In the past year, you may have noticed a group of men running after flying discs out on the practice field near the commuter rail station. What you saw was Brandeis’ Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team, called TRON.Ultimate Frisbee is an up and coming sport that combines the best aspects of soccer, basketball and football into one game in which players pass a flying disc in order to score in the end zone.
Throughout the year, TRON practices three times per week and competes in tournaments in New England and in other parts of the country. The fall season was characterized by one of the most successful recruiting jobs in the past few years for TRON. In all, over fifteen freshmen joined, securing the immediate future of the Frisbee program here at Brandeis. Led by co-captains Avraham “Awax” Wachs-Cashman ’08 and Graham “Moose” Miller ‘09 and an experienced group of veterans, the team drilled throws, practiced strategy, and taught the new recruits the game of ultimate and the ways of TRON.
TRON’s hard work has yielded tangible results for the team in the past year. During the fall season, the team won the “Lemony Fresh Fall Classic” tournament, beating out rival Boston College in a close match along the way. This spring, TRON traveled tournaments in Maryland, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, earning an impressive record of 19 wins and 6 losses and achieving their goal of clinching a spot in the upcoming regional tournament on May 3-4 in Lancaster, MA.
When asked what he felt was the key to the team’s success on the field, Wachs-Cashman credited the team’s tailoring of their strategy around the specific abilities of the individual players. He added that this planning gave TRON a very powerful offensive lineup that led them to the victories to make it to the regional tournament.
Additionally, this year, for the first time, Brandeis Men’s Ultimate hosted its own “B-Deis B-Fest” tournament on campus. Ten B-teams traveled from all over New England to participate in this exciting event. Our own MegaTRON (the self named TRON B-Team) took fifth place in the tournament, securing its first two victories in recent memory against Boston College-B and cross-town rival Bentley-B with scores of 10-2 and 10-8, respectively. “Overall, it’s been an interesting season and we’ve really shown incredible signs of improvement,” said TRON member Alex “Simba” Parks ’10.
TRON looks to carry its success into next season, travel to more tournaments, and make TRON, Brandeis’ Men’s Ultimate, a household name in the world of Ultimate Frisbee along the way.
