The low-contact sport was invented in the 1960s and is played on a soccer pitch, with the aim to defend against a goal from the opposition team.

Teams must advance against the defending team using good throws, the wind and strategy to land the frisbee in their goal zone.

Players can’t run with the frisbee but can pivot, like in netball, when they have possession. They often run a few kilometres during a game.

La Trobe University club president Tamara Allen, 23, has a story or two about her favourite sport. The La Trobe club won gold in Perth in a tournament against other Australian university teams. And in mixed teams of seven, Allen and her club battled through a five-day tournament to win bronze in 2011 at the Southern Uni Games in July. On the green fields of Geelong’s Waurn Ponds Deakin uni campus, in driving rain, La Trobe blitzed the field to make the finals, beating RMIT’s city campus team to snatch bronze.

The sport can be unexpectedly serious. A quick turn can mean torn muscles.

‘‘When you’re changing direction, sometimes something kind of snaps and it’s not fun,’’ she says.

Last May during training Allen caught a fast frisbee that ended with surgery.

‘‘I knew it would hurt, but I caught it anyway,’’ she says.

Her right hand was in a cast for two weeks and a splint for a further two, but she kept playing with her left hand. ‘‘Everyone was telling me to stop but I couldn’t, I missed it so much,’’ she says.

Her club had about 80 people inquire about signing up during 2011 orientation week, and has more than 30 active members.

The game is self-refereed so teams must agree on fouls. It could lead to arguments, but with recognition at the end for the fairest players, the self-serving urge to win at all costs is controlled.

But Allen remains competitive. In Perth her team was playing for gold, and the pressure was on. She remembers thinking: ‘‘We’ve come to this point and I don’t want to lose.’’ But in order to remain fair to the other team and she let some fouls slide. ‘‘You have to be in good spirit,’’ she says.