WASHINGTON 鈥� Even if you鈥檙e not a baseball fan, there鈥檚 another Opening Day that may pique your interest coming to the District next week. Both Washington-based professional Ultimate Frisbee teams, the D.C. Breeze and D.C. Current, open their 2016 seasons at home next weekend.
The Breeze play at Gallaudet University and will open their campaign at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 10 against the Ottawa Outlaws (). The Current take on the Boston Whitecaps at 7 p.m. the night prior at Catholic University ).
Both teams are entering their fourth season and each has secured a growing foothold in the vast professional sports landscape in the District. The Breeze鈥檚 league 鈥� the American Ultimate Disc League 鈥� has taken a more aggressive angle at expansion, ballooning to 26 teams nationwide and in Canada this year. The team itself has also invested in areas commonly associated with more established sports leagues, entering agreements with Morill Performance and bringing on team doctors.
鈥淭eam resources have expanded both in terms of training opportunities as well as health care,鈥� says Breeze head coach Alex Ghesquiere, who will also coach the U.S. World Championship team this summer.
On the field, the team has been aggressive in bringing in talent from outside the area, with players from as far as Chicago and Kansas City moving to Washington for the summer to play.
On the other side of town, the Major League Ultimate-affiliated Current have taken a longer view approach. The league is holding steady at eight teams, while they look to grow roots through a pseudo-minor league system of local players.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really trying to build a farm system of sorts,鈥� says Current GM Matt Dewhurst, whose team now practices at Wilson High School. 鈥淭he goal is to really build a community and a team around that practice squad.鈥�
Two members of last year鈥檚 practice squad 鈥� Joe Freund and Andrew Ferraro, both area natives 鈥� are on the main roster this year. And two seniors on the Wilson team are on this year鈥檚 Current practice squad.
For their differences in approach, the two teams share an unlikely similarity. Each employs a member of the two-time women鈥檚 national title-winning D.C. Scandal as an assistant coach. Sarah Itoh returns for her second season with the Breeze, after becoming the first female coach in AUDL history to win a game last year, filling in for Ghesquiere. Meanwhile, Sam McClellan joins the Current staff this season.
鈥淭he Ultimate community in general is trying to promote equality as much as possible,鈥� Ghesquiere says.
Dewhurst agrees, explaining that McClellan was a perfect fit for the role the team was looking to fill this offseason.
鈥淗aving Sam involved is great, because it gives us a different perspective,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 go out saying we wanted to hire a female coach. We went out saying we wanted to hire a very smart mind to help us coach this team this year. Sam happened to fit those requirements pretty much to a T.鈥�
Both teams are also acutely aware that having competing interests in the same city in an emerging sport may ultimately prove to be unsustainable. But both teams seem pragmatic about the future of the sport.
鈥淚 think having two leagues is probably unsustainable,鈥� Ghesquiere says. 鈥淚t would be good to have the focus be squarely on one league.鈥�
Dewhurst also acknowledges that eventual reality. He hopes his league鈥檚 funding, which has been renewed for three more seasons, will help them get to that point eventually.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 pretty evident that at some point down the line there鈥檚 going to have to be a merger of some sort,鈥� Dewhurst says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e both working off the same fan bases and were splitting loyalties that don鈥檛 necessarily need to be split.
鈥淚t happened in the NBA, happened it football. At some point it鈥檚 going to happen in Ultimate as well.鈥�
