“Something, honestly, that I wish I was a little bit better at is being strategic about where you run. I think probably one of the most important things, more so than just being fast, is making sure you’re not cutting off your other teammates when you do run. Something that happens a lot, especially in informal games, is that three or four people will run to the same side and then they all cut each other off. Sometimes I try to work on watching where everybody runs first and then if nobody’s open, only then making a move towards the person with the disc. Just make sure that the field is open and that you’re not cutting each other off.”

“What I always think of is American football, which I used to play in middle and high school. It’s this idea of making cuts and trying to read the field and also knowing the person that’s throwing and where they’ll throw to. I don’t like to cherry pick, or sit in the endzone, so I try to start running and make a cut at some point. What you always want to do is make the most simple catch that you can. You never want to try and showboat. You always want to do the ‘pancake catch,’ with two hands. After, you master that, practice other ways of catching it, like use your left hand instead of your right.

“The hammer is a back flip of the Frisbee. I throw it when it’s very crowded in the endzones and I’m stuck. It’s very fast and rare when people can get it. You have to have rough hands to catch a hammer. You jump on it and use two hands, but sometimes you can get it with one hand if it’s a bit soft.”

“Well, if you try and do a one-hand catch, it’s not the best, but you can when it’s a little over your head. Just reach up there, but don’t be frantic. Don’t jump and try to make it look cool. Grab it with your thumb underneath if you’re jumping. But if you’re diving make sure your forefinger is underneath to get a good grip. Be confident and know that you can catch it.”

“To throw a forehand [] your middle finger is where all the action’s occurring. When you have the Frisbee out and you have it to your side, what happens is you flick it in a lob wrist action, kind of like a really quick screw of a light bulb. What happens is the disc just rolls off and flies off your middle finger. Your wrist is loose and kind of wobbly. The biggest thing that gets beginners is that they use too much arm, a lot of the time, and they’re trying to use their elbow to get power to the disc or even their whole arm to push the disc forward. That’s not helpful. The most spin you’re able to put on it the more accurate your throw will be.”

“Don’t be afraid of trying to go for the Frisbee even though you might not think you can catch it. If you’re too afraid to go for it you’re never going to catch it and you might surprise yourself with how good you could be. This past Saturday was my third time playing and my best so far. I was able to get the Frisbee a lot and I scored twice and I even had to dive a couple of times for the Frisbee. Overall, I see every time I’m getting a little bit better and that keeps me motivated.”

Ultimate Frisbee, often referred to as just “ultimate,” isn’t as easy as it looks, according to those in the know. The goal is similar to football — sail your disc into the end zone while defenders are in your face trying to block your throw or catch. It’s no surprise that it was a footballer who helped introduce the sport to Egypt.

Born in the 1950s on US university campuses and now played by millions around the world, Ultimate came to Cairo in 2002 when a footballer named Mido Nassar, with the help of a few American colleagues, discovered just how competitive the sport could be.

“I saw some Americans playing this sport and I got excited, because I had never seen it before,” says Nassar. “After they left, I decided to keep the sport going in Egypt and invited my friends from AUC [the American University in Cairo] to keep the sport alive.”

Now, Egyptians and expats alike gather at the Cairo American College (CAC) campus and Victoria College Park in Maadi to enjoy pickup games of Ultimate. Affectionately called Ultimate Pharaohs Frisbee by its founder, the club has become so popular that organizers last month added a third weekly slot to the ultimate calendar. While the turnout varies depending on the night and time of year, there are usually enough people on hand to field two teams of seven with several substitutes throughout the two (or more) hours of play. The club also has over 100 members on its Facebook group, Egypt’s Ultimate Frisbee. Members used to play at Gezira Sporting Club in Zamalek before they moved to Maadi a few years ago to take advantage of better fields and a more convenient location for some of the players.

The club is sponsored by AUC, thanks mostly to the number of its students involved through the years, as well as the involvement of Jonah Moos, who teaches at the university. In the two years he’s been playing, Moos quickly became the team’s ultimate (pun intended) go-to guy and club organizer, alongside Nassar.

Moos says he enjoys the sport because it combines speed, agility and strategy. “For me it’s a chance to exercise and not be bored by working out. It’s a good group of people and its fun,” says Moos, who knew the rules but had little experience with the game before arriving in Egypt.

It’s also a non-contact sport, which lessens the chances of a serious injury — well, most of the time anyway. “The skills involved are being able to throw and catch well, run fast and anticipate where the disc is going to land or how to ‘read a disc’, as it’s called,” says Moos.

Camaraderie forgotten, two seven-person teams take to the field. Before the game begins, each player carefully chooses a member of the opposing team to cover when on defense. A silent countdown begins, ending with the cry: “Ultimate!” The defending team then throws “the pull,” the first throw, to the other team. This is often a long and powerful toss to give the offense as little ground as possible.

The object of the game is to pass the disc (known as a Frisbee) so it’s eventually caught in the other team’s endzone, on the defending team’s side. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Once a player has caught the disc, they can no longer move except to pivot on one foot and must pass within 10 seconds. If the defender is on his or her game, this means the player with the disc must make the pass while being covered by an opponent who can use their arms to block, as long as they don’t touch or knock the disc/offensive player. To beat the defense, players attempt to get around them by throwing the disc using a backhand or forehand technique. The idea is to throw to a person who is free of his or her defender. Players are not allowed to block a defender covering someone else.

Members of the club say the best way to get open is to “cut,” or change direction suddenly. Typically, a team will have a few handlers who take more control in directing the game, while the other players take mid- or deep-field positions, all trying to lose their defenders in the hope of getting into a passing or scoring position.

Opinions vary on the best ways to get to the endzone, from short, quick passing sequences to long, strategically planned lobs for direct scores, but everyone agrees that reading the disc and knowing how your teammates play are a big part of any victory.

“The key for me is having communication with the thrower. So if you can get eye contact and some sort of sense of knowing the thrower well, you’ll know where to throw it and know where to expect the disc,” says Moos. “So with a glance or without much communication you can know where to go and where to be open.”

If a player misses the Frisbee and it falls to the ground, play stops and starts again where it was dropped, with the other team in possession. The disc is also turned over to the other team if one of the defensive players knocks it from the air to the ground, catches it during play, or if the offense throws it out of bounds. If a player is fouled, the Frisbee goes to the other team.

Don’t let the fact that these are pickup games fool you. The play can be fierce and is often quite competitive, even for soft-spoken players like Dina Hosni, who knew very little about the game when she started playing.

“Three years ago one of my friends started to play; he was encouraged by his friends, and he told me to come to play. I didn’t know the game at all but then when I went there I had fun, so I said ‘Look, I’ll keep on doing it.’”

Game times are Wednesdays at 7pm (CAC), and on Thursdays at 5pm and Saturdays at 2pm (Victoria College Park). The club is open to the public and newcomers are always welcome, says Hosni. And the Ultimate Pharaohs have big plans for 2009. After the success of their December tournament in Siwa, another one is the making, but its venue has not been determined yet. et