New Player Info

Welcome to the Toronto Ultimate Club and the spectacular sport of Ultimate! Below are some information and links that will help you familiarize yourself with our Club and this great game. If you are thinking of trying out the game for the first time, or if you are not familiar with the Club, we hope to answer any questions that you may have regarding TUC Ultimate. If this page or corresponding links do not answer your questions, we encourage you to contact our office at 647.345.8105 or admin@tuc.org

Note that if you are 18 years of age or younger you qualify as a Junior member and we strongly recommend that you participate in Junior level offerings. Visit our Juniors page for more details.

Ultimate Frisbee – Getting Started

If you have never played organized Ultimate Frisbee before and don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place. Getting into Ultimate is very easy as little equipment is required and there are a number of leagues and clinics offered by TUC that are intended for beginner and novice players. Plus TUC players are always great at helping out beginners so it is a welcoming and fun environment – nothing to be intimidated by!

Firstly it is important that you familiarize yourself with the basic guidelines and of course the rules of the game. Knowing the rules is important because Ultimate is a self-refereed sport. You don’t have to know the rulebook inside and out, but at least try to know the basics before you get started and then you can pickup the rest along the way. Here are some great resources to get you going:

Once you’ve covered the basics you are ready to get going. For newer players we suggest participating in offerings that are catered to RECREATIONAL level players (leagues or clinics). Pickup and hat tournaments are also good options to get started and they are generally a mix of new and experienced players:

  • Clinics: TUC offers clinics throughout the year and they are posted on the website and in various member communications. Most clinics that we offer are for beginners and focus specifically on skills like throwing, catching, and cutting. They are taught by high-level players and we highly recommend these clinics to new players. Keep checking the website for clinics offered.
  • Leagues: TUC offers seasonal leagues for all skill levels. You can register a team if you have a sizable group of players wanting to play, you can try to join a team looking for players, or you can register as an individual to be placed on a team. Read further for more info.
  • Hat Tournaments: primarily during the summer we offer Hat Tournaments which are day-long events in central Toronto where individuals sign-up and everyone is assigned to a team. These tournaments are typically a mix of old new players, and are generally casual and very social.
  • Pickup: these are informal pickup games that are organized by members of the Club, not the Club itself. Players post details on our BBS or Facebook group and then meet and organize themselves.

TUC – About the Club

The Toronto Ultimate Club (TUC) is a not-for-profit Ultimate Frisbee organization that runs leagues, tournaments, and events for players in the greater Toronto community. TUC was founded in 1980 and incorporated in 1995. The Club is one of the largest in Canada, but it is still a volunteer driven Club that cherishes its roots and has a wonderful sense of community. As you can see by our website, we do ALOT of different things... and they are all ULTIMATE related!

TUC League offerings are posted on our ‘Leagues’ pages and typically on one of our home page news articles during registration time. We offer leagues EVERY season of the year. The majority of TUC league play is made up of established teams. At any given time, there are several teams looking for committed or occasional players. To look for teams that are searching for players or post your own availability to play, check out our BBS forum. Note that if you plan to play in any TUC league, or wish to post to the forums, you will need to create an account first (read further).

Getting Signed Up to Play

Because TUC is a true not-for-profit organization, you must first be a member of TUC before you can participate as a regular player in our leagues. Depending on what time of the year you choose to sign-up, and whether you are new to the Club, there are several membership options for you to choose from. Once you are a registered and paid member of TUC you can participate in leagues and take advantage of member privileges. Visit our Membership Information page for an explanation on our membership.

There is sometimes a misconception that our membership fees result in higher costs for you the player. TUC is the best value Ultimate in town and the best part about it is that the more you play, you more you get out of our membership dollar!

If you've made the decision to join TUC and play, you need to be a member. Visit our How to Register page on the website which walks you through the process. NOTE THAT CREATING AN ACCOUNT AND USERNAME DOES NOT MAKE YOU A MEMBER OF TUC! AFTER CREATING YOUR ACCOUNT YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE ACTUAL MEMBERSHIP AND COMPLETE PAYMENT.

Once you’ve completed the membership registration and payment you can then sign-up for any leagues. Note leagues are self-financing and therefore have additional fees (which are reflective primarily to field costs). Just like your membership, you can register online for leagues and do the payment online.

If you are joining an existing team (someone else has registered the team) then you simply need to have a valid membership and then the captain will invite you to the team roster – you will receive an email invite and once accepted, you will be added to that roster as a regular player. If you are registering a team yourself, or registering as an individual to join a hat team, then you complete the payment with your registration.

Once you are registered and paid for any league offerings, you will receive a communication from the Club in the days leading up to the league for which you registered. You can click on ‘My Games’ in the left menu of the website and see your team as well as your upcoming games that have been scheduled (note that at the beginning of each season, this usually doesn’t happen until a few days before the league begins). Each league will have assigned convenors that can help answer your questions and when in doubt, you can always contact the TUC office.

Game Time

Try to arrive early before your scheduled game start so that you can warmup and be ready to go. This is particularly important on fields where time is limited (indoor and turf fields) and you need to be off the fields by a certain time. It is recommended that you always bring a dark and a light shirt to games, as well as comfortable athletic gear. Non-metal cleats are allowed on just about every field we use and are highly recommended, although running shoes are permitted. Be sure to bring your own water to games and stay hydrated. If you have a copy of the rules, it always help to keep a copy in your sports bag. Bring a disc and that’s all you need! Note that certain TUC fields do have restrictions (ie. parking, pets, bikes, sugared foods) so we recommend you click on the field description for your game and review it first.

TEAMS That Are New To TUC

Teams are responsible for bringing their own cones to TUC league games. Our TUC Shop does carry sets of cones if you are interested in purchasing any. Cones are not required, but recommended as captains do need to mark the field. You can also use discs, shoes, shirts, etc if you do not have cones.

Shirts are not provided for league, players are responsible for their own shirts. As mentioned, bring a light and dark shirt to each game to be safe. The TUC Shop and its apparel partner carry dry-fit shirts if you are interested in purchasing any.

Make sure you have a proper roster. Do NOT sign up a team if you have less than the required players. The minimum roster size for most leagues is 12 players, so make sure you have enough committed players prior to signing up a team. If you are in need of a few players we recommend visiting the BBS forum and scrolling the ‘Want to Play TUC Ultimate’ section.

When you sign up a team with TUC, we strongly recommend that you review the Captains Roles & Duties page. Remember you are responsible for keeping your team roster up-to-date! Shortly after your team is registered you can click on My Games in the left-hand menu (make sure you are logged in to the site) and you can see your team, edit your team, invite players, etc. So long as your players are registered members of TUC, you can invite them to join your roster.

Coach For a Day: if your team is less experienced and is seeking a little sideline help, we can try to assist your team with our 'Coach For a Day' mentor program. A volunteer 'coach' attends one or several of your games and offers some pointers on strategies, skills, and Spirit of the Game. Coaches are experienced league and/or touring players (high competition level players). Because the program is volunteer we can't 'guarantee' a coach at any given time, but we can do our best to help you out. Simply email coachforaday@tuc.org and indicate your team, the night and time(s) that you play, and when you are looking to receive some help.

Enjoy the TUC Experience

We hope that this page will help you to get started with TUC. Note that there are other great pages on the website (like About TUC) and we also have an FAQ section. As mentioned from the top, if you are not finding the answers to your questions we encourage you to contact us at 647-345-8105.

Welcome to the Club! TUC is a great Club because of the amazing people within it, and we welcome you to our community.