Jekyll Island and the Golden Isles will be glad to see flying objects this spring break. High Tide Ultimate, the south’s largest college Ultimate tournament will take over the recreation fields of Jekyll Island and Glynn County. Over 160 teams and 2500 students will compete in this positive athletic alternative for college spring breakers.
Ultimate is a limited-contact team sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the sport is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to American football or rugby. Players may not run while holding the disc. While originally called Ultimate Frisbee, the sport is now officially called Ultimate because Frisbee is the trademark for the line of discs made by the Wham-O toy company.
Due to the size of High Tide Ultimate, the Jekyll Island Authority has partnered with the Glynn County Recreation Department to host the month-long event. Competition will take place at both the Jekyll Island Soccer Complex and the North Glynn Recreational Fields.
“This is the one of the largest events we have ever seen at our Recreational Fields,” said Wesley Davis, Recreation Director at the Glynn County Recreation Department, “We are glad to partner with the Jekyll Island Authority to help bring High Tide Ultimate and its sizeable economic impact to the Golden Isles.”
High Tide Ultimate is just one example of the numerous sporting events coming to Jekyll Island. The soccer complex, home to the Golden Isles Soccer Association, hosts many tournaments and camps throughout the year and has become renowned for its quality facilities. Also this spring, Jekyll Island will host the U.S. Kids Golf(R) Jekyll Island Cup and the Oglethorpe University Invitational golf tournament.
“This event is a perfect fit for Jekyll Island, we host everything from lacrosse camps to cross country events to cheerleading competitions,” said Kevin Udell, Director of Sales for the Jekyll Island Authority.
Why Frisbee?
In the 1930s and 40s, the Frisbie Pie Co. of Bridgeport, Connecticut, sold pies to several colleges. The students quickly discovered the empty pie tins were great for tossing around campus. In 1948, two Los Angeles businessmen invented a platic version of the pie tin. They called it the Pluto Platter and sold the design to Wham-O. A few years later, Wham-O dubbed it the Frisbee. Oddly, the discs made by Wham-O competitor Discraft are the standard discs for the Ultimate [Frisbee], because they are more streamlined and have a softer curved edge for easier handling. For this reason, the sport has also been called “Ultimate” or “Ultimate Disc” by many teams and clubs.
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