I have observed. I have encountered. I have seen the beauty of the sport. I made new relationships – something that is of substance and not that is clinging in thin air. I know that ULTIMATE is worth playing – nothing more, nothing less. So, here I am trying to transcribe in black and white how I got in to this
interesting sport. I have been playing it for more than a year now, there have been the “dry and wet seasons”, but, one thing’s for sure, ULTIMATE is more than the sport. It is a community of people who believes in the Spirit of the Game! Thanks to my former teammate for helping me out back track the facts, Mr. Aldrin Redolme is one of the pioneers of Davao Ultimate who recently migrated to Australia and now tossin’ it off in Geelong, Victoria South of Australia. Okay ra ka dira bordz?! Hehehe….
Amongst the blooming metropolis of Davao, the hustle and
the bustle fused with the ‘laid back’ Davaoeño lifestyle, it was not that long ago when ULTIMATE started in the Land of Promise. Two disc-infected personalities felt the urge of starting the elegant sport here namely, Ms. Roxanne “Lu-an” Lu and Mr. Francis Diano. Starting it through pure enticement of common friends holding their sessions at the Matina Town Square and University of South Eastern Philippines fields for a common goal of introducing the sport and having a community of disc aficionados. It started humble. It started simple. It started with fun!
On April 4, 2006, with the confidence of Mr. Jacob Chua to this remarkable sport (Roxanne’s family friend), Nestlé’s chocolate malt beverage, MILO became one of the advocates of Ultimate here in Davao. Francis and Lu-an hosted a summer clinic teaching everyone what the sport is all about, how it is played and what the Spirit of the Game is! Under the dry scorching heat of the summer sun, there they played, tossed, hacked, hustled, sprinted and were moulded to become an ULTIMATE player. Someone who is competitive and 
elegant at the same time, someone wh
o knows how to respect, someone who values courtesy and someone who is dedicated in spreading the LOVE! They were both successful in that endeavour. It gained popularity and reaped camaraderie amongst the pioneers. Thus, it was the birth of the first Davao team, ULTIMATE South Team Durian. Religiously, they attended the Tuesday and Thursday nights session at the AGRO Fields as well as, at the USEP field during Sunday afternoons—a “freaknic” I must say since all we do over there was to eat and bond on a Sunday. Hehehe…great memories! ULTIMATE simply fitted the Davao lifestyle.
On May 27 and 28, 2006, Francis and Lu-an hosted the 1st Summer Beach Frisbee tourney at Bago Beach Resort.
The local disc community as well as, its event sponsors’ supported this tournament. It definitely gave way to the budding disc community in Davao. It summoned to the birth of a growing disc community.
June of 2006, Francis went back to Manila to continue his studies, and left DAVAO ULTIMATE to Lu-an’s care (she left the month after). Mr. Ipe Borja and friends from other teams in Manila and of the Philippine Ultimate Association visited the Davao Ultimate
players during their practice and training. They continued to promote the love to this growing team, Ultimate STD and invited the team to participate in the Manila Spirits ’06 at the Manila Polo Club. Everyone got excited and in full swing went the extra mile in devoting time, energy and effort in learning ULTIMATE. They were all simply mesmerized in making a debut for the Davao team in an International Competition. Nothing to loose though, all for the love of the fame…esté game!
With all the available resources and never-ending meetings after practices in organizing the 
whole team, the players decided to conduct a “fund-raising” tournament in sponsoring the Ultimate STD in Manila. They conducted an election of officers to divide the responsibility to each member. There, Mr. Noel Uy became the first Davao Ultimate Association President, Mr. Mark Chua the Vice President, Ms. Bing Alcala the Secretary, Ms. Jenny Nalla as Treasurer, Mr. Michael Sibbaluca as Auditor, Mr. Aldrin Redolme as Public Relations Officer, Mr. BJ Yñiguez as Prince Charming, Ms. Mae-An Lu and Ms. Mishi Fidelino as the association’s muses. It was fun though! The association rode the same wave then. The mission: to recruit and to raise funds!
On the side, the Public Relations and Recruitment Committees continued to recruit by going to different colleges and universities in Davao sugar coated with house parties at BJ Yñiguez’s house to promote camaraderie and bring in the culture of the Davao Disc community. Definitely, a series of no curfew parties!
On October 20th and 21st of the same year, the Davao Ultimate Association hosted it’s 1st Halloween Ultimate Tournament at the Tionko fields entitled, “DULA ‘ta Ultimate bai!” for the benefit of BANTAY BATA DAVAO. It was parti
cipated by Iligan Red Horses as well as, local teams namely, Team Mulatto,
Team Holy Cross, Team Ateneo, Team Pakshet and Team Bullshet, three of which were composed of different members from the Ultimate STD team having their own separate independent playing team during the tournament. Having your own separate team then was ne
ver
an issue, since, the community whole-heartedly embraced it and did not want to limit the players. The event pulled off and phenomenally was a success! With our deepest gratitude to all our event sponsors namely, Ginebra San Miguel, Milo, Hype Magazine, Mulatto, Madayaw Outdoor Shop, Byteworld, Coca Cola, Holiday Spa, My Concepts, Mega Arts Design Concepts, 98.7 Home Radio, Bak-Bak Native Chicken House, Battery Doctors and the bands who played during the culmination night – our unending credit to your support.
After that very ‘diverse’ event, intensive trainings were conducted
during the remaining weeks before the Manila Spirits ’06, now at the Alabang Country Club. “One team. 
One purpose. One sport.” Was the vision of the Davao Disc Community in sending off their only team on the said event. 
The team went to Manila and got to know the bigger colony of disc maniacs—all sort of personalities, background and culture but, playing only ONE ULTIMATE SPORT. With heads held high, the Ultimate South Team Durian played and partied with everyone who shares their common interest and that is, the Spirit of the Game. With things that they did and will do are now parts of this history.
