It is not unusual to see the ultimate teams practice on Mac Field during this time of the year. Over spring break, the men’s and women’s ultimate Frisbee teams traveled to Georgia and South Carolina to compete in a low stakes tournament in preparation for nationals in May.

The women’s teams, the Sticky Tongue Frogs and the Grinneleanor Roosevelts, split into two different teams for the tournament in Georgia.

“We played against some really competitive teams and it was a really good experience overall,” said Alexa Stevens ’15, a fourth-year athlete on the team and the Grinneleanor Roosevelts’ captain.

After the first week in Georgia, the team traveled to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina to compete in the High Tide Ultimate Tournament, in which they were placed in the hat tournament.

“It’s a weeklong tournament during most people’s spring breaks and a bunch of colleges come together,” Stevens said. “The first tournament is called the hat tournament. You get mixed up with all the other teams that are there so you are put on a team with a bunch of other players you’ve never met before.”

After the hat tournament, Grinnell’s women’s teams were placed on one team and managed to place third overall. Although the teams played in a sanction tournament, which doesn’t count towards nationals, the team had an overall good experience to learn and play outside for a while.

On the other hand, the men’s team skipped Georgia and went to South Carolina right away to play in Riptide, a weeklong tournament affiliated with the High Tide Ultimate Tournament. They also competed in the High Tide Ultimate Tournament the following week.

“They were sort of playing with a laidback mentality and were just having a lot of fun. Everybody came back at the end of the day looking like they had a good day,” Stevens said.

In spite of their success during spring break, Stevens doesn’t think the ultimate team gets enough respect, but hopes that in the coming years people respect the sport more.

“Ultimate Frisbee definitely gets overlooked by many people,” Stevens said. “It’s something that deserves more respect and credibility because you need to be in good physical condition to play Frisbee well.”

Stevens’ love of Frisbee began when she was a first year and she will miss the sport after she leaves because of the sense of community the team has offered her throughout the four years of her life at Grinnell.

“When I came to Grinnell, I had never played Frisbee before and I hadn’t done a lot of team sports and I was kind of like a floater … but I never committed to anything,” Stevens said. “Frisbee was the first thing that I fully committed myself to and that came from the support of the Grinnell Ultimate Community. I’m going to miss having the system for support and love that I’ve built over the past four years.”