Much like a backyard Frisbee, the persona of the Men’s Ultimate team, the Diablos, has spun around, pulling a complete one-eighty this year. In a doomed routine that was too laid back to survive the Desert Conference, something had to change.
“Yeah, in the past we were a party team,” says Stefen Hillman, a chemical engineering senior and president of the club. “When we’d go to tournaments we’d try to ‘win the party.’ Now we are transitioning to become an elite team.”
They’re serious; practice six days a week says they’re serious. Then again, I guess that’s not enough. Try two-a-day practices of Ultimate - that’s their schedule next month.
Hillman will then visualize Arizona State’s first National Championship birth. That’s their goal as a team.
But with this hard work, fun is essential. Most of those Disney sports movies say that a team that plays as one… well, is number one. Parties equal bonding. So what’s a small party going to hurt? Nope - this year’s team doesn’t want to slip back down that slope.
“We have a legitimate shot this year (at National Championship),” Hillman says. “We have kids that are ridiculous.”
According to Hillman, these “ridiculous kids” make up to be the best team ASU has ever had. They are out to dominate. With true athletes and the “Spirit of the Game”—trusting each other, even beyond the field— they have the qualities to rewrite the team’s reputation.
They are ridiculously good athletes Hillman says… but not ridiculous in their antics. Again, that’s the past. The Diablo’s idea of partying is practicing to win. Of course, with a twist.
You will find this team out for their late-night strolls around campus, with a Discraft disc in hand. Disc golf is their fun. The Tempe campus may be mapped out as a learning environment, but if you find the Diablos, they see campus as an 18-hole utopia.
Hole one at the top of Old Main marks the start of their fun in a nutshell; this is their party, and this is how they bond.
“You try to do ridiculous things. We throw through trees and buildings,” says Hillman. “Some janitors around campus even know us. They get our discs from the roofs.”
With a fast learning curve in Ultimate in general, there is no ceiling to development; the sky’s the limit. So how crazy do these disc golf shots get? Are they Brodie Smith good?
“He’s a super athlete,” laughed Hillman. When asked about whether or not the Diablos would respond with a trick shot Youtube sensation of their own, Hillman grinned.
“That’d be funny…,” he said.
Guess we’ll just have to see…ahem.
Hey, it’s doable though - a National Championship birth, that is. Though they can’t find a gator to feed the disc to, they can feed it to their players, one by one down the field. The Diablos have prided themselves in their new beginnings and where it has taken them this season.
On Jan. 28 and 29, the Diablos will be competing at Reach 11 Complex in Phoenix; the times are tentative. What is concrete though is that fun is always worked in. Well, when the hard work is done.
“We have a positive spirit overall. It’s kind of like a brotherhood. You know your team will support you,” says Hillman.
Let’s just say, you’ll see them “fully gunning.”
Anything interesting? Contact me at bcapria@asu.edu.
