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During the week, they arrive at gleaming, hi-rise buildings in power business suits, or teach high school, a few of them even own their own businesses. Yet no matter what they are doing, all of them usually have only one thing on their mind. So when the weekend comes, it doesn’t matter if it’s humid, blazing hot or pouring rain, they gather together in a park on the outskirts of Tokyo to train. They are the members of MUD, the top women’s Ultimate Frisbee team in the world.

We get to cuss, spit, roll in the mud, be physical and aggressive, you play like you did in the playground—and you get to drink whiskey on the playground afterwards!

It’s been just over fifty years since a baker named William Russel Frisbie had his pie plates tossed around the campus of Yale, later leading to a group of high school students in Maplewood, New Jersey founding the game of Ultimate Frisbee. So how did a club sport hugely popular on American university campuses for decades find its way into the hands and hearts of Japanese women, who not only live for the game, but have been dominating it for the past several years?

We’re really, really competitive—that’s not to say were mean, but we’re here to play…I think we are the strongest women on this planet—also the most headstrong, most fabulous women, I think I can’t live without putting my hands on the disc every day

To win any Ultimate Frisbee Tournament the standard of fitness and stamina required is insanely high. The game requires an amalgamation of honed skills from basketball, soccer, volleyball, even dance. Teams may play up to eight games over the course of a 2-day tournament, with each of these games lasting in excess of 75 minutes. International competitions bring together the best Ultimate players and teams from all over the globe, resulting in extremely intense, nail-biting face offs, as each team raises the level of their game to new heights in an attempt to gain the title of World Champions.