Why Ultimate is a great game for kids
Ultimate is a fabulous sport for kids of all ages and abilities. Ultimate children’s leagues, high school, and university teams are now being established and building momentum all across Canada and various other parts of the world.
The backbone of Ultimate is all about having fun, being positive, and team spirit. It’s common to make up spirit songs or play silly spirit games after an Ultimate game or tournament. In the community or on the beach, games of Ultimate are often played with kids and adults together. It can be highly physical and competitive, or light-hearted and playful (ideally a great combination of both.)
Ultimate develops physical literacy skills
Ultimate is a game that helps develop physical literacy skills such as:
- spacial awareness
- balance and proprioception
- hand-eye coordination
- multisensory processing
Ultimate develops life skills
Kids who play Ultimate are exposed to situations that regularly develop life skills such as:
- learning and practicing co-operation and teamwork
- empathy, honesty, and self-regulation
- building logical thinking skills through strategy
- learning and practicing healthy competition
Ultimate is inclusive
If a child hasn’t been in a common sport by a certain age, they can feel “left behind” as their peers have years of practice behind them. Ultimate is a sport that kids of all ages and levels can grasp and excel at without the expectation and judgements that come with some other sports. Just enough outside of the box, Ultimate allows kids to be physical and have tonnes of fun at the same time.
The summer’s coming up soon, see if your city or town has a youth Ultimate league you can check out. Often they will offer a free lesson, or opportunity to observe a game to see if it’s something that might be a good fit for your child.
