched champions in the Singapore Ultimate Opens and a sponsor of a Ultimate event by a giant US brand!

Moreover, Ultimate Frisbee is also being introduced as part of the sports curriculum in many secondary and tertiary education. This is very crucial for the development of players as by starting young, players would get the necessary exposure and training to master their own field. This is consistent with the 10,000-hour rule mentioned by Malcolm Gladwell.

check out the infographic here!

With so many youth teams such as Rascals and Gen2X coming up, it would be pretty awesome to watch these young talents grow up and compete in the Singapore Ultimate Opens 2020 or even the Worlds 2018. Would I be playing by then? Time will tell, but things are rosy for Ultimate Frisbee in Singapore, as the Ultimate Frisbee community will carry on rising for the future.