Ultimate!
At the suggestion of a few of my friends, I joined the IAUA Ultimate Frisbee Summer League. It has been an interesting experience, quite different from what I expected. I’ve played pickup games within the CS department for the last few years. These games tend to be rather low-stress and lack much in the way of organization.
I figured summer league would be relatively similar, with the only addition being a need to keep accurate score. I thought that my skills would be comparable to the rest of the people playing. Oh, was I ever wrong. Most of the people on my team have at least five years of competitive experience. They use words like “poach” and “no strike,” which to me would mean hunting illegally and deciding that the work contract is actually fair enough. They organize everyone in a stack on the field (although technically, it is a queue). They can throw the frisbee in at least three different ways.
I spent the first practice feeling rather clumsy and inadequate, as I just barely understood what was going on and my throws were not exactly world-class. I do remember a time when I was the 5th-best frisbee thrower back in elementary school, but those days are long gone. Others were offering suggestions on everything from how I was standing to how I was gripping the frisbee. I’m not used to feeling that incompetent or out of my element. I left the first practice not sure it was going to be as fun as I thought and thinking that if I didn’t enjoy it, I could always not go.
Our first game happened the next day. Although I still had moments of feeling incompetent, I enjoyed playing and cheering on my team immensely. I even managed to catch the frisbee in the end zone for a score. It was at that game I realized I shouldn’t get to feeling too discouraged and should instead look at this as an opportunity. These people obviously know more about frisbee than I do. I should take the advice of my teammates to heart and really try to listen to what they have to say so I can benefit from their experience. I have the chance to challenge myself to do something I haven’t done before.
August 3rd, 2005 at 10:51 pm
They use words like “poach†and “no strike,†which to me would mean hunting illegally and deciding that the work contract is actually fair enough.
Hahahaha.
I’m glad you stuck with it. I’ll always believe ultimate is a qreat sport, somehow qualitatively different from others I have seen because of concepts like “spirit of the game” and “self-officiating.” I also love the sense of community it brings about. But yeah, I’m a big hippie.
August 4th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
It is true that ultimate seems to have a nice communal spirit and celebrates playing within the spirit of the game. I’ve seen a few instances of fouls being called in the end zone with no contesting, which resulted in a goal. The only other sport I’ve seen this in is golf, although that is fading to some extent. There have been instances of people in major tournaments counting penalty strokes for something they never would have been caught doing, ultimately causing them to lose the tournament. It shows a lot of respect for the game and the other players.