Virginia Tech

 

The club at Virginia Tech has been in existence since at least 1990. They were called “Fresh Produce” and competed as a coed team. Early notable members included Wayne Biever, Francis Bausch, Rabah Sbitani, and Heather McElroy. At this point, the club was neither funded nor an official student organization but a collection of students who enjoyed the relatively new game of Ultimate Frisbee that was invented in New Jersey in 1986. Their goal was to relieve stress through exercise, travel to east coast regional tournaments, and adhere to the “spirit of the game” which embodies respect for your opponent and self-officiation of the game.

 

During this early period, the club hosted a coed tournament every summer from 1990 to 2004. The tournament was called Blacksburg Mountain High and drew teams from all over the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. Many of the teams hailed from the Triangle area in North Carolina or the I-95 corridor around Philadelphia, New Jersey, and D.C. The main point of this tournament was to bring men and women together in friendly competition. Many of the teams were a combination of college students and young professionals.

 

Since the early days, the club at Virginia Tech and the sport throughout the U.S. and world-wide have dramatically expanded. The team has steadily grown from one coed team to a separate men’s and women’s team around 2002. Around 2010, the mens team separated into an elite (A) and developmental (B) team. This was done because the number of participants and their skill level became so large that two teams were necessary in order for everyone to obtain adequate playing time and to provide the opportunity to develop ultimate frisbee and leadership skills. The men’s elite team known earlier as Jimmy Bang, but later switched to Burn, as they are known today. The developmental team is called Second Degree.

 

There have been several infusions of athletic talent over the years that have significantly increased the ability of the club to compete at regional and national levels. The first core group arrived in 2001-2002 with notable members such as Jason Cawrse, Adam Lessey, Mike Oesterle, Jonathan Horton, and Keith Stanley. A second wave of players came in the late 2009-2010 that had considerable experience from playing high school ultimate. This group really put Virginia Tech on the map as a regional contender and included notable alumni such as Chris Robinson, Ryan Haac, Michael Balogh, Scott Forrester, Robert Hand, and Evan Klein. This period saw the club grow from 20-30 active members to more than 70. Since that time, the infusion of talented athletes with prior skills and experience at the high school level have really put the club on the map as a regional and national powerhouse.

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