Coming off the No Wisconsequences tournament on Oct. 15th and 16th in Milwaukee, Wis., the Iowa State Ultimate Club is looking forward to the highly anticipated tournament Missouri Loves Company.

“MLC is the first tournament this year where we’re actually going to bring our A-team and see where we stand,” said Chris Sabotta, senior in computer engineering.

Sabotta mentioned that he and the rest of the team are excited to see how well they fare in their first tournament where they enter as an “A-team,” or a varsity-like team.

The club is funded partially through the GSB because it is part of the Student Club Council. In 2010, the Iowa State Ultimate Club received 25 percent of its funds through GSB and obtained the rest of its money through team dues and fundraising, such as sweeping Hilton Coliseum after basketball games.

“The club is partially funded by the university and is also funded by the student members. Club dues are usually $30 to $40 per year,” said Christopher Calhoun, sophomore in civil engineering.

Funding from GSB does not, however, cover travel costs, as this money instead comes straight from players’ pockets. Calhoun said he didn’t really mind travel costs though.

“[Traveling] was great opportunity to gain a feel for what competitive ultimate is like,” Calhoun said. “It’s also a great opportunity to bond with and get to know your teammates.”

The team doesn’t have to travel far to play against tough competition.

“The Midwest hosts some of the best teams in the nation including the University of Wisconsin, Carleton College and the University of Iowa,” Calhoun said.

Popularity for the sport also is growing in the Midwest. At high school levels, ultimate is popping up more and more at younger ages.

College teams all across the nation compete each year at the national championships in late spring.

In the spring, the weather can be anywhere from 70 degrees and sunny to 50 degrees and rainy. These elements don’t hinder many Midwest teams like the Iowa State Ultimate Club.

“The Midwest is one of the most powerful regions,” Sabotta said. “And you can make an argument for that [because] it tends to be a lot windier here … it’s hard to throw a disc in those conditions, so you get teams that are naturally tuned.”

Senior Zach Kasdan agreed with Sabotta’s statement about how climate plays such an important role in Ultimate Frisbee.

“East and West [coasts] are a lot stronger just because they have the advantage of being able to play outside a lot longer,” Kasdan said. “But traditionally, the best college team is in Minnesota, Carleton College.

“So the Midwest actually has some sort of advantages because we’re used to playing in bad weather, that when high winds situations or when rain pops up, it doesn’t faze us as much.”

The club is losing a lot of talent this year with graduations and intramurals. Sabotta said that the competition level isn’t quite what some players expect, so they lose talent like that to intramural Ultimate.

“We’re certainly losing a lot of talent, unfortunately,” Sabotta said. “But with that, as a team we still want to have a good time, but we really do want to step it up. Really focus on just conditioning outside of practice.”

Besides the elements of rain and wind that the team deals with on a weekly basis, a new component is in sight.

“We just got a coach this year, so that’ll help with our structure,” Kasdan said. “We’ve always felt like we’ve had athletic talent or just talent in general, so we could have a successful team.”

One team goal Sabotta and Kasdan touched on was just becoming a cohesive unit and improving themselves for the games and tournaments to come.

The Missouri Loves Company tournament takes place Nov. 12 and 13 at Cosmo Park Recreation Complex in Columbia, Mo.