COLUMBUS — Ultimate Frisbee continues to grow in the area with another tournament coming to town at the end of the month. The local Golden Triangle Ultimate Frisbee Club has partnered with Lowndes Recreation to host 16 teams from across the South on the weekend of July 27-28.
Teams from as far as Georgia and Arkansas will compete in the club competition, which features men’s and mixed divisions.
GT Ultimate founder and tournament organizer Dawson Archer has done his fair share to keep the sport growing in his work for the club and for the Mississippi State University club team.
“I was involved with the sort of reshaping of the program, and with that came duties with hosting events,” Archer told The Dispatch. “This last fall we hosted an annual event called Cowbells, but we brought out 24 teams and that was double the amount we usually do.”
Archer helped organize tournaments in both fall 2023 and spring 2024 which brought teams from all over the country to the Golden Triangle. The GT Invitational in the spring brought teams from Purdue and Illinois down for an event sanctioned by the governing body over competitive ultimate frisbee. Archer enjoyed the more administrative side, and he’s been able to apply those skills to continue playing the game himself by forming a Golden Triangle club team.
After establishing GT Ultimate, Archer initiated a partnership with Lowndes rec, and subsequently found a home at the Roger Short Soccer Complex for both practice and competitive matches.
“The cool thing is that this has come along at a time when we’ve been focused on expanding our activities portfolio,” Lowndes rec deputy director Tom Velek said. “It’s nice that the department works cooperatively with Columbus Soccer, we’ve added Top Soccer for kids with special needs and adult soccer for people over 19, we’re trying to revitalize adult softball, and now I see this as another part of a larger effort to provide sports for more than just the youth rec leagues.”
Ultimate Frisbee, like soccer, is a sport with simple rules and few requirements. To play, you just need the field, the frisbee, two end zones and two teams. The accessibility has helped with its popularity on campuses across the country, and Archer and Velek both see potential for that to grow in communities as well.
“With this team, what I want from it is to get people to understand there’s a higher level and to be able to host tournaments like this one,” Archer said. “I think it will grow more when people see it happening, and by hosting and bringing in people from out of town, people notice and ask and think maybe I’ll bring my son or daughter to this and bring them to one of the community events. I just love the sport and I love to talk about it and get the word out.”
Velek is happy about the department’s involvement for several reasons. He values opportunities to expand involvement and create relationships with local clubs. He also enjoys finding use for the county’s facilities as much as possible within their means of proper maintenance.
“The tournaments are the icing on the cake, but we’re happy to provide them with training space, they’ve got our logo on their jerseys, and the other piece of it is answering the question of, once we build these facilities, ‘How can they be utilized more broadly for the community to use?’” Velek said. “It’s a cool opportunity to get into a new space, and a niche group, and it’s an opportunity to be creative and impactful in the way we use our facilities.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
