An American frisbee team participating in the Ultimate Frisbee World Championship this week in Winnipeg will start the tournament a man short, in memory of their teammate who passed away after a battle with cancer.
The team from New York, dubbed All Bashed Out, have been playing either with or against each other for more than 10 years. About a year ago, their good friend and teammate died of colorectal cancer at the age of 33.
“This team has kind of morphed into a memorial team for him,” Lucas Murphy told Global News on Sunday.
This time of year is particularly hard for the team, as July 28th was their friend’s birthday.
It has become a tradition for the team to start tournaments with six men on the field, while a puppet on the sideline acts as the seventh.
“We have a puppet act as an avatar for our friend because he was really into puppets,” Murphy said. “We were a close group of friends that were mean to each other, so we say, ‘that puppet is just as good as he is.'”
There are 72 teams from 13 different countries, including three from Winnipeg participating in the tournament, which runs from July 29 to August 4th at Little Mountain Sportsplex.
Ultimate frisbee is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with associations in more than 100 countries and 5,000-plus players locally, according to the Manitoba Organization of Disc Sports.
Murphy said his team will be playing the way their friend always encouraged them to play.
“He also strongly believed not necessarily in winning, but having fun,” he said.
“If that means winning, that’s great, but winning comes after having fun and playing spirited.”