Madison Radicals Continue Madison's Ultimate Tradition

UPDATE:  The Radicals won their game on June 22, and are 9-3 for the season.

Milwaukee can keep the Brewers and the Bucks. Madison has the Radicals.

After years of hosting successful club and college ultimate frisbee teams, Madison is now is home to a professional team: the Madison Radicals.

The Radicals are a member of the American Ultimate Disc League, which played its first season in 2012. Madison joined the league this spring, and have experienced immediate success.  The Radicals (8-3) currently sit second in the six-team Midwest Division heading into  June 22's game against Indianapolis (Breese-Stevens Field, 7 p.m.). 

Madison Radicals player Kelsen Alexander, a former member of UW-Madison's ultimate frisbee team, the Hodags, said the sport is gaining community support.  Ultimate games now appear on ESPN3. The new league is part of the process of gaining legitimacy for the sport.

“The AUDL is a really good way to get the sport out there,” Alexander said.

AUDL games consist of four 12-minute quarters.  Teams attempt to score by passing the disc into a 20-yard end zone.  The primary difference between the professional and college game is the presence of a referee. At the amateur level, the game is entirely self-regulated. Radicals players say that hasn't altered the democratic spirit of the sport. 

Thomas Coolidge, another member of the Radicals and former Hodag, explained that the sport is easy to pick up, and accessible to anyone.

“It's fairly easy to learn, and it's something to do outside," he said. "Summer league here is huge because you don't have to be extraordinarily good to still have fun with your friends. It's contagious. It's so much fun.”

Many of the rules and strategies of the game are comparable to other sports, especially soccer, said another Radical, Andrew Meshnick.

“Disc movement is really similar to ball movement in soccer,” Meshnick said. “I know that a lot of people say that's very similar between the two sports – using your body to play better defense the same way that you do in soccer.”

Ultimate frisbee is also an alternative outlet for athletes who aren't able to play in more traditional sports like baseball, football or basketball.

Coolidge was interested in rock climbing before, but enjoys the competitive and accessible aspects of a team sport like ultimate.

“It's just surprising how much talent there is outside of those major sports. We can play at a high level. I don't think we could get that – I couldn't get that – from another sport, really,” Coolidge said. “It's a nice community of people to hang around with.”

Madison has a long and rich history with ultimate frisbeee that nearly reaches back to the founding of the sport in 1968.  The university fostered a number of sucessful college and club teams throughout the years, and in 1993, the Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association, or MUFA, was formed.

Meshnick said  the enthusiasm of the Hodags, club teams, and MUFA in general has allowed the sport to develop quickly.

“MUFA...has over 3000 players, I think, and that's a really big reason why so many people in the city are into it and why the Radicals have a team in the first place,” Meshnick said. “MUFA is a really big part of that. It's one of the top 3 biggest city leagues in the nation.”

Meshnick says that the community support of ultimate frisbee is one of the main reasons that a professional team is even possible.

As the sport progresses and gains popularity, the Madison Radicals are eager to continue playing and to see how the AUDL develops.

“Three years ago there wasn't even a professional ultimate league...and now, this year, there's two pro leagues – the AUDL and the MLU [Major League Ultimate],” Meshnick said. “The sport's definitely growing and expanding at a really rapid pace, so it'll be really exciting to see where it goes in the next few years.”