If I'm not mistaken, this is my 150th post on this blog! While that's not that impressive considering how long I've had it, it still feels like a bit of a milestone. Speaking of milestones, it is also my sister's birthday! Happy birthday Sarah! And with that, off to the races (or some other cliche, if you'd rather):
Today I did something foolish. I tried out for the Minnesota Wind Chill. I figured "It's only a couple miles away, and at the very least, I'll get to play some high level ultimate." Nope. Well, it wasn't any further away, but so many people showed up that by the time we were done with the fitness testing, we only had time to scrimmage for an hour. So it was a bit of a waste, since there's no real way for me to stand out from a crowd that big when the team will obviously be returning a good chunk of their players. I was almost exactly average when it came to fitness. Which was cool, since I haven't been doing anything to get in shape for these things. I broad jumped 8ft 4.5in, ran my 40 in 5.25, ran my short shuttle in 4.33, and had a 24in vertical. The worst of these is obviously my 40, but don't worry, I have an excuse. I missed a step in my start. Man, the start is everything in that drill. Also, I'm slow. I might be able to break 5 seconds on a great day, but I'll never be fast. We then did a throwing drill, which was pretty generic. I didn't throw particularly well, but I never saw anyone looking my way, and I certainly didn't throw badly. I mean, it was indoors! How are they going to judge throwing ability? We did a three-man mark drill to focus on handler defense. I handblocked my man more than 1/3 of the time, while only getting handblocked twice myself. Again, I never saw anyone looking my way. We scrimmaged for 40 minutes. I threw no turns and played very conservatively, because they explicitly told us to. It was unremarkable. We ran the pacer. For five minutes, we jogged back and forth. Then it accelerated ridiculously quickly, catching everyone unawares and I was one of like six people left. Then I was one of two people left. Then I failed, and either the other guy failed at the same time or one increment after. But again, it felt like nobody took it seriously. Then we scrimmaged for ten minutes. I threw a turn because 1) it was the right decision, 2) I felt like I hadn't been noticed and I didn't want to swing the disc again, and 3) I executed poorly because I hadn't thrown deep in hours. Excuses, excuses. Basically, I was frustrated, because I felt like I fit in at that level of frisbee, but I am quite sure I will not make the team. There are what, like five spots available to be filled by 45 guys? I don't like my chances.
I can brush that all off. I can say that it doesn't matter, because I'm better at handball anyway, and frisbee would just be distracting from that. But the truth is that I cared. I will no doubt shrug and say it's no big deal, and in the big scheme of things, it really isn't. But I cared while I was there, and I'm frustrated. I know I didn't condition for the combine, that I haven't played frisbee anywhere near regularly, and that if I was amazing I probably would have been noticed. I really do know all that. But to feel like I could play with the rest of those guys and still know I won't have the opportunity to prove myself further is frustrating. On my registration form I did say I would be okay making the practice team. Maybe I'll have that opportunity., I don't know. I also don't know what that would entail. These are just my initial thoughts on the topic. And since I've droned on so long, I'll get back on track with my originally-intended YouTube stuff in my next post.
Thanks for reading!
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