SMA Prep club provides Ultimate mix of exercise and learning

On a misty morning, at the crack of dawn, 15 kids gather on the Sarasota Military Academy Prep athletic fields for an ultimate showdown.

Well, rather, an Ultimate showdown.

Welcome to SMAP’s Ultimate Frisbee club (the cool kids just call it Ultimate). It’s run by Capt. Ryan Simonson, who himself played in college at the U.S. Military Academy. He started the club to give kids something to do other than sit around and be lazy. Simonson said he has found that kids do better in school when they burn all their excess energy before it starts. It allows them to focus that remaining energy on their work.

The club is also designed to be a confidence boost. The club’s motto is Fortuna Favet Fortibus, or “Fortune favors the bold.” Middle school is a tough age range, Simonson said. Kids don’t really know who they are, or who they want to be. His advice to his club is to “just be,” whatever that might entail. Kids of all ages, sizes and personalities are welcome.

It is an official club, by the way. Simonson had it sanctioned by USA Ultimate. They have tried to schedule games against other schools, but SMA is a pioneer in the “middle school Ultimate club” game. Most of the schools that offer Ultimate are high schools, and Simonson does not want to have his young kids go up against 17- and 18-year-olds.

The club officially meets at 7:30 a.m. once a week and lasts an hour, but Simonson opens up the field early for anyone who has an especially large Ultimate itch to scratch that week. I don’t know that I love anything in this world enough to get up that early for it every week, so kudos to these kids for committing to athletics.

One of those kids is Russell Aetonu, an eighth-grader at SMAP. He’s been playing Ultimate for three years, ever since the club started. When asked about his favorite Ultimate memory, he wasted little time blurting out his answer.

“Whenever we come out when it’s super cold,” he said. “We jump around and dive, just get soaking wet.”

How awesome is that? I’m not one to fall into the “get off my lawn” crowd often. I have an unhealthy addiction to Twitter, and I certainly watch my fair share of Netflix at night. In this case, though, I think my opinion is more in line with older generations: I love that kids today are still enthralled by simply running around, acting like fools and getting wonderfully messy, as opposed to wasting that time on video games and the like. Live while you’re young and still have the time to partake in sports on a regular basis.

Aetonu was a prime example of the kind of self-confidence that the Ultimate club preaches. After an extra-long “kickoff,” Aetonu couldn’t believe what he just did.

“Look at how far that went!” he said. “I’m proud of myself! Woo!”

Grace Wagler, also an eighth-grader, just joined the club this year. Simonson is her Military Studies teacher, and she first experienced the game when he allowed her class to play it on a random Friday. Simonson noticed how much fun she was having and convinced her to come to a meeting. She never left.

“Capt. Simonson is a great teacher,” Wagler said. “He actually listens to kids and cares about them. He motivates you to be a better person.”

As SMAP recently became an approved International Baccalaureate school in the Middle Years program, the captain said he always ties in Ultimate with what kids are learning in school. The air flow of a Frisbee and its friction levels are discussed in science classes, and physical education classes go over the muscle memory of different throwing motions.

“We try and show the kids how school takes place in real life,” Simonson said.

A fun club that gets kids great exercise and also helps them relate to school subjects? I didn’t think it was possible, but SMAP pulled it off.