The ultimate frisbee club. has been a part of Wayland High School since 2018. This co-ed sport was in need of some extra players, yet some students who were interested in participating could not because of other sports and commitments. Wellness teacher Scott Parseghian helped this club become official, and has been an adviser ever since.

Five years ago, the idea originated from two high school students who had a passion for ultimate frisbee.

“These students played ultimate frisbee at a camp and wanted to start the program at WHS,” Parseghian said. “They approached me about helping the club get started, so I became an advisor. It was tricky with COVID-19 because we missed a year, but after that, we got right back on track.”

Compared to other sports, ultimate frisbee is known to be relatively relaxed when it comes to the amount of practices and games in a week. Practices don’t take up the whole week, just a few days after school.

“I coach football and wrestling, the two most demanding and time consuming sports, yet ultimate frisbee is a little more laid-back,” Parseghian said. “We practice three times a week, and in those three days we try to have one competition.”

Unlike some other sports where a coach is in charge of managing the team, ultimate frisbee is student-run, mainly by junior captain Thomas Keirnan.

“I enjoy that it’s a sport that is run by students from all towns, and it’s just a fun way to play with friends,” Kiernan said.

Since the sport is run by students, a lot of the responsibility falls on the captains. Kiernan expresses that he helps organize the team in order for the season to run smoothly.

“I organize all of our practices and run some of them,” Kiernan said. “I also schedule and send out an email about all of our games, send out weekly schedules and go to state tournaments.”

Parseghian has been searching for players with good throws, but the search has been tough with other spring sports interfering. In order to combat this obstacle, Parseghian has scheduled some games later in the day so students who play other sports can attend.

“It has been hard this year, there are students who want to play but can’t because they also want to do baseball, lacrosse and track,” Parseghian said. “It has been difficult to compete because there are a lot of kids who have a really good throw, but they play another sport. However, last week we had a game against Weston at 7 p.m., and the lacrosse kids showed up to play after their practice.”

According to ultimate frisbee leaders, some WHS students attend matches, no matter if they are on the team or not. Even though sophomore Emma Alongi runs on the track team, she decided to attend an ultimate frisbee match with her friends.

“It was fun,” Alongi said. “I had a great time even though I have never played before.

Although ultimate frisbee is not regarded as the most popular sport at WHS, some players enjoy the level of freedom that the team gives. The players encourage other students to sign up if they are interested in participating.

“It’s a fun club sport and there’s no real commitment, you come as much as you want,” Kiernan said. “Talk to me if you’re interested in joining.”