Ultimate Frisbee is a hit among colleges

By NG WEI LOON

ULTIMATE Frisbee is one sport that's spinning fast in the direction of local tertiary institutions.

This fast-paced game, described as a combination of netball, rugby, basketball and volleyball, made its debut at the Karisma Sports Carnival.

Fourteen 14 Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) branches took part in the event.

“This game helps to foster friendship and build teamwork among students. It is popular because it requires minimum equipment and the game can be mastered easily,” said UiTM sports centre director Mustaza Ahmad.

The UiTM players who took part in the Karisma Sports Carnival Ultimate Frisbee.

The two-day tournament, which had the men's and women's divisions, drew 100 players from eight UiTM branches.

Shah Alam lost 7-5 to Sarawak in the men's final but the former came back to thump Malacca 11-0 in the women's final.

The other tertiary institutions which took part in the carnival were Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebang-saan Malaysia, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn, Inti College and Taylor's College.

Efforts to promote the game have intensified following the move taken by Global Sports Partners (GSP) to manufacture the frisbee disk locally last year. The game has since been introduced to schools, colleges, universities and communities.

“The locally manufactured disk, retailing at RM10 each, is about 85% as good as the imported ones that cost US$8 (RM30.40) each,” said GSP (Malaysia) development director Douglas Ladner.

Ladner said the idea to manufacture the disk locally came about when UiTM students in Terengganu played against American students during a summer sports exchange programme tour that took place in Kuala Lumpur.

“They wanted to introduce frisbee to under privileged students and requested for more disks,” Ladner added.

The UiTM Sarawak students have carried out a community service project and brought the game to 600 children in Sarawak.

“It was great to see the sports science students using their knowledge and applying it practically,” added Ladner.

The Youth and Sports Ministry has also purchased thousands of disks for the National Fitness Council (NFC) and the “Belia Benci Dadah” (Youth Hate Drugs) campaigns.

“The ministry is also looking into ways to include the game in its Rakan Muda programme next year,” Ladner explained.

More than 100 secondary schools in Selangor have already been introduced to the game.

Practice is held every Saturday morning at the Astaka field in Petaling Jaya.

“Anyone can join the group,” said Ladner.

“Eventually, frisbee will finds its place into the National Service (NS) programme.

Those interested in finding out more about the game can call Ladner at 016-650 6413.

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