The Ultimate Match Quiz

Answer: Backhand

A backhand is a powerful (and popular) throw. To grip the disk for a backhand, curl your fingers up underneath the rim, with your thumb on top. (Your index finger can sit on the rim to help guide the flight, if you wish.) Draw your throwing arm across your body, to the opposite hip.

When you throw, bring your arm to its full, straight extension, stepping with the matching foot at the same time. This puts a tremendous amount of power behind the disk when you release it.

Answer: Forehand

For a forehand throw, put your thumb on top of the disk. Your index and middle fingers go inside the rim, with your remaining fingers on the outside of the rim for stability. When you snap your wrist and release the disk, you're essentially flicking it forward, with plenty of spin.

It takes a lot of practice to learn a clean, stable forehand throw, but it's a critical skill for any Ultimate player. With forehand and backhand, a player can release the disk from either side of the body.

Answer: Hammer

The hammer is very similar to a forehand throw. It uses the same grip and the same wrist-snapping motion, but this time the player's arm is moving in an overhand swing before the flick release. A hammer-thrown disk will curve up and to the side, and will then bank to the other side. It's a great way of getting the disk up and around a nearby defender.

Answer: The Spirit of the Game

Ever since the first game in 1968, Ultimate has had strong norms for how players should behave. As explained in the 11th Edition of the "Official Rules of Ultimate," "Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play."

Nowadays, professional games do have referees to help settle disputes, but the community takes the Spirit of the Game very seriously. There should be no taunting, no intentional fouls, and no intimidation in an Ultimate match!

Answer: Frisbee

Many people use the word "Frisbee" as a generic term for all plastic throwing disks, but the name actually belongs to the toy company Wham-O. Out of respect for the trademark, the sport is officially called Ultimate -- not Ultimate Frisbee, a common but informal name. The official disk of the USA Ultimate Championship Series is a 175-gram object made by Discraft.

Answer: Pull

At the beginning of play for each point, players for the two teams assemble on the field, each team in its own end zone. A player on the defending team "pulls" the disk, throwing it as far as possible toward the opposing team. The opposing team runs forward, trying to catch the disk and start moving it back down the field; the defending team races forward to stop them.

Answer: Travel

This infraction has the same name and nature as in basketball. In both sports, the ball/disk is supposed to move via throws and passes, not by being carried. Once an Ultimate player catches a disk, she has to plant a foot, which must remain in that spot until the disk leaves her hand.

She can move her other foot, to pivot in place or to lend power to her throw, but if her planted foot moves from its fixed position, she's going to have to return to the original spot before she can throw.

Answer: Turnover

There are lots of ways to "turn over" the disk, in which case the defensive team gets the disk and goes on the offensive. Most turnovers happen at the end of a throw. Perhaps a member of the opposing (defensive) team catches an attempted pass; perhaps the attempted pass simply lands in the grass, or travels out of bounds. Any of these cases is a turnover, as is the case where the defensive team manages to knock the pass out of the air, and it hits the ground before the attempted receiver can recover.

Answer: Stack

This formation is more specifically known as a "vertical stack." A line of teammates stretches between the disk handler and the target end zone. Each member of the line then sprints out (or "cuts") into the open field to the side, trying to get past the defenders and get themselves open to receive a pass.

There are a few different ways to orient the stack; there's even a "horizontal stack" with parallel lines of throwers and cutters.

Answer: Cup

As a player tries to throw the disk, three defenders using the Cup formation will arrange themselves around him in a cup-like shape: one directly in front, and two in front and to the side. The player will have a hard time finding openings to throw forward (toward the target endzone) when he has to dodge the disk around three people crowding around the best angles.

The cup is designed to force targets to make short, sideways passes, frustrating offensive momentum.