Ultimate Frisbee can be a very physical game, especially at the club and pro levels. Physicality finds its way to each component of the game — pushing off opponents to gain yardage, overly exerting force when diving for the disc, and throwing shoulders while cutting to space can all be examples. The potential is great for very physical matches, and so the concept of “spirit” is put into place, wherein players must exercise mutual respect for the other teams.
The World Disc Federation — the worldwide governing body for ultimate frisbee and other disc related sports — defines spirit in its preamble:
“All players are responsible for administering and adhering to the rules. Ultimate relies upon a Spirit of the Game that places the responsibility for fair play on every player. It is trusted that no player will intentionally break the rules; thus there are no harsh penalties for breaches, but rather a method for resuming play in a manner which simulates what would most likely have occurred had there been no breach.
Highly competitive play is encouraged, but should never sacrifice the mutual respect between players, adherence to the agreed-upon rules of the game, or the basic joy of play.” (Source: http://www.wfdf.org/sotg/about-sotg)
For example, players call their own fouls. After a foul is called, gameplay stops and the fouled player explains to his or her opponent why he or she called the foul. The opponent will then chooses to “contest” the foul or “uncontest” the foul. Much of this process requires players from all parties to remain calm and only converse in terms of the rules of the game.
Here is a great example of good Spirit, courtesy of youtube channel World Flying Disc Association
Spirit also manifests in other ways — complimenting opponents, communicating well to the other team, respecting knowledge and rules of the game, not cheating, politeness etc. In sum, spirit is the concept of sportsmanship, but it actually applies to rules of the game.
I’ve observed a significant difference in spirit playing both American and South African teams. First and foremost, teams in South Africa appoint a “spirit captain.” In the case of a dispute, spirit captains will be called to settle the matter. In addition, spirit captains will talk before, during and after the game to keep communication open. I think US teams could benefit. I’ve played in many games where simple communication could had saved the morale of both teams during a hard physical match.My second observation comes from playing on the field. In the US, calls are almost always disputed, and physicality leads to grudges and low spirit. In the South African league, however, calls are greeted with politeness. Even disputes are always resolved with a high five and high spirit. I theorize this in due in whole to South Africa’s spirit “rating” system. After every league match, teams rate the other on certain spirit criteria, including fairness, communication, contact and fouls, and more. Teams usually strive for a high spirit rating, and I believe this affects the spirit on the field.
Last, teams join together after a match in a large huddle and the spirit captains will take turns speaking for each team. They will exchange compliments, a few jokes, and then lead a cheer for the other team.
These three components of South Africa’s ultimate create a highly-spirited environment, without compromising competitiveness and intensity in the matches. I hope that more teams and leagues in the US and elsewhere can adopt such plays.
Emily Barrett, of the UCT Flying Tigers said “I like calling my own fouls and talking it out. You learn a lot and people are generally very nice. You’ll always get disputes in any sport, but the Spirit rules in Ultimate force you to come to a resolution, which is a really important thing at any level.”
For an example of poor spirit, see Canada’s behavior at Worlds 2012, courtesy of Youtube Channel Ultiworld
Team Canada later apologized on their blog: http://furiousultimate.com/?p=798
Cape. Town. Ultimate. 
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