Most students here would not have pegged Wesleyan as an ultimate Frisbee powerhouse, but that is probably because most people are not aware of the fact that the University has three exceptional club teams that are very serious about the sport.
Over the next few weeks, The Argus will be profiling these teams to offer a bit of insight into exactly how awesome they will be this year. To start the series, The Argus spoke with the captains of The Nietzsche Factor, David Canter ’11 and Aaron Sarvet ’12, about the meaning of their team’s name, their hopes for this season, and the elusive “DVDA.”
Argus: So what’s the history of the Nietszche factor? David Canter: We’re actually one of the older teams in New England. We started back in the seventies, and we keep in pretty good contact with the alumni. In fact, we have an alumni game every spring where we get to see the old guys. We’ve been steadily representing Connecticut at New England regional competitions for as long as I’ve known the team.
Aaron Sarvet: We’re about twenty-five to thirty years old, with a pretty healthy number of former star players.
A: What’s the meaning of the name? DC: It’s not a very good story. We were named for a particular player in the eighties who was named Nietzsche, kind of an average guy, but he managed to pull off some extraordinary things. Really, every player doing something extraordinary is the heart of The Nietzsche Factor, going beyond expectations. AS: As the tale goes, a kid named Nietzsche who was extremely fast was this extra factor on the team. Before him, the team was the Wesu Bees.
A: When did you first start playing Frisbee? DC: I played a variety of other sports, like soccer, in high school, and I only played Frisbee casually. I wasn’t very good, but I knew I was interested in the game. I remember as a freshman I was living in Clark, and I looked out the window this one time to see The Nietzsche Factor guys playing at the base of Foss Hill. I went out to talk to them, and it was a very welcoming atmosphere.
A: How was your performance last year? DC: We got to go down to Georgia to play a few tournaments, which was fun. And of course, we made it to regionals. It’s always fun busting teams like Brown, Yale, UConn, and Dartmouth. We go up against all these bigger New England teams and usually come out on
A: How was your performance last year? DC: We got to go down to Georgia to play a few tournaments, which was fun. And of course, we made it to regionals. It’s always fun busting teams like Brown, Yale, UConn, and Dartmouth. We go up against all these bigger New England teams and usually come out ontop. AS: We went to regionals and were very competitive there. We had very good kids and did well. Last year we did a lot of calf work in conditioning and ended up with an explosive, angry team.
A: Who’s your biggest rival? AS: In our section, Brown. We hate them, and they may or may not hate us, but we’ve never lost to them. C: Definitely Brown. There’s a very longstanding rivalry there. We’ve beaten them the last two years at sectionals, and it always feels really good.
A: What’s it looking like this year for The Nietzsche Factor? AS: We’re very hopeful the freshmen will take us far. We just had our first practice and a lot of tall, athletic kids showed up. Hopefully they’ll stick with it.
DC: We’re hoping to go to the very competitive national tournament this February in Las Vegas. We last went three years ago. With any luck, we’ll get to play a lot and win a lot.
A: What’s your favorite part of the game? AS: I just love to run around and play really hard. The best is “skying” people, when you just leap over someone and catch a pass meant for them.
DC: DVDA. It’s an acronym, but I won’t tell you what it stands for.