Abby Derkson/Winonan

The club fair is an excellent place to discover and embrace new passions, as freshmen discovered when they stopped by the women’s Ultimate Frisbee table.

The members of Winona State’s Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Sports Club, the Bad Monaz, are as diverse as they are passionate.

The Ultimate club was formed in 1978, then only a men’s club, but soon broadened in 1988 to include a women’s team.

Ultimate is a combination of sports including football, soccer and basketball. It involves a disc, excited players and a large field by the lake that the Bad Monaz share with the men’s club, Experience. And while Ultimate is a competitive sport, it is not competitiveness that drives the Monaz. According to many of the club’s members, The sheer fun of the sport is what makes the club so enjoyable.

The captains of the Bad Monaz, Jaime Kahler, JoAnna Lock and Brenna Routhe, share the same belief: to improve, one must practice.

Practices are Monday through Friday, from 4 to 6 p.m. There is a practice every day because, as Jaime Kahler said, “We can get everyone to practice no matter what their schedule. All we ask is that people make it when they can.”

Practices include warm-ups, exercise, drills and scrimmages, and there is always some variety to keep the practices interesting.

Routhe said the practices are “a great way to relax, to relieve some stress from school.”

In the fall, the Monaz participate in three tournaments. These tournaments, returner junior Kristin Wohlrabe said, are where the real bonding of the Monaz happens.

“You’re a family, essentially,” she said. “At the tournaments, you are together 24/7.”

“When you have seven girls cramped in a hotel room for a tournament, you get to know everyone a lot better.” Kahler agreed.

For JoAnna Lock, that close dynamic is what the club is all about. Her love for the sport is the reason she transferred to Winona State last fall. She came specifically for its Ultimate club.

“They aren’t super competitive,” she said. “It’s about having a good time and having fun.”

Contact Abby at [email protected]