Spirit of the Game: Trends or Lack Thereof

by Cindy Stowell
I set out to write an article about the geographic trends in ultimate’s spirit of the game. I hoped to prove that all northeasterners (myself included) are spiritless ninnies [original choice of word censored] or that small towns are obscenely spirited. I wanted hard conclusions, showing that pickup games were full of spirit, and people were at each other’s throats at Nationals.

After talking to countless people, though, my fantasy article was shattered. While most people would agree that you learn a lot from your failures, it remains to be seen if they make a good ultimate article.

Here’s the problem about spirit: it is difficult to quantify. I know that at some tournaments teams rate each other’s spirit, but not everyone has the same spirit calibration (some people have binary mental scales: either a team is very spirited, or they are very not, while others have more shades of grey). Additionally, there aren’t well-kept spirit rankings except at nationals, and those aren’t representative of every ultimate population. Nope, if I’m going to try to make any headway here, I’m going to have to *shudder* talk to people.

I interviewed about 15 subjects/victims about the spirit of the game, and anytime it seemed like I had found a generalization, someone would mention anecdotal evidence to the opposite. The closest I got to an absolute is the observation from multiple people is that other countries are incredibly spirited. Mexico was mentioned several times. The most spirited team Sheena Madan, who has played on numerous co-ed teams, has ever played on was a multi-national team playing in Portugal. On a personal note, the most spirited game I have ever played in was against a team from Canada. I’m not really sure the reason for this international love. It could be that a lot of overseas tournaments are “just for fun” or it could be significant cultural differences.

There is no clear consensus about what part of the United States is the most spirited. While most people felt that Austin was pretty spirited, people couldn’t agree that any part of the country was more spirited than another. Anytime someone mentioned an area as being particularly spirited or unspirited, they also accompanied that observation with a non-geographic explanation or theory. For example, Molly Sandel, who has played women’s ultimate on elite Austin teams, noticed that the deep south is pretty spirited, but also mentioned that while great ultimate is being played there, it is less competitive than other parts of the country. (more on competiveness vs. spirit later)

An ex-Austinite currently living in a large East-coast city commented that city leagues there aren’t very spirited, but he also mentioned that he thought it was because the city was so big. He explained that with a larger city, you get more competitive players (again with the competitiveness!) but because there are so many players, you don’t personally know who you are playing against. That reasoning makes sense. It is a lot more difficult to be a mean person [again, edited for family viewing] to someone if you know and are friends with them.

While it may be true that league play within a smaller city is more spirited, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a traveling or competitive team from that same area will be spirited. Some have mentioned their worst spirited games have been against teams from small towns.

Most people agreed that more competitive games tend to be less spirited because more is on the line. It is easier to exhibit spirit if there are no consequences to losing. If you are physically pushing your body so hard to win, it is natural to want to push the rules of fair play as well.

Cindy Armstrong, a mainstay at the IBM pickup games who has played at Women’s Masters this year, also pointed out that rivalries exist between some equally matched teams and that can create spectacularly unspirited games. Often these rivalries exist between teams within the same section or region, so there is a geographic element. As expected, many cited a low-stakes summer league game as the most spirited they’ve played in.

However, J Leon, a local tournament organizing deity who should not need an introduction, pointed out that spirit and competitive play are completely compatible. Supporting this statement, some interviewees mentioned that the most spirited game they’ve played in was at Regionals or similarly competitive venue. Others mentioned that they have seen poor spirit during summer league.

So while I was hoping for absolutes and clear trends about spirit of the game, I got myriad responses. Maybe that was for the best – it was pretty naïve to think that something as complex as spirit of the game could be explained by location on the map. And, hopefully an article discussing these complexities made for a better read than one slamming a state for being a bunch of spiritless ninnies.

Cindy is not angry. She’s just from Philly.