Hantavirus is a deadly disease, but to a small group of students at UNM, it is also a passion.
That's because it's the name of UNM's Ultimate Frisbee club team.
It is likely you have seen Hantavirus around campus - all you have to do is go by Johnson Field most weekday afternoons to see team members practice.
To them, Frisbee isn't just a nice leisure activity for a beautiful day. It's a fun, cardiovascular sport to play on any occasion.
"Frisbee has been played at UNM for a long time," team captain Keenan Jackson said. "The team Hantavirus itself has only been around for about five years."
As for his team's name, Jackson said it is odd but goes with the theme - something you can only find in the Southwest.
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The sport of ultimate Frisbee is a fairly simple one most can play any time.
"We are always looking for eager people, and we usually let anyone jump into the middle of our scrimmages if they want," Jackson said.
The game works like football and rugby. A player throws the Frisbee to the other team and then it moves down the field, which consists of a 70-yard rectangle with two end zones. The other team throws it to teammates until one reaches the end.
Seven people are on each team, but the catch is once a player has the Frisbee, he or she cannot move. The player has to stop and throw it to someone else.
The team starts up in the fall of each school year by getting everyone who wants to play out there.
"We all come out, and we kind of have tryouts," Jackson said. "Usually if you show a lot of effort and really want to play, we won't cut you."
So far this year, Hantavirus has been competitive. Its first tournament was New Year's Fest in Tempe, Ariz., on Feb. 1 and 2, where the team narrowly missed the semis. The other was the home tournament, the Green Chile Classic, on March 5 and 6, where Hantavirus fell in the semifinals to Air Force.
"So far this year we have been playing really well," Jackson said. "We are a very athletic team and we just need to keep our focus on the field to do well."
UNM encounters fierce competition at tournaments. The team plays everyone in the Southwest, from many California schools to Arizona and defending national champion University of Colorado.
"This is a big time of the year for us, because we have our sectional tournament coming up," Jackson said.
The sectional tournament will be held in Flagstaff, Ariz., on April 24. Hantavirus will take on the top schools from Arizona, such as Arizona State and Arizona.
"It's huge that we do well at sectionals, because then we can make regional and maybe even nationals," Jackson said. "I feel we definitely have the athleticism to make it. We just need to play well."
