Multiple authors 

“I hadn’t heard of Ultimate Frisbee prior to IDS,” says Marcus Parrish from MA Globalisation, Business and Development (MAGlob). For this master's student, playing frisbee was “standing around in a field, pointlessly throwing one about.”  

He wasn’t alone.   

“Only four people in our Masters cohort had played it before,” says Riya Behl, from MA in Power, Participation and Social Change (MAPP). Ironically, she introduced the game by throwing a frisbee around to make new friends. By November 2024, more students joined these frisbee throwing forays and wanted to play the sport. A Whatsapp group was formed.  

The first game took place spontaneously outside Library Square after a day of classes, in inappropriate gear, but with lots of heart, laughter and dropped catches. Given the demand, Lucas dos Santos Miranda (MAGlob) suggested the group play at Stanmer Park. The plan was fixed for 11 a.m. one Saturday morning.  

Tantra A Shalladin, from MA Development Studies (MADev) was curious about the rules of frisbee. He says, “I liked that the game ensured utmost respect above all else,”, referring to the Spirit of the Game (SOTG). This is a codified element of Ultimate Frisbee, similar to fair play. 

Our first frisbee game: You can tell it’s early days, because we haven’t lost our lanyards.  

Since Ultimate is a non-contact, mixed-gender and self-refereed sport, maintaining its Spirit is essential. This mindful behaviour encourages players to follow rules, play fairly, and communicate with kindness, especially when resolving conflict. 

As our weekly games grew, we began weaving these principles into practice through “spirit circles” or debriefing discussions at the end of matches. “The existence of a spirit captain on each team and reflection circles are quite unique,” says Tantra, “and I have never seen it in other sports.” 

A quick slice of Ultimate history: the name ‘Frisbee’ comes from William Russell Frisbie’s bakery, the Frisbie Pie Company, originally located near Yale in 1887. Students would toss empty pie tins around campus, which some trace to have inspired others across campuses in the USA, like Columbia, to shape Ultimate’s unique culture. True to this history, our story of building this community is thus shared as a recipe.  

Community-building has been a lesson in how good change happens, which is relevant for us as students of was a lesson in how good change happens. As Emilio Bertrand Bunge Gonzalez (MADev) notes, “Frisbee taught me that social change starts in the mundane, and that games are a space for prefigurative politics to take place, hoping for the simulation of its values to diffuse out of the game.”  

And so, with nostalgia and joy, we present our recipe. Do not mistake this for a tried-and-true formula; instead, it’s an invitation to savour our story, and use its ingredients to cook up your own community!  

Ingredients 

• 1 heaped scoop of willingness to start or join something new. Warning: may cause awkwardness, uncertainty, and joy in equal measure. If you’re not in possession of this ingredient, best not to proceed. 
• 1 open, free-of-cost, green space ⁠at walking distance from campus. For players like Jun Suzuki (MA Dev), fields that bring out “the smell of the grass,” are crucial.  
• A generous handful of friends and/or soon-to-be friends (strangers with a shared interest also work as a substitute). 
• 2 cups of well-seasoned welcoming spirit and no negative judgment about anyone’s performance (this is non-negotiable). 
• Cookie cutters of a simple game, like Ultimate frisbee, which pairs well with fair play, good communication (best baked in when diced small and spread evenly) along with banter.  

“Ultimate was popular on college campuses in the US, but always among men who took it a little too seriously,” says Kathleen Vaughan (MADev), “Now my perception of frisbee is its role in building a fun community, interested in growing.” 

Classmate Arian Basir adds: “it’s one of the few activities that blends teamwork, physical movement, and gentle competitiveness without being intimidating.” 

• 1 or 2 frisbee discs. Jun jokes: “the "D" in SDGs stands for ‘Disc.’”  

An optional addition to the frisbee discs: IDS Alum Oliver Martin’s (pictured left) slacklining kit. It comes free with Oliver as the instructor and Jack Middleton (MA Dev, pictured right) as an excellent student. 

