Ultimate

My dad has been playing ultimate frisbee for about ten years in Vancouver. Vancouver has a thriving ulti scene (the men's world champion team is local) and the league play here is surprisingly well-organized (compared to other cities I've lived in). This fall, Dad (with some encouragement) decided to split from his long-time team and set up shop on his own for the fall league, and he invited anyone interested to join the roster. Carson, Miles and I joined, and I called up my old friend Jean from high school and invited her too. A few players from Cecil's team made the move with him, and we recruited a few players from the league's matchmaking list. Since many of us are new Cec named our team Newbulous. We practiced a few times before the first game and then plunged right in. We've played a few games now, (even won two!) and we are all learning fast.
It's a blast! I love the sport, but I think more than anything I love getting out there and running around like a maniac, and playing with my family and good friends. There are a lot of Baird jokes (too much Baird on the field!) and since Miles is pretty much a Baird too, I get to play with my favourite people! The people that came from Dad's old team are all really great players with good spirit, and patient with us newbies too.
The rules are insane. It took (and it's still taking) a long time to get the rules down, and doubly hard because ulti is a self-governing sport: there are no referees and no sideline calls.Everything that happens has to be called by the players themselves, which is a big change for a long-time soccer player like myself.
I snapped these pictures at last game. That's Gabriel, one of our experienced players, on the lying on the grass observing the play and calling out gentle suggestions for improvements (ha!).
I missed a practice and sat out last Sunday's game because of a sprained foot (what is it with my feet??) so I was rarin' for some action once my foot began to heal. We had a practice last night at Slocan Park near my house (in the rain of course) and it was so much fun! Because of the rain, and some timing issues, only six players showed up (one being Dad who just came to get us started and then had an engagement to attend) so there were a lot of drills we couldn't manage. We ended up playing "Box" for the whole hour, and after the first twenty passes hitting the ground, we started making some good ones and getting into a good rhythm.
When we told Jamye Lee (our new roomie) about the game, she didn't know what it was (I mean, she'd never heard of the sport itself - she knows what a frisbee is of course), and for a short while, was talking about "extreme" instead of "ultimate" until the boys corrected her. Now in the house she just calls it extreme for a joke.