El Cerrito's Home Grown Ultimate Champion

El Cerrito High School is a special place in the world for many reasons, but what some may not know is that there is a quiet, humble, but amazing super star attending ECHS right now. There is a quality in some leaders that shines from the moment you meet them, and this quality is felt when one is in the presence of Athena Lynch. She is confident, kind, and a role model for those around her. Athena knows exactly what it takes to be a great team member and to help others follow her lead. As a senior this year at El Cerrito High School, Athena will be graduating and moving on to college, but not before she has left a legacy behind her like no other student at ECHS yet. Not only is Athena an incredible student, currently scoring the second highest in her class, she is the only female player who helped found the Ultimate Frisbee Club at ECHS four years ago.

In one of her college essays, Athena writes, “Freshman year, I founded a co-ed team with two teammates from middle school. To get kids interested, we held pick-up throwing sessions on the field at lunch and made school announcements about upcoming practices and meetings. We had a slow start, but what began as a few kids trying to squeeze in a practice wherever we could find a patch of grass has grown into a successful program with a girls team, a boys team, and a co-ed team.” The El Cerrito High Mixed Team won second place in the High School Mixed States this year, a huge accomplishment in only 4 years as a program.

Ultimate Frisbee is a fun sport combining the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its athletic requirements, it is unlike most sports due to its focus on self-officiating, from the youngest players all the way to the highest levels of competition. This concept, called Spirit of the Game™, is integrated into the basic philosophy of the sport, written into the rules, and practiced at all levels of the game from local leagues to the World Games. Spirit of the Game™ is a tradition of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the players rather than referees. Because players make their own calls, participation develops character, self-reliance, listening and negotiating skills and leadership qualities. (1) El Cerrito High School also won second place for their Spirit of the Game in 2017 High School Mixed States and has won spirit prizes almost all four years the program has been operating.

The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (formerly the SGMA) continues to report ultimate as one of the fastest growing team sports in the country. Ultimate offers the opportunity to play womens, mens or co-ed. Each year, thousands of new people begin playing this great sport. One reason so many people start playing is because it is fun and their friends introduce them to it so they can play, too! But unlike many other sports, Ultimate players love feeling that they are a part of this unique community! Teammates spend hours playing together, developing their skills and teaching each other about skills relevant to life. Through these experiences, teams feel like a family and many players find lifelong friends. Also unique to the sport is the innate friendly dynamic between teammates and opposing teams which is also facilitated by the Spirit of the Game.(1)

Athena has been a captain every year since her first year on the team as a freshman. She has a deep sense of commitment to the team and has dedicated a great deal of her time and energy to make El Cerrito High Ultimate Club(EC HUC) a successful high school team. She writes “I have a lot of responsibility as a captain. Building the team has meant spending countless hours playing ultimate, fundraising, and putting my team first. I try to set an example by working hard because I know a victory requires teamwork, and I have learned that encouragement from the sidelines is just as important for keeping spirits up when the going gets tough. I also do my best to be someone my teammates can talk to, come to for help, and look up to on and off the field.”

Since the beginning of the team, Athena has been a huge proponent focused on growing the numbers of female players on the co-ed team and is now recruiting specifically for the new El Cerrito Girls Only(EC GO!) team this year. As she notes “Girls have often chosen other sports by high school, and trying a new sport like ultimate can be intimidating if they start playing with boys who have already learned to play. As a program, we have been promoting women in ultimate and I am personally dedicated to supporting girls who come out to play. Being a female athlete and a captain, I have helped create a safe place for girls learning to play which has helped recruit new players. I am very proud of the amazing high school ultimate frisbee program I helped build.”

El Cerrito High is not the only place where Athena has excelled in Ultimate and been a strong female leader. Athena tried out for, made the team and played each of the last 3 years at the National Youth Club Championships in Blaine, MN. For the last 8 years, the Bay Area has sent several girls, boys and co-ed teams with elite players from all over the Bay Area to compete with teams from across the nation and even some international teams. This past year, twelve El Cerrito Ultimate players competed on four different teams. This was a huge accomplishment for such a young program. Athena was a key player on her team this year and as she writes, “This past year my mixed(coed) team, Happy Cows, took first place. We went undefeated on our way to the championship, outplaying powerhouse teams such as Seattle. Even though I spent just a few weeks with this team, the bonds between us are stronger than we ever could have imagined. Some of that is due to the thrill of winning a national championship together, but working hard together and always playing for each other was what truly brought us together.”

This is part of what is special about Ultimate Frisbee. The community that is built is large, strong, inclusive, and all encompassing. Parents, players, coaches and organizers all support one another in a myriad of ways to bring new, fun experiences to ultimate players everywhere. Athena puts it well when she writes, “Through ultimate, I have become part of a tight-knit community that I am confident will always support me. I’ve improved my athleticism, enjoyed recruiting female players, made long-lasting friendships, and become a more confident leader. Although there were moments when it was hard to put a positive spin on the situation, I knew I needed to be there for my team. We had fun together as a team, and every single one of us put it all out on the field. I realized how proud I was of what we had accomplished. Ultimate is woven into the fabric of my life, which is why even during the most difficult moments, playing in the heat and feeling exhausted, it’s still my favorite thing to do.”

In her biggest challenge yet, Athena Lynch is one of the very few elite youth athletes in the Bay Area who have been invited to attend one of two tryouts for the 2018 U.S. National Teams that will compete at the World Junior Ultimate Championships. USA Ultimate will send teams in the U-20 boys’ and U-20 girls’ divisions to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in August 2018. Nearly 400 youth athletes from all over the country applied to be considered for the 2018 U-20 National Teams. Of those 400 applicants, coaches have selected 101 men and 100 women to attend the tryout camps. Athena will be heading to Livermore, CA in February to make her bid for the World Junior Ultimate Team. Her teammates, coaches and all of the Bay Area Ultimate community are rooting for her to make Junior Worlds this year! We believe she can do it!

1. https://www.usaultimate.org/ab...