A whole circle of new friends
LEADING Ultimate frisbee player Kat Smith moved to Townsville a year ago, ran onto two fields and instantly found a community of people she could rely on.
The experience of the 24year- old physiotherapist shows the pull of camaraderie in sport is strong, especially in a budding, relatively unknown, game like Ultimate frisbee.
“It was the difference I think,” Ms Smith said.
“I walked on to two frisbee teams and I had a full group of friends … It was re- ally wonderful. Ultimate frisbee players are very inclusive, some of the more mainstream sports like netball or rugby can be quite clique- ish, but with ultimate it’s still such a baby kind of sport it still hasn’t figured out how to do that yet.”
Ms Smith admits her life could have been vastly different if she hadn’t taken the plunge in 2012.
“I actually had a friend who loved ( Ultimate frisbee) quite a lot; I laughed at him for quite a while,” she said.
“One day I went and I loved it and I kept coming back.
“I often wonder what my life would have been if I hadn’t started playing, a lot of my friends and my life decisions have been affected by frisbee.”
The 24- year- old, who was named best female player at the Australia Mixed Ultimate Championships division 2 on the weekend, is now in training for a possible call- up to the national team.
Ultimate frisbee, created by a group of university students in the late 1960s, has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee and is eligible for the 2024 Olympics.