Colorado ultimate frisbee team shows off how to embrace spirit of the game
Across Colorado, girls are getting involved in all kinds of sports. Some are more mainstream – like football or basketball – while others are lesser-known but growing in popularity. One of those sports is ultimate frisbee.
"It's easy to stay in it, because you fall in love with it," Libby Cravens said.
Cravens coaches the U20 Colorado Cutthroat team and is on the board of the nonprofit, Altitude Ultimate.
"I think the other thing that keeps players and families coming back is our culture of inclusivity," Cravens said. "We have a really special culture in ultimate."
Cravens grew up playing ultimate frisbee on an all-boys team but has seen a lot of growth in the girls' game in recent years.
"Making sure that you have women in leadership roles as coaches, like, 'If you can see her, you can be her.' I think showing them there's a future for them in sports is super important," Cravens said.
Many players tell CBS Colorado Sports Anchor Romi Bean they started in different sports, including gymnastics and basketball. Eventually, they found their way to ultimate frisbee.
They cite fewer injuries and a great community as some of the reasons to stay on the field.
"One of the main principles is the spirit of the game. Our sport is self-officiated, so all of our athletes need to know all the rules and center sportsmanship," Cravens said.
Many high school-age girls tell Romi they plan to stick with ultimate into college and beyond.
"I want to play in college for sure," said Natalia Hites-Cotroneo. "I mean, my coach played since he was young and he's in his 50s now playing at nationals, at masters, and I just want to keep with the community for the rest of my life."
As the sport grows, so does the community.
"I love the fact that… since it's such a small sport, if I meet someone who plays ultimate, it's just an instant connection."
Other players say the sport has given them confidence in their athletic abilities.
"It's been super important for me and my identity to have a place where I feel so strong, and I think that' such an important thing for girls growing up," said ultimate player, Skye Leach. "To have that community to feel physically confident in themselves and I think ultimate has been such a great sport for that."
Leach said it's empowering to play with girls, especially as they transition into playing on mixed-gender teams during other times of the year.
"There's definitely a culture of when you first start of, oh you know you're playing with boys maybe they're better athletes, maybe you're less confident in that space and then you go to a team like this one where it's an open division and you're playing mostly with gender- matching players," Leach said. "It's just so empowering to kind of have that community."
If people are looking to get into ultimate, players say you don't need much to get into the fun.
"I do that with my friends all the time at parks. We just bring cones, set it up and we play four versus four because you really don't need any equipment, except for our frisbee to play," said Hites-Cotroneo.
Altitude Ultimate and Colorado Alpenglow, Colorado's professional women's ultimate frisbee teams, will be attending CBS News Colorado's second annual Girls in the Game event on Aug. 16 in Denver.
