Atlanta, GA (U-WIRE) -- Created in the second half of the 1960s, the sport of Ultimate is quietly taking the nation by storm. It meshes the stamina required of soccer with the end zones of football but is played with a flying disc.

The self-officiating evokes a spirit of the game like that found in the game of golf.

I must admit that I'd never heard of the sport before I came to Tech, but once here, I saw it being played everywhere. The men's and women's club teams on campus are very successful, and it was through my contacts with those players that I was introduced to what the sport is all about.

To get an idea of just how big the sport has become, check out the Ultimate Players Association (UPA) website at upa.org. The videos of the UPA College Championships are absolutely amazing and showcase the talent of some of the best teams in the country.

To navigate to the video, click on "2005 UPA College Championships as seen on CSTV" from the UPA homepage. This takes you to a page hosted by CSTV. The streaming video links are on the right side of the page.

The offensive scheming of these games reminds me of watching a hockey or lacrosse match, and when I see a long throw that a player snags with a diving catch in the endzone, I can't help but think of those dogs you see on TV that can run 50 yards and then catch the disc in their teeth.

But that's beside the point.

Similar to a game of soccer a game of Ultimate requires a bare minimum of equipment-namely a disc and an open field, which may be one reason you see games pop up anywhere on a college campus.

Ultimate is a low-impact sport, which means people of every age can partake in a game, and the amount of running involved makes it an excellent cardiovascular exercise.

But the real beauty in the game perhaps lies in the fact that it truly is a team sport. Because players aren't allowed to move when they have the disc, it is impossible for one person to dominate the offense.

This is unlike most sports, such as basketball, hockey and football, where one athlete seems to be the center of the offense, or where one can score with essentially no help from teammates.

This equality among the players on offense makes it a very enjoyable sport both to play and to watch because there will never be one "ball hog."

I often wonder, though, if Ultimate's popularity will remain for years to come, or if it is just a fad that will soon fade away. It's been roughly 40 years since the game was created, and I wonder how popular the mainstream sports of today were just 40 years after their creation.

The first official game of basketball was played in 1892. Basketball was an Olympic sport for the first time 44 years later in 1936, and by 1938 the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was created.

Modern American football really only started around 1912, a few years after the forward pass was introduced, and after the changes were made that touchdowns were worth six points and a possession consisted of four downs.

Roughly 40 years later in the early 1950s, some NFL games were being broadcast nationally on television.

The first Super Bowl was played in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Now the Super Bowl is so big that it is declared a National Special Security Event by the Department of Homeland Security along with such things like State of the Union addresses.

For the sport of baseball, the National League was formed in 1876 and less than 30 years later in 1903 the first World Series was played between the American League's Boston Red Sox and the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates.

Baseball grew enough over the years that it garnered the title of national pastime.

Reflections on the histories of the three big American sports lead me to believe that Ultimate may never grow to become an Olympic sport or draw millions of viewers on TV, but it still can earn its niche as one of the best recreation sports around.

(C) 2004 The Technique via U-WIRE