On campus, students have numerous opportunities to travel outside of Hamilton throughout the year. From extended study courses to off-campus study groups, undergraduates at Colgate University have the world at their fingertips. One lesser-known opportunity for students to travel lies in Colgate’s club sports teams.
Over spring break, Colgate’s club ultimate frisbee team went to Myrtle Beach to compete in the High Tide Ultimate Spring Break tournament. The High Tide tournament at Myrtle Beach, S.C. is an annual competition that the team competes in which offers a wonderful opportunity for students to connect with a larger frisbee community.
The frisbee club is divided into a men’s team, the Jabberwock, and women’s team, the Vibe. Last year, the Vibe won the High Tide tournament for the first time in the program’s history.
Senior Rylie Berwanger, a co-captain of the Vibe, has been a member of the team for three years and spoke about the challenges the team overcame this year to compete in the tournament.
Berwanger noted the Vibe had several players returning from injuries — herself included, after tearing her ACL at the beginning of the fall 2025 semester. While most members of Ultimate Frisbee drove to the tournament together in one of two vans, weather-related flight cancellations limited the number of team members able to attend the tournament.
“Despite the challenges, our goal this year was simply to play the sport we love and enjoy being together as a team,” Berwanger said. “My co-captains and I worked with the tournament coordinators so we could play a few games instead of a full schedule, and we actually won all of the games we played. As we like to say, we might be small, but we’re mighty.”
Sophomore Jason Bratis, co-captain of the Jabberwock, spoke about the team’s growth at the tournament.
“We played [six] games, and only won one, but towards the end of the tournament we started clicking a lot more and the level of frisbee we were playing stepped up a notch,” Bratis said.
Bratis explained that although the team technically performed worse than they did last year, the level of competition they faced was much more intense. This made the tournament a particularly valuable experience for the team, who strived to improve their collective performance.
Ultimate Frisbee is active in both semesters of the academic year, participating in numerous tournaments on weekends. Members are not required to be skilled in frisbee before joining, and the club lends the opportunity for students to practice a sport through a supportive community.
Sophomore Reagan Lane, a co-captain of the Vibe, described more about the team’s synergy and community.
“Traveling to big and small tournaments provides opportunities for the women’s team to get to know each other and become close friends,” Lane said. “Frisbee is a team sport in which cohesion and trust is a huge part of how well we play. Time together away from school and other responsibilities cements us as a group with a lot of core shared memories.”
With long drives on the weekends and sometimes even crossing state lines, the team is truly able to build a strong dynamic on and off the field. With the men’s team also integrated during practices and tournaments, it creates a larger team community with students all connected through their shared passion for frisbee.
Senior Shaelee Decarolis, another co-captain of the Vibe, talked more about the dynamic between the men’s and women’s teams.
“The men’s and women’s teams are quite integrated. We practice next to each other at the same times, and we go to the majority of the same tournaments,” Decarolis said. “We also do something called Winter League where we have four mixed teams that compete against each other indoors during the winter.”
Ultimate Frisbee also hosts social events between the Vibe and Jabberwock, further establishing the connection between the groups.
The overall dynamic of the Ultimate Frisbee team is special, with relationships built through the travels, challenges and wins. With the Myrtle Beach tournament being a highlight to the overall season, it serves as a wonderful experience to foster a stronger team connection as they compete with schools from across the country.
Berwanger concluded with the importance of the Myrtle Beach competition.
“Overall, the Myrtle Beach trip is special because it really brings the team together,” Berwanger said. “After a week of traveling, playing and spending so much time together, everyone comes back feeling even more connected. The Vibe and our men’s team, the Jabberwock, have a really supportive and fun community, and trips like this are a big part of what makes the program so close.”
By having travel opportunities in clubs, sports and classes, students are able to immerse themselves more completely in their passions and build stronger bonds with their peers. Ultimate frisbee provides a space for students to do exactly this, one toss at a time.
