Probably one of Franklin’s lesser-known sports teams is the ultimate frisbee team. The team is not officially recognized under the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) and instead competes in a city league with other Portland-area high schools. The league and tournaments that the coed team plays in are called “open.” This means that “anyone can play,” explains Michael Moren, Franklin’s ultimate frisbee team’s head coach, who has been coaching youth ultimate for 12 years and has been at Franklin since his son was a sophomore here seven years ago. Moren elaborates, “There are girl divisions as well, but we hav[en’t] been able to get enough players for a girls-only team for the last few seasons, so [the team] play[s] in the open division.”
The matches and tournaments in the open division, Moren explains, can often look like playing against all boys teams. However, they also go to a few tournaments called “mixed,” where there are four girl matching players and three boy matching players from each team on the field at a time. The majority of the tournaments they play in are run by the Oregon State High School Ultimate League, but some are hosted by other organizations such as Disc North West and Portland Ultimate Youth League.
Moren loves coaching the team, and says that he feels “lucky to spend two nights a week with amazing players who are not only really good athletes but wonderful people.” Karim Alaeddine, an assistant coach to the team, adds that his favorite thing about coaching is getting to see players grow: “When kids are locked in and challenging themselves, and when the environment is as healthy as ultimate frisbee is, they grow in beautiful ways.”Alaeddine says his favorite part of the sport is the “spirit,” which he explains is a “foundational principle of the game, meaning that ethics, dispute resolution, [and] ‘working things out together’ is at its core.”
Both Moren and Alaeddine, as well as the players, commend the wonderful community surrounding the sport. Moren says that while the matches are very competitive, the teams are still very friendly and welcoming to each other. He shares that at tournaments, “often when games end early, the teams will go cheer for other teams that are still playing.” Moren adds, “Last year we ended our semifinals early and half our team cheered for Cleveland and the other half cheered for Grant.” Within just the Franklin team as well, Moren says, “We have a very welcoming team. We have players who have competed for national championships that will teach a brand new player how to throw.”
One of Moren’s main goals in coaching the Franklin ultimate team is to create a space where people can fall in love with the game. He says, “Mainly I like to create a place where anyone who wants to play ultimate has a place to play.” He also enjoys seeing the people he coaches continue with the sport, sharing that “[his] son plays for Oregon State University now, and [he] get[s] to see lots of Franklin alumni playing for college teams [at different schools].”
The team practices twice a week, and training starts with warmups and drills, then “mini” 3v3 games, followed by some strategy talk before full 7v7 scrimmages to end the practice. Junior Ben Ramsey particularly enjoys the technical aspects of practices. “I’m always looking for new combinations of grips and release points,” he shares.
Ultimate frisbee can be both a very technical and highly strategic game, according to both Ramsey and Moren. “Throwing a frisbee well is quite difficult, and it takes years to have your throws consistently go where you want them to and fly as you want them to,” Ramsey explains. He also says, “The Franklin ultimate team has a heavy focus on playing intelligently and as a team, which I find very special. We aren’t the most athletic team in Oregon, but we make up for it by playing with patience, teamwork, and coordination.” Moren adds that it can be “amazing how much control a good thrower has,” and that “in ultimate everyone is the quarterback and wide receiver, so everyone gets to catch and throw the frisbee.”
Coaching and playing aren’t all easy though. Moren finds the most difficult part of coaching to be finding practice fields. Ian Kramer, who is a Franklin junior on the ultimate team, agrees, adding that “because ultimate frisbee is a club sport, getting field times to practice during the winter at Franklin is hard and usually at weird hours.” In addition to challenges in scheduling practice, Moren shares that as an OSAA unsanctioned sport, the team receives none of the financial support that other Franklin teams do. However, ultimate frisbee luckily does not require referees, and Franklin’s team has some parent volunteers who handle the logistics. Player Daphne Cohen-Benveniste, a Franklin junior, says the hardest part for her is “getting the motivation to do warmups and some of the drills, especially when it rains [or is] cold.” This sentiment is entirely echoed by Alaeddine, who believes “rainy nights, wet feet, [and] wind” are the most difficult aspects of his job.
Ramsey encourages people to try out ultimate frisbee, adding that “the [junior varsity] team is no-cut, so you can join with no experience, even as an upperclassman.” Cohen-Benveniste fully agrees, saying that she would “100% recommend everyone to join the Franklin ultimate team!” She adds, “The team is super welcoming and we will always answer any questions … This sport is just super fun and is never too late to start.”
Ramsey states further that “if you are unsure about joining, it is very encouraged to come to evening winter practices — which have ended this year, but happen every year — which are focused on skill-building more than team-specific strategies.” Moren especially encourages any female-identifying students to join since he is trying to create a girls/gender diverse team. He explains that in the past their “girls team was the first in the city for a few years when [they] had the numbers.”
Moren urges anyone interested to reach out to team manager Hannah Kramer at [email protected]. Anyone just interested in watching the Franklin team or ultimate in general can watch their league’s varsity matches every Friday at Buckman Field Park from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. during the spring season.
