Pull!

For those of you who have played Ultimate Frisbee to some extent, you know exactly what the title means. For those who don't get it...wel...you really need to play more frisbee.

I'm not kidding. Go buy an Ultimate Frisbee (175g) at Target for 10.99 right now. Resist the "Target Temptation" and only buy the frisbee and immediately call me. You need to know this game.

I was shocked to figure out yesterday that I have been playing for 10 years. It doesn't seem like it should be that long ago that I was playing with the boys at Apple Valley High School in the new intramural league as team Revolution. It was a total blast. Frisbee wasn't nearly as well known as it is today and we all learned as we went.

I played for the rest of high school and played all 5 years of college at Mankato. At the end of high school I started getting involved with the youth at my church. I started tossing the frisbee around with those kids. I brought a frisbee everywhere we went. Kids started catching on. Now, everyone plays frisbee at church. Those kids at church spread it to their friends. Eagan High School now has leagues of their own, and unorganized frisbee is played at a local park.

It is at that park where I play, usually with high schoolers and college students during the summers. I got a call to play yesterday and was so excited that I left work, barely making up an excuse to leave...almost an hour and a half early. It was a joyous thing, frisbee in March.

Since I started playing, everything skill-wise has changed for me. I used to be fast and athletic. Neither of those are really true anymore, however I do turn on a burst of speed now and then. My problem when I started was throwing. I couldn't throw. I sucked at it. I remember that my first year I had a very short, easy throw to make to a wide open teammate that would have won us the game...and I threw it right into the ground. Now throwing is my greatest asset, especially my aim and ability to "thread the needle". Funny how things. I had to 'evolve' as the years went on.

Sadly, I think about the future and wonder how Ultimate Frisbee fits in. I never see adults playing...likely because you need a lot of people to play effectively. There aren't adult leagues that I have ever seen. I'm guessing that someday I won't be able to play with the kids I currently do, as they will become adults too. Maybe our generation will bring Ultimate to adults. I always seem to be the oldest player playing...everywhere I go.

I want to keep playing. I think we need an adult Ultimate league? I think it would be awesome. I think people older then me would grow to embrace it, just by knowing a little what it is about. My Dad has grown to like it. Teach other adults how to play! Make it happen!

Alright, enough frisbee talk for today. Ooh, that reminded me...the weather is getting nicer, which also means disc golf season is upon us...

Until next time...

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