UPPER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — A tournament pitting some of the nation’s best high school Ultimate Frisbee teams against each other began Friday in Grange Park.
The invitation-only tournament draws high school Ultimate Frisbee teams from a power ranking created by Ultiworld, a website covering the sport.
Organizers also invite the winners of a handful of qualifying tournaments.
The High School National Invite will continue Saturday, as second- and third-place teams from each of four pools fight for a spot in the quarterfinals starting at 8:30 a.m. Quarterfinal matches begin at 10:45 a.m. The boys’ final is set for 5:30 p.m.; the girls’ final is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.High School National Invite Ultimate Frisbee championship
This year, HSNI includes 16 open teams and 16 girls teams from across the United States, coming to the Lehigh Valley from as far as Washington State and California.
Organizers held the first High School National Invite in 2018; it did not take place in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since resuming in 2022, the tournament has been held in a different city each year, rotating between the East Coast, the West Coast and central United States.
This year’s HSNI is the first held in the Northeast, and only the second on the East Coast.
Ultimate Frisbee is something like basketball played on a shrunken football field with a Frisbee instead of a ball.
A team can score points by passing the Frisbee down the field to someone in a football-like end zone; like in basketball, players holding the Frisbee cannot move.
To succeed, teams must execute a string of highly accurate passes to advance down the field while avoiding defenders eager to seize the Frisbee for themselves.
The High School National Invite will continue Saturday, as second- and third-place teams from each of four pools fight for a spot in the quarterfinals starting at 8:30 a.m.
Quarterfinal matches begin at 10:45 a.m. The boys’ final is set for 5:30 p.m.; the girls’ final is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
