A Beginner's Guide to Professional Ultimate Frisbee in Seattle: Everything you need to know about the teams, the game, and how to get involved
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Seattle’s ultimate frisbee scene has been one of the most blossoming and welcoming communities for many years. With a plethora of ways to get involved in the sport through youth camps, school teams, club teams, recreational leagues, semi-pro teams, and even opportunities to play for Team USA against other countries, the development of ultimate frisbee through the years provides places to play for all types of skill levels. With the additions of our professional men’s team in 2015 and professional women’s team in 2020, even more opportunities to be involved with the sport and showcase our athletes at one of the highest levels was a no-brainer for this city. Here’s a look at the professional teams that call Seattle home, and how to get involved with the sport itself!
Seattle’s teams
Our men’s team, the Seattle Cascades, is a member of the Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA). The league has gone through multiple changes, starting out first as Major League Ultimate (MLU) and then changing to American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL), before its most recent rebrand last season to the UFA.
The UFA consists of 24 teams divided into four divisions: South, West, Central, and East. As part of the West division, the Cascades compete primarily against teams from Salt Lake CIty, Oakland, Colorado, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Portland during the regular season, which spans from April through August.
The women’s team, Seattle Tempest, participates in the Western Ultimate League (WUL), which consists of seven teams from the west coast, and a season that spans from March to May.
Both teams call Memorial Stadium home, and have been playing there since their founding. Both teams also have a history of success through homegrown players and other dominant additions. This year, the Cascades reached the 2024 playoff semifinals for the first time, taking down everyone in their path until a close loss to the Carolina Flyers. The Tempest are two-time WUL champions, and consistently find themselves in championship games.
Rules of play
The game of ultimate frisbee is played on a field with very similar dimensions to football. In professional ultimate frisbee, the fields are 80 yards long by 40 yards wide, with 20 yard end zones on either side. The game is played seven versus seven, with fourteen total people on the field at once. There are four, 12-minute quarters with very fluid play, but stoppages in time after each score.
Ultimate frisbee teams generally have two positions: handlers and cutters. A handler can be thought of as a quarterback, and a cutter can be thought of as a downfield receiver. Teams can decide how many of each position they want on the field at once, but there are typically three handlers and four cutters on the field from each team at one time.
Players can’t move with the frisbee upon possession, and must establish a pivot foot before throwing. While a player is holding the frisbee, they have seven seconds to release it to a teammate. The opposing player guarding them is counting to seven out-loud during this time. This is known as the stall count. To score, a player must catch the frisbee inside of the endzone.
Ultimate frisbee games do not have referees, and instead have a type of official called an observer. Players on the field can call their own fouls, and the observers either confirm or overturn the call when involved. In lower levels of ultimate frisbee, there are no observers, and fouls are called completely by those on the field.
Where to watch
Seattle has long been a hub for ultimate frisbee greatness, with many star players on both that have found success at many different levels. Arguably the most decorated Seattle-area player, Khalif El-Salaam, has played for Team USA in multiple different world championship tournaments for over ten years while playing for the Cascades. Many others have also played in high level youth, club, and world championships during their time on the teams.
To watch these stars in action, come out to Memorial Stadium and see a game in-person! The atmosphere is fun, welcoming, and exciting for all ages, with food, kids activities, beer gardens, merchandise, and more. Tickets are easily accessible when the seasons start in the spring on the Seattle Ultimate website and range from $5-$20.
Both the UFA and WUL also have their own ways of broadcasting games for you to watch from the comfort of home.
For Cascades games, the UFA has their own streaming platform at WatchUFA.tv, with a monthly subscription that allows access to every game. They also stream some games on their Youtube Channel, and post game highlights there weekly.
For Tempest games, the WUL Youtube Channel streams most games for free!
Other resources
In addition to watching professional ultimate, there are also many ways to get involved in playing.
The Tempest and Cascades host youth camps for kids of many ages and all different skill levels at multiple locations throughout Seattle. Information on camps, clinics, and any other opportunities with Seattle’s pro teams can be found on the Seattle Ultimate website.
Almost all middle schools, high schools, and colleges in the Seattle area have ultimate frisbee teams, but there are also a number of more casual ways to play through youth and adult recreational leagues. For information on leagues, tournaments, pick-up games and more, visit the home of Seattle’s youth and adult ultimate frisbee movement, DiscNW.
USA Ultimate, the governing body of ultimate frisbee in the United States, has learning initiatives for youth players, as well as an easy-to-follow rule guide for anyone interested in learning more about the sport.
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Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports Bluesky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
This is our first article regarding either of Seattle’s professional ultimate teams! We’re excited to produce more content relating to the teams from here on out!
Check out our previous articles with writing by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Cover photo by Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
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