On Sunday, November 2nd, five teams across Eastern Massachusetts will assemble at Sharon High School for its 8th annual Sharon Ultimate Frisbee Spirit of the Game Tournament.
“I’m excited it’s happening,” former varsity coach and organizer James Acone remarked. “It’s always been something to look forward to in the fall.”
Ultimate Frisbee, also known as Ultimate, is a non-contact, self-officiating sport played between two teams of seven players with a plastic disc. Teammates pass the disc until they score by catching it in the opposing team’s endzone. They cannot run while holding the disc.
Ultimate was introduced to Sharon in 2009 by wellness teacher and tournament director David Christiansen, along with two of his students. “It started as a club—it was the only way we could start,” Christiansen remembered. “We had an open tryout that spring and had thirty three students show up.”
Over the next 16 years, Sharon Ultimate developed into something much more than just a thirty-player program, welcoming a girls’ team in 2014, competing in the Massachusetts Division I and II levels, and eventually hosting the annual Sharon Spirit of the Game Tournament (SOTG).
Since its creation, the SOTG has served as a reflection of Ultimate’s unique success in Sharon. The tournament started in 2009 as a friendly offseason scrimmage between Sharon and nearby towns, gradually incorporating more teams until its peak in 2019 with 21 total schools.
After a brief hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the construction of the new SHS building, the SOTG will be brought back this weekend for the first time in 6 years.
According to Acone, the tournament was named after the core philosophy of the “spirit of the game” in Ultimate, where players are responsible for maintaining fair play and integrity in a sport without referees. “Conflict resolution [is] built inherently into the way the game is officiated, unlike any other sport,” Acone described. “It’s the idea that you have respect for yourself, your teammates, your opponents, and the game.”
As a result, the SOTG has always had one clear goal since its creation: to celebrate the values that make Ultimate special. On Sunday, scores will not be tracked, and a strong understanding of the rules will be emphasized. “There’s a strong community that gets built up in Ultimate because of the spirit of the game,” Christiansen explained. “That’s what this day is all about: promoting character and community over competition.”
For senior captain Nathaniel Kamenetsky, the Spirit of the Game Tournament will be an event to remember. “It’s the first tournament we’ve hosted since 2019,” Kamenetsky said. “I can’t wait to play.”
