By: Daniel Finegan and William Cunningham
Do you like playing frisbee? Are you looking for a fun, active, and non-competitive club? If so, then the Ultimate Frisbee Club, also known as “The Eastern Exiles”, is the club for you.
The Eastern website describes the club as “an Ultimate Frisbee Team that practices on campus, travels to tournaments at other schools, plays disc golf, and hosts other group events.” I have attended half a dozen times so far, and can attest that it is well worth your time. Even if you are not athletically inclined, it is easy to play and always fun.
Ultimate Frisbee takes place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Usually, we are briefly taught a certain strategy for the game, then we go right into playing. It is always a great time, full of near misses, miraculous saves, laughter and excitement. The adrenaline is pumping, and no one leaves without shedding a lot of sweat. When I’m having a hard day, playing frisbee for an hour makes me feel so much better. The exercise calms my turbulent mind. Not only that, but I get to meet new people and have a laugh. I had not played frisbee in years, but the club is open to people of all skill levels.
I asked freshman, Ambrose Bushelli, what he enjoys about Ultimate Frisbee. He said, “It’s so fun. It’s great exercise, and I’m there with all my friends.”
Junior Elijah Crefield, who is a regular attendee of the club, said, “There’s a lot of team bonding. It’s fun, casual, and really easy to pick up and get into.” He also said that it was “one of the best things I’ve done in college so far.”
Tim Eisemann, junior and one of the captains of the team, said “Frisbee’s a great way to just step out of…. whatever you have going on and just hang out with friends…. [it’s] a great way to get out any anger or anxiety that’s there, with a team that you can confide in.”
Club captain Jared Hendricks, a senior entering his first year leading the club, says, “My goal here in the club is just to grow the club and bring more people to this ultimate sport that we play and just continue growing, and we definitely try to emphasize the family aspect. Like anybody is welcome; I don’t have to be good. We accept any skill level and we just want to see people come out, have fun, and enjoy their time and just grow at the University.”
We are all here at Eastern because we want to receive a good education. Clubs and extracurricular activities can eat into the sparse time we have for studying and working. Physical exercise, however, is something worth doing, even with a packed schedule. It can relieve stress and give us some time to relax mentally. I know that Ultimate Frisbee does those things for me. Come check it out; you might find you enjoy it more than you thought you would.