While Kingswood has had many campers go on to become collegiate athletes – in football, basketball, soccer, and baseball to name a few – there is one collegiate athlete that Kingswood seems to produce at a higher rate than any other camp – elite Ultimate Frisbee players. To tell us more about Kingswood’s frisbee program, and the frisbee world in general, we have two Kingswood veterans – Sam Cain(7 years as a camper, with 2026 being his 8th year on staff) and Jack Ryan (6 years as a camper, with 2026 being his 6th year on staff).

First, for the uninitiated, can you give a brief description of Ultimate Frisbee?

Jack: Ultimate Frisbee is a 7-on-7 sport where you throw a frisbee to teammates with the object being to catch the frisbee in the opposing team’s end zone. Tragically, you can’t run with the frisbee in your hands and you only have 10 seconds to throw it.

Sam: And if the disc hits the ground or is caught by the defense, it’s a turnover and change of possession.

What do you love about frisbee in general, and Ultimate in particular?

Jack: Frisbees just aren’t really thrown like other things. You gotta throw a baseball or kick a soccer ball pretty hard to get it to curve, and even then it’ll only curve a couple inches. But it’s super easy to curve a frisbee, and you can throw them really far. It’s what makes Ultimate so cool, you can manipulate your throws in so many different ways and can throw to pretty much any target on the field. Learning how to throw farther and to different areas is so fun.

Sam: In Ultimate there is a core principle called “Spirit of the Game” which, in the official rules, is more important than any other rule. Spirit of the game is about respect and enjoyment of the game above all else. There are no referees so you have to call your own fouls when they happen, and respectfully discuss it if your opponents disagree. Chanting and singing are constants. Even giving the other team awards for spirit happens in almost every game I have played.

Tell us about your “frisbee journey”?

Jack: Frisbee just seemed so central to Kingswood’s identity when I first got there, and I remember wanting to be able to throw like everyone else so badly. Almost every B-block my first year in 2016 I’d play the frisbee golf course with Charlie Cain and some other guys from my Sportshed cabin and I just fell in love with throwing a frisbee. I played in the 13s and 15s Ultimate tournaments as a camper, and winning those tournaments made me realize I wanted to play outside of camp. When I got to college, I made my school’s A-team and all of a sudden frisbee seemed to be my entire life. Right now, I’m a captain of my school’s team and I live in a house with five of my teammates! 

Sam: I started as a camper at Kingswood, learning how to throw in Klaus’s frisbee clinic. I got my first couple 3 year frisbees and didn’t really know what to do with them. I probably started just throwing around the kingswood frisbee golf course before starting an ultimate frisbee team at my high school. There were only a couple of opponents in the area, so I couldn’t get much better. When I got to college, I spent three years on the B teams for D1, national caliber programs. First the University of Wisconsin Hodags, then the University of Michigan Magnum. There I got a lot better at the game, and right as I was ready to move up to the D1 roster, my senior year I had to prioritize student teaching most days, so I had to let frisbee go. Currently, I am the head Frisbee coach of my high school team that I work at! We are still developing our program, but we got number one spirit in the state of Massachusetts!

What’s the difference between a frisbee clinic and an Ultimate frisbee clinic?

Sam: The Frisbee clinic covers the basics of throwing and catching. Backhands and forehands are the two basic options, but there are many more advanced moves explored. And then an introduction to the frisbee golf course usually follows.

Jack: The Ultimate clinic presumes you already understand the basics of throwing a frisbee, and you’ll learn the actual sport of Ultimate. Through fun games and drills, you’ll learn the rules, basic offense and defensive strategy, and by the end of the week you’ll be playing a full 7-on-7 scrimmage.

Besides clinics, when else do campers use frisbees while at camp?

Sam: ‘B-Block’ almost always has a group of campers strolling around playing the frisbee golf course. On Pines Field, we play a casual lawn game called Guide (pronounced gweed), which is very similar and strictly superior to the popular game Kan Jam. ‘A-Block’ will often have a frisbee based offering, but rarely traditional ultimate frisbee.

Jack: I think Kingswood original games are always the best ‘A-Block’ or evening activities, and many of them involve a frisbee. My favorite is Schtick, which is a reverse capture the flag game where each team has a frisbee they are trying to put in the other team’s Schtick box. You can run with the frisbee, and have to “down” it before you get tagged by an opponent, and then you have 10 seconds to throw it to a teammate. If you get tagged while holding the frisbee, or if the disc hits the ground on the opponent’s side of the field, it’s a turnovoer.

Both of you have many, many Kingswood frisbees (they are given as gifts every year to campers and staff who’ve been at Kingswood for three or more years). Do you have a favorite?

Jack: I’ve got a bunch of mine hanging on my wall, and my favorite is by far the pink one from 2019.

Sam: 2015, “The Toothpaste”. I have not once brought this disc out without getting a compliment on it. And as you can see, I have brought it out a lot…