Pueblo man and professional ultimate frisbee team owner works to raise profile of the sport

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - The Colorado Summit professional ultimate frisbee team recently signed former NFL wide receiver Rodney Adams as team owner Sal Pace works to broaden the sport both in Pueblo and across the country.

"The athletes who play ultimate frisbee now are a lot better than when I was 18 years old," Pace said.

Pace is a majority owner of the Colorado Summit men's team and a minority owner of the Colorado Alpenglow Women's team. He also coaches a high school ultimate frisbee team, pulling players from multiple surrounding Pueblo schools.

"The high school team is practicing here later this afternoon is the first ultimate frisbee team in Pueblo's history," Pace said. "We played last season in high school ultimate, and we made it to the state championship with mostly Freshman."

Pace said he also took the Colorado Summit to the Youthful Offender System in Pueblo to teach the children how to play the game before they are released. He said he was inspired by Ultimate Peace, an organization who brings together Arab, Palestinian and Israeli children to learn and play ultimate frisbee with each other. Similar to tennis, players at the amateur levels play without referees, leaving the calls to the players.

"We talk especially about the spirit of the game and the issues of conflict resolution that you can work on with ultimate Frisbee," Pace said.

The Colorado Summit play at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. His high school team practices at the Langoni Sports Complex in Pueblo. The Summit open their season April 26.