A park or a ground with a grown-up

Flying disc (ultimate) at home

A disc and a partner in a yard, park or lane; small team games in a park.

2 cards at home 6 for a park or court 1 for the club

What should we practise today?

Tell us where you are and who is playing. You get one card and the reason.

Where are you?

Who is playing?

Start a session

New to flying disc (ultimate)? The game in a minute

Read this once before the first card.

The game in short: Ultimate is a team game played with a flying disc. Two teams of seven try to pass the disc down the field and catch it in the end zone they are attacking. It is played with no contact and, at most levels, with no referee: players call their own fouls.
How a point is scored: A team scores 1 point when a player catches the disc inside the end zone. After each point, the teams swap ends. Games are usually played to 15 points.
How the disc changes sides: The player holding the disc may not run with it; they keep one foot planted and pivot to pass. A defender counts aloud to 10, and the disc must be thrown before 10. If a pass is dropped, caught by a defender, goes out of the field or is not thrown in time, the other team takes the disc where it stopped.
Rules children break first: No running with the disc: one foot stays down.
No contact: no pushing, holding or knocking the thrower's arm.
Only one defender marks the thrower, an arm's length away.
Make fair calls; if players cannot agree, the play is replayed.
At home you practise the throws: The backhand and the forehand, catching, pivoting and reading the disc with a partner in a yard or park, then small games with a few friends.

Words you will hear (26, in plain language)

Disc: The flying plastic disc. The edge is the rim.
Backhand: A throw made across the body from the opposite side, like dealing a playing card.
Forehand: A throw made from the throwing-hand side with the palm up and a flick of the wrist.
Hammer: A throw made over the top of the head so the disc flies upside down.
Huck: A long throw down the field.
Pancake catch: Catching the disc by clapping it between one flat hand above and one below.
Rim catch: Catching the disc by its edge, with one or two hands.
Pivot: Keeping one foot on the ground and stepping round with the other while holding the disc.
Fake: Pretending to throw so the defender moves.
Marker: The defender guarding the thrower, an arm's length away.
Stall count: The marker counting aloud from 1 to 10; the disc must be thrown before 10.
Turnover: When the disc goes to the other team after a drop, an interception, an out or a stall.
End zone: The area at each end of the field where points are scored.
Cut: A cut is a sudden run into space to get free for a pass; a cutter is a player who makes them.
Handler: A player who mainly throws and moves the disc around.
Stack: A way of lining up the cutters in a row, down the middle (vertical) or across the field (horizontal), to leave space for cuts.
Dump: A short, safe pass back to a handler when no other pass is open.
Force: The side the marker lets the thrower throw to, while blocking the other side.
Break the mark: Throwing past the marker to the side they are blocking.
Skying: Jumping high to catch a disc above other players.
Layout: Diving full length to catch a disc.
Contested catch: A catch that two players go for at the same time.
Person-to-person: Each defender guards one player, or each guards an area of the field.
Spirit of the game: The rule that players respect each other, play fair and settle calls themselves.
Call: A player saying a foul or a rule break happened, so play stops.
Speed ball: A rules game played with a bean bag or soft ball instead of a disc.

Try it, nothing to buy

Mark the space once. Every card starts from it.

A suggested first ten sessions (optional)

The cards, level by level

Nobody is late. A beginner of any age starts at Basic.

Basic 4 cards · show· hide The child throws a backhand and a forehand, catches with a pancake, plays a rules game and learns to call fouls fairly.

Move on when the child meets the self-checks on b1 to b3.

Intermediate 3 cards · show· hide The overhead throw (the hammer), longer and curving throws, marking one side and reading a floating disc. The hammer comes after a reliable forehand and takes a lot of practice.

Move on when the player can read the disc and mark a thrower.

Advanced 2 cards · show· hide High catches over other players (skying), team set-ups (the stack), long throws (hucks) and diving catches, and team offence and zone defence.

Teaching this at home

More space and a second person. A grown-up can run every card.

You do not need to know the sport. Each card tells you where to stand, what to say and what to look at. Pick one thing to say in a session and say only that. The first week looks messy; that is normal. End every session on one that works.

Cards marked At a club are taught by a coach. They tell you what the coach teaches, what is safe at home, and what to ask the club before your child joins.

How to warm up before playing is at workonfitness.com.