Leveling Up

I’ve been posting a lot about disc (or more commonly known as ‘frisbee’ for non-frisbee players) recently because I’m hooked into the sport. Here’s another disc post.

Last Saturday, I believe that I’ve played my best game in a disc tournament.

It’s our team’s first time to play in pool A for a tournament league, so clearly we’re the underdogs in the bracket. Moreover, I was one of the team’s newest players --- -- barely 6 months experience of playing ultimate frisbee, along with Bai.

The veterans say that playing ultimate frisbee is 50% skill and 50% confidence. I started out in this league with some skill and little confidence (specially after hearing about the story of the big-bald-guy-frisbee-player who taunted “I’m gonna break your head like a piñata” in one of the 2008 tournaments, what little confidence I had slid down a bit more). But despite the nervousness and having clammy hands, I took the plunge just like the time when I went bungee-jumping. Once you jump out, there’s no turning back. Well, that’s how my mindset was.

Finding myself in the familiar air and grounds of Alabang Country Club, I religiously participated in the warm-ups and drills. I know that I just need to push myself harder to be worthy of being in pool A (and hopefully get a decent number of minutes on the playing field so that my 700php tournament fee won’t be a regret spend). Trying to perfect my passes, my footwork, field vision, reflexes and endurance, I wanted to assure myself that I’m good enough to be in the pool A line-up.

And on my first game for the day, our team captain Blue fielded me in for our starting line. I couldn’t believe what I heard! For the last two weeks, I get fielded during the non-critical periods of the game (such as when it’s obvious that we won’t win the match) --- that was okay with me since I’m basically a greenhorn and I perfectly understand the need to let the more skilled players have the field in hopes of still salvaging the game. I was content with watching the game, taking in how the other disc players execute their plays so that I could learn more.

On the field, Blue struck another surprise at me. He announced that I’m to be his secondary handler. Whoa! For disc games, playing as a handler is one of my low points. It’s like being the point guard in basketball --- it’s the handler’s responsibility to bring the disc down to their goal zone, and rescue the disc from their teammates if they’re being trapped by defense. It requires very good passing skills and field vision. My passing skills are only mediocre --- my key skills in ultimate are catching, defense and running/endurance --- and that further rattled what little confidence I had.

For the next 10 minutes, despite that lump in my throat called ‘fear’, I played with focus and determination. I was amazed that I can keep up with my “match” (“match” is the player from the opposing team who’s defending against you or the one that you’re defending on). My defense was good too --- I’ve managed to bring the stall count up to 8. 75% of my passes were good. I was playing at par with pool A players!
And the culminating point is that I scored our team’s first goal for the game. Wahoo!

In a span of 10 minutes, my experience and confidence leveled up considerably.

Throughout the game, Blue would field me in every so often like a regular player. I didn’t get the chance to score another goal though, but I was tough on my defense and made a couple of assists. One particularly tall white guy on the opposing team even complimented me on my running --- he admired that I was able to keep up with him during the game, applying tough defense and preventing him from scoring goals despite our large height difference.

Although our team lost, last Saturday was the best game I’ve ever played in for frisbee.

P.S.
Thanks to my workmates Julie, Val and Jay for covering my duty last Saturday. The Krispy Kremes were very much worth it for my great game experience.