Highschool Highlights: Colonial Forge Introduces Ultimate Frisbee Team

One of the most beneficial things you can do in high school is join a sports team. There are a plethora of positives like physical fitness, teamwork and collaboration skills, and boosts in self-esteem and confidence. However, sometimes the competitive aspect of a varsity team just isn’t for everyone, especially when you’ve had no prior experience playing sports. 

Colonial Forge has begun to offer a variety of school clubs, centered around recreational sports such as badminton, tabletop, and most notable, the school’s new up and running Ultimate Frisbee Club. It first got its start early into this school year, formed by teacher Mrs. Simpson and student Jordyn Hileman (‘25). 

Ultimate Frisbee is a team sport in which each team works together to score points by catching the Frisbee in the opposing team’s end zone. 

This is the first Ultimate Frisbee team to ever be at Colonial Forge so the idea was left up to Mrs. Simpson, who approached Hileman with the project. After that, the rest was history.

But first, after all the preliminary steps of forming this new team, was the recruiting. The club was open to everyone, with no requirements to join necessary.

“Our mission as a club is to make everyone feel invited and welcome to learn new things as well as form friendships while engaging in physical activity,” Hileman explained. 

For potential members, the appeal of the club seemed mainly to lie in the opportunity to hang out with friends and get outdoors for exercise. 

“I originally joined because Mrs. Simpson asked me too. Then I looked further into it and it looked like fun and I saw there were snacks. I was in after that,” Isaac Akinbowale (‘26). 

News spread quickly and soon the numbers were adding up, and growing every day.

“I became involved with ultimate frisbee after my teacher would tell the class how much fun it was. Obviously after hearing all that I had to find out for myself,” Luis Colon (‘26)  shared.

In the short time that this club has been formed, improvements in its members are already underway.

“I’ve found it challenging so far to keep moving and just try to get used to the rules of the game. I keep practicing and getting better each time which is giving me a lot of hope,” Colon said.

The path to being great isn’t always easy. There are practices after school every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but for a few beginners, a little more extra help was needed. 

“I couldn’t throw a frisbee but I could catch it so I stayed after and learned how to throw one,” Akinbowale said.

But now as time passes, each improvement made has helped the overall wellbeing of the players.

“I’ve been getting faster and more well-conditioned,” Akinbowale continued.

“I really just want to build a family and get better so that we have more opportunities in the future,” Hileman concluded. 

As of right now, Hileman’s family is made up of 20 people, and growing every day.

Still so early in the season, no formally scheduled games are out yet. However, come the spring, various tournaments will occur and hopefully give this new team some recognition.