Ultimate Confusion

by: Ian Melewski

Greg Perez had his white worn down Frisbee with his name scratched on the back in black permanent marker. He got in position knowing what to do. I wish I could say the same. Two players on defense got in the proper spot for the drill we were about to run. I stood there, hopeful that I’d do it correctly, but once one of the team captains gave the command to start the drill, nothing but confusion slapped me across the face.

This was called the “Cup” drill, a defensive drill that the team has been working on recently.   Greg stood in the middle of the three us, looking for an opening to make a pass while the rest of us tried to deflect his pass or at the very least cause an inaccurate throw. I did my best to get in his way, but all I did was flail my arms and make side steps in the direction I thought he was going to pass. After looking towards the sidelines, I chose to believe that the other players were smirking about something other than my failed attempt. Greg was able to make a crisp pass to his teammate; he only had to move a step to make the catch. Figures.

After the drill was over, one of the captains came up to me and said for my first time doing that, I wasn’t too bad. I wondered if he got me confused with someone else. Tired and somewhat agitated after over an hour of drills, the team got ready to do a scrimmage. My team would be the side receiving the disk. Greg, who was on the opposing team, wound back and tossed the Frisbee our way.

The disk drifted in my direction. Just my luck. However, another player got in front of me to make the catch. Although I wasn’t afraid of showing off my probably below average tossing skills, I was happy someone else got it for me. After the short scrimmage consisting of me getting left behind by the person I was supposed to be defending, in addition to catching a couple passes thrown my way, my time as Frisbee player came to an end. In this hour and half of time in the bubble, I learned some new plays and strategies in ultimate Frisbee. I have a new appreciation for these players who understand what is going on at all times because I sure didn’t. I’ll stick to talking and writing about sports for the most part instead.