Ultimate in the family

Some kids grow up around the hockey rink or the soccer pitch. For Winnipeg’s Quinn Snider, it was the ultimate frisbee field.

Growing up watching their parents compete, Snider, now 27, his brother Luke, 29, and sister Anya, 30, all wound up playing ultimate frisbee. All three have represented Canada on the world stage.

Snider began playing ultimate in Grade 7 at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate, joining the program founded by his mom, Vaughn Rempel Snider.

“I was really just doing it because my mom was coaching and my brother and sister were doing it,” he said.

Today, Snider competes professionally with the Minnesota Wind Chill of the Ultimate Frisbee Association. He’s been selected 12 times to represent Canada, most recently competing at the World Games in Chengdu, China, in August.

Like his siblings, Snider played several sports growing up including hockey, baseball, flag football, volleyball and basketball — something his parents encouraged.

“I don’t really love the whole single sport model,” said Rempel Snider “I like multi-sport athletes and what they get out of playing other sports.”

Rempel Snider excelled as a runner and in court sports, winning a U Sports national championship with the Winnipeg Wesmen women’s volleyball team in the 1980s. In 1997, looking for a new challenge, she found ultimate frisbee.

“I fell in love with the sport. And then my husband got on board and started playing,” she said. “So our kids kind of grew up on the sideline.”

When her kids came to Westgate for middle school, Rempel Snider seized the opportunity to share the game she loved with her family.

“I saw the need and I wanted them to be able to play,” she said. “So, I said, ‘I’ll volunteer to coach if you guys start the team.’”

Rempel Snider coached her kids all the way through high school. She still coaches the ultimate and volleyball programs at Westgate.

Snider said he owes much of his ultimate frisbee success to his mom.

“(My mom’s) a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the sport,” said Snider. “She’s been a huge influence and a big impact for me and my siblings as well.”

The youngest in the family, Snider says sibling rivalry was heated growing up.

“I can’t remember a day when I wasn’t trying to compete against my brother,” he laughed. “You’re always trying to one-up each other. Trying to impress your dad, throwing the ball out in the front yard trying to make plays.”

Snider says competing with two athletic siblings constantly challenged him to raise the bar.

“That’s what made me even more competitive,” he said. “Whether it was a board game or something that wasn’t super physical, I needed to win. I wanted to beat my brother and my sister.”

Rivalry soon became camaraderie, as Snider and his siblings competed together in ultimate frisbee, teaming up on some of the same provincial and national teams.

Ultimate frisbee is mainly a co-ed sport. It’s also self-officiated, meaning competitors call their own fouls. At the highest levels, with championships on the line, athletes share a responsibility to act with respect and integrity — known in the ultimate scene as the spirit of the game.

Longtime Team Canada coach Patrick Mooney says Snider embodies the sport’s core values.

“It takes a unique individual to be as fiery and competitive as Quinn Snider,” Mooney said. “And to be able to play with the integrity and spirit of the game that he does… I think his teammates would say that Quinn carries himself in a way that the sport idealizes.”

This year, Snider represented Canada at the World Games, a multi-sport event recognized by the International Olympic Committee which occur every four years. Only seven men and seven women are selected to Canada’s ultimate team.

Snider plays the position of cutter — much like a receiver in football. He led his team in goals at the World Games with 13.

“He’s a very explosive athlete. Always in the right place at the right time,” Mooney said. “When he needs to make a play, he can rise to the occasion and he did that at the World Games.”

Mooney has been playing and coaching ultimate for more than 20 years. He said Snider’s impact off the field was just as important as his on-field performance.

“It can be really hard when you’re playing a mixed sport, to blend different genders and personalities,” Mooney said. “I think Quinn was a huge part of why it all worked for us.”

Canada won silver at the World Games after a heartbreaking one-goal loss to the United States in the gold medal game. They also finished second in Spirit of the Game, as voted on by their opponents.

Mooney said Snider’s integrity not only helped in the locker room, but in maintaining the spirit of the game at the highest level.

“I don’t think we accomplish what we accomplish without having Quinn as one of our seven male players,” he said.

Snider says he’s grateful for team sports such as ultimate, which taught him valuable lessons that he applies in his everyday life.

“There’s just something to be said for team sports and the real-world implications and similarities it brings to you at a later age,” he said. “It’s not only just from an athletic standpoint, but a social one, too.”

Snider plans to continue playing professionally with Minnesota and compete internationally if given the chance, hopeful to join Team Canada again at the 2029 World Games in Germany.

He now lives in Vancouver, close to his sister Anya, whose newborn child brought the family together again this week.

“We’re a very close family, we always will be,” Snider said. “It’s been a really special experience being able to now play ultimate at the highest level possible while having your parents cheer you on in the stands wherever you go… knowing that they started it and they made it happen.”

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