The Sidewinders also coach an Ultimate team at the high school. The Sidewinders hosted the league’s opening weekend at Mountain View High School, where Lindsey Doyle, one of the players, also coaches pole vaulting and facilitated a good deal for use of the field. It’s a really great community so we typically hang out with the other team afterwards and fly home the next day,” Eifert said of playing in the WUL, which intermixes traditional home games with events that last the weekend.ĭelayed by COVID-19, the WUL began play in 2022. We hop on a plane in our kits and show up and play a game. A win against the Falcons would lock the Sidewinders into a playoff spot. This season they are 3-4 with one game remaining on their schedule Saturday in San Francisco. In their first season, the Sidewinders finished third overall in the league. “They were all really, really good and they weren’t playing together and I really wanted to get all the women to play together on one team.”Įifert sent out a survey, gathered a bunch of players and, after polling other teams from around the West Coast, the WUL was created. “I met a bunch of women in the state playing Ultimate at pickups and leagues and things like that,” Eifert said.

The Premier Ultimate League was founded in 2019, and Sidewinders founder Helen Eifert wanted to bring a professional league west. Ultimate – a sport originally known as ultimate frisbee – is more popular on the East Coast. Part of the Western Ultimate League, Arizona is joined by teams from Washington (Seattle), Oregon (Portland), Utah, Colorado and California (San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego). The Arizona Sidewinders are the first professional Ultimate team in Arizona and one of eight professional women’s and non-binary Ultimate teams across the West Coast. There are the Diamondbacks, the Rattlers and … the Sidewinders? MESA – There are no shortages of snake-related team names in Arizona.

The Wild by K. Webster