VERO BEACH — Vero Beach isn’t exactly a haven for all things counterculture. Football is king here in the bountiful land of citrus, and soccer is catching up quick.
For the thousands of people on the barrier island who have moved past ideal playing age for either football or futbol, there are few places in the world better for playing either golf or tennis than right here in Indian River County.
Just don’t tell that to the 150 members of the Ultimate Frisbee group of Vero Beach.
Founded in 2005, the group typically draws up to 80 people over three days per-week.
Unofficial leader Mark Ohlrich has been the group’s main organizer for three years, and does it mostly via email and through the Ultimate Frisbee in Vero Beach Facebook page (ufinvb@groups.facebook.com).
“We’re like a church youth group without an adult leader,” Ohlrich said. “The one thing that is really unique about this is we’re not even a club. We don’t have insurance, but the school board has made the decision that people can play ultimate Frisbee here at the Vero Beach High School girl’s lacrosse practice field at their own risk. There’s no place else to play. It is here or Leisure Square.”
The field is the same size as a football field from end zone-to-end zone, and employs rules similar to rugby (without allowing excessive contact).
One player who has made the transition from football to Ultimate Frisbee is former barrier islander and former Vero Beach High School football player Jack Moore.
Moore, who will be a sophomore at Notre Dame in the fall, plays on the “B” Ultimate Frisbee team for the Fighting Irish.
Used to playing against stiff competition at school, Moore was shocked to find competitive games in Vero Beach upon his return to town this summer.
“The competition here is so good, I’m using it to get ready for Ultimate up at Notre Dame,” Moore said. “There are a lot of kids who take it pretty seriously up in South Bend. We got to tournaments in St. Louis and Ann Arbor this year in the second semester, and that was as a member of the ‘B’ team. Getting on the ‘A’ team is a big deal there, and I think playing here over the summer will give me the edge I need to make that team in the fall.”
Ultimate Frisbee, depending on whom you ask, was either born at Columbia High School in New Jersey or at a summer camp in Northfield Mount Hermon Mass. An estimated 5 million Ultimate Frisbee players participate in the game in the United States today and it is an official sport of the World Games.
Adam Linsky, a 20-something who is the group’s most experienced player, has been throwing a disc competitively for over a decade. He’s thankful Ohlrich has kept the group going.
“I’ve been playing since I was really little,” Linsky said. “I played competitively in a league up in Melbourne and we went to Georgia for big tournaments. Most of us here can here really throw, and the Frisbee’s great. Once you get the hang of throwing the disc, it is just like throwing a baseball.”
According to Ohlrich, it is normal to have over two-dozen players gather for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday or Thursday night sessions. With an e-mail push, their numbers can expand to the mid-thirties and over 40. About a dozen show up on Sunday afternoons to play at 1 p.m. to sweat out whatever they did Saturday night.
“During the summer, the pick-up sessions are a little more hit-and-miss than other times of year because people are going on vacation,” said Ohlrich. “We do gain some people who are home from school, though, like Jack. We also lose some of the high school seniors who have left to go to college for summer school. We get two nights a week over at Leisure Square – Tuesdays and Thursdays – during the winter when it is dark at night, where we take an offering to help pay for use of the lighted field.”
“We’ve got eight team’s worth of jerseys and we’re always passing those off between people,” Ohlrich added. “We’ve got enough cones to run three games at a time.” Beachside resident Daniel Boling, 16, has played for two years and hopes to join some of his friends on the national championship University of Florida Ultimate Frisbee team when he graduates.
“Since it is a relatively new sport, the older guys here basically coach us younger guys who are less experienced,” Boling said. “The great thing about it, and the reason why there are so many different age levels here, is because there are so many different kinds of skills involved in the game. There’s running speed, catching, and agility in making cuts. And then there are more technique based things like throwing the disc. Since it is a relatively new sport, the older guys here basically coach us younger guys who are less experienced.”
