From Friday pick-up games to the high school city league, St. George’s ultimate frisbee team Nirvana is preparing for the upcoming state championship.

The team transitioned from after school pick-up games to participating in the city league when senior Winston Margaritis took notice of how well the team was playing.

“I started to notice how fun and competitive our games were on Friday and I thought there are so many people who are good at ultimate at this school, we gotta find a way to compete against other schools,” Margaritis said. “I started researching and the opportunity for the league came up and I took advantage of it.”

With help from tenth grade chemistry teacher Mr. Ethan Sullivan, Margaritis started the ultimate frisbee team here and opened the team up to middle and upper school students. Huey’s sponsors the team and Mr. Sullivan coaches.

“I can’t really take too much credit because it was mostly Winston,” Mr. Sullivan said. ”He was super into it and then we started having those Friday pick-up games and it kind of evolved from there.”

Margaritis became familiar with a frisbee through his father, who had played frisbee in college. When Margaritis came to St. George’s, he started to play ultimate frisbee, which differs from regular frisbee.

“Frisbee is just tossing the disc around with your friends in the yard but ultimate frisbee is an actual game with rules, structure and competition,” Margaritis said. “My first time [playing] was in eighth grade with Mr. Slatery and the lacrosse guys.”

Since the team was created, popularity of this sport at the school has increased.

“It’s kind of gone in waves actually. So, back when Winston was in tenth grade, that whole group of tenth graders played a lot at first,” Sullivan said, “and then it’s kind of gone up and down since then.”

The junior class began to take interest by playing at lunch everyday and some students even started to play in the city league. Until the spring of 2017, there wasn’t even a league in Memphis. Now, students are able to expand their experience by playing against other high school students.

Aside from the growing popularity and support for ultimate frisbee, camaraderie between players is what draws students towards the sport the most.

“First and foremost, we have a very positive atmosphere. We lift each other up,” Margaritis said. “Nobody’s criticizing each other; it’s just a really, really positive environment.”

Eighth grader George Brandon joined the team this year and has enjoyed the friendships he’s formed from being on the team.

“I love the relationships between the high schoolers and middle schoolers,” Brandon said. “I am happier at school when I know a lot more people.”

Teamwork and positivity are just some of the many positive characteristics of the ultimate frisbee team. Margaritis believes anyone can enjoy the sport, even if they’re not specially athletic.

“So many people benefit from it and everyone who’s on the team genuinely enjoys it,” Margaritis said. “I just want people to try ultimate and give it a shot.”