By Lauren Hillegas
Football. Basketball. Baseball. Soccer. Lacrosse. These are some teams at Penn Manor you’re probably familiar with.
But what about Ultimate Frisbee?
That’s right. Penn Manor has its own Ultimate Frisbee team, although the team is not officially associated with the school.
Ultimate Frisbee combines features of soccer, basketball, football and Netball into a demanding game involving a Frisbee. According to Sports and Fitness Industry Association, ultimate is one of the fastest growing team sports in the country.
The 20 members of the co-ed Ultimate team compete in a league against Lampeter-Strasburg, Solanco and Lancaster Country Day School, as well as a home school team.
Although the team has no official coach, junior Mark Hoffer along with others has created the team successfully at Penn Manor.
Hoffer said that his expectations for the season are “just to start the team, get founded among the league, and get it started for future years to come.”
Hoffer had originally been part of the team at Lampeter-Strasburg before he moved to Penn Manor. At Lampeter Strasburg, he played an active role in the team that had been developed there two years ago. Once settled at his new high school, Hoffer gathered friends to form an Ultimate team here at Penn Manor.
The Ultimate Frisbee team competed in its first game of the season on Wednesday April 17, against Lampeter-Strasburg. According to one of the team players, Justina Mylin, the team lost but played a good game.
According to Hoffer, the team plans to get uniforms for the games, but the uniforms are still in progress.
Something unique about the Ultimate game itself? The players referee themselves.
“It’s not difficult to referee yourself,” said Hoffer. He added that most people tend to display good sportsmanship.
The team practices three times a week at Millersville Borough Park.
Although Hoffer will leave the team next year to attend Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, junior Ben Moore plans to take over for next year and continue the team.