• A well-picked, ripe and regular time slot to play. The fact that frisbee happened every weekend at the same place and time helped players like Rasyid Agam (MADev) organise their schedules easily. Radhika Thapliyal (MAGlob) observes that it transformed into, “a third space outside classrooms where informal exchanges happened organically.” 
• 1 dash of consistency (caution: may result in muddy shoes beyond rescue). 
• 1 well-kneaded spirit circle, which Mayu Suzuki (MA Dev), appreciated, because it cultivated, “the culture of reflecting together after the game — sharing what went well and what could be improved.” 
• A dash of bodily movement: “Running, throwing, catching, sliding around in the mud, batting away incoming frisbees–the fun that lets me feel like a child,” says University of Sussex alum Jamie Sage. This included both normal and silly varieties, as Francesca Roberts from MSc Climate Change, Development and Policy (MScCCDP) points out. She will miss “the energy we created together and the little win or lose dances - such a core memory.” 

Mix in 1 background playlist best served through a speaker. Pairs well with a bowlful of dramatic entrances, coordinated dances (sometime as part of the sport’s strategy), goofy rivalries and laughter.

Our process 

Every process of creating this recipe is different; this is what ours was like. 

We started by blending the humble basic ingredients; the willingness to start something new, an Ultimate frisbee disc and tentatively, our group began to meet in Stanmer Park. By January’s cold and rainy winter, we’d established our routine: warm up stretches, led by a different member of the group each week; a game, and then a post-game photo. One week even included a video of us dancing (perhaps TikTok fame is still in our future.)  

Before we knew it, this mixture took on a life of its own. It bubbled and boiled, spilled over and needed a bigger pot. For some games, we had over 25 players! Unexpectedly, it became far more than the original ingredients. Scents of community and connection wafted up.  

At this stage, we recommend that chefs exercise restraint with the ingredient of competitiveness. Sprinkle lightly or risk curdling the fun. If you happen to exceed the daily recommended allowance, Keerthana Manickam (MA Dev) suggests forefronting the social, low-stakes and playful aspects of the game above all else. It balances out the pungent sting of excess competition.  

Following these suggestions, our pot expanded to hold the beautiful flavours that the group brought: a toy plane Ajab Khan (MA Dev) borrowed from his baby nephew, a football, memes, a newspaper feature on The Badger, consistency in our weekly time slot, much more lingering after games to chat over coffee, potlucks and lunch trips to Tun Tuns restaurant.  

We celebrated birthdays, farewells and occasionally did themes for games. One weekend, everyone wore caps–just for fun!   

Friends and family who were visiting for the weekend, and friends made at the university salsa club or alumni meet-ups became frequent additions. The sweetness of the welcoming spirit added much richness; such that newcomers became consistent members. “A goofy and kind energy was set from the get-go, which made it welcoming,” says Addie Schieber, one of our international visitors.  

These ingredients that the process generated enhanced the original flavours. A post-game Spirit Circle where we voted for the Most Valuable, Spirited and Whimsical player on each team was added to the end of every game. The positive feedback, advice, clarification of rules, and teasing that this encouraged became meaningful. In fact, the social learning of positive acknowledgement across gender, race, and age seemed to balance out the patriarchy, aggression and unhelpful hierarchies that sometimes splash up in sporting spaces.  

As the year went on, the frisbee group simmered away in our weekly games and on our WhatsApp group. More chefs arrived, and we collectively created space to share leadership and responsibilities. Hind Al-Hashmi (MAPP) found this came alive when seeing different players facilitate debriefs after games, encourage problem solving and keep open communication. 

 Sarah Philpott (MAPP) reflects, “Playing frisbee became a space of fun and silliness, a chance to move our bodies, to play, to laugh, to meet new people, and to remind ourselves of the fun amongst the seriousness of our studies and of the world.”  

