Wartburg College has a new sports team on campus, and it’s not your everyday sport.  The Wartburg Ultimate Team, or WUT, has recently started their inaugural season.  WUT is a Ultimate Frisbee club team made up of Wartburg students.

They have already had three games this year, competing last weekend against Coe and this weekend against Luther and UNI. 

“They went alright - every day is a learning experience,” captain Eric Ruggles said. “We are a new team so it’s all about learning. We’re getting better now that we know how to orient our practices.”

WUT is made up of 15 Wartburg students and they are still looking for members. Students wishing to participate won’t be allowed to compete until next year, however, due to membership rules.

Each student on the team is required to be a member of the Ultimate Players Association. The UPA is the governing body of the sport. They sanction high school, college and adult level tournaments. 

Ruggles said the sport isn’t an official NCAA sport because of the governing body. 

“It’s not determined by your school’s size,” Ruggles said.  “I mean look at this last weekend, we played UNI in one game and Luther in another. Most sports don’t play a Div. I and Div. III school within one afternoon.”

The UPA has multiple divisions, but they aren’t the same as the NCAA. The UPA has a women’s group, a men’s group, and an open group for teams made up of men and women. Wartburg participates in the open division. 

New team learns together

Although the sport is gaining popularity, Ruggles said only three people on the team have had experience playing competitively. He said they have had some other bumps along the way too.

“We were limited with practice time, because so many people had to learn the official rules,” Ruggles said. “Some people get discouraged but once everyone has learned the sport, it’ll become more competitive.”

The team will compete in Ames next weekend playing in the Great Plains Sectional.Ruggles hopes to continue play next fall when they can get into some tournaments.

“We’re looking at playing at least one tournament in the fall and hopefully we’ll be able to host a tournament here at Wartburg sometime in the future,” he said.

Currently, the team practices on the turf if it’s open; otherwise they practice on Clinton Field. WUT has team-oriented practices throughout the week, and Friday evenings they host all-campus scrimmages, where everyone is able to come out and play.