Austin Ultimate Team Hopes to Take Wing
The Doublewide club came in third at last year's nationals. Photo courtesy DoublewideAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Texas football team faces Oklahoma State on Saturday in Stillwater. But that’s not the only big game taking place. Teams from Colorado to Mexico will converge in Austin to play a sport you won’t find on TV. Austin’s team has gone national several times.
Players of ultimate, the flying-disc sport, practice at least four times a week, even for small college teams. And just as a football player would hope to join a pro team after college, the players of ultimate join club teams as well.
That’s what happened to Michael Natenberg. As a college athlete at UT he grabbed the region’s top award twice. He now captains Austin’s club team, Doublewide. Natenberg says he didn’t have the choice high school students now have to play.
“It brings the athletic level way up because the experiences of throwing and catching, the skills, started at a much younger age,” Natenberg said.
Doublewide placed third at last year’s national championship. This weekend the team faces Houston’s Space City Ignite. But they’ll have to wait for bracket play to face their regional rival, Johnny Bravo of Denver.
The national championship is in Florida the last weekend of October.
Podcast: Download (1.2MB)
