Ultimate players have high hopes for second season

MAT-SU — After a successful first season last summer, the Valley-based Ultimate Frisbee league, “Deadliest Catch,” is ramping up for season two.

League co-founders Bryan and Jordan Dahms said they hope to add two more teams — 20 or 30 people — to league this summer and spread the word about one of the friendliest up-and-coming sports in Alaska.

After the end-of-season tournament last year, “pretty much everyone said they loved it and would come back,” Bryan Dahms said.

One thing that initially helped the league to grow into an organized program from Saturday night pick-up games is probably the sheer number of Dahms involved. Lazy Mountain Bible Church Pastor David Dahms, Bryan’s father — along with Bryan’s wife Jordan, his twin sister Kiersten, and their brothers Jesse and Daniel — have been instrumental in encouraging Valley athletes from age 16 to 60 to be a part of the team.

“At least half” of all league participants last year “had never played Ultimate before,” Dahms said.

And the level of competition — as well as the camaraderie — is comfortable for athletes of all skill levels, he said.

“I was able to start (playing Ultimate) in college with virtually no skills and … learn it competitively,” Dahms said.

That can’t be said of all sports.

“With other sports, kids start from such a young age now that it’s really hard to get into a sport and not feel way behind,” he said.

But with Ultimate, parents can play with or against their children and enjoy the competition, rather than worry about injuring themselves or others.

Fifty-year-old Mike Liebing, who played with Deadliest Catch last summer, can attest to that.

Liebing and his family had known the Dahms for some time and played pick-up games together when Liebing’s son Andrew started high school. Like cross country running and Nordic skiing — sports Andrew competed in during high school — Mike Liebing has been able to pick Ultimate with his son.

“It's a great opportunity for parents to go get involved in an activity with their kids,” Liebing said. “Even if the kids are playing at a higher level, especially in this league, there’s a place for everybody.”

Liebing said he joined an adult men’s basketball league before he began playing with Deadliest Catch, but dropped out because he was concerned about contact-related injuries. While there is some accidental contact in Ultimate Frisbee matches, the spirit of the game is such that participants are “really trying to not turn it into a contact sport,” Liebing said.

And the atmosphere is what draws most people to the sport, players say.

“People are really encouraging and they love being competitive but they love being part of a team as well,” said Wasilla High School track and field coach Alexandra Packa. Packa, 27, is another returning league player who came to the sport through Dahms and the weekend pick-up games. She’s been an athlete in cross country, volleyball, basketball and track, and Ultimate, she said, is definitely different.

“It (offers) a really positive environment (in which) to learn and grow and get better, and there are some incredible athletes (on the team),” she said.

Registration for the co-ed summer “hat” league — meaning players are assigned to teams randomly but with the goal of creating an even playing field for the entirety of the season — is open now through May 10. A clinic for beginning and returning athletes is at 7 p.m., May 9 at the Colony Middle School soccer fields.

Per person fee for the league is $30 until May 1 (price then increases to $35) and includes a team jersey and Ultimate disc. Players must be able to commit to one game per week at 7 p.m., either Tuesday or Wednesday at Colony Middle.

For more information, visit matsuultimate.wordpress.com or contact Bryan and Jordan Dahms at matsuultimate@gmail.com.

Frontiersman reporter Caitlin Skvorc played in the league last year and intends to participate this summer. Contact her at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.