It is a common claim made by Ultimate Frisbee players that ‘anyone’ could play the game. However Andrew Thornton, a long time Ultimate player, has published research that shows that Ultimate players struggle over their (athletic) embodiment and identity. His research shows that although Ultimate players reject and limit identifications with dominant sporting ideals they also continue to embrace some of their qualities. This process of identification suggests that maybe not ‘everyone’ will be able to become part of the Ultimate community…
Interested in reading more? Here is the published chapter (.pdf) of his PhD thesis. This chapter was originally published in 2004 by Belinda Wheaton (Ed.) in Understanding Lifestyle Sports: Consumption, Identity and Difference, London: Routledge, 175-196.
If you want to know more about Andrew, here is the link to Andrew’s homepage
