This quirky sport, which consists of a demarcated field and goals (or an ‘endzone’) and a small frisbee, which appears to be anything but ultimate, is hugely popular and played competitively in the US, particularly in university campuses. But now, it appears to be gaining in popularity amongst not only the expatriate community in Delhi but also Indians in other regions.

Nick Eubank, 23, a consultant with the World Bank and Delhi expat from Denver, Colorado, played Ultimate Frisbee competitively during his college years in the US. He joined the team within the first few weeks that he moved to Delhi and has been with the ‘stray dogs’ for almost five months now. “The team has been around in various forms for two years, and it has changed because so many people come in and out of Delhi,” Eubank says.

But it was only after the group was invited to play a tournament in Ahmedebad a week ago, organised by Indicorp, that the players “got jerseys and officially became a team and started getting into the strategy of the game”, Eubank says. About the unusual name of the team, he says, “There were a lot of stray dogs during the last winter that seemed to be randomly walking around in sweaters. We toyed with other names, such as Delhi Bellies and Delhicious, but we figured that our name was a unique and very Delhi-specific one.”

Seattle-born Josh Reiman is 27 and has been working with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Delhi for the past 14 months. Like Eubank, Reiman played ‘ultimate’ competitively in the US during his university days and has been with the ‘stray dogs’ for over a year now. Reiman continued playing the sport in Delhi because of its inclusiveness and positive ethos.

“Frisbee is very inclusive — all you just need a disc, a field, and that makes it easier to get people together to play,” he says. “I also believe that there is a spirit of ultimate Frisbee: it brings people together because it is competitive, yet the focus is not necessarily on winning.”

The ‘Stray Dogs in Sweaters’ has 30 players, most of whom are American and Canadian expatriates living and working here. But the team is also open to Indian players and expats of other nationalities.

Eubank says the sport is growing in popularity in India: “It may become a popular sport in India. After the Ahmedabad tournament we have had a lot of teams contact us. We know of two teams in Bangalore and IIT-Kanpur recently held a tournament. We also found out about a team in Tamil Nadu.”