The sport of Ultimate Frisbee has gained in popularity at Blake over several years and has led to the establishment of a JV and Varsity boys’ team and a girls’ Varsity team. While not part of the Minnesota State High school League, the association that manages most high school sports in the state, the ultimate teams are affiliated with the Minnesota Ultimate Organization that similarly manages rules and the games. The ultimate seasons were cut short for the past couple of years due to COVID-19, but according to Tobin Spiller ‘22, one of the boys’ captains, “We’re finally back to no masks, which has been awesome. We can bring back the spirit circle so we can all come together after the game and congratulate each other… For my senior year, we finally get to come back and have a full, coherent season.” As popularity spread, the teams have grown in size, as the boys’ team now has 38 people, enough for a JV and a Varsity team. The girls’ team is smaller, with about 14 committed members and a mostly new team.

With a new team comes varying skill levels and as one of the girls’ captains, Greta Wattson ‘23, explains, “We have players that never touched a disc never before… we’ve had people who have been playing their whole life.” Both boys’ teams have enjoyed success so far as the JV team has a winning record and the Varsity team is ranked 6th in the state and while the girls’ team has had less success, Wattson emphasizes that “because there’s not many people [on the girls’ team], the few people are very close. It’s been fun getting to know people.” Looking ahead, Spiller explains that they are playing matches for the Varsity team’s “seeding for state… we’ll have a state tournament later this spring which everyone is looking forward to, it’s always the most fun tournament of the year.” Wattson explains that “it would be great if we had lots of participation, lots of people there showing support, lots of spirit, and to win a few games.” While the matches are competitive, Spiller adds that “the great part about ultimate is, it’s not so much about skill but it’s just learning to be in the right place at the right time and understanding how the field works and once you understand that, you can play at a very high level.”