Andrew Commander

Very few people know that there is such a thing as professional Ultimate Frisbee.

My coach Jolian Dahl is the captain for Denver’s Pro/Club team named Johnny Bravo . The club level is the highest level of the sport, so it is considered the professional level by most involved with the sport.

Jolian started playing at his high school in Georgia, he took his team to the high school nationals twice! Then he took his game to the University of Colorado, Boulder. The CU mens team Mamabird was one of the most dominant teams in the country. Every time Jolian steps onto the field he has the amazing ability to change the game for his team.Now he is the captain of the professional ultimate Frisbee team in Denver.

I highly suggest watching his highlight video!

I saw his team play the Australian National team at Pleasant View Fields. This, along with playing, got me hooked to ultimate Frisbee. Professional ultimate Frisbee is like nothing you have seen before. It is so fast paced that if you blink you might miss a point.

This year my frisbee team hopes to improve under the instruction of Jolian Dahl, and possibly win the state tournament!

The mountains have always been a part of my life living just outside of Boulder, Colorado. My parents got me involved in hiking, sledding, skiing, and biking at a young age. We would always take trips to the mountains to see the scenery and play.

At the age of 3, I was on the slopes at Eldora carving it up. On my alpine ski’s at the time, I was always thinking either “pizza” or “french fries” to turn or go straight.

I was able to get down the difficult slopes before I switched over to snowboarding at age 8. Most of my friends were snowboarders and I wanted to be one of the gang. I picked up snowboarding quickly and fell in love with the powder on the steeps. Nothing can beat cruising down a tight chute surronded by two feet of fresh.

Last year I had gotten to the point in my snowboarding where I could either start attempting tricks in the terrain park or I could switch sports.

Telemark turn in powder

My Dad and his two brothers all Telemark ski and love it. I decided to try telemarking last year and started picking it up fast. The transition from snowboarding to free-heel skiing is big, but ski’s were not foreign to me. This made the switch easier having alpine skied at a young age.

I used my uncles old equipment for about 8 days last season, enough time for me to try and experiment with the sport. The rest of the days I snowboarded in the powder. I made the desicion to switch mainly to Telemark this year. Shopping online can pay off sometimes when looking for good skiing equipment. My searching for a ski, led to the G3 Rapid Transits. I can’t wait to hit the powder this season on my new stuff.

Yesterday I went to Arapahoe Basin and skied the two open runs on my old ski’s. Still a great way to spend a Sunday!

Ultimate Frisbee addiction is only cured by playing the ultimate sport, Frisbee.

Last weekend my frisbee team and I competed in a tournament at Broomfield Highschool. Broomfield Highschools 1st annual tourny was called the “Ultimate Nightmare”

Our team played 6 games of pool play and ended up with a record of 5-1. The only team that we lost to was Denver North. We played them in the championship game and won 13-5.

We dominated the whole game, with cross-gender points worth 2. This point system made for a quicker game. Each game had its own twist for certain points. A T-Rex point was played where your elbows couldn’t leave your sides. A whole point had to be played using only overhand throws. This made the tournament a little different than just 7 games of ultimate frisbee in a row.

This was a fun way to get out and play a ton of frisbee during the off-season.

I gotta focus back on Cross Country now though, with one meet left in the season. I ran a PR in yesterday’s regional race where my school took 2nd place. 17:12 and a 5th place on my team!

Ski season is almost here!