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Ultimate Warrior Athletes of Character

West Point Sport Educator video project, capturing the defining components of what it means to be a "Warrior Athlete of Character." 3rd and 4th Regimental cadet coaches and players featured.

Boxing Nuns teach cadets the spirit of "ultimate"


From back left to right: Chris Smith (B3), Elliot Thomas (C4), Michael Ibanez (F3), Jeremy Smith (B4), Cory Hankemeier (F1) Front: Chris Turner (F4)

Six cadet athletes from six different Company Athletic Ultimate Frisbee Teams attended “The Huck for Red October” on 5 October, an Ultimate Frisbee tournament hosted by the “Boxing Nuns” and “Swinging Monks;” the respective men’s and women’s teams at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.
The tournament name is a combination of “huck,” a Frisbee term for a long pass, and the well-known Tom Clancy novel and film starring Sean Connery and Alex Baldwin. Creatively crafted metal trophies in the shape of submarines were awarded to the top two teams.
The purpose of the trip was to provide an opportunity to see competitive play outside of West Point and externally evaluate several “warrior athlete” components of other professional level ultimate players, such as mental toughness, perseverance, athletic skill, and most importantly sportsmanship and fair play.
On six various fields, cadets witnessed players of all levels and degrees of skill wholeheartedly engaged in intense battles for the disc as players swarmed and tracked every swinging pass. As in normal Ultimate Players Association (UPA) play, there were no referees, no officials and, in general, no arguments; simply friendly discussions of who defended who and who caught what and where. The onus of fair play was universally in the hands of the players on the field, for each developing critical moment. This unique trait and “spirit of the game,” is why many believe ultimate has one of the greatest potentials for revealing character through sport. Each player has countless moments during play to make honest decisions (a quick “pause, reflect, and act”) to display sportsmanship and fair play.
The West Point cadets spent valuable time, not only watching high level play, but talking with a diverse group of coaches, players, and spectators. What they learned can only be summed up best by reading their reflections.
Cadet Jeremy Smith (B4) “The trip to Vassar poignantly highlighted the values that the game of Ultimate endorses and is built upon. Ultimate is a contest of highly spirited athletes, all pounding down the field trying to grasp that ever elusive spinning circle of plastic. At the tourney at Vassar, I saw some impressive feats of athleticism, usually involving bursts of speed followed by parallel motion to the ground and ending in a body slam to the ground. Yet they almost always came up with their proud reward, the disc in their hand. Their spirit was even more impressive as each team played silly games like "Waa" with their opponents and friends, and presented witty jingles to their opponents at the conclusion of the game. I plan to incorporate much of what I saw out there in the club team that I intend to build.”
Cadet “Coach” Chris Turner (F4) “The Vassar trip was an enlightening experience for me as a Frisbee coach. I have never seen an organized team play in a tournament of that caliber; my experience with ultimate Frisbee has been with pickup games during cross country practice, after school for fun, or during company athletics. The way they played at Vassar was calm and calculated; much different than I have always played it, and I was able to bring some fresh ideas back to my team. We tried to incorporate a tighter defense in our last game by forcing throws to the sidelines and always keeping an eye on the defender, and it worked well.”
Cadet Cory Hankemeier (F1) “I thought the Vassar trip was a great way to get out and see how real ultimate Frisbee teams play. Their communication, team work, and overall skill were way different than the teams I've experienced here. Not only that their "warrior spirit" and team pride allowed them to perform impressive feats which caused me to shake my head and say "wow!" multiple times. In my last game I tried different defensive and offensive techniques, which I learned from the trip, which gave me huge advantage over my opponents. I hope to incorporate these skills in upcoming games and hopefully enlighten the Firehouse team with some new skills enabling us to dominate our opponents in the future.”
Cadet Michael Ibanez (F3) “The Ultimate Frisbee Tournament at Vassar surpassed my expectations. I hoped to see great talent and intense games, yet in addition to that I saw the competition turn into a social event. This opened up my eyes to the idea of the "Warrior Athlete of Character." After a motivated effort to score 15 points, the teams came together to play a social game called “Wah,” which developed lasting friendships between their former Frisbee rivals.”
This full-day of tournament play, incorporated DPE Company Athletics themes, was fun, educational, and most importantly helped fulfill the DPE Competitive Sports vision “to become the premier sports education program in America for teaching character through sport” and mission of developing “Warrior Athletes of Character” and building “Teams of Significance.”
-MAJ Mark D. Rea II, DPE Sport Educator