LASA's ultimate frisbee club team has won two state titles, now eyes a national crown

The self-described "nerds" at Austin's Liberal Arts and Science Academy own the state's top-ranked ultimate frisbee team.

As one of the country's top high school academic institutions — LASA is ranked No. 32 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report — the school is better known for excellence in education, not athletic achievements.

LASA, which has played ultimate frisbee as a club sport since the 2005-06 school year, has won the state championship two years in a row and will be gunning for a three-peat May 18-19 in Cedar Park. Furthermore, LASA will be the state's lone representative at the High School National Invite on June 7-8 in Rockford, Ill.

LASA's A team will send 22 players to nationals, including 15 seniors, and will compete in the boys division.

Several players, including team captains Vance Mader, Rachel Joy-Rocha and Iago Ansede, got their start in the sport when they were sixth-graders at Kealing Middle School. Little did they know that a niche playground activity would become such a major part of their lives. All three plan to play ultimate in college.

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," said Joy-Rocha, a 5-foot-2 junior dynamo who's one of the most explosive players on the team. "I had played different sports all my life — soccer, ice skating, gymnastics, track, cross-country — but none of them fit me."

Joy-Rocha, a sprinter on the school's track team, plays on the boys ultimate team because LASA does not have enough players to field a girls squad. LASA's team, known as the Vertikills, made news recently by placing second at the River Campus Classic, an invitational qualifying tournament in Nashville. It marked the first time LASA had crossed state lines to play in any athletic activity.

State champions training for national tournament

"I didn't know what to expect (in Nashville) because we had only played against teams from Texas," said coach Tina Woodings, in her third season with the Vertikills. "There's a lot of talent in Texas, but you don't see your peak potential unless you're playing other teams."

Ultimate, which is played with seven active players at a time, is arguably the most popular sport at LASA. Consider that the Vertikills have 60 players, which is way more than the entire football program, which has 37. There are enough ultimate players at LASA to field three teams; football didn't field any sub-varsity squads last fall.

"Frisbee is way more popular than football here," said Solomon Moon, a senior who competes in both sports.

The LASA ultimate team practices twice a week on a grassy field behind the campus that's marked by uneven chalk lines. A challenging sport, players run nonstop for nearly two hours. Conditioning is a major factor in ultimate.

Woodings, a volunteer coach, took over the LASA program after a long and distinguished ultimate career of her own. She played on the University of Texas' club team, the German national team and the U.S. women's master's national beach team. At various times she competed in Dubai, England, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Woodings stresses that the ultimate team offers a "welcoming" and "inclusive" environment for players. The coed squad consists of boys, girls and a few players who identify themselves as nonbinary or transgender. Being a club sport, the team is not restricted by University Interscholastic League guidelines.

LASA ultimate promotes team's inclusive attitude

Mader said the best ultimate players have a strong combination of "disc skills" and "athleticism" and need to recognize the path of the disc when it's in the air. Games are played on fields that are 110 yards long and 40 yards wide. The main playing field is 70 yards long with 20-yard end zones at each end. Teams score a goal when they catch the frisbee in the end zone. Length of games is predetermined by the teams involved.

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Ansede, who plans to play next year at the Colorado School of Mines, laughed when he said he believed the sport was "terrible" when he started playing it in the sixth grade. He gave it up for two years before he changed his mind and rejoined his friends when they started to play in high school.

Why is LASA so good?

"It's our coaching and team chemistry," Ansede said. "We're not the most athletic team, but we're the most consistently good, we run well and make great decisions."

LASA is among a handful of area schools that play ultimate. Bowie, Austin High and Lake Travis play while McCallum and Anderson have combined to make one team.

Mader, who will play next year either at the University of Vermont (Mass.) or Pitt, is uncertain how popular ultimate has become within the student body, although he said the players get plenty of support from teachers and administrators.

"If you asked the average LASA student, they might know we have a team, but they probably don't know we've won two state championships and that we're ranked (No. 15 in the nation by the National Boys High School Power Rankings)."

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The team is getting support in the community, too. More than $10,000 has been raised on a GoFundMe page to help offset the price of going to the national tournament. The goal is $20,000.

Winning a national tournament will be a stiff challenge, of course. If that were to happen, perhaps more LASA students would become familiar with the best sports team on their own campus. Even "nerds" like a winner.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Nerds or not, LASA reaches ultimate goals in frisbee tournaments