The CSUN guiding principles are that every player have afun, inclusive, educational, and spirited experience with Ultimate Frisbee.
- Fun – People are playing ultimate to have fun. If we are not having fun, or preventing others from having fun, we are missing the point…
- Inclusive – This is a mixed skill level league, which means that we have veterans of the game playing with beginners. We must include everyone in playing the game, regardless of their skill level.
- Educational – This is a teaching league, i.e., we want to teach people about the rules and strategy of ultimate. This means that when someone has a question, we stop the game and answer it, and we enforce rules accordingly.
- Spirited – at the core of ultimate is the concept of good player “spirit”. In a mixed skill level league, we must each observe that concept in order to encourage others to do the same
What is “Spirit”?
Excerpts from the Official Rules of Ultimate: 11th Edition
From the Preface: “The integrity of Ultimate depends on each player’s responsibility to uphold the Spirit of the Game, and this responsibility should remain paramount.”
From Section 1. Introduction, item B. “Spirit of the Game. 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. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional infractions, or other ‘win-at-all-costs’ behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game and must be avoided by all players.”
**If any player’s conduct is found to be outside of the spirit of the game the league reserves the right to eject the player from the game, suspend them from future games or expel them from the league.
Ultimate Frisbee in 10 Simple Rules
1. The Field — A rectangular shape with endzones at each end. A regulation field is 70 yards by 40 yards, with endzones 25 yards deep.
2. Initiate Play — Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their respective endzone line. The defense throws (“pulls”) the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.
3. Scoring — Each time the offense completes a pass in the defense’s endzone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score.
4. Movement of the Disc — The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run with the disc. The person with the disc (“thrower”) has ten seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower (“marker”) counts out the stall count.
5. Change of possession — When a pass in not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception), the defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.
6. Substitutions — Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury timeout.
7. Non-contact — No physical contact is allowed between players. Picks and screens are also prohibited. A foul occurs when contact is made.
8. Fouls — When a player initiates contact on another player a foul occurs. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
9. Self-Refereeing — Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
10. Spirit of the Game — Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.
The following rules apply to the Colorado Springs Ultimate Network Leagues, including the league tournament. Captains are heavily encouraged to work cooperatively with one another, and to know and observe these rules.
Gender Balance
This is a co-ed league that observes a 5/2 gender ratio. That is to say that, at all times, it is expected that each team field at least 2 women, and no more than 5 men. Women may match up against men if they chose, but are not required to do so. If there are three women per team, 5/2 must be upheld unless agreed upon between the team captains.
Per the rules for forfeiture (above), teams must each have at least 1 able woman in order to avoid forfeiting a game. In addition, each team must have at least 1 woman on the field at all times. The team on offense may call either a 5/2 or 6/1 gender ratio on a point-by-point basis. The defensive team can voluntarily increase their female ratio above the offense-called gender ratio, at their discretion. If a team doesn’t have 2 women and the offensive team calls a 5/2 ratio, then you must play 5/1 (down 1 female).
Captains are asked to work together to establish procedures for fielding players fairly for the game. This may include swapping male or female players between teams if one team is down players, etc. Captains are encouraged to be cooperative and creative according to the spirit of the league, but are not required to balance teams through player swapping.
Such cooperative and creative approaches frequently follow one of three methods: (a) ask 1 of your team’s female players to volunteer to play for the other side, (b) agree to a gender balance that allows the other team to play the women they have without over-exerting them, or (c) play gender imbalanced. Captains are encouraged to try other creative ideas. As always, the rule is, “its spring league- be flexible”!
The important outcome relative to gender balance is that female players are supported in this league through rules and conduct that observes the principles of co-ed play and good spirit.
Timeouts
Each team is allowed 3 timeouts per the 11th Edition Rules, with one per half and one floating timeout that can be used at any time during the game, with one exception. There are no timeouts allowed after the whistle has been blown signifying the beginning of the soft point cap (see Game Time and Point Cap section below). After the whistle blows, no timeouts are allowed, even if a team has unused timeouts remaining. Only the person holding the disc may call a timeout.
If a timeout is attempted to be called either by a person not holding the disc or during the soft cap, no timeout is granted that team, but (unlike in the 11th Edition Rules) the disc remains with the team with possession.
Game Time and Point/Time Cap
Each game has a 2 hour time limit. The team captain (or chosen representative) winning the disc flip will chose whether to pull or receive, and the other team will pick a side. The game is split into two halves, with the first half complete once one of the teams has scored 8 points. The team that pulled at the start of the game will receive at the start of the second half; teams will start the second half at the opposite end from where they started the game.
At 1 3/4 hours, a whistle will be blown to impose a “soft cap” on points. Once the whistle is blown, the teams finish the in-progress “scoring attempt” (as defined by the 11th Edition Rules) and then a 2 point soft cap is instituted. When the soft cap begins, game point becomes either two points beyond the score of the team in the lead or 15 points, whichever is first.
At the 2 hour, the final whistle is blown, and the current scoring attempt is completed. If that point results in a tied game, a tie-breaker point is then played. Otherwise, the game ends.
The game has a win-by-two format with a score cap at 21 until the time cap goes on.
Lightning Policy
“In the event of lightning, play will stop immediately, and everyone will wait 30 minutes after the last flash of lightning or sound of thunder before resuming play.” -UPA website. 4 whistles will indicate stoppage of play.