I remember when I was leaving the NPAC after taking a club photo for the yearbook. I suddenly crossed paths with a few of my friends in blue and orange jerseys. I immediately knew that they were about to take a photo for ultimate frisbee, and I was reminded of all the times JQ had asked me to join. Let me tell you, that guy was and still is dedicated. Like he tried getting people to join the team so much that I wouldn’t be surprised if he became a military recruiter in the future. I can imagine him in a service uniform, traveling to highschools around the nation, and alluring students to sign off their souls. Regardless, he deserves a lot of credit for that level of outreach for our relatively irrelevant club. The fact that I didn’t just say no is a testament to the devil in him that tested Jesus in the wilderness. Although he ended up succeeding in recruiting me, it wasn’t without any consideration.
Military recruiter
First of all, why join ultimate frisbee? As an extracurricular, it isn’t big enough to officially be called a sport. However, I think that’s part of its appeal. It’s not nearly as competitive as other sports, allowing non athletes to go outside and touch grass. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still as competitive as you choose it to be. You don’t have to be really good at the sport, but that just means you won’t be able to play as much (and disappoint your teammates). If you’re good with that, then that level of commitment works out for you. But if you want to play more, then it serves as motivation to get better (and be respected). It’s a system that both encourages people to join and get better.
Ultimate frisbee
Personally, I barely went outside and touched grass unfortunately, so I was interested in something to motivate me to do so. Especially considering I’m not athletic, frisbee would be the perfect opportunity to get started. Therefore, when the ultimate frisbee team was about to take their photo and Maaz asked me to join them, I made a final decision on the spot. Anyway, I was told that by being in the photo, I had essentially signed off my soul to joining the team, and I was all for it at the moment. So if you have last year’s yearbook laying around, don’t check.
Signing off your soul
Fast forward to this year. At the first practice of the year, there were more people than I expected. This is relevant because the team is now mostly made up of seniors, but next year isn’t my problem. There were even two girls as we didn’t have any girls in our team last year, and I’m sure not many in general for the sport. However, only one of them ended up staying, who also happened to be the captain’s gf, so if you were looking to pull (a frisbee), maybe instead be the JQ for girl’s frisbee to get their numbers up. Although, be careful of wild questions. I’ve also heard that we had a couple surprise guests (JMickey & Leo), but we didn’t want them anyway.
Girl’s frisbee
If you were wondering what frisbee practices are like, I’m glad you wondered. If you didn’t, now you do. Practice starts at 3:30, but if you’re walking there from school, you leave around 3:15. This is because despite the club having been around for many years now, the school still can’t afford to give us a small piece of field on school property. Therefore, we have to go to the nearby Kendall Park, but hey, it helps get you moving. At practice, it starts off with warming up by passing a frisbee with a partner. If you’ve never thrown a frisbee forehand, it’s pretty satisfying, so you should like, give it a shot, if you know what I mean. Next we might do some conditioning or go straight to some drills, which consist of the other major components of ultimate frisbee, cutting (getting open) and guarding. Finally there’s a scrimmage, because there’s no better way to practice than to simulate an actual game.
Throwing a frisbee forehand
For our games, we take a huskie bus at 3:30 to the field where the game will be hosted. Although our first two trips on the bus were full of silence and joke songs, we’re getting there on the team spirit. In the games I’d say we’re doing alright for ourselves, but along with our team spirit, we’re definitely improving. The free Taco Bell paid by the coaches when we beat NCHS is ours.
Taco Bell China
Hi Alan!
This post was really interesting to read, mainly because I had no idea our school actually had a functioning Ultimate Frisbee team. It’s not advertised as much or as often as some of the other sports, which isn’t fair to you all, and the fact that you still don’t have a field to practice on must be infuriating.
I also didn’t know Central had an Ultimate Frisbee team — why are these things not more widely promoted?! Since Frisbee is such an accessible sport to non-competitive athletes or non-athletes, I assumed it would be more popular and better funded than it seems to be. I do think Frisbee will become more popular over time, and I’ve already seen the takeover that college Ultimate Frisbee’s had on my friends.
Personally, I no longer have an interest in Frisbee after middle school gym. I had to play Frisbee with a broken finger, which wasn’t fun since you have to use your fingers to catch the disc, and it probably caused me a bit more damage than intended. Plus, I’m not very coordinated in an athletic way, and you know how middle school boys are — they take gym class too seriously and scream at everyone who misses a catch.
Awesome final post! I’m going to miss reading everyone’s blogs.
Alan, prior to reading your post, I had a sense of curiosity about ultimate frisbee, particularly after your suggestion of your blog post to me. Personally, I’m not much of an athlete, outside of swimming and hitting a volleyball decently on occasion. I liked how you organized the post as a story, beginning with how you got into the sport at NNHS first, and each chapter focusing on different aspects of ultimate frisbee. I think the short titles for each paragraph helps add a sense of levity and some interesting analogies that I didn’t think of initially until after repeated readthroughs. I can understand the appeal of ultimate frisbee, such as its small size and causal vibe. I do appreciate that type of vibe, where there’s fun to be had without being too serious. It’s a comforting vibe like that that got me into clubs such as DECA, something we both have in common and just like how you described ultimate frisbee in your post: surrounded by friends who are all passionate for a niche at Naperville North. Hopefully, ultimate frisbee gets some respect at NNHS without losing what makes it appealing in the first place. Alan, I hope you take that interest in ultimate frisbee and win that free Taco Bell. I am rooting for you and your fellow teammates.
Fun post, Alan!