With the pull, the game begins. The disc is launched 70 yards down the field and the defending seven sprint after it, while the offensive team spreads into position and one of the handlers receives it. Just as suddenly as it's caught, the disc is sent away again, flying through the air.

They are Sundodgers ultimate Frisbee players who play for the club team at Washington. It is a sport that many of them have played for the majority of their lives. Now that they re at the UW, Frisbee takes them all over the country.

Last week the A team was in Austin, Texas for the Centex Tournament, which invited the 24 best college ultimate teams from around North America. The Sundodgers were one of the 24 invited and, after beating teams like Texas — ranked fifth in the nation — ended up finishing 22nd.

The UW men's Ultimate Frisbee club has an A and B squad of students who, for the most part, come out in the fall and go through a process of tryouts. Students are placed on a squad depending on their level of commitment and skill.

Club president Chris Kanemori holds the difficult duty of orchestrating the club's tournaments, practices anduniforms and financing their travel. In addition to having a club president, the team is also coached by Pat McCarthy.

McCarthy has a background in the game from his days at Santa Cruz as an undergraduate and then at the UW where he played while attending graduate school. After coaching the B squad for one year, he has moved up to A.

Back on the field, the Frisbee is caught, this time by a member of the same team who comes to a screeching halt as his fingers wrap themselves around the disc. For a moment he was free from his defender, but that moment has now disappeared. His eyes dart around the field searching for an open teammate when finally he spots one. In less than 10 seconds — all while maintaining his pivot foot — the handler has spotted an open teammate and faked his way into an open throw, sending the disc shooting through the air once again.

Other trips for these student athletes have included Las Vegas, Nev., and Palo Alto, Calif. — to the Stanford campus — for tournaments, and they still have two to go, the next one being the Northwest College sectionals. Perhaps a third tournament will be achieved if they do well enough at districts to warrant an invitation to nationals. With the play they've shown so far, it shouldn't be any surprise if they are selected. The financial means for these experiences largely comes via their own pockets.

"The fundraisers don't really pay for much. Actually, our best fundraisers are our jobs basically," Kanemori said. The club gets some money — about $900 — from the IMA, and some from alumni players, but the rest has to be raised through the selling of Frisbees, shirts and hats, or like Kanemori mentioned, out of their own pockets.

"We would like to have more funds, the IMA helps us out but it only pays for a couple tournaments at best," Kanemori said.

"Pretty much every guy on our team has an outside job to pay their way," team member Jeff Leek said. "It's a lot of fun to do it, so it's worth it for every one of us."

Another tough snag is made, this time on the edge of the 70-yard by 40-yard field. This time the disc is in the hands of a downfield cutter, and immediately his eyes scan the open field for a teammate streaking toward the end zone. With a couple quick fakes, he frees himself of the strangling defense and lets loose a long, arcing throw of the disc.

"I think a lot of people don't realize how competitive and athletically demanding the sport can be," Kanemori said. "We're not out here in our Birkenstocks running around throwing Frisbees."

The Sundodgers are a team that plays an up-tempo style akin to the Phoenix Suns or the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. "We play aggressive man-to-man defense to take advantage of our speed," McCarthy said. "We want to dictate the pace of a game and play at a fast pace. If you're playing really good ... the disc moves fast. For me, it's about being on the field with six other people, playing with one mind and one objective, having fun with one another."

That pace demands hard work from the players, who condition two to three tims a week in addition to practice.

Many teams get frustrated with a suffocating style of defense, but that's what A squad members pride themselves in, an they face it every day in practice. A disadvantage in height for the Sundodgers becomes an advantage in speed for their team.

"This year particularly, we have a speed advantage. We have a pretty fast team," Leek said. "We don't necessarily have a height advantage like we've had in years past. So we try to expose the other team through speedy cuts and flow within the offense."

A cutter races down the field ahead of the disc, anticipating its landing area as it begins its descent feet above him. His opponent runs with him stride-for-stride, but it doesn't matter: It's him and the disc. As long as he gets to the spot as soon as he can reach it, the disc is his to catch — and he does. His long arm reaches up in the air and plucks the disc out of the sky. Standing in the end zone — a 25-yard by 40-yard space — the receiver has scored the first point for his team, and teammates celebrate together as the other team subs while making its way back down the opposite side of the field.

This team doesn't just play fast; members play with aggression and tenacity, and they love everything about it. "We generally try to be the more aggressive team ... to basically dominate the game in all aspects," sophomore Sean Rohan said. "We throw ourselves around with reckless abandon out there."

For the most part, this team has done that and done well with it. They have been invited to the exclusive tournaments and done well — a 12th-place finish out of 64 in the Vegas Tournament being their best finish. A lot of this team's success is due to their aggressive play and sound fundamentals, but an understated factor in all of sports is chemistry.

As Kanemori explains, they don't just show up and practice, or play games and then leave each other. "We all really like each other. We pretty much all hang out with each other outside of practice. We don't just come and play here," he said. "We're all really good friends."

Just like in any team sport, it's important for the teammates to get along, and all signs seem to point that way for this team.

"They have parties during the year, and we have a team retreat ... to get ourselves ready for the year ahead," McCarthy said.

The tournaments have been extremely great experiences for them.

"All the trips have been pretty fun ... just being at these tournaments with all the guys is a lot of fun," Leek said.

The pull happens again, and even as the players sprint down the field after the disc, you can see the joy in their faces and gain an understanding as to why they love to play the game. It's a large commitment of time and money, but that doesn't matter to them. The disc drifts down the field, hangs above their heads for a moment, and then suddenly, as with every movement in the game, the Frisbee's snagged out of the air and sent away again.

Reach reporter Anthony Dion at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.