This year, a brand new sport has made its way into the intramural ranks at UCLA.
In an effort to provide IM athletics with a taste of international sport, UCLA Recreation is introducing Leet, a team sport that originated overseas in the Republic of Finland.
“This is a sport we want to introduce here at UCLA as something new for our students to try,” competitive sports coordinator Adam Pruett said. “It provides the students an opportunity to actually play something that wouldn’t be played at a high school level anywhere. This is a new sport across the nation, across the world. It is brand new for everybody, so truly anybody can be good at it.”
The game of Leet is played with a concave stick and a ball, quite similar to those found in the sport of lacrosse. For recreational fun, the sport can be played just about anywhere: the beach, the park, on hard courts ““ you name it.
This form of Leet is often referred to as Street Leet. However, at the professional level, Leet is played in a one-of-a-kind, transparent Leet arena with two circular goals elevated 5.15 meters above the floor.
In terms of how the game is played, Leet is intended to be an exhilarating, fast-paced sport. It involves two teams of four on each side of the court. The objective of the game is to get past the opposing defense and score goals. At the end of the contest, the team with more goals is deemed the winner.
“The sport brings a lot of different elements together from different types of games out there, like lacrosse, hockey, Ultimate Frisbee and even a little bit of (the Harry Potter game) Quidditch,” Pruett said. “It appeals to different audiences and includes different elements people may not have been used to.”
How this sport came to existence actually involves a story marked with both innovation and a stroke of luck.
Leet was created a few years ago by four Finnish entrepreneurs who were intending to mobilize millions of people to a new sport via a reality television show. Their initial vision was to conceive a sport that would command first-rate athleticism, speed, wit and drive.
While brainstorming one night, the four men chanced upon an old diploma tube lying on a desk. Throwing a golf ball against the wall with the uncapped tube, the Finnish inventors realized that they had just found the form in which their new sport would take.
And so, under these chance circumstances, Leet was born.
Within months of developing their innovation, the group’s project took off in a big way. After meeting with experienced professionals and enthusiastic volunteers, the idea of Leet quickly spread. Not long thereafter, the Finnish foursome would see its dreams become a reality. They began receiving advice from top Hollywood executives and examining prototype sticks from factories in China. The world’s first Leet team, Team Leet, was also established, along with an accompanying official rule book.
Adding a bit of diversity into the intramural sports mix this year, UCLA Recreation will be offering Leet to students this upcoming season. Registration, open since Sept. 26, will closed by November.
“Our goal with Leet is to first roll it out in a kind of educational or introductory manner,” Pruett said. “We want to try to go out full blast by the winter or spring season, but definitely by next year.”
Through the introduction of this original sport, the student body will be given the unique opportunity to participate in a culturally new environment through athletics and fitness.
By incorporating innovative programs like Leet into their arsenal, UCLA Recreation is helping to pave the path for the future generation of sports.