Toward the end of last year, Emory men’s ultimate frisbee club was preparing for a very different fall season. The team had recently appointed two head coaches and applied for gold tier club status. After playing competitively for over a decade, men’s ultimate was rewarded gold tier status, the highest possible recognition from Emory’s club sports department.

“Gold tier status is the highest tier a club sport can reach,” Club Sports Coordinator Andre Moore said. “The team has done an incredible job of meeting all those expectations and surpassing all of them and I really acknowledge the incredible work the officers are doing to keep the team constantly progressing.”

In the late ’90s, the club first began to take shape and was originally founded under the name Emory men’s ultimate (EMU), but in 2005, it changed its name to “Juice.” Since Emory required the team to have the word “eagles” in its title, the club switched names once again to the “Illeagles” during the 2006-2007 season. However, in 2008, unable to resist the aesthetic quality of their former name, the club returned to being known as “Juice.”

Throughout the past few years, the club has primarily competed on a regional level, which prior to the 2011 season, included schools from Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Now, however, it includes teams from Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Emory has consistently reached the regional tournament, missing out on an appearance only in the 2006, 2007 and 2011 seasons. To be eligible for the regional tournament, a team must be one of the top three or four teams in the Georgia/Tennessee section. And in 2008, the team won the University of Central Florida’s Kennel Kickoff, but it hasn’t won a major tournament since.

Over the years, the team has clearly and consistently proven to be a solid club. However, gold status was not created until spring 2009 and at that point, the team was lacking in commitment and in need of a head coach.

Having an experienced coach that is approved through recreational services is one of Emory’s club sports department’s key requisites for gold status. Throughout the 2010-2011 season, Emory ultimate frisbee alum Matthew Wetzel (’10C) served as an unofficial head coach for the club.

Toward the end of last year, the club took one step toward reaching gold status when they decided to appoint Wetzel and his former teammate Joshua Glasser (’10C) as head coaches.

“Both of them are old players. They were seniors when I was a sophomore and so I mean, I like most of this team. I kind of grew up and learned to play from these guys,” senior club President Zayir Malik said. “They kind of work as a duo in that they both have different knowledge of different aspects of the game … we trust them a lot and they know how the program we have here has been running.”

After the team had coaches in place, the officers submitted an application in March for recognition as a gold tier club for the following season.

“I think it kind of legitimizes your club a little more,” Malik said. “You kind of are at an awkward level of commitment … and now that we are more recognized by the school I think a high-level commitment will follow.”

A gold tier club is responsible for raising 35 percent of its allocated budget. The team has not begun its fundraising efforts yet this year, but it does have some funds already as the club, like many other clubs, obtains a portion of its money from players’ dues.

In previous years, the players have attended games at the Georgia Dome and worked the concession stands as part of their fundraising efforts. The players primarily rely on an annual tournament that they host to raise the majority of their fundraising money. For more than 10 years, Emory men’s ultimate has hosted the “Discs Over Georgia” tournament in the fall, which includes a maximum amount of 12 teams and is held at Emory.

In addition to “Discs Over Georgia,” the club also competes in 10 to 12 tournaments each year, exceeding the required eight for a gold tier club.

To prepare for the tournaments the players practice four times a week, with an optional practice on Saturday. With 29 other club sports teams at Emory, it can be extremely difficult for teams to get good practice times and locations. However, one of the benefits of a gold status team is having practice priority.

As of the fall 2010 semester, members of a gold tier team also have the ability to get a Physical Education and Dance (PED) credit for their club sport. To be eligible for P.E. 390: Special Topics: Club Sports, the athlete must have participated with the club for at least two years prior to enrollment.

“I think it’s incredible that the University acknowledges the incredible work the club athletes put in and that now they are eligible to apply for P.E. credit,” Moore said.

One of the expectations of gold tier teams is that they have a recruiting and retention plan to ensure the program’s longevity. Originally, the club had intended to advertise the P.E. credit while recruiting new members, but as the fall semester began they decided not to and may never do so.

“I think at this point it’s a good idea to not really put it out there and have people that want to play ultimate come and play ultimate and be rewarded for being part of the team rather than coming out to get P.E. credit,” senior president Byron Liu said.

Without promoting the P.E. credit, the team has still attracted about 30 newcomers this year who are interested in joining the team though it is still too early to determine the affect of the elevation to gold status.

“The beginning of the year is hard to tell because a lot of freshmen come out to try different clubs to see if they are interested,” Glasser said. “I guess I think I’ve kind of noticed that we have more people that are sticking around, more people that sound from the way they are talking that they intend to stay for the year.”

This weekend the team will play at club sectionals, giving the new players a chance to get a taste of playing ultimate frisbee on a highly competitive level.

“Hopefully that will get some freshmen out and like see how real high level this sport can get,” Malik said. “I didn’t go my freshmen year, but a few of my friends did and they saw how on fire and how fast and good everyone was.”

Between the coaches, the returning players and the freshmen, the ultimate team looks to be a more experienced, committed and cohesive club. Last year, the team lost several of its senior players and went through a rebuilding stage. So far, these new freshmen players have impressed Malik and he is excited to have them be a part of the team.

The coaches who have watched this team grow since 2006 are especially excited to be coaching this season and to see the team they once loved and played for become what it is today.

“I am a big fan of baseball and basketball and soccer teams and all that but there are like no Saturday football games for us to go to,” Wetzel said. “So this was kind of my outlet for my school spirit personally.”

The tournaments that the team travels to allow the club to not only spread Emory spirit, but also to show that it can compete against even the big schools. Wetzel hopes that with gold status the team’s recognition and spirit will continue to grow.

“It’s definitely nice for us to see our school team get something that gives it the chance to become bigger and become more competitive and get more athletes interested,” Glasser said.

— Contact Elizabeth Weinstein.