Spotlight on “Hawk Soar”: how we fall in love with flying disc

Flying disc, a trending sport, goes viral on campuses for its fun competition, less physical contact and social interactions. As Ultimate—the disc competition governed by Spirit of the Game—is increasingly finding favor among the young, Zhejiang University’s Ultimate team, Hawk Soar, is also soaring in popularity. Today let’s turn the spotlight on their stories with discs.

Why “Hawk Soar”?

Hawk Soar is a team of Ultimate-fans led by LIU Chenlu, a graduate student in ZJU’s Life Science Institute. “We are crazy fans of Ultimate discs, and we love this sport so deeply that we seldom miss any one training even when we get hurt in playing it,” said Liu, with her eyes sparkling with clarity of passion.

Speaking of the team name, Liu recalled the College League Matches of Ultimate where they came up with this distinctive name to represent ZJU. “We get the inspiration from ZJU’s emblem—a soaring hawk, indicating that our team, as energetic as a hawk, would have a promising future as well.”

The team’s enthusiasm for Ultimate is not confined in playground, but also develops into other domains. The doctoral student Saimi in ZJU’s College of Civil Engineering and Architecture infuses his love for discs with his major, and studies “how a disc flies under gyrodynamics and aerodynamics”. Also, out of the same passion and interest, members of Ultimate Club voluntarily compiled the existing terms and rules of flying disc, and published WFDF Rules of Ultimate to win more fans for Ultimate. Their experiences best demonstrate that where there is love, there is endless energy.

Game Spirit Matters

Inside the handbook WFDF Rules of Ultimate, Chapter 1 begins with this statement—“Ultimate is a non-contact, self-officiated sport”—demonstrating the special Spirit of the Game, a sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play not on referees, but on players.

“Unlike other games, say, football or basketball, there’s no referee in disc match, so all players are responsible for obeying the rules,” explained SONG Ruyi, an undergraduate in ZJU’s College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering.

The final score of Ultimate consists of the catches of goal as well as the Game Spirit they presented, such as fair-mindedness, truthful attitudes, respectful words and body language, etc. “In a word, the spirit of mutual respect and self-officiation are the reasons why I fall in love with Ultimate,” Song concluded.

Flying discs, flying vibrancy

Asked what they have got from Ultimate, the members give various answers: team spirit, communicative skills, self-discipline and self-adjustment, which can be accurately summarized in one sentence, as one of the fans told us, “What’s flying freely is more than the disc, but also, our vigor and vitality.”

“To prepare for the College League Matches, for two months we have been training day after day as early as seven o’clock. On the field, those who were playing in the match strived for every score with all their efforts, and other teammates strained every strength to cheer up for them. This unforgettable scene tells me that team spirit really matters,” Liu recalled, expressing her delight to grow with Hawk Soar.

“In the match, we can catch the disc only by heading for it at full speed. Along this process I’ve got to know how to adjust my position and cheer myself up,” said LI Sicheng, a doctoral student in ZJU’s College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, also a “veteran” in the team.

Writer: BI Yuran

Translator: ZHANG Jinmei

Editor: TIAN Minjie