Hey Tim Duncan, now that you’ve officially retired from the NBA, here’s a great suggestion on what to do next: Come play Ultimate!
Your combination of athleticism, height and history of winning championships would be a great addition for my over-40 New York Ultimate team.
We are playing in USA Ultimate Nationals next month in Denver — and I’m pretty sure I can get you on the roster if you want to try out a fast-moving field game that combines elements of basketball, football and soccer. (I confess it was my teammate Woo Jin Ho’s idea to invite you out, but we recently lost some of our tall guys who cannot make Nationals and would love a 7-foot deep target to huck the disc to.)
You wouldn’t be the first pro athlete to try Ultimate, either.
Former NFL players Sterling and Shannon Sharpe tried out Ultimate with the Miami Refugees and you can see them here catching goals, spiking the disc and generally having a great old time.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOaV9uN3rgg]
Karl Anthony-Towns, the NBA Rookie of the Year, also played Ultimate at St. Joe’s-Metuchen (N.J.) High School and also with his teammates at Kentucky. The Wisconsin men’s basketball team also trained in the offseason by playing Frisbee.
“I just think it’s really cool,” the 7-foot Towns said last year. “I mean, it’s very fun. It was very different. That’s the thing I love. I love trying all sports out. I spent some time trying lacrosse out, that didn’t work very well, I’m not very good at it. I pitched, I played baseball, I played tennis with my sister. I just have an intriguing aspect in myself.
“I get intrigued by any sport and I want to try it out so Ultimate Frisbee was a huge thing here at St. Joe’s, especially with leagues created for it. So I joined the league, had a lot of fun playing it and enjoyed it a lot, especially when you have the height I have it was easy to catch.”
There’s two pro Ultimate leagues, too, now Tim — Major League Ultimate and the American Ultimate Disc League — so if you really get into it you could have a second career as a pro Ultimate player!
Think about it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMdCrGHmnxA]
**Across an Ultimate career that has lasted almost 30 years, Adam Zagoria has competed in College, Open, Mixed, Masters and Grandmasters Nationals. In 2013, he captained the Westchester Ultimate Summer League championship Gold team. His team also won the WSL title in 2011. Zagoria is the co-author, along with Tony Leonardo, of “ULTIMATE – The First Four Decades.”
