Ultimate set for Rocktober

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Published on Wednesday, 12 October 2011 14:26

Written by Cady Roberts

Rocktober will be South Africa’s second big Ultimate tournament of the year, pitting the best South African Ultimate teams against each other as they sweat it out for two days in the heat of a Durban summer. Eleven teams from all around the country will be heading out to Westville Old Boys Sports Club on 15 and 16 October, with UCT’s Tigers, currently ranked 4th in South Africa, going in with high hopes.

Ultimate, previously known as Ultimate Frisbee, is a fast-paced, non-contact sport with similar characteristics to American football, netball and soccer. It is played by both men and women, with tactics, strategy and mad frisbee-throwing skills being all-important.

The UCT Ultimate Club is growing rapidly as increasing numbers of students are learning how to play the game and taking part in regular fixtures. UCT Ultimate was represented at the National Championships for the first time in 2010, and the teams performed admirably, placing in the top 10.
This year in Johannesburg both UCT teams took the game up a notch and the first team ranked 4th in the country. With just fourth days to go to Rocktober, the Tigers are looking to up their game once more.
Matt Lewis, one of the team captains, says, “We’re going to give it everything in Durban. My goal for the team is to reach the semi-finals. We reached the semi-finals at Nationals this year, and we’ll meet many of the same teams that played at Nationals at Rocktober, but we’ve lost a few of our more experienced players in the last few months. We have the talent to reach the final, but we’ll have some very challenging games along the way.”

The Ultimate Club has held two tournaments on campus, giving new players a chance to learn from more experienced players through mixed-format fixtures. The club has also branched out this year and become involved in social outreach projects through SHAWCO. Membership has grown to 100 members this year, a huge increase from the initial 20 that founded the club at the end of 2009.

With the advantage of foreign students at UCT, many of whom have played high-level Ultimate overseas, the local members are able to learn and grow more from these experienced players and put South African Ultimate on the map. Six UCT-based players will be included in the South African team that flies to Japan next year for the 2012

World Championship.
Anyone interested in joining the club can join the team for social Ultimate on rugby fields B and C on Upper Campus at 5pm on Fridays, or  email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .