Novice Lake Bluff Team Captures Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

A group of Lake Bluff Middle School eighth graders may have found a new sport.

Spurred on by Dan Williams, their physical education teacher at Lake Bluff Middle School, the eighth graders tackled the sport of ultimate frisbee and recently came home champions of the Young Chicago Showdown Ultimate Frisbee Tournament in Des Plaines.

The students began playing ultimate frisbee in Artesian Park, located across the street from the middle school, after school earlier this fall. Williams, an accomplished Ultimate player, began teaching them the rules and skills of the game.

Williams asked the group if they would like to enter the tournament to experience playing teams from throughout the Chicago area. They jumped at the opportunity and spent Oct. 9 testing their skills against school and club teams.

In pool play, the Lake Bluff players demonstrated won all four games to finish atop their division. They proceeded to knock off a team from Naperville in the semi-finals, and faced a highly skilled team from the Des Plaines area in the final game of the afternoon.

Lake Bluff jumped to a quick lead, only to have the opponent charge back to come within two goals. However, two additional insurance goals late in the game secured the victory for Lake Bluff.

The team included: Matt Begley, Danny Carollo, Will Curtis, Richie Faller, Matt Hall, Connor Knop, Mason Moore, Sean Nelson, Varun Rao, John Ryan, Patrick Ryan, and coach Williams.