Ultimate Frisbee news: Bella Wirszyla driven by ambition to be the best

Sports News Blitz have decided to track the career of Ultimate Frisbee player Bella Wirszyla, who has followed in her dad Chris’ footsteps in developing a love for the sport.

Dr. Chris Wirszyla, who has played Ultimate since 1984, introduced the sport to us in his explainer guide.

He has played club level with Brockport University, the Chelsea School of Human Movement, the Benjamin Franklin International School, the University of South Carolina and Lander University.

And now Chris is writing for Sports News Blitz, outlining Bella’s own journey and career.

Here, he tells the story of how Bella fell in love with Ultimate Frisbee at an early age.

Long history of playing frisbee

I have a long history of playing frisbee, freestyle frisbee, ultimate frisbee and disc golf.

Wherever I have gone, I have played, set up clubs, or taught frisbee to literally thousands of people.

The biggest joy I get from the game, however, is throwing with, playing with, or especially watching my daughter succeed at an international level.

My twins started playing by just throwing and catching in the yard with my wife and I.

When they were seven years old, we signed them up for a summer Ultimate Frisbee Clinic sponsored by Cape Fear Ultimate, in Wilmington, North Carolina.

They did this for several years and learned the basics of the game.

When they got into Middle School, Alex turned his attention to mainly soccer and track and field, while Bella joined the school club which met once a week for an hour and a half.

At this time, we also, as a family, started regularly playing disc golf, as we had several nice 18-hole courses in our town.

One St. Patrick’s day, Bella even nailed a hole in one, with a new-found forehand, or “flick” throw.

Understanding of the game

Something happened to Bella, as she started to get better at the throws and understanding the game more.

As a natural athlete who took her training seriously, she soon became one of the better players on the school team, along with two of her friends, Natalie and Harper.

Back then, at 12 years old, I realized these girls were the future of Ultimate Frisbee.

Bella joined a club out of Charlotte, North Carolina, called “Morphos”.

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Game knowledge picked up

Although they didn’t do great in the tournaments they played in, it was soon obvious that Bella was one of the better players, and, at this point, her knowledge of the game started to pick up.

Pick-up Ultimate might be informal, but she could see that the better teams in the tournaments were using tactics and strategies that she needed to learn to get better.

And she wanted to get better - whatever Bella does, she wants to be the best.

During her last year of Middle School, Bella, Natalie and Harper joined Cape Fear Ultimate, an adult league.

They were, by far, the youngest players, and needed an exemption to play.

Practice makes perfect

Practice and games were twice a week for a couple of hours, and the level of play was what you would expect from a club level team of adults.

The girls fit in well and were “adopted” by their teams. They upped their games to a level where they were integral parts of their teams.

This was a big moment for the development of Bella’s Ultimate career.

At this point, she would go on and continue playing with Cape Fear Ultimate, while Harper turned her attention to Flag Football and Natalie was playing Club Lacrosse.

Whatever sport these young ladies chose would benefit, as they were all excellent athletes.

Keep your hat on

One Saturday morning, a dream of mine came true. Bella and I played in a “hat” tournament, where whoever was there put their name in a hat and teams were picked randomly.

We ended up on the same team and played together for the first time. I hadn’t actually played a game of Ultimate in years, so was a bit out of playing shape, especially being, by far, the oldest one there.

However, I still had some of my old skills, and had several good moments (as well as one bonehead moment!) and we even connected on a few touchdowns.

What a wonderful, proud and emotional game that was for me. After one game, I was whooped, and I watched as she played two more…

Then all of a sudden, it was time to move to England. My wife had a strong yearning to return to her homeland, and we went with her.

The twins were not happy about the move, but to appease them, we got them into their sports as soon as we could.

They both joined a rock-climbing gym, Alex got involved with soccer and track and field, and we got Bella involved, to a greater extent, to the Ultimate activity in Leeds.

Which is where I will pick up next time…

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