Ultimate team preps in fall season

IU’s Hoosiermama? Ultimate Frisbee team is starting its club season with a large team of new players and high hopes.

After graduating players that led the team to regionals last year, this year’s success will need to come from training new freshmen and sophomores.

“We have a lot of rookies who’ve come out to play this year, and they’re looking really good,” coach Jason Yoder said.

“We have a very strong class in terms of talent and athleticism.”

Because the college season does not start until spring, the Hoosiermama? team uses the club season to teach the basic rules and fundamentals of Ultimate Frisbee.

“The fall is really a building season for younger players so we retain rookies to build our program for the future and build individual skills,” captain Ed Wu said.

“The fundamentals we teach are the basic offenses and defenses that we have to play and just the basic rules of the game because most people don’t know about Ultimate Frisbee when they first start.” 

Wu and his fellow captain Taylor Kraemer, along with other returning members, have not yet had a chance to play in tournaments with the new players because of participation in other club teams.

This has helped give the rookies more experience on the field, Kraemer said.

The Hoosiermama? team will play together as a team at tournaments later this month.
While new players are important to the team, Yoder said he believes strong leadership and sheer numbers will also help lead them to a strong spring season.

“At the top of our team, we have some of the best players. Our two captains, Ed Wu and Taylor Kraemer, are two of the best in the entire region,” Yoder said.

“We have a large enough team this year that there’s going to be a lot of competition for who makes the A team. We’ll have so many people competing for positions on the team, and that competition makes us better.”

Wu insists it is not too late to join and encourages those who are interested to come check out the team.

“Ultimate Frisbee is open to anyone who’s on campus. We’ll take anyone in the fall,” Wu said. “It’s a great time, it’s a very close-knit group and we’d love to have anyone out there.”