School Games

The information on this page is useful for School Games Organisers (SGOs), Active Partnerships, schools and teachers starting to play Ultimate and working towards introducing competition (both intra and inter school).

Tell us about your School Games event and get 10 FREE discs

“The children have thoroughly enjoyed their experiences playing Ultimate Frisbee. This is an exciting sport that really encourages team work and respect. The Spirit of the Game element means that children who might normally be intimidated by competitive sport can represent their school and enjoy it. The children thrived in such a positive sporting atmosphere and it was lovely to see them grow in confidence. They didn’t stop smiling all week!”

Russel Scott Primary School, Tameside

Find all the information you need to run a School Games event including rules, adaptations and a simple Spirit scoring matrix

Find out more about CPD workshops for teachers, schools and Young Leaders

The game of Ultimate can be played safely in sports halls, on grass, 3G surfaces and even on sand! You should adapt the size of the pitch for the space you have available and for different numbers of players (up to a maximum of 7 a-side on outdoor pitches). For the pitch size shown above we suggest 4 a-side (the School Games format). Always make sure you have enough run-off around the perimeter for safety (minimum 1m indoors and 5m outdoors).

Don’t forget about Spirit of the Game

Spirit of the Game scoring is a great part of the whole event! Don’t forget to factor in some time after each game for teams to score each other and submit their scores to you.

School Games format - adaptations

For those who know the game of Ultimate already, we’ve made some simple adaptations to make it more suitable for the School Games:

  • Even number of players on a team with the same number of girls and boys. 4-a-side is encouraged for School Games competition, but you could also play 6v6

  • No stall count

  • No brick mark

  • Players sub at any time by high-fiving a teammate of the same gender on the sideline