Karan Shinghal (MScCCPD) made us laugh with this meme, based on an iconic Bollywood film scene.

Kathleen’s ongoing series of nostril pictures made its way to frisbee

Reviews of the recipe 

“The community initially started among people from the Institute of Development Studies. Even though I am not part of the institute, and especially as someone who was not actively involved with sports before, I always felt welcomed,” says Md Ajmain Adil Nakib, from MA Environment, Development and Policy at the University of Sussex.  

Similarly, Roxana Chan (MScCCPD) hadn’t played competitive sports since middle school. Joining, even occasionally, she says, lifted her mood. It helped Yessil Nurtolgan, from MSc AI and Adaptive Systems step out of his “bubble of self-isolation and connect with people.” He says, “I’ll miss the sense of belonging and the friendly, welcoming atmosphere the most.” Aarti Rajput (MAPP) adds, “Frisbee became more than just a sport. It served as a meaningful way for us to value, celebrate, and encourage each other.” 

For Atheerah Azmil from MA Governance, Development and Public Policy (MAGov), with a black belt in taekwondo, these games also acted as a safe avenue for self-discovery. “After ACL reconstruction surgeries on both knees, running, pivoting, and sprinting felt uncertain,” she says. “Frisbee gave me the space to test and rebuild trust in my body. Week by week, I realised my body was resilient, and I could start building confidence in my movement again.” 

As initial facilitators of teaching and playing, the reviews of this recipe were a pleasant surprise to us. “When frisbee went from casual to regular, it made me appreciate the power of building something consistently over time,” reflected Saif Jamali (MA Dev).   

Given the diversity of cultural backgrounds in our group, it soon taught us how people from over 20 different countries can play together. Ajab says, “The "spirit" of frisbee, with its emphasis on fair play, naturally builds social cohesion. And most importantly, it's a fantastic real-world example of collective empowerment in action!” 

From Bandung, Indonesia to Sandbach, UK and Lima, Perú to Almaty, Kazakhstan: Members came to play frisbee from across the world! 

After classes finished for MA students and summer started, we began to work on our dissertations. The sense of ending set in. Frisbee became an important, relaxed and valued time to meet weekly. For players like Shunichiro Ise (MA Glob) and Carlos Shanka (MA Dev), the community’s presence helped up their social and endorphin intake.  

Towards the end of our time in school, we wanted to honour the relationships we had nourished with ourselves and others while building this community. Emilio suggested a frisbee-spin on Secret Santa. Each of us drew the name of another player to whom we would give a small gift and an award. After our final game, we had a picnic and gave these gifts to each other. Gifts included pink chopsticks, a freshly baked coxinha, cat socks, mediation balls, and a Best Teacher rosette amongst others. Meeting weekly over the course of a year built trust and care for each other. Our final goodbyes and many hugs held the realisation of how much we would miss each other and our weekly game.  

Enjoying our picnic snacks after our final frisbee game (top left), Hind and Ajmain sharing a hug after exchanging gifts (top right) and the final group reflections under cover from the rain (bottom). 

Some of these goodbyes turned out to be premature as another Frisbee WhatsApp group sprouted, initiated by Ben Simanowitz. We left our beloved frisbee disc at the IDS reception for the new Master’s cohort, hoping the frisbeegull’s legacy continues with those who stay on in Brighton. And it has: The frisbee group has continued with new students connecting to the game and each other, through weekly games. Our IDS Batch of 2024-2025 will also play a friendly match with the new cohort in January 2026, when some of us return to Brighton for our Winter Graduation ceremony. 

New and old members of the frisbee group continuing the weekly group photo tradition.

Ultimate Frisbee remains somewhat misunderstood as a ‘hippie’ or cult-ish game within the world of sports. Its hopeful and egalitarian principles, however, are bringing people together across the world. This was our story of it happening; an imperfect recipe, made with love. 

Written by Sarah Philpott and Riya Behl, with many thanks to the members of the group that contributed with their thoughts, photos and time.