Dylan George-Sills and A.J. Garnello both started playing the game of Ultimate Frisbee on the fields of Sedona Red Rock High School and Posse Grounds Park but now they are mortal enemies in the game.
George-Sills and Garnello, both alumni of SRRHS, have taken their athletic talent in Ultimate to the collegiate club level. It’s just now George-Sills is an Arizona State University Sun Devil and Garnello is a University of Arizona Wildcat.
Ultimate is a team sport, usually played with seven people on a team. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone. Players may not run with the disc, and may only move one foot, or pivot, while holding the disc. The game is similar to football, complete with strategies, tactics and offensive/defensive plays and has been popular on college campuses since the 1970s after the first game was played between Rutgers and Princeton universities.
“I got into playing Ultimate in Sedona my sophomore year of high school when Dylan encouraged me to come play,” Garnello said. “Like most starters, I was pretty bad at the game, but knew right away I enjoyed playing it. I practiced a lot on the weekends and after school, and slowly built up my ability to throw the disc accurately. It was a painful learning process.”
“I got started playing Frisbee with my dad at a very young age, when I was around 4,” said George-Sills, who is now the vice president of the ASU Ultimate Club. “From there my interest in the game of Ultimate began in middle school when I found a group of individuals in Sedona who meet every week to play a local pickup game. I was part of the local game for almost six years when I went off to college at ASU.”
The Sedona Ultimate Frisbee club meets on Wednesdays at Posse Grounds at 7 p.m. and on Sundays at SRRHS at 4 p.m. and welcomes anyone who wants to play the game.
Both the ASU Diablos and U of A Sunburn Ultimate club teams are very competitive.
For the full story, please see the Friday, Oct. 19, issue of the Red Rock News.
