Rowan McDonnell remembers being enchanted by the game of Ultimate Frisbee after first watching a competition in Waterford at a softball field near the police station.

Now, he’s considered one of the best Ultimate Frisbee players in America, and has made it his career.

McDonnell, who grew up using his first name Matthew while attending East Lyme High School, said he always loved sports: tennis, basketball, baseball, soccer, cross country running, you name it.

But it wasn’t until he was in his early 20s, while attending Eastern Connecticut State University, that he fell in love with Ultimate Frisbee, a sport that blends speed, coordination and accuracy on a football-size field. And it wasn’t until he started playing Ultimate at a high level that he changed his name to Rowan, his mother’s maiden name, because he had a friend on a team he played for who was also named Matt and he thought Rowan sounded cool.

McDonnell, 35, won a gold medal for Team USA during the 2003 World Ultimate Beach Championships in Australia, and also won a national club championship the same year. In 2022, he was named club Player of the Year, and he was twice an all-star in the now-defunct Adult Ultimate Disc League, one time earning the Most Valuable Player Award (the organization has since been rebranded at the Ultimate Frisbee Association).

“It’s a real new sport,” McDonnell told me in a phone interview Friday from his home in Washington, D.C., where he plays for a semi-professional team known as the DC Breeze. “Players are not making a real salary.”

But McDonnell, who previously worked odd jobs in food delivery and even dog walking, has made it work for almost a decade, piecing together a career by getting into coaching, a little bit in person but mostly online through YouTube videos (in one, he describes 80 different ways to throw a Frisbee). He also traveled to China to help introduce the game there, teaching 22 clinics in 30 days, and has been to Egypt, Sweden and Panama as well.

A good chunk of the money he makes comes from his YouTube channel, which has more than 22,000 subscribers. But he also offers education memberships at his website, https://excelultimate.com/, where he helps high school and college players and coaches stay on the top of their game with online classes.

“I offer a whole season’s worth of coaching materials,” he said.

Someday, he said he may add jerseys and other Ultimate-related items to the coaching materials available on his website. He said he hopes to continue making Ultimate his career long after his playing days are over.

McDonnell estimates there are 400 to 500 colleges around the country that have formed Ultimate Frisbee teams, though it remains a club sport. Connecticut College boasts an Ultimate Frisbee team, he said, but it tends to be popular in larger urban-based colleges.

There are youth leagues for kids as young as 5, and adult competitions that include masters (40-plus) and grandmasters (50-plus), but it is still largely seen as a young person’s game since it requires speed and extreme agility.

“The game has sped up a lot,” he said. “It’s become a lot more competitive.”

McDonnell said when he first came up in the league he was known as a jumper and a playmaker, but now he’s seen as one of bigger throwers in the game. His personal Frisbee-throwing records (with no wind) are about 90 yards backhand and 80 yards forehand, he added.

The great thing about Ultimate, he said, is the continuous action. Players are constantly running and cutting, so it helps to have the build of a soccer player or runner. And it’s a non-contact sport, so injuries are minimal, mostly involving hamstring pulls and leg strains.

“A lot of people are happy about that,” he said.

Ultimate has been around since 1968, and it is gaining steady but slow growth that is somewhat limited by the large field required and the need for seven players on each side (only higher-level competition uses referees, as players are expected to call their own fouls).

McDonnell said one of the things holding back the sport is that very little equipment is required, so there is no incentive for manufacturers to sponsor teams. He said cleats and cones (to delineate the field) are pretty much all that is necessary, so absent Ultimate ending up in the Olympics it likely will continue on as a fringe sport.

Still, as McDonnell’s father Dan told me in an email, “Through his playing and media presence, he is one of the few people who makes a living completely off the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. ... He has become possibly the best-known Ultimate Frisbee player in the world (other than Marques Brownlee, who has 19.5 million YouTube subscribers following his tech-device reviews).“

Not bad for a guy who still remembers palling around with his high school buddies playing football and Wiffle Ball on various fields in Niantic.

“Those days helped set the stage for where I am now,” he told me.

Lee Howard is The Day’s business editor. To reach him, email l.howard@theday.com.