Author Spotlight
Madeline Hlobik
Photos Courtesy of Jonah Golder
As junior Oliver Broce begins to release his hand from around the frisbee, senior Jonah Golder starts sprinting towards the goal. It’s only a matter of seconds until the disc lands on the turf. In its final moments of free falling, Golder launches himself forward and grasps the frisbee, just barely scoring the final point.
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Broce and Golder met two years ago in the Ultimate Frisbee Club. However, the club became more relaxed last year following the graduation of the founders Will Simpson and Jake Marsh. As senior and junior co-captains now, Golder and Broce are planning to revive the Ultimate Frisbee Club and build a consistent program for younger members.
“Right now the majority of the team is seniors,” Golder said. “So we hope to find more underclassmen to help continue the club after Oliver and I leave.”
Golder became involved with ultimate frisbee seven years ago at a summer camp, Herzl Camp, in Webster, WI. On the other hand, Broce grew up around ultimate frisbee, as his dad played in college and has been participating in different men’s leagues.
During the fall, Broce and Golder also both play for Kansas City Ultimate, and participated in a tournament against other colleges last weekend in Manhattan. As of now, the Ultimate Frisbee Club at East is directed solely by Broce and Golder, so it will be beneficial that the boys are able to bring their experiences with ultimate frisbee outside of the East club to the team.
“Our goal for the end of the year is to win the state championship in May,” Broce said. “The [Blue Valley] team Jonah and I played for last year got second, and we only had three subs there.”
In hopes of achieving this goal, Golder and Broce will be showing the other players specific cutting and defense drills during practices to use during games. The team’s goal is to always try and find the open space to receive the frisbee, so having a more organized setup during games will enhance the team’s performances.
As of Sept. 23, the team has already won a tournament in Lawrence without practicing beforehand. According to Golder and Broce, the team didn’t drop any passes throughout the games, which demonstrates the team’s athleticism.
Currently, there are 40 people in the Ultimate Frisbee Club GroupMe, which is reassuring for Golder and Broce to know that if a few people can’t always make practices, there is still a big group of people to draw from. The next big step now for the club will be trying to nail down a specific time for everyone to come play.
In addition to preparing the team for tournaments, Golder and Broce are also hoping to establish a strong sense of community within the club.
“Ultimate frisbee is such a unique sport,” Golder said. “So the people who are involved with the sport tend to gravitate towards each other.”
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