Some of Pelham’s most successful men crowd around a bar table, issuing censures and doling out legislative responsibilities, while inquiring as to the personality of the deviled eggs. Odd? No, just the leaders of the Pelham Ultimate Frisbee Association (PUFA) meeting for their rambunctious and traditional semi-annual PUFA Plenary Session.

In essence, it is occasions like this that sum up the spirit of PUFA. Founded in the early 2000s, PUFA has become a free-spirited collective in which enthusiasts of the fast-moving disc game from across town and elsewhere can meet and play. In Ultimate, two teams compete to pass the disc over opposite goal lines.

PUFA started as a group of men trying to stay in shape, waking up early on weekday mornings to do calisthenic exercises at Prospect Hill. In the summertime, the men would alternate work with play, doing strength work while playing Ultimate to maintain cardio.

Peter Collery, one of PUFA’s founders, described the transition to a purely Ultimate-oriented association. “I guess that I got control of the email list, and said, ‘We’re just going to play Ultimate’ and that there weren’t going to be push ups between points,” Collery said. People liked the idea. “Eventually, we started playing Wednesday games and gradually became our own independent thing.”

Since that transfer near the start of the century, PUFA has grown into a diverse, widespread organization. Known for their humorous email chains, among other things, PUFA’s membership is composed chiefly of, as Collery put it, “old men.” The majority of members has been and still is made up of men from Pelham aged 45 and up. With that being said, some women do play in the games, along with kids from Pelham as well as other towns in Westchester.

In fact, some of PUFA’s most accomplished players are kids. Collery said PUFA is an excellent place for teens to develop their Ultimate skills before going to college. “We have kids, some of them are children of people who play, most aren’t,” he said. “Then, they play with us and get good, and then go off and play in college.”

Several players who got their start with PUFA have gone on to compete at very high levels in college.

Typically, PUFA’s games are pretty casual events. Those who are available arrive at the predetermined location, Glover Field and the New York Athletic Club, or the Underdome in the winter. Matches sometimes go on for over an hour. It is noteworthy to mention that in Ultimate, there are no referees. Referred to as the “spirit of the game,” players have to call their own fouls, which adds an element of chivalry to the play.

One testament to the funny traditions of PUFA: the nineteenth person to arrive is shamed for causing an uneven split, forcing the game to be divided with teams having odd numbers of players.

Collery said of this rule, which was drafted in one of PUFA’s famed Plenary Sessions, “If you’re the nineteenth person to show up, provided you are late, the next time, you have to bring donuts for everybody.” This rule is a favorite of Collery’s. “We had donuts today.”

Those interested in joining the fun can reach PUFA at pelhamultimate.net.