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The roots of the Cal Poly Pomona Ultimate program can be traced back to the year 2000 when an undergraduate Math student named Ben Smith started a pickup game on Kellogg field on Friday afternoons. By posting flyers around campus, he managed to attract a small group of students interested in a fun, yet competitive style, of Ultimate. By the end of the 2001 school year, you could find a consistent group of 10-12 people on the field every single Friday, having the time of their life.

The fall of 2002 was a time of change for the club, as a new crop of incoming freshmen had dreams of something more. The Friday pickup games began to become more competitive as backhands were being perfected, flicks were being learned, and the art of laying out was realized. Ben knew it was time for the team to evolve. During the 2003-2004 school year, Ben organized a game between the Cal Poly Pomona pickup group and the team at the Claremont colleges. We had been practicing and we thought it was time to take on some competition. Cal Poly Pomona got creamed that day. For some of the younger players, it was their first Ultimate experience outside of pickup, and they were hungry for more.

Ben Smith moved on to bigger and better things as the fall of 2005 came around. April Grothe and Simon Margolis took over with some big ideas. The team was chartered as an official club on campus during the fall. This gave us official use of field space and stadium lighting to practice under in the evenings. Our first tournament in November, So Cal Warmup, took us down to San Diego for the teams first road trip. In March, UCLA hosted So Cal Wetdown in which the Cal Poly Pomona “Polywogs” won their first tournament game against Cal Berkeley B. It was a great way to close out the year.



The 2006-2007 school year saw the team get funding through the school, saw the membership flourish, and saw the teams first birth in the UPA College Championship Series at sectionals. The team finished 14th out of 22 teams overall in the sectional tournament, missing a bid to regionals by only 1 spot. And with so many players returning to the team the following year, it was only going to get better.



The Polywogs had a good run, but after two years, it was time for a change. The team had grown and changed. The season was over. It was the end of May and school was almost out. At the end of the last practice under the dimming stadium lights on a cold evening, Flatline Ultimate was born.

The name is a representation of what we imagine every beginning college Ultimate team must go through. The struggle of trying to explain to our peers why we are always carrying a disc to class. The frustration of convincing the school administration that we are a legitimate club sport and should be treated as such. And the sacrifice of school work, social activities, and sleep that everybody makes for the betterment of the team. No matter what odds are against us, and no matter how many times our efforts try to be flatlined by outside forces, we will stand to beat another day. And a stronger, tougher, smarter team will prevail.



The following year, Flatline Ultimate continued to grow and mature with a new and hardworking executive council. The team graduated almost no players the previous year and was poised to make 2007-2008 the best year yet. With a mix of veteran talent, rookie thirst, and a full time coach stepping in on the sideline, the team was poised to make a run at Regionals. The season saw Flatline attend more tournaments than any previous Cal Poly Pomona team had in a single season. Halloween Huckfest, Santa Barbara Qualifier, Trouble in Vegas, San Luis Ultimate Tournament, Presidents Day. After months of drills, scrimmages, track workouts, and tournaments, Flatline did what no Cal Poly Pomona team had done before and qualified for UPA Southwest Regionals.