GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Davenport University is launching a competitive ultimate Frisbee program next fall, with scholarships available for student-athletes who bring their talent to the team.
Davenport’s new men’s and women’s ultimate Frisbee teams will begin competition in fall 2023 and will be funded by the university’s athletic department, school officials announced last week.
The announcement makes Davenport the first university in the state to have a fully funded ultimate Frisbee program available for students.
“Ultimate Frisbee is one of the fastest growing collegiate sports,” said Paul Lowden, executive director of intercollegiate athletics. “We are excited to offer tremendous opportunities for student-athletes in the sport of ultimate.”
Ultimate is a non-contact, self-officiated disc sport played by two teams of seven players, where the object of the game is to score goals, according to the USA Ultimate website. It’s described as an easy-access, low cost game that requires minimal equipment.
Similarly to football, a goal is scored when a player catches a legal pass in the opposing end zone. However, a player cannot run while holding the disc. There are also no referees in the game, so athletes play by a “Spirit of the Game” mentality that places the responsibility for fair play on the player.
Mike Zaagman, the program’s new head coach, said most colleges and universities in the U.S. only offer ultimate Frisbee as a student organization, which means students who participate have to pay for things like uniforms, equipment and coaches.
Davenport’s unique new program will be a huge draw for student-athletes everywhere because the university is covering those costs, Zaagman told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.
“Everything is fully funded – you don’t have to pay for your own cleats, uniform, travel fees, and we have our own trainers, full time coaches,” Zaagman said. “Whereas no other program in the world is offering that, and on top of that we get to offer scholarships.”
Zaagman said the program will offer 15 scholarships for both the men’s and the women’s teams for the first year. But the head coach doesn’t just want to attract ultimate Frisbee players – Zaagman also wants to try and pull in student-athletes from other sports who may be looking to try a different activity, he said.
The goal for the program’s first season is to “convert” five student-athletes for both the men’s and women’s teams and teach them how to play ultimate Frisbee, he said.
“So, is there someone who played soccer but doesn’t want to play anymore, or maybe someone who played football but they didn’t get a scholarship offer? Well, we can offer a lot of money to play ultimate,” he said.
Lowden said ultimate has been on Davenport’s radar for several years now. As the sport has grown in popularity across the country, Lowden decided to jump on the opportunity to create the state’s first fully funded university-level ultimate program.
“Davenport University is well known for differentiating ourselves based on our diversified athletic sport offerings,” the athletic director said. “The addition of ultimate Frisbee falls in line with this strategic initiative.”
Zaagman said he wants to see other schools adopt similar programs in the coming years.
“From a financial perspective, it’s the cheapest sport a university could adopt,” he said. “Other schools do have great student-run programs, but we want to have a great, successful first season so other schools take notice. There’s no reason why not, in even two or three years, other universities could be doing this exact same model.”
Zaagman has been playing the sport since 2007. He played on a student-led team at Calvin University for four years, and spent two years playing in the American Ultimate Disc League (Pro Ultimate) program.
In 2012, he started an ultimate program called Zig Zag, which is open to kids in grades 4-12 from across the Grand Rapids area. The program has since grown to have over 500 students who play every year, with over 100 Ultimate teams including three university teams.
The head coach said he urges any student-athlete to consider joining Davenport’s new team next fall.
“If you’re an athlete who hasn’t found a sport or hasn’t found at home at their university, we would love for you to consider it,” he said. “ At Davenport University, the culture we’re creating here is going to be the envy of every program in the world.”
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