Backhoe is a nationally competitive womens ultimate frisbee team based in the Triangle area of North Carolina, USA. Since 1999 we have held the mid-Atlantic regional title and since 2003 have been ranked among the top 7 teams in North America, inlcuding a silver medal finish at the 2005 North American Nationals. In the U.S. there are over a hundred womens club teams but only a handful of elite ones. As a relatively isolated team on the southeastern US coast we use hardwork and determination to compete against teams from the U.S.' largest cities. Surely, this is the source of our deep, southern pride and it's what fuels our love of intense competition. Every year we train to be the best in the nation. To our tournaments we bring the aggression of top national compeititors and the swagger of a womens' team that was once labeled "the fastest D-team in the country."
 Sometime in the late 1980's North Carolina triangle womens' ultimate frisbee started with a team named Grits (just like the southern breakfast).....
In 1995 the womens' frisbee community in the triangle decided to merge with the Wilmington women on the coast, creating a team called Mischief. Sometimes things are not meant to be. This team was not meant to be. In 1996 the triangle women again re-defined themselves this time using the name Harvey. Captained by Beth Stagner and Liz Mahanna this team became what is known as Backhoe today. Unsettled with identity yet again, the official Backhoe name was adopted in the fall of 1997.
Backhoe? Like the farm equipment? How did we ever pick the name Backhoe?... Well,...sometimes a name is just a name. Frustrated with names that didn't stick, team members decided to commit to the name which came with the most success at a tournament. One day while driving to a tournament a player randomly called out the name 'Backhoe' (likely because a backhoe was spotted outside a car window). We won the very next tournament. The name stuck. We are Backhoe. We are the Hoes. It's our 13th anniversary this year.
How Do You Play Ultimate?
Ultimate is a team sport which combines elements of soccer, football and basketball in a fast-paced game, played with a flying disc, where everyone is a quarterback and everyone is a receiver. Quick and intense, high-level Ultimate is beautiful to watch. While a football game may feature 10-15 long bombs, a typical Ultimate game will have over 40 long throws - called "hucks." Receivers and defenders regularly make diving catches referred to as "lay-outs." High level games feature a few lay-outs every point. Games are typically played to points, for example, the first team to 15 wins. One ultimate game typically lasts one and a half hours and features fourteen players on a field at any one time, seven to a team. Club level ultimate players compete at tournaments, 1-4 day events that feature 2-5 games a day. As of 2009, USA club teams may officially train a roster of no more than 27 players during the season.
Womens' Ultimate Facts
# of USA club womens' teams in 2008: 131
# of USA college womens' teams in 2008: 230
# of USA women playing ultimate in 2008: 8,351
# women playing ultimate in the world according to the WFDF: 14, 646
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 Ultimate Frisbee is a fast growing sport. A national tally confirms that more than 895,000 people played ultimate at an official event in 2008. There are over 29,000
competitive ultimate frisbee players in the United States and new teams form every year. Teams now exist in more than 40 states and from high school to masters levels. Ultimate is played in 42 countries and the Olympic Committee has formally sponsored 'Flying Disc' as a World Games sport since 2001. The U.S. has won the last two Ultimate World Games which are organized by the World Flying Disc Federation and is a leading nation in ultimate frisbee. Read what the New York Times had to say about the sport in spring 2009. USA Ultimate (USAU) is the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the U.S. and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO.
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