The ultimate beach experience came with a flying disc for a Foothills County athlete.
Scout Rich made her debut on the world stage at the 2024 World Beach Ultimate Club Championships from Oct. 14-19 in Portimão, Portugal, finishing 21st in the women’s division.
“It’s definitely taken my heart,” Rich said. “I had never envisioned Frisbee being able to take me around the world to such an extent and meet other people who are just as supportive of bringing awareness to the sport.
“At the worlds, there were some Olympic observers which is really positive and I feel like it’s moving in a right direction.”
Rich, a 2020 Highwood High School graduate, dipped her toes into the sport after some coaxing from her Grade 10 math teacher Sean Schwarzer.
“He was always trying to convince his math students to come out and play,” Rich said. “At the time I was thinking that’s kind of silly, I play basketball and track and was kind of an all-around athlete.
“But chasing plastic didn’t really sound like something that was a sport, that’s how I thought about it.”
Those sentiments changed quicker than a disc can fly down a beach.
Rich started with attending drop-in practices and almost immediately got picked up for the first Alberta high school national team.
“The sport is relatively easy to pick up on,” said Rich, who plays as a deep strike. “It’s very welcoming and supportive of whoever shows up.
“Basketball, that defensive awareness as well as some of the stack positioning that helped. I know a lot of people come from soccer and I also did pentathlon so that 100m sprint training really helped.”
One unique aspect to ultimate is the premium it places on sportsmanship and community above all where many games are self-refereed.
“Most of the time it’s really spirited and then afterwards there’s a spirit circle where we talk about what they really enjoyed and some feedback and what you could do better,” she said. “It holds ultimate to a level of accountability that you wouldn’t find in basketball or soccer.”
At the club level, she started out with the Calgary Cannons, a mixed team, before moving onto her current women’s club, Remix.
The Remix, featuring players largely from the Calgary and Edmonton areas, played in the Pan American Championships in the Dominican Republic last year then qualified for worlds through nationals in Ontario earlier this summer.
“Playing beach ultimate is a whole different level of the sport,” she said. “Because the bids are bigger, that’s when you lay out, and that happens a lot more often in beach because of the sand. The throws take on a completely different angle.
“It was great just meeting teams around the world. The Portugal team, they had come in being the host team and didn’t do as well as they had thought, but that didn’t stop them, they were always supportive and very spirited. It was great to match them with our spirit.”
Scout’s biggest highlight from the picturesque Algarve region of Portugal speaks to that sport community.
An unexpected thunderstorm forced an impromptu bonding session with the team in tight quarters before getting back onto the beach for more competition.
“All of the teams, mixed, senior’s, women and senior’s open, which is the men, piled into the beach cafes and for about 30 minutes we all just sat there hanging around, getting to know each other and chatting,” said Rich, who had 12 goals and 17 points in 10 games.
“Then we came out onto the field and that was probably the most spirited and best game I had played. It was not pouring, but it was raining, and I had to dig deep and find another level that I was able to play at.”
Reflecting on how far she’s come in the sport in a few short years, Rich is glad she was encouraged to take a chance on ultimate.
“(Mr. Schwarzer) never gave up and I’m very thankful,” she said with a laugh. “I think about that a lot when I go on the field.”
