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Ultimate Frisbee Championship Soars Into PPL Park

By Kristen Johanson

CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) - Did you know Philadelphia has an Ultimate Frisbee team? It's part of a national major league, which held their 3rd championship Saturday night at PPL Park in Chester.

The title game between the Seattle Rainmakers and the Boston Whitecaps was the final one of the season, which started back in April. Nic Darling -- Executive Vice President of Major League Ultimate -- says there are eight teams across the country, but the league is based in Philadelphia:

"Philly is a great sports town. Ya know, we really picked our teams based on their sort of love of sports in general -- with Philadelphia obviously topping the list."

He says the rules are simple:

"If you catch (the Frisbee) in your opponents end zone, you score a point. If the disk hits the ground, or gets thrown out of bounds, or gets intercepted, it's the other teams chance to go in the other direction."

frisbee championship 2
Boston Whitecaps & Seattle Rainmakers take the field before the National Ultimate Frisbee championships at PPL Park. (Credit: Kristen Johanson)

This year's league Rookie of the Year is Billy Sickles from the hometown Philadelphia Spinners. He's been playing for six years, and says he remains hopeful of where the sport is going:

"When you go to an Ultimate game and you see if for the first time, the gears start to turn because you see a lot of similar concepts in other sports. And I think, because you only really only need a $10 piece of plastic, I think kids are going to start to pick it up."

He adds the Spinners are picking up a fan base:

"Philly averaged around 700 fans this season, but they are loud and very proud of the team."

As far as Saturday's title game, the Whitecaps beat the Rainmakers 31-17.

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