With a new season comes a new coach for Westlake. The Chaps have brought in a young coach who holds personal knowledge of the game. Coach Stephen Presley, a current P.E. teacher at Eanes Elementary, has taken the helm of the Westlake Ultimate team teaching fundamentals to the new players of the club. A former standout for TUFF (Texas Ultimate Frisbee Friends) at the University of Texas, Presley was also a finalist for the Callahan award, the highest individual honor in college ultimate. With the knowledge and experience of the game he brings to the table, Presley will help guide Westlake to a much needed step in the right direction.

Most people know of the past-time ultimate frisbee, but not many people think of it as a sport. Ultimate frisbee, or ultimate, is a non-contact sport. However, despite the lack of contact, this sport is extremely taxing on the body. Sprinting up and down the football field with seven men, passing the disc from one man to another (without being able to run with the frisbee) with the final goal in mind to score in the touchdown area gets extremely tiring after just a few minutes. So while not many people look at this sport as highly competitive, sophomores Clay Juneau and Conner Brigham do.

Beginning to play ultimate frisbee in the eighth grade, Conner and Clay started out in a small club league.

“Not many people played, but it was still fun,” Conner said.

Entering freshman year, the two had both carried their passion of ultimate to school.

“We noticed when we got to Westlake that there was a club for ultimate; it just seemed non-existent,” Conner said.

The lack of an active club concerned the two, and they set off to change that. Starting freshman year, Conner and Clay created the Westlake Ultimate team.

“It started off small, only a few kids joined, and they were just our closest friends,” Clay said. “In the first year we asked coaches Chase Cunningham and Scott Etzel to lead us.”
However the season didn’t turn out too well for the team. With a total of approximately 10 players, the team didn’t win a single game last year (despite one win due to forfeit).
“This year is different,” Clay said . “We have a coach who was nominated for the Callahan Award, and at least 20 kids in total are on the team.”

“It’s nice having more kids on the field,” Conner said. “Everyone who joins seems to really enjoy the sport, and then they recruit their friends, and soon enough we are becoming a team.”
The team, lead by Presley (and soon with Etzel returning later in the year) has high hopes for the season.

“Our main competitor is Lake travis,” Conner said. “This year I think if everyone on the team practices and is loyal to the sport, we can finally show the Cavaliers that our ultimate team is just a work in progress on its way to winning the league.”

If you are interested in joining the ultimate team, they practice every Tuesday and Thursday directly after school on the practice fields until around 5:30. No experience required.