300 kids learn teamwork and fun through Ultimate Frisbee

300 elementary school students learned to play Ultimate Frisbee with some of the best players in Quebec.

As part of an active learning adventure for elementary school students, 300 enthusiastic kids learned to play Ultimate Frisbee with some of the best players in Quebec.

Ultimate, as the game is officially called, is good, fast-paced fun. When you catch the disc, you pivot on only one foot and have 10 seconds to throw it to a teammate.

Alessia Vinet plays with the IRIS Ultimate Team, representing the best female players in Quebec.

She explains what players are doing, “You’ll be catching, you’ll be playing on defence, on offense, all of this one thing, one point and the tempo is super fast-paced to do things really quickly.”

Bruno Ivan is a grade 5 student, and he’s learning some cool tips and tricks and says, “I love this catching. To catch it… it’s a little bit difficult.”

Jean-Levy Champagne is the coach and President of the Montreal Ultimate Men’s Team; he says this sport teaches collaboration.

“There’s no referee on the field. Every kid is a ref. So it leads them to discuss. Whenever there’s a fault, there’s a call.”

It is difficult to imagine a sport without referees, but Champagne says it empowers the players to work together.

“When there’s a fall that occurs, which is normal, they can discuss about it and they’ll learn the rules and exchange about why they think it was a fall or not. So it’s pretty good for values of the kids.”

Ultimate can also be played with mixed teams - one of the few coed sports.

Charles Guay, who plays with the Montreal Royal Ultimate Team, says, “Have fun and play with others because you have the best of everyone on the field. It’s really, you know, a mixed path also. So girls can play with boys.”

And that’s exactly what happened at the Complexe Sportif St-Laurent - in the name of active learning.

And when these students meet at the park on weekends, the only gear they need to play Ultimate is a frisbee and a few friends.