Nearly 600 athletes are gathered all weekend at the Colette-Besson playground in La Rochelle, a frisbee throw away from the Apivia performance center at Stade Rochelais. No rugby players on the fields, but flying disc players, gathered for the women’s and open (mixed) finals of the French Ultimate championships. The flagship discipline of Flying Disc ahead of disc golf. Before sharing the passion of some of the best specialists in the discipline, you must first know the rules. “Two teams of seven players (on grass) compete on a field with an end zone on each side, like in American football. The goal is to catch the disc in the opponent’s zone, it’s “We are not allowed to move when we have the disc in our hands. There is no contact and the matches are self-refereeed and truly based on fair play.” explains Mathias Gauthey, vice-president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine League. A match in N1 lasts 90 minutes, and (roughly speaking) the first team to score 15 points has won.
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Ultimate now has more than 7,000 members in France, and the Ré Flying Oysters (RFO) based in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, plays in Nationale Une (the elite). The girls are the reigning French vice-champions. The boys are in the Top 8 nationally. Speaking of enthusiast, Tony Dimnet poses there. President of the Rochelo-Rais club since 2008, he is international and was crowned world champion with the French mixed team last November in Los Angeles. “I was 13. At the time, the club was organizing a tournament in La Flotte-en-Ré, one part on sand, the other on grass, and while walking on the beach, I saw this, all my friends were already there, I decided to get into it little by little and once you’re in, you can’t get out.” Proof of this all-consuming passion for Tony, he has devoted 22 of his last 24 weekends to ultimate, “It’s a full-time adventure, almost a second job”, admits without regret the president of the RFO, which now has 80 members, with a women’s team, an Open team and two men’s teams. Collective, solidarity, sharing, fair play respect: its sport carries values that enrich and grow.
Eric Le Bihan
“My sports teacher needed girls for the team”
Salomé Raulet says no better. The captain of the Ré Flying Oysters also fell into the ultimate pot. “I started in middle school. My sports teacher needed girls for the team, I already had lots of friends who played and I jumped straight in.” Until becoming a member of the French team. But in what position, actually? “I’m more of a handler, like a point guard in basketball. She’s the one who distributes the game with the frisbee, who makes passes. Then, we have the cutters or the middles. They’re the ones who run and receive the passes.” Salomé Raulet has no trouble praising the merits of her discipline.It’s complete, physical, playful, everyone gets along well, it takes a lot of mental strength, aggressiveness, all that combined in one sport, so I love it!”
After each match, a debriefing is carried out in each team to get everyone’s feelings on the atmosphere of the match. This debriefing is then shared in a round with the other team. This should give ideas to some, whose practices are plagued by violence, disrespect, and even cheating. It is impossible to attack a referee when you play ultimate, since there are none. If you want to discover this spectacular and friendly sport, meet this Sunday, June 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Colette-Besson games area in La Rochelle. The open final is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. The women’s final will take place at 3 p.m. Admission is free and know that you can also do a good deed since a Donation collection is organized for the benefit of the Food Bank on the occasion of this Ultimate weekend.
