Kansas graduate student Clare Frantz, center, looks downfield for an open teammate during a practice scrimmage with her ultimate frisbee team, Wicked, Wednesday, July 29, 2015, at Prairie Center Park in Olathe. Frantz competed on the 23-and-under United States ultimate frisbee world championship team in July 2015.

After being named to the United States’ U-23 Mixed Ultimate Frisbee national team in November of 2014, Clare Frantz felt that she was at the pinnacle of her career heading into the Kansas Bettys’ 2015 season.

The Bettys, Kansas University’s women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, opened the season by winning the Florida Winter Classic in Orlando with a 5-1 record, but their one loss was particularly painful for Frantz.

With the game against Florida State coming down to the ultimate point, Frantz was open in the end zone with a catch t o win it for the Bettys.

However, the disc was thrown behind Frantz, and as she tried to reach back for the disc, her leg remained planted.

Just six months before Frantz was scheduled to compete for the national team in the world championships in London, she had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

“I felt like I was at my peak when I tore it,” Frantz said. “I tore it at the very beginning of my college season, spring season in January. I knew I had already made the national team, and so I was, like, ‘I have this date in July that I have to be back for.'”

Road to recovery

As Frantz went under the knife for ACL replacement surgery on Feb. 2, the date she had on her mind was July 13: the first day of the world championships.

In what Frantz considered to be “arguably the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she went through an extensive rehab process in order to get cleared exactly five months following her surgery.

“I did physical therapy twice a day every day and then just, like, stretching and everything else to get it ready to go,” Frantz said. “I just had so many people on my side. It made the whole thing a lot easier, which was really nice, because I wouldn’t have been able to do it by myself.”

Going for gold

Once Frantz’ journey back to the playing field was complete, she set out to win gold.

Frantz was able to rely on the experience of playing in the 2014 Women’s Div. I College Championships with the Bettys in Milwaukee to get acclimated to the world championships.

“Definitely being at nationals helped me understand a little bit more about that higher level of play that I hadn’t really gotten the experience with my first year, so that really helped,” Frantz said. “Just playing, like, those really good teams, even some of the girls I played against at nationals were on my U-23 team then, so going from opponents to teammates was really unique. Just kind of fighting for that same goal after competing against each other so fiercely in college was definitely different.”

Frantz and her teammates had no trouble on their way to winning the world championship, breezing through pool play with a record of 8-0 and recording 17-4 victories over Germany and Australia in the semifinal and title match. The Bettys standout had three goals and two assists over the span of the tournament.

“It was pretty incredible,” Frantz said. “I had never competed internationally before, so it was really awesome to see all of the different cultures and people’s different styles of play and different jerseys, and just kind of the whole spirit that was associated with every country.”

All-around athlete

Despite all of the success Frantz has had in Ultimate Frisbee, she has not played the sport competitively for long.

Frantz graduated from KU in 2014 with degrees in Spanish and math, but did not join the Bettys until her junior year. Since Frantz is pursuing a master’s degree in math education at KU, she still plans to use all five years of eligibility to play Ultimate Frisbee with the Bettys.

“They have definitely taught me more than I could have ever asked for,” said Frantz of the Bettys. “The seniors on the team when I first joined, my coach Loren (Schieber), my boyfriend Brett (Hidaka) has coached now, too. I’ve had so many big Ultimate minds that have coached me through the Bettys that I’ve just learned so much more than I have through any other team. I definitely attribute the majority of my talent to the Bettys, because that’s definitely where I grown the most as a player.”

Frantz did play in a few recreational Ultimate Frisbee leagues prior to joining the Bettys, but she credits her athletic career at Free State High for being able to learn the skills of the sport. The FSHS alumna played soccer and volleyball for the Firebirds, as well as basketball in middle school.

Kansas graduate student Clare Frantz, right, pulls down a Frisbee in front of teammate Laura Gehrt as they run through a practice with their Ultimate Frisbee team, Wicked, Wednesday, July 29, 2015, at Prairie Center Park in Olathe. Frantz competed on the 23-and-under United States ultimate frisbee world championship team in July 2015.

“Just being athletic and being coordinated and just things that you pick up from other sports, like conditioning from soccer or hand-eye coordination from basketball or volleyball or something like that,” Frantz said. “So if you’ve had previous sport experience, a lot of people come into Ultimate already knowing a little bit of how to pick it up because it’s just that athleticism that helps them along the way. From there, like for me, I don’t think of myself as too naturally athletic, but I work really hard.”

Frantz’ Frisbee future

While Ultimate Frisbee is a sport on the rise, there are not many options for those who are looking to compete professionally.

The American Ultimate Disc League and Major League Ultimate are the only two professional leagues, but both consist of all-men’s teams.

“Teaching is definitely the most stable option right now, so it’s kind of what I have to pick, but if there were a professional option, I would consider it,” Frantz said.

One of the things Frantz enjoyed the most of her world championship experience was being able to play with men on the mixed team as opposed to competing on the women’s team, which took silver in London.

“Men bring a completely different element to the game. They’re so much faster,” Frantz said. “They can throw it so much farther. Then they’re just naturally more competitive also, so it really brings the quality of the game up even more.”

As Frantz continues to celebrate her gold medal and the national team’s undefeated run in London, she also looks forward to taking what she has learned and sharing it with her Bettys teammates.

Frantz missed the Bettys’ 2015 run back to the national tournament due to her knee injury, so she is focused on leading the team to a third consecutive trip and inspire her teammates and others along the way.

“My recovery just wasn’t about me. The most important part about it was the support that I had,” Frantz said. “That’s what I attribute all of my ability to even be able to do it. Just for anyone else who is injured out there, they can do it, too. If I can do it, they can do it. For any other athletes, I don’t want people to get down about an injury because you can come back from it even stronger.”