When people think of college sports, they think of baseball, football, basketball and other NCAA supported programs. But what you may not know is Harding has a group of students who thrive in a non-traditional university program.
Ultimate frisbee has been around since the first ever collegiate match-up in 1972, when Princeton and Rutgers participated in the first ultimate frisbee game.
Ultimate Frisbee consists of seven players on each side going end to end throwing the disc to their teammates. When a player catches the disc, they cannot advance, but must then continue to pass the disc around to other teammates until they reach the end zone.
Think of it like football, but instead of catching a pass and looking to run away for a touchdown, you must think on your feet and advance the disc at a moderately fast pace.
“Harding Apocalypse was founded in 2003, making our team a decade old,” senior captain Nick Doores said. “And throughout those years I feel we have done a good job representing Harding.”
Doores said he started playing in 2009 as a freshman when a friend of his talked him into joining the team.
“We practice three times a week; Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays,” Doores said. “In which case I plan and organize with the other two captains on our team.”
A lot of people are unaware of Harding’s Apocalypse team, but I assure you, they are working hard.
Harding’s Ultimate Frisbee team has turned heads here at the university for their continued success on the field against the heavyweight schools. The team competes with schools such as Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana and other big conference universities.
As ultimate frisbee continues to grow, it is still not an NCAA recognized sport, which affects funding.
“Since we are not funded by the university we cannot really stay in hotels,” defensive cutter Gregg Downing said. “But we have built relationships with churches near our tournaments who continue to let us use their building as a home.”
Downing said he appreciates being able to build relationships through the churches and communities in which he and his team have encountered.
Sleeping on couches, church pews and floors may not be the best accommodation, but that is all that can be done for now outside of sponsors and fundraisers.
“I don’t believe we should be fully funded because, though I would love for that to happen, ultimate is not even NCAA recognized,” Doores said. “I do hope that one day we will become funded, and be provided a better practice field as well as a little more respect around the university.”
Doores said even though he understands why they are not fully funded, he does believe that Apocalypse is arguably one of the most successful teams at Harding with their big wins against solid competition and hopes to see more support from Harding in the future.
The team’s next tournament is the Huckfinn invitation March 9-10 in St. Louis, Mo. They will again be facing teams such as Missouri, Washington, Kansas State and other big schools.
