Ultimate frisbee fans hope sport takes off at the U.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

While attending Colorado College, Ryan Segal embraced the devotion ultimate Frisbee creates among those who play it.

A tattoo he proudly displays on his left leg provides adequate proof. Japanese characters run down his shin. The characters mean Wasabi, the name his team took to distinguish themselves.

"That's the Colorado College symbol right there," Segal said, pointing to the characters. "That's who we are. It's Wasabi."

Getting the tattoo was a rite of passage, an outward sign of his total dedication to his team and to the sport.

Originally Segal came from Rowland Hall to play soccer before joining the football team as a kicker. He ultimately gravitated to ultimate Frisbee - or ''ultimate'' as it is known by those who play it - and found himself immersed completely in the sport.

His team practiced three to five days per week throughout the year, even during the winter months. Outside of practice, the team met unofficially to throw together.

"We were a tight-knit group of guys. We hung out together all the time," Segal said.

Their devotion turned Wasabi from a lower tier college team to the third best in Colorado by the time he graduated. Now a graduate student, with one year of eligibility left, Segal is on the other end of the spectrum as part of a brand new University of Utah ultimate team.

Forming a team: An ultimate team at the U. did not even exist until last fall, developing from efforts of students and alumni affiliated with Persuaders - a Salt Lake ultimate club - including Segal, Trevor Harper and Chris Watkins.

Persuaders has had much success over the past five years, going to nationals twice and the World Championships once. Even with success, many players felt dismayed at ultimate's lack of local development.

Few high schools had teams. They knew of no youth leagues. And with no team at the University of Utah, younger players in Salt Lake County had few options beyond pick-up games.

Watkins and Harper set to work forming a team. Watkins volunteered as head coach and Harper, Segal and Eric Christensen - all University of Utah students - joined as players. They secured a practice field, started a Web site, passed out fliers and worked to secure funding from the Associated Students of the University of Utah.

"It [was] definitely a grassroots thing," Watkins said. "Pretty much at every level, ultimate is a grass roots effort, except where it is much more established."

Choosing a name fitting the team's identity - an essential element of ultimate - was also part of the building process. The group kicked around several ideas until Zion Curtain stuck. They chose the name because it embodied Utah's LDS roots and their own desires to become a formidable presence, like an iron curtain, in college ultimate.

"At first, when I heard it, I just kind of rubbed it off," Harper said. "Chris and I liked Fusion, because of the whole cold fusion thing up here. Then I started to hear Zion Curtain a little more and it started to sound better, especially for an ultimate team. It kind of fits pretty well."

The Curtain rises: With Zion Curtain officially formed for the winter semester, the team held its first practice two weeks ago. Only 12 players showed, fewer than expected. Established teams at Stanford or Colorado draw more than 100 people to tryouts. Harper counted on seeing around 25 people.

"It is kind of disappointing considering the size of the school," Harper said. "I know there's a lot of kids who can run fast and jump high who would fall in love with ultimate if they came."

Still, positive signs abound. The team will compete in its first tournament in Las Vegas next month with 88 other college ultimate teams, including perennially dominant programs from Colorado, Stanford, Cal-Berkeley and Washington.

Zion Curtain will also compete in another tournament in Fort Collins, Colo., at the end of March, and then prepare for the Big Sky Sectionals in April and - along with teams from Utah State and BYU - play for a chance to advance to the Northwest Regionals.

Right now, the team's main focus is on molding raw players into a competitive unit. The talent is there, but some mechanics are not. Drills designed to improve catching, passing, layouts and pulls consume practices as the coaches try to eliminate pick-up habits and instill a more serious approach to the sport.

Getting fundamentals in place is necessary to prepare Zion Curtain for tournament play, where it will face more established teams. Most of the players have not experienced the rigors of playing eight to 10 games over two days.

"It's a rare combination of an endurance sport with the athleticism that a lot of team sports require," Watkins said.

After experiencing ultimate at a collegiate level, Segal is convinced it can succeed at the University of Utah. Both the student population and university resources, he said, are comparable to Colorado University, which fields one of the best college ultimate teams in the West.

Segal also thinks the sport is appealing because it molds together elements of sports like football and soccer, and that piques the curiosity of newcomers.

"One of the things I love about the sport is that it draws from all of these other sports," Segal said. "That's part of the contagious nature."