The San Diego Growlers are San Diego’s professional Ultimate Disc team in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). They play locally here at Mission Bay High School, and even have some games at Mira Mesa High School and Balboa Stadium. They have 12 game seasons, six at home, and six on the road, where they play once a week mostly on Saturdays, with a few Friday games as well. They have started the season 2-0 so far, defeating the Los Angeles Aviators 20-18, and the San Jose Spiders 25-24.

The Growlers are bringing back the main core of last season’s team, and brought along some new great additions to help. One of those additions is two-time AUDL League MVP Johnathan “Goose” Helton, who came over from the Raleigh Flyers in North Carolina.

“We have a lot of confidence going into the season,” said team co-owner Will Griffin in an over-the-phone interview. “We feel like we are the team to beat.”

Two other acquisitions to this season’s Growlers roster include former Growler and Aviator Jesse Cohen, as well as Ryo Senda, an international talent from Japan. The team played well last season, but lost to the Aviators in the West Division Playoff game, unable to advance to the Championship weekend. They are fully loaded going into this season, ready to avenge last season’s playoff defeat.

“We’re just a much deeper team than we’ve been in the past,” said Griffin. “We can use all 20 guys on game day roster to keep the legs fresher, so by the third and fourth quarter you’re really starting to put the screws on the other team.”

The future of this league is bright, as it is only 9 years old, and is just hitting its stride. Locals here in San Diego may not have ever heard about the AUDL League or the Growlers, as there are other pro leagues within the county that overshadow them like the Padres, Gulls, Soccers, and Seals. “I’m in the education business, in a sense,” said Griffin. “I’m just trying to teach people that we exist and that we’re out there. When people see it, they’re into it, they like it, so it’s just a matter of getting in front of people.”

There is also the potential for Ultimate Disc to be included in future Olympics. If included, that could bring a lot of attention to the AUDL League, as well as the sport in general world-wide. “If Ultimate gets into one of those Olympics, I think we’re uniquely positioned to really benefit from that sort of exposure, said Griffin. “I think the type of people who play Ultimate, or would like Ultimate, is what the market is becoming.”

Representing San Diego in this fashion is something Griffin and the Growlers take pride in. “San Diego kind of has a reputation of a ‘ho-hum’ sports town,” said Griffin. “But I think there’s a lot of passion out here, you can see it at the other events [Fleet, Gulls, Soccers].”

Even the making behind the Growlers jerseys included the idea of representing the city of San Diego. The home jerseys say “San Diego Growlers,” while the road jerseys say “San Diego” in big bold lettering without including ‘Growlers” in it because the team wants to represent the city and their fans on the road.

The Growlers next game is up in San Jose against the San Jose Spiders on Saturday, April 20, but their next home game is against the Seattle Cascades on Friday, April 26 at Mira Mesa High School at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 online, and $15 at the door.

For more information on the Growlers upcoming schedule, statistics, roster, highlights, and more, check out theaudl.com/growlers.