If you grow up in Warren County, you have plenty of opportunities to get involved in organized sports.

Ultimate Frisbee is not one of your obvious choices.

That hasn’t stopped Ethan Beardsley.

Beardsley, a 2009 graduate of Warren Area High School, recently signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). The Thunderbirds are a new team in the 26-team league, and offered Beardsley, AKA “Birdman,” a contract upon forming.

Yes, there is a legitimate professional Ultimate League that requires paid contracts.

“I did have to sign a contract,” Beardsley said. “One year deal.”

And yes, like any other professional sport, it pays.

“Yeah, I get payed per game,” said Beardsley, who did not specify how much, and who has a day job. “Also travel and lodging expenses (for away games) are paid for by the team.”

The sport isn’t foreign at all to Ethan; he was part of back to back national championship teams while playing for the club team, nicknamed En Sabah Nur, during his time at the University of Pittsburgh.

His connections at Pitt led him to the AUDL.

“The head coach for the Thunderbirds (David Hogan) was the assistant coach when I played at Pitt,” Beardsley said. “He told the general manager about certain players to reach out to and I was lucky enough to be considered for a roster spot on the team.”

Beardsley, who was originally recruited to the Pitt club team because of his height, was an all-region soccer player as a forward during his time at Warren. But defense is his forte in Ultimate.

“I will most likely be on the defensive line for the Thunderbirds,” Beardsley said. “I will be matching up against the other teams offensive receivers when they have the disc.”

The Thunderbirds, a member of the Midwest Division, will do a good amount of traveling during the season. The season begins on April 11 with a trip to Indianapolis, and also includes trips to the cities Madison, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, and Cincinnati.

Ethan works at a PPG Chemistry lab in Monroeville during the day, but doesn’t anticipate the responsibility of juggling to be too strenuous.

“I don’t anticipate the responsibilities being too tough to handle,” Beardsley said. “Practices are later in the evening and weekends, while all the games are on the weekends. The only tough thing is we might get back from some road games late Sunday night.”

Beardsley says playing professionally was an option that was “definitely intriguing” after graduating from Pitt, but wasn’t possible until the Thunderbirds formed.

“When I finished school it wasn’t logistically reasonable for me to pursue (playing professionally),” he said. “There were friends of mine that played on pro teams in Philadelphia and DC, but that would have been difficult to make practices and every game. When the Pittsburgh team formed and offered me a contract I figured that there wouldn’t be a better time to play.”

The AUDL, which was formed in 2012, saw its membership grow this year with new teams in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Los Angeles, Nashville, Ottawa, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Charlotte, and Atlanta. The league website (theaudl.com) mentions that the league would like to expand even more.

Ethan isn’t sure how long he will choose to play professionally, but he knows what his goals are.

“I haven’t really had any real thoughts on how long I will play,” Beardsley, a defensive specialist, said. “I hope to say that I will play for as long as possible. My goal for the Thunderbirds is to win a championship. There are a lot of good teams in the league, but I feel like we can make a splash in our first year in the AUDL.”

No matter how his experience with the Thunderbirds goes, Beardsley is grateful for the experience ultimate has given.

“I have been playing ultimate for close to six years and have enjoyed every experience that it has presented me,” Beardsley said. “I have befriended many extraordinary people and teammates.I also have been fortunate enough to travel the country playing a sport that I love. Playing ultimate has opened up a whole new community for me to belong to and explore.”

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Combining the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football, a game of Ultimate (www.usaultimate.org) is played by two teams with a flying disc or Frisbee on a field with end zones, similar to football. The object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone. A player must stop running while in possession of the disc, but may pivot and pass to any of the other receivers on the field. Ultimate is a transition game in which players move quickly from offense to defense on turnovers that occur with a dropped pass, an interception, a pass out of bounds, or when a player is caught holding the disc for more than ten seconds. Ultimate is governed by Spirit of the Game, a tradition of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the players rather than referees. Ultimate is played in more than 80 countries by an estimated 7 million of men and women, girls and boys. The international governing body, WFDF, represents 59 member associations in 56 countries.

“What is Ultimate?” as defined by the USA Ultimate Board of Directors? The USA Ultimate Board of Directors believes that one key factor that defines Ultimate is that the players need to be the ones in control. The definition of Ultimate developed by the Board at the 2001 Strategic Planning Meeting is as follows: “Player defined and controlled non-contact team sport played with a flying disc on a playing surface with end zones in which all actions are governed by the ‘Spirit of the Game.”

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What is Ultimate? pghthunderbirds.com/ultimate-disc/