THIS IS SCHOOLWORK? // EDUCATION: Chapman University students tossing flying discs for credit

DATE                  10/11/94
NEWSPAPER             THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SECTION               METRO
EDITION               MORNING
PAGE                  b01
STORY LENGTH          21 INCHES
HEADLINE              THIS IS SCHOOLWORK?   //  EDUCATION: Chapman University 
                         students tossing flying discs for credit  sometimes 
                         find it hard to explain. But those playing say it's 
                         more strenuous --  and more fun -- than other P.E.
BYLINE/CREDIT         DAN FROOMKIN:  The Orange County Register
SUBJECT TERMS         EDUCATION:COLLEGES:SPORTS
 .
  It's not easy being on the cutting edge.
     "My parents and everybody think it's such a joke," said Jenn
  Martin, 19, pausing for breath while her classmates at Chapman
  University continued chasing yellow discs around a football field.
     "My mom said, `This is what I'm paying $20,000 for? For you to
  play Frisbee?' "
     But yes, indeed, many students at Chapman this fall are doing
  just that -- for credit.
     The class is called Ultimate Frisbee. And fans of Ultimate, as
  they call it, hail the fact that Chapman recently recognized the
  game as worthy of a physical-education class.
     A hybrid of football, basketball and soccer, in which
  seven-member teams move the disc down the field by passing it,
  Ultimate has become increasingly popular as a club sport over the
  years.
     And those playing it for credit say it's a lot more strenuous  --
  not to mention more fun -- than other common P.E. classes, such as
  archery or bowling or tennis.
     "Look at them," Martin said, pointing to the tennis players
  rallying on the courts fronting the football field. "Look at them
  play. They're standing there, pretty much. They maybe take one step
  left, one step right.
     "I'll be in the end zone, defending someone, but the minute my
  team gets the Frisbee, I have to be in the other end zone to get
  ready to catch it.
     "It's like 50-yard dashes for an hour."
     Still, the class carries an undeniable stigma.
     "I get it all the time," said instructor Coralin Glerum, who is
  also the college's assistant women's basketball coach. "It's kind
  of like the joke around campus. Frisbee for credit."
     Sophomore Tom Durante, 19, said he gets a lot of grief from his
  parents and teachers.
     "Oh, you're in Frisbee class?" they ask. "What's next,
  underwater basket weaving?"
     Fellow students have a different reaction, he said. "They can't
  wait to take it next semester."
     Glerum acknowledges that the game tends to attract, well,
  "granola kids -- you know, the kind of earthy, crunchy people."
     "At Chapman, if you're at all earthy-crunchy, it's kind of like
  required to take my class," she said. "It's like part of the major."
     In contrast, she said, some students avoid the class simply
  because they fear the effect that finding the word "Frisbee" on
  their transcripts might have on future employers.
     Ultimate Frisbee class was first offered last spring. "It flew
  really well," Glerum said.
     This semester more than 40 students are enrolled.
     Chapman requires four physical-education classes for graduation,
  each earning students half the credit of an academic class.
     It's not unusual for universities to offer credit for
  physical-education classes -- the University of California, Irvine,
  for instance, credits students who take golf, bowling, self-defense
  and other P.E. classes with about one-sixth the hours of a normal
  class.
     But credit for tossing the disc is a rarity.
     Out on the football field in the late-morning sun, some of the
  earthy-crunchies playing Ultimate look like they're melting.
     "I just thought we'd toss the Frisbee around a little bit," said
  Lisa Hamilton, 19. "But it's a lot of work. A lot of running."
     "It's been a lot of fun. It's the perfect class for Southern
  California," said Nick Nofal, 23, a senior.
     And does he feel silly taking a class called Frisbee?
     Not at all, he said.
     "I took badminton last semester."