Torn ACL's, separated shoulders and broken wrists. These are injuries one might expect to hear from football or basketball. As it turns out, they are just some of the results of playing for UD's Ultimate Frisbee club team, Ghetto Force.

The University of Dayton has had an Ultimate team since 1988. The team was called the Sultans of Swing until it took on the name Ghetto Force in 1994 with force referring to a basic defensive principle in the sport.

"Our sport is as serious, heated and cutthroat as any other sport," fifth-year and former captain Evan Corcoran said. "Officially it's a non-contact sport, but there ends up being a lot of contact every game."

The team consists of 24 members and plays in eight to 10 tournaments each year. During the fall season, anyone can play. By the end of the fall, cuts are made for the spring roster. The players that didn't make it can still practice with the team but can't play in the tournaments.

Ultimate is a growing trend. There are over 500 men's college teams and over 300 women's teams; UD has both. Some of the members of Ghetto Force played in high school. Others played various high school sports and took up Ultimate once they got to Dayton. While many players have an athletic background, it isn't a necessity.

"The game is really fast-paced, but if you don't have the speed you can make up for it with throwing skills," Corcoran said. "If you aren't the best at throwing you can make up for it with defensive abilities. There are many skills people can bring to the table."

This year's captain is sophomore Phil Brodrick. He tore his shoulder twice last season, the first of which happened in the first game of the fall and the second occurred in the first game at the regional tournament. Brodrick started playing Ultimate in eighth grade and has continued playing since.

"I just really like the competition," Brodrick said. "There is the same pace, intensity and desire to win that other sports have, but there seems to be a better mentality in our sport."

A major reason why injuries are so prominent is because the players are constantly cutting at different angles, planting their feet in various directions and diving all over the field.

Brodrick talked a lot about the competiveness and physicality of Ultimate. As a result, like in most sports, there are no friends on the field. The game is self-refereed so a fair degree of sportsmanship is expected.

 "The self-refereed aspect of the game can obviously lead to some problems," Brodrick said. "Most of the sportsmanship isn't seen until after the game."

There are 26 teams in the section UD plays which contains schools from Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Dayton plays many opponents from nearby, including Xavier, the University of Cincinnati, Ohio State, Miami University and Ohio University.

UD beat their rival, Miami, in sectionals last year to take second place and went on to finish eighth in the regional tournament. Meanwhile, Ohio State has won the sectional tournament 10 years in a row.

"It would mean a lot to beat Ohio State," Brodrick said. "I'd expect us to finish in the top three at sectionals this year, and we'd love to get a crack at Ohio State which we came up just short against last year."

The sectional tournament begins April 17 at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.