By Terrence Chen
Ultimate, specifically youth Ultimate, is a sport that is still in its developmental phase. More often than not, you see teams take a meteoric rise to prominence, then fade just as quickly. There are very few youth teams that are considered institutions. Columbia high school, as the founders of ultimate, come to mind, and then of course you have your Amherst, Paideia, and the Seattle contingent. I’m sure there are more teams in different regions, but as a lifelong resident of the east coast, these are the only ones that come to mind off the top of my head, and really, that’s what we’re talking about, name recognition. We recognize these names not only as teams, but as programs that are institutions in our sport, which is what I think we as supporters and coaches of youth Ultimate want our programs to ultimately become.
