(SOUND)

The official number of players for an ultimate game is fourteen. Sometimes DC Pickup plays with fewer. And if more people come, they just start a new game.

PLAYER: “Hey everybody, we’re up to seven on seven…”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Everyone brings a dark shirt and a light shirt, so they can change teams if they need to. Shana Wallace has been playing ultimate since nineteen eighty-two. She says the lack of equipment makes ultimate one of the easiest sports to organize.

SHANA WALLACE: “All you need is a pair of cleats, a Frisbee, and some cones. You don’t even need the cones.”

JUNE SIMMS: There is one other thing you do not need: referees. Ultimate is self-officiated. That means players make all the calls. And if the players disagree, they must settle the problem themselves.

SHANA WALLACE: “If one person says foul, the other person says contest. If it’s contested, it goes back to the thrower.”

JUNE SIMMS: In fact, playing fair … more than playing to win … is really the only rule in ultimate that cannot be changed. Players call the trust between players to do what is right, the “Spirit of the Game.”

SHANA WALLACE: “I mean, one of the cool things about ultimate is that that is in the rules, the Spirit of the Game, and the ability to self-officiate. It’s written into the rules. And if you can’t abide by that, you really shouldn’t be playing the sport.”