feature story / 37 Sparkle Motion A glamorous name for a serious team BY ADRIANNA DONAT M ost of our residents know that Ultimate Frisbee was invented in Maplewood in 1968. The quintessential game has fostered Columbia High School’s highly accomplished ultimate teams, contenders in both junior varsity and varsity events at most state cham- pionships, holding their own against impressive competition. But Maia Cincotta, whose large family has deep experience with the sport, and Vanessa Low were both playing on the CHS ultimate varsity team (it’s generally a co-ed sport, though the CHS JV team had been all boys), when they decided they wanted a different experience and fielded a junior varsity team just for girls. They named it Sparkle Motion – and it’s already taking its rightful spot in the limelight next to the other CHS ultimate teams. The name may have been derived from the 2001 movie Donnie Darko, but the ultimate team has made the name its own. Even the Urban Dictionary recognizes the team, listing Sparkle Motion as the “name of girl’s [sic] ultimate frisbee team in Maple- wood, NJ.” Despite the lack of a dedicated playing field or any funding from the school district, Sparkle Mo- tion gathered more players and succeeded. “The first year in existence, Sparkle Motion took third place at the UPA (forerunner of today’s USA Ultimate or- ganization) High School National Championships,” says Gabrielle Cincotta, sister of Maia, and until re- cently the coach of the boys’ JV ultimate team. Since then, the team has flourished, and is a fre- quent contender in the USA Ultimate Northeast- ern conference. USA Ultimate states on its website, “Sparkle Motion continues to be a competitive pres- ence in the region and has regularly attended North- easterns. 2016 marks just the second year they have had an official coach [Rebecca Cooney], so we could be seeing the beginning of an upward trend for Co- lumbia’s tournament results.” Some girls in our community are drawn to the team due to its excellent record on the field, but it’s the experience of being on the Sparkle Motion team that is the bigger draw. “I’ve played soccer, was on a club swim team,