On May 3 and 4, 2025, the Lexington High School Boys Varsity Ultimate Frisbee Team participated in the Amherst Invite, a qualifying tournament for frisbee nationals. The team was ahead by four points during the semi-finals and placed third overall.
The team worked hard throughout the season and felt accomplished in their win. With practices almost every day, the team made the most out of each one.
“A big core focus of our team [practices] was changing our tactics to get points on the board, especially to get a big lead,” Yaotong Zhang, a captain of the team, said.
At Amherst, the team employed these new tactics, while learning from their opponents, which aided them immensely.
Ultimate frisbee is a team sport, and a strong community is essential to the success of the team. Thankfully, all the players this year worked together to reach their collective goals.
“We have had a lot of people this year who [played for] their first year… and they really stepped up and worked for it. We had people [who were] willing to learn and were coachable, and they believed and trusted the process… and it worked,” said Jacob Hesik, a junior and captain on the team.
The team has continuously built up a sense of trust and understanding through practices, invites, and tournaments.
“When you’re on the field, you trust the other six people will do their jobs with whatever play we’re doing. You also have to trust that the sidelines will help you support and keep you going by giving out call-outs and things like that,” Zhang said.
At the Amherst Invite, Zhang’s trust in his teammates was put into action. In the last round of the game, his leg cramped up, so one of his teammates stepped in for him, successfully finishing the round in his place.
The ultimate frisbee team has achieved many successes during the season, but it has also faced many challenges.
“We had a new defense called ‘two, three, two’ that we introduced midway through the season, and not a lot of people were familiar with it,” Hesik said.
Although this new defense required adaptability and hard work, it ultimately strengthened the team.
In addition to excellent teamwork, each member’s personal skills have grown through ultimate frisbee. For example, players have noted that their communication skills have improved from being in a team setting. Especially in frisbee, communication is key for passing, blocking, scoring, and other key aspects of the sport.
On top of communication, players have specified that their perseverance, determination, humility, and empathy have all been tested and improved while being a part of the team.
“I think my work ethic got a lot better. When I first started playing, I realized I wasn’t good enough to compete yet. I had to really prioritize frisbee and work to get better, or I wasn’t going to play, and… it proved to myself that if I worked on something for long enough, I could get good at it and see results, and it would pay out in the end,” Hesik said.
Next season, the team hopes to keep improving and rising through the ranks. In order to place first at Amherst, the players plan to work even harder.
“We all have plans to work a lot over the summer and just play a lot,” Hesik said.
Besides working in extra practice, the team aims to think critically about how to improve.
“We were looking to address problems that we had that didn’t allow us to go further into the bracket. We had to do more preparations by going to practice, trying to have an understanding about what is wrong and trying to fix those wrongs,” Zhang said.
Overall, the Boys Ultimate Frisbee Team has improved immensely, and their hardworking mindsets continue to push them forward.
“It’s really just, ‘[Whether] you want it more than the other team?’ It’s hard, that’s for sure hard, but it’s all about, ‘Can you push yourself past that and be better?’” Zhang said.
