Frisbee team offers own culture, community

The tossing of Frisbees may stop when the sun goes down, but the connections formed among teammates last much longer than that.

Lehigh’s Ultimate Frisbee program consists of more than 70 members, three teams and one sport which fosters a strong sense of community.

The Frisbee team is able to promote this community by spending time with one another outside of practice and maintaining traditions.

When first-year students join the Frisbee team, they are given a special nickname by the upperclassmen without being told what their name represents, or if it represents anything at all. The reason behind your name is not revealed until the people who named you graduate, team member Daniel Patracuolla, ’18, said.

On the frisbee team, Noah Katz, ’19, is nicknamed “Baxter.”

“I have no idea why I’m named Baxter,” Katz said. “The only thing I could think of is in Anchorman, the dog’s name is Baxter and they mention Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a scene with Baxter and I’m from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That’s the only connection I could possibly make.”

Emma Tao, ’19, nicknamed “Genie Lauren,” said that the names help Frisbee team members bond with each other and form a deeper connection.

“I’ll admit that part of why I joined Frisbee was because I wanted the name,” Meredith Hoo, ’19, nicknamed “Elsa Files,” said jokingly.

These names are an aspect of Frisbee that unite its participants, but the team’s connections go much deeper than the nomenclature. They all share a love for the sport, as well as the eagerness to hang out with one another outside of practice. The team has social hangouts every Friday night, Tao said.

“It’s a great time for the team to get to bond on a level that’s not sports related,” Tao said. “It’s more personalized. Talking to someone and getting to know them on a personal level really helps you on the field and helps build a stronger team.”

Hoo agreed the bonds she has formed through Frisbee felt natural.

“(My team members) are there for me in so many different ways — academically, socially and emotionally,” Hoo said.

Charlie Lu, ’18, nicknamed “Archer,” also feels connected to the Frisbee community as a member of the team.

“It’s just one aspect of our lives, but it’s something that brings us all together,” he said.

Lu said members of the Frisbee team are active in other campus organizations as well.

Jonny Hou, ’19, nicknamed “Cal Remington,” is pledging a fraternity. He said the time commitment for both pledging and playing Frisbee was too much, so he is currently taking the semester off from playing and plans to resume Frisbee next semester.

“I like having the option of doing both,” Hou said. “They’re different groups of people.”

Tao joined the engineering sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon, this semester, and she said likes how she can be involved in both AOE and Frisbee.

“School’s important, but athletics is also a big deal, so you want to try to balance the two,” she said.

Katz and Patracuolla, on the other hand, were not interested in joining a Greek organization, and both appreciate the sense of camaraderie they feel on the Frisbee team, even with the people they meet from other schools at Frisbee tournaments.

“You’ll eventually go to tournaments and know people from other schools,” Patracuolla said.

He was also able to bond with biological sciences professor Michael Layden over the summer at Lehigh’s Mountaintop Program over their respective Frisbee careers. The two had many shared experiences, and Patracuolla said this allowed him to see just how far the Frisbee community reaches.

The Frisbee community is a unique one indeed that provides an inclusive environment for Lehigh students to form valuable connections, starting with a shared interest in playing Frisbee.

Hoo, along with many others, said she remains incredibly pleased that she joined the Frisbee team.

“Out of all the choices I made in my life, I think that was a good one,” she said.