A few weekends ago Clearcut, the women’s ultimate frisbee team, had our first tournament. \u00a0I had mixed feelings going into it: at most of the previous practices I had been devoting most of my energy to catching our newer players up to speed, and had been neglecting my own improvement. \u00a0My monologue went something like this:<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s this pie plate, okay?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s a plastic disc that has evolved from a pie plate.\u00a0 And you can throw it by spinning it with your wrist, not your arm, holding it level like you\u2019re spinning it off a table.\u00a0 When you\u2019re not holding it, just keep running up and down the field like mad, stopping only briefly as you plant your foot to turn around and cut in exactly the same direction as you came from.\u00a0 Also, there are picks to think about, and tapping the disc on end zone line, and soft cap and hard cap and universe point and… and… have I shown you how to force forehand yet?<\/i><\/p>\n
Most first year ultimate players join the sport with minimal background knowledge, not really aware of what the rules are, or how to throw properly, or what the basic strategy of the game is. \u00a0I\u2019ve been trying to impart some of my great wisdom to these players, and I’ve realized that there is a heck of a lot for them to learn. It was difficult to imagine how it will all come together under the pressure of facing an opposing team for the first time.\u00a0 Well, our first tournament (Beaver Brawl in Corvallis) was a testament to the power of learning from doing, and over the course of three games and a scrimmage I saw our rookie players improve by leaps and bounds.\u00a0 Running around looking confused evolved into…Catching the disc!\u00a0 Getting D\u2019s!\u00a0 Making assists!\u00a0 Scoring points!\u00a0 By the end of the tournament they were all presences on the field and threats to the other team. \u00a0We managed to field two teams, and our combined score at the end was 3 wins, 3 losses.<\/p>\n
Despite my efforts to be a teacher, I’m no match for the learning curve of competitive play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few weekends ago Clearcut, the women’s ultimate frisbee team, had our first tournament. \u00a0I had mixed feelings going into it: at most of the previous practices I had been devoting most of my energy to catching our newer players … Continue reading