If you haven’t caught disc fever in Madison, there’s no better time than this weekend. On Aug. 22 and 23, Breese Stevens Field will be home to the Ultimate Frisbee Association’s Championship Weekend, in which the top four teams in the UFA league will compete for the top title.
Having Madison host the championships is a testament to the strength of disc sports in Madison, from fans packing the stands to watch the Madison Radicals play to athletes joining their own disc sports leagues. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, executive producer Hayley Sperling talks to Pete Schramm of the Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association about how the sport has caught fire.
Here’s a quick primer to help you disc-over disc sports in Madison.
🥏 What Is Ultimate, Anyway?
“It’s not the one with dogs, and it’s not the one with disc golf,” Pete told Hayley. (We’ll get into the golf part later.) Ultimate is a non-contact team sport, with seven players on a side, played on a field about the length of a football field, but narrower.
A player holding the disc (the “thrower”) cannot move, but has to pass to another player to move the disc up the field. The goal is to have one of your players catch the disc in the other team’s end zone.
🏆 The Ultimate Playoffs
The Madison Radicals didn’t make the championships this year, but they’ve had a solid reputation in the league since their inception in 2013. The Radicals won five consecutive Western Division championships between 2014 and 2018, culminating in winning the league championship in 2018. Their 2025 season is over, and they will start their 2026 season next May.
The Championship Weekend will feature two semifinal games on Aug. 22, followed on Saturday by the Western Ultimate League (WUL) vs. Premier Ultimate League (PUL) All-Star Game, which will be the first official event between the premier women’s and non-binary leagues anywhere in the world. The UFA Championship Game takes place Saturday night. All the games will be livestreamed on UFAtv.
Surrounding the four games will be two days of youth clinics, gear demonstrations, and other fan activities at Breese Stevens Field.
👟 How to Play Ultimate in Madison
If watching the best Ultimate players in the world gives you the itch to play yourself, Madison has you covered. The Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association runs leagues in every season, including the “Polar Bear League” in the winter. The most popular, understandably, is the summer league, with over 3,500 players and 1,700 teams. The summer and fall leagues are co-ed.
For UW-Madison students, the university has had a Frisbee Club since 1977. Named after the mythical Wisconsin beast, the Hodags are always looking for new members and have a cool logo to boot.
⛳ What About Disc Golf?
Madison is also one of the top spots in Wisconsin and nationwide for disc golf, and it couldn’t be easier to start playing. You can buy gear at a local shop like Glide, or you can even check out a free four-disc golf kit from a Madison Public Library Branch.
The city of Madison runs 18-hole disc golf courses at Elver Park and Hiestand Park, and Dane County runs the 18-hole Capitol Springs Disc Golf Course and the 27-hole Vallarta-Ast Disc Golf Course at Token Creek, recognized as one of the top courses in the country. Check them all out on Overlook Maps!
