Pennsbury Grads Leave Footprint On Professional Ultimate Disc

It might not have the notoriety of sports like football or basketball but Ultimate Disc is growing, and one local high school has been pumping out quality players for local and national teams.

Ultimate, as it is colloquially known, is a seven-on-seven sport played with a flying disc. The game is played by players throwing the flying disc to each other. Goals are earned when a player catches the disc in the end zone, similar to football.  There is no set amount of steps a player can take, but they must slow down and establish a pivot foot as quickly as possible.

At lower levels, the game is self-officiated. At the professional level, where William Hoehne plays, every game has a referee presence.

Hoehne is a 2012 graduate of Pennsbury High School and has played Ultimate for about seven years, starting in the school’s program as a junior. Hoehne has played for the Philadelphia Phoenix since his freshmen year in college, when his coach urged him to tryout.

Playing in  high school, the team’s biggest rivals were schools like Lower Merion and Radnor.

Now, there are seven Pennsbury High School graduates in the Phoenix program and many more throughout the American Ultimate Disc League, or AUDL.

“Pennsbury definitely has a nationally recognized name,” Hoehne said. Sean Mott and Dustin Sullivan are other Pennsbury graduates on the Phoenix with many more throughout the league.

Pennsbury’s Ultimate program started in 1998.

There are two summer seasons. The professional season goes from the end of April through the end of July, with playoffs running through August. A club season, where the players aren’t paid, also takes place in the summer. Three divisions, one of only men, one mixed and one of only women compete. Even though these league’s aren’t professional from a monetary sense, they are still extraordinarily competitive, according to Hoehne.

When it comes to being a professional athlete playing Ultimate, the gig isn’t as glamorous as playing in the NFL or NBA might be. Hoehne can recall a few instances where the team traveled to Canada for two games in a weekend before arriving home in the early hours of Monday morning, needing to get ready for his full-time job.

In some cases, teams will pay for a player to move to a city and pay their basic living expenses, Hoehne explained. Otherwise, making ends meet and being a professional athlete can seem like a big juggling act.

“It’s a lot to juggle with having a full-time job and everything,” Hoehne said, explaining that on top of regular games and practices, staying conditioned and keeping on top of strategy takes up a ton of time.

The average game held in Garthwaite Stadium in Conshohocken will attract between 300 and 600 people, Hoehne said.

The sport is still growing and more sponsors are attracted to the league each season, Hoehne said. Professional leagues are even recognized by ESPN where Ultimate teams sometimes receive honors on the “Top Plays of the Week” lists.

The team missed the playoffs this year, but have been hard at work recruiting and working towards a stronger season next year.