A Katikati family are sharing their passion for a fast-paced and self-refereed sport by starting a club in town for youngsters to enjoy.

The Verbeek family are behind the recent formation of Katikati Ultimate Frisbee, which ran a youth tournament and family fun contest in Term 1.

Parents Dirk and Karen Verbeek have seen all three of their children develop a passion for ultimate frisbee, but with no local after-school outlet to hone their skills.

Until Katikati Ultimate Frisbee, or KKFU as it’s known, began. “We’re only about two-odd months old now,” said Karen Verbeek, who is club president.

Fast-paced, non-contact

According to the sport’s national body, New Zealand Ultimate (NZU), ultimate frisbee is a fast, non-contact team sport combining elements of netball, soccer and American football, played with a 175g flying disc. Governed by NZU, it focuses on self-officiating and “spirit of the game” sportsmanship.

Karen said her son Nathan was introduced to ultimate frisbee by Katikati College teacher Peter Besley as a Year 9 student two years ago. “He basically went from there and never turned back. He started playing with the Mount club in the second half of the beach frisbee season a year ago.

“Then my daughter Natalie started playing indoor frisbee the middle of last year at the Mount, and my younger son Nichola also started playing.”

Year 9 students Natalie Verbeek and Billy Sadd, both aged 13, participated in Katikati Ultimate Frisbee’s Kings & Queens Inter Club Competition last term. Photo / Merle Cave

Nathan is now a Year 11, Natalie is Year 9 and Nicholas is a Year 5 at Katikati Primary School.

“There is not a lot of opportunity for them in Katikati to grow for their sport.

“So we started travelling to Tauranga and building our network with clubs all over, and thought that if we wanted more local opportunity for our youngest, we’d launch the club and see if local young people would be interested, so by the time Nicholas gets to intermediate age, the local club will be up and running.”

Dial up interest

“We hope that the club will grow as people get to know and play the sport more.”

Karen said Katikati had produced a few frisbee athletes in the past – former Katikati College students Luke Spurr, brothers Sean and Daniel Nicholson and Ayrton Hodson, went to Poland in August 2022 to represent New Zealand at the World Youth Frisbee Championships.

However, momentum waned, and Karen wanted to turn that around. “The college has a team that is on and off, but this year it didn’t quite have enough players to send to the senior schools’ national tournament, which had 30 schools participating.”

For Term 1, KKFU ran a free-entry Kings & Queens Inter-Club Competition on Wednesday afternoons at the college’s back field. The same night, a four-versus-four free Family Brawl was held at Moore Park.

Katikati youth have new sport club in town – ultimate frisbee. Photo / Merle Cave

The club is now hosting a priced Autumn Buzz Social Indoor event at Katikati War Memorial Hall from 6.30pm to 9pm on Tuesdays from April 21 until June 30. The event is a relaxed, all‑welcome indoor frisbee season designed for players of every level and age.

Free grass frisbee will continue year-round on the back field at the college from 3.30pm-5pm for students aged 9-17 of all experience levels.

“When people hear frisbee, they think, ‘Oh, anyone can chuck a frisbee,’ but there’s actually a bit more to it,” Karen said.

Ultimate frisbee has beach, grass and indoor formats – and team numbers could vary.

It also involves skill. The object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone. A player must stop running while in possession of the disc, but may pivot and pass to any receiver on the field.

Players move quickly from offence to defence on turnovers that occur with a dropped pass, an interception, a pass out of bounds, or when a player is caught holding the disc for more than 10 seconds.

Self-refereed, with spirit

What Karen likes most about ultimate frisbee is the uniqueness of it being self-refereed, governed by the spirit of the game, which is written into the rules.

This means players are responsible for adhering to and overseeing the rules themselves, a tradition of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on players rather than referees.

“You [the player] have to make decisions on the field and do this by talking it out with fellow players. It’s a great opportunity for self-development.”

Youths learn leadership, self-awareness, communication, negotiation and mediation skills.

Year 9 Emily Wallis, 13, trying to offload the frisbee. Photo / Merle Cave

“At the end of the game, there is a spirit circle where the two teams stand together and talk about everything that went well, and teams congratulate each other on their strong points. They don’t focus on mistakes or negative stuff.

“It’s very much about knowing the rules and uplifting other people.”

New and different

Out of a sport-packed landscape for young people, what appeals to the Verbeek kids about ultimate frisbee? “I think it’s something different and new and a sport they can all play together, not like other sports where you need to be a specific age to play as a team,” Karen said.

“Our kids get to play together and develop a great bond. I saw this new bond during the family brawl in Term 1. And once you get to know ultimate frisbee, it gets quite addictive.”

Her long-term goal is to introduce ultimate frisbee to primary-aged children, “so by the time they go to college, they choose it as their number one sport”.

“Ultimate frisbee is in most places in the world from the age of 14 upwards. In NZ, the Waikato clubs have grown significantly, where they now have their own intermediate schools’ competition in Terms 1 and 4.

“The goal is to bring that to the Western Bay of Plenty, where school teams participate like they do in rugby, hockey, netball etc weekly during Terms 1 and 4 for grass and Terms 2-3 for indoor and not just one or two tournaments a year.”

Accessible, affordable

With participants requiring only one frisbee per team, and juniors allowed to play barefoot, ultimate frisbee is an accessible and affordable sport for families.

“It’s one of the most, if not, [the] cheapest sports you can do,” Karen said. “Membership fees are very cheap, if any. Our club has only charged for events held indoors to cover venue hire. But we’re trying to keep it free for youth.”

Find out more about KKUF on its website.