Milestones

I've been trying to fudge the math to convince myself that I've been playing frisbee for ten years for quite some time now, but it will actually be true this spring, I'm almost sure of it. I started throwing in the summer of 2003, so its been ten years of that, and while I played ultimate a few times in the fall, it was spring of 04 that I began playing every day at lunch.

Ten years. For those keeping score at home, that places ultimate pretty high on the timescale of things I've chosen to do: Drawing (22 years) > Reading (15 years?) > Ultimate (nearly 10) > Magic: the Gathering (played for 9 years regularly) > kissing girls (8 years and counting, one hopes) > Drinking (5 years and counting, let's be honest) > Writing "Megiddo" (4 years and noone has read a word yet) > Considering Myself an Adult (about a year, ha ha) > Playing Club Open (1 season and counting!)

Went to pickup in Brooklyn for the first time on Monday. Got there a half hour early, and caught the last few points of a high school match. Some school that begins with an R vs Bard High School. As it happened, an old friend and opponent from Bard College was there, and we discussed who on the team he should approach about playing with Bard in college. It was something, seeing an actual high school match. I worked really hard to get ultimate going in my high school but with no experience and little guidance we never got to the level where we were playing organized matches (other than one scrimmage with the burgeoning John Jay Air Raid, probably described in this blog somewhere). That would have been really cool. We didn't really know any strategy. It was a great environment to develop as a dynamic thrower, but it didn't do much for the basics.

Anyway, it was cool seeing these young dudes get the opportunity to play serious high school ultimate. It was not the most competitive game, but both teams played with heart and fairly good fundamentals. Bard High School won by a good margin but both teams were striking deep and had defined offensive systems. It seemed like whichever team remembered to center the disc scored any given point, or else it was a huck to a streaking dude. It was fun to watch.

Afterwards, got a workout in with Bucky (ouch! only once circuit and I'm still feeling it. He did twice as much and still ran harder than me after, that's a hint about how hard one would have to work to have a shot at playing pro in NY) and played some good solid pickup. The Mcarren group, as several people had told me, is a lot of fun. With Mcarren and winter league I can hopefully play straight through until spring, at least once a week. That would be a huge boost over last off season. Basically I'm just excited for ultimate in the way I used to get in high school, where I'd feel giddy just walking to the field.

10 years of throwing, this off season is where I will prove to myself that its all been worth it.
That's kind of melodramatic.
Okay.