Sunday, January 6

First Disc of 2008

New Brunswick... a couple of hours.

Wow did it feel awe(some/ful) to be back out there. I started off with a bang by throwing a turnover on my first in-competition throw of any kind in 2008. That kind a sucked. But then I got some fun poach blocks, threw some goals, caught a goal or two, and threw a decent number of terrible turnovers as I slowly remembered what it was like to play.

And my body was exhausted. I'm just starting to get a little sore now, but... this was the wakeup call that let me know it is time to get in actual shape, not just "better than the fat dude at work" shape.

Got to play against generations of NJ ultimate... from Bailey Saul on down through whichever of the young guys I've yet to meet who was the youngest there and covering many many points in between like wtk9, who is still killin' kids with the bomb
. Even the Meat Truck was in attendance! Managed to see some of the college kids from the area, and there is definitely still talent in NJ. I mean, aside from the guys we all know and love from the Jerz. Hope those young guys come out to some tryouts and see what Pike is all about. If not for the fact that they could compete for spots, but could bring the area players to a more shared experience, make all players involved better through increased exposer to competition (even within the same state!) . And even the most conservative of thoughts about the end result for Pike, it would be in their best interests too if only for the experience gained-- tryouts are a part of ultimate and the more experience you have with the process, the better equipped you are to excel at them and in the future run better tryouts on when it is your turn.

The only way to go from young to experienced is to get experience.

I was scared at my first tryout, but that has a lot to do with only knowing bad ultimate. Oh yeah, and Dono getting a fucking layout catchblock on my after my first cut. (Dono: I know you're reading. I just want to remind you that it hasn't happened since, sucker.) He then proceeded to land in a deep puddle of cold cold muddy water covered by ice, give me a little look like "Yup, that's what up,"
(even though that's not his style, it happened. Coulda been an accident though.) jump up, complete a short pass and take off at warp speed down the field.

And then I knew I had a long long road ahead of me. The other moments when I learned that same lesson with Pike were the Semis year when I finally saw what elite ultimate was and how much work it took. I finally believed that shit Hollander had been putting in my ear. It was go-time. Seeing my teammate (and regular college opponent) Ryan "If you call me in a pull play, they'll come down zone or pull OB" Todd succeed at that level I knew that I could do it to, but I finally accepted that I wasn't yet at that level.

And none of it would have happened without Dono making me feel like I couldn't play ultimate. Thanks, fuckface.

2 comments:

Ryan Todd said...

Seeing my teammate (and regular college opponent) Ryan "If you call me in a pull play, they'll come down zone or pull OB" Todd succeed at that level I knew that I could do it to

Seriously...if that no-talent-ass-clown can play at nationals, who can't?

Actually when you wrote before about being captain of Pike, I was thinking back to our days as pine-riding rookies in 2003. I remember that tryout and block by Dono, but didn't remember that it was on you. I'm pretty sure J's never gotten me (and almost positive if he did he wouldn't remember).

dusty.rhodes said...

Not like that, but yeah... just like that.

It's more that in college, we weren't *that* far apart in skill and the like, but you realized what it took to not suck before I did. And you were probably the first person I saw actually improve in significant ways in those days. For some reason, I had developed a static sense of where I fit into the ultimate world.

Then I was simultaneously so pissed at you and happy for you that I had to get some for my own damn self.

Honestly, I was shocked to make pike in 03. I figured I wouldn't play ultimate again after I graduated college... And here I am, writing about it and captaining a damn team!

(As you can see, I've been thinking back to those days a lot of late too.)