Extreme style
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VC Ultimate dresses friendly Frisbee-lovers
by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT
Remember the Frisbee, that fluorescent plastic disc people toss around on picnics or at the beach? Perhaps you thought it was a trinket to toss about lazily when there's nothing else to do, an '80s fad that had its day, like the Pogo ball. Well, that's where you'd be wrong: Frisbee's new spin is Ultimate and it's an action-packed extreme team sport well loved by computer programmers across North-America.
"They call it 'the golf of the new economy,'" says Don Cooper, founder of VC Ultimate, a Montreal-based Ultimate apparel line. "The leagues were started by a lot of high-tech workers and computer programmers in their 20s and 30s. And that sort of explains why the sport has grown so much in the past five years, what with it being co-ed, and that these people know how to use the Internet to organize tournaments."
Cooper, a long-time sporty guy and Ultimate player himself, started VC (stands for Vicious Circle) Ultimate in Vancouver four years ago as a response to the sport's lack of team-wear designers. "I've always played sports, from basketball and rowing, to cross-country running and high jump, just a ton of things. One of my rowing coaches had a rowing clothing line and I saw him travel around to competitions, and I noticed that there were no Ultimate companies." Since then Cooper has been a permanent fixture at Ultimate tournaments across Canada.
Two years ago, Cooper was joined by buddies Ben Unsworth and Adriana Withers and the current VC crew was complete. They've gone from T-shirts and discs with emblazoned with their logo to customized team uniforms and accessories.
And this friendship-based micro-company stands as an extension of the sport's capacity for harmonious camaraderie. "The fascinating thing about this sport is that it's self-refereed," Cooper explains enthusiastically. "The players have to call their own fouls and police themselves so there's a real sense of honour." There are 10 golden Ultimate rules and Cooper he recites the 10th ("Spirit of the Game") word-for-word: "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."
For more information on the company, visit www.vcultimate.com. To find out how to get involved with Ultimate in Montreal, visit the Association de Ultimate Montreal www.aum.zoo.net
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