Tale of two teams

Thor Martin, captain of the Hoosiermama?s Ultimate Frisbee team and a senior, tore downfield, looking back in time to see his teammate dodge free of a guard and throw the Frisbee toward the goal. Martin sprinted just a little farther, turning to see the disc coming toward him. \nStill moving, he jumped, turning in mid-air to catch the Frisbee before his guard did. Martin howled as he slammed down on his tailbone, but his pain turned to joy when he saw that he landed inside the end zone. One point for the Hoosiermama?s, IU's Ultimate Frisbee club team. \nUltimate Frisbee mimics both soccer and football, but what attracts some people to the sport is the way it's played. Fast or slow, competitive or easygoing; there's a team for everyone.\n"You gotta be in tip-top shape to play," junior Tim Farmer says jokingly as he smokes a cigarette, his second in the past 20 minutes. Farmer is part of the Collins Center team, a group that meets together Tuesday and Thursday nights from 9:30-11:30 at Woodlawn Field. Farmer says, "I'm out to have a good time, not to win."\nThe games played during that time are laid back, with people being only as competitive as they want to be. Farmer says the only challenges to the game are those he imposes on himself. \n"I want to do better, but I don't have to be the best," Farmer says. \nThese games consist of as many as 12 people per team and last as long as participants want. Anyone can play regardless of skill level, so long as they're willing to learn. \nThe Collins team, unlike the more aggressive club teams, prefers to play with a bare minimum of rules. The field boundaries are loosely defined and foul calls are rare, though the disc still switches possession whenever it hits the ground.\nIU's club team calls itself the Hoosiermama?s. This team is very different from the Collins team, which doesn't have scheduled practices or tournaments. The Hoosiermama?s have seven players on a team. The length of games and score limits vary with each tournament.\nThe Hoosiermama?s practice as a team up to six times a week, and a single practice might include a three-mile run followed by sprints, calisthenics and practice games. All of this paid off during the team's Jan. 27 tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich. The team won. \nThe team entered the indoor field in Ann Arbor to confront its first problem -- the turf. Rather than traditional Astroturf, the field was constructed of a more realistic floor made with a dirt-like base of granulated rubber. \n"It's the same sweet stuff that they have at the SportsPlex," Martin says.\nThis newest type of turf doesn't give rug burns like traditional Astroturf, but it helps to have cleats when running, and half the team didn't bring cleats along. \nNo problem.\nThe Hoosiermama?s played six 45-minute games, winning the tournament in a 10-7 victory against University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. This was the first time the team has won a tournament since 1997. \nThe tournament had no referees, and the players insist that officials are not necessary.\n"It works on the honor system. Whoever has a better view of the field makes that call," Martin says.\nAnother interesting sight at the Ann Arbor tournament was the skirts worn by the team from Purdue University.\nThe Hoosiermama?s team follows stricter rules than the leisure players, which include stall counts, or limits to how long one person can be in possession of the Frisbee, and fouls, which more casual players like the Collins team just shrug off. The club teams are also more likely to crowd one side of an opposing player, forcing him to throw a certain direction, which doesn't happen as often in casual games.\nThough there are only a few rule differences between teams like Collins and Hoosiermama?s, those differences change the whole face of the game, and people who have played both say that it can be hard to play on both teams.\nUltimate Frisbee offers many different teams in Bloomington alone, and each team has its own personalized way of playing. Either way the game holds something for everyone.\n"Between Collins and (Hoosiermama?s) there's not even a comparison," junior Casey Donnelly says. Casey has played on both teams in the past and now plays with another local team called Community Ultimate, which meets every Friday night at the SportsPlex, 1700 W. Bloomfield Road.\n"If you just want to try it out and play, go to the Collins team, but if you want organized competition, go play with the Mama?s," Donnelly says.