THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | JULY 31, 2022
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Some high school championships will be broadcast live BY ZACH ALVIRA Sports Editor
The Arizona Interscholastic Association has partnered with Arizona’s Family to broadcast select high school championship games live on local channels beginning this season. The announcement comes after the AIA announced a three-year deal with local station, which broadcasts live on channels 3 and 5. The deal makes Arizona’s Family the “Exclusive Content Partner of the AIA,” a position previously held by Bally Sports Arizona. “We’re thrilled to have a partner in Arizona’s Family that is able to engage fans in a way that will provide a great deal of excitement around high school sports,” AIA Executive Director David Hines said in a press release. “The content fans will enjoy are more than just championship events. It’s also how the AIA impacts each school’s community. Now there will be many more opportunities to showcase the talent we have at our schools and those programs.” The three-year partnership begins with the upcoming 2022-23 school year. As a result, the 5A, 6A and Open Division football championship games will be live on Arizona’s Family channels. It is the first time since 2015 football championship will be broadcast on live television. In previous years, Fox Sports Arizona,
The Arizona Interscholastic Association partnership with Arizona’s Family to broadcast select state championship games live, would include games such as the Open Division football title match, which Chandler has played in the last three years and won in 2019 and 2020. (File photo) which later became Bally Sports Arizona, recorded championship games and
broadcasted them at a later date on a tape delay.
“I think for the notoriety of what’s going on, promoting the sport in Arizona, that’s a positive,” Chandler head football coach Rick Garretson said. “It gives everybody the ability to not have to pay but still watch the kids play and support them. I think it’s definitely a positive step for the promotion of AZ football.” Garretson has coached the Wolves to six straight state title games as both an assistant and the head coach, including last year’s Open Division state championship where they fell to Saguaro. He believes the live broadcast won’t, and shouldn’t, have much of an impact on the players’ overall mindsets for a game of that caliber. But he believes it’s good for the growth of Arizona high school football as a whole. Saguaro head football coach Jason Mohns agrees. “I think it’s a great See
AIA on page 32
Ultimate Frisbee taking off in Arizona BY RICKY WEIPZ Cronkite News
On a Thursday night in south Tempe, two fields reserved at the Benedict Sports Complex featured typical athletic activities: drills, competition and a bit of trash-talking. Welcome to the world of ultimate Frisbee, which often is simply called “ultimate.” The sport combines elements of football and soccer while participants fling a plastic disc up and down a narrow field, looking to find their opponents’ end zone. Ultimate’s easy-to-play nature draws the interest of many. The Valley of the Sun Ultimate Organization has been around for almost 40 years creating playing opportunities for those interested in the niche sport. “I’ve enjoyed it from the beginning,” organization president Tim Streit said. “I think it’s a fun sport. There’s a lot of great things about it from the different levels that you can play it at, to the different people who can participate in it, the low amount of equipment that you need to play it and the fact that it’s self-organized.” Since its creation in 1968 by students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, the sport has taken off and now is played in more than 80 countries by an estimated 7 million people, according to the sport’s governing body, the World Flying Disc Federation. Ultimate is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to be part of the Games. It has a huge college participation rate, and the USA Ultimate U.S. Open is set to air on ESPN2 in August.
Valley of the Sun Ultimate just began its summer season, with players of all skill levels participating and playing under the lights at the Benedict Sports Complex in Tempe. (Photo by Ricky Weipz/Cronkite News)
Ultimate, unlike most organized sports, does not rely on referees to make foul calls. Instead, the concept of “spirit of the game” allows players to police themselves and only call fouls when necessary. “We don’t use referees at very many levels at all,” Streit said. “There are no referees at any level I play at, and that includes up to the national championship for the club team.” Of the two fields at Benedict reserved earlier this month for Valley of the Sun Ultimate, one was for the co-ed recreational league, which Streit was preparing to play in.
On the adjacent field, the organization’s club team went through some drills during practice. Cynthia Thomas was standing on a dirt path between the two fields, throwing some lighthearted heckles at the teams with her adopted husky, Colton. “I started playing with VOTS (Valley of the Sun Ultimate) at the end of my sophomore year in college,” Thomas said. “Then I started playing with ASU in about 2011, 2012.” Thomas, a graduate of Arizona State and Chandler High School, currently plays professional ultimate for the Arizona
Sidewinders. The Sidewinders, the first pro team in the state for ultimate, is made up of women and non-binary players. They recently finished in third place in the Western Ultimate League. Professional ultimate “is a bit more intense and a bit more structured,” Thomas said. “The rules are a little bit different and it’s catered to be more of a spectator sport than recreational.” She added that even though she was not playing that night, she just liked watching and embracing the people she has met over the years. Also, who does not love a little friendly trash talk? “It’s definitely the people who play ultimate that make it a fun-loving but competitive group,” Thomas said. “I think it’s a great mix of the two. We have fun tournaments throughout the year where people will dress up in costumes and go out and play in our local leagues that are running pretty much all year.” Among those tournaments is the pride and joy of Valley of the Sun Ultimate: the New Year Fest. The 38th annual event was held in January 2020, but it hasn’t been played since because of COVID-19. Streit said people were reluctant to play in the tournament during the pandemic. Even though ultimate is considered a non-contact sport, plenty of close encounters occur with other players while playing defense. His goal is to have the tournament return next January. “Traditionally, we’ve drawn teams from Seattle, Philadelphia, Canada, all around the country and beyond,” Streit said. “I think that has gotten a little smaller in recent years just because of the nature See
FRISBEE on page 32
