They've got spirit

Well, I've been through the first few practices with IU. Not only am I excited to be playing again, it's refreshing to be in a completely different situation. That's not to say I don't appreciate all of my time on g-dub, but I hope people can understand why I'm excited for this unique experience -- having played under one system for four years and now having to adapt to an entirely new set of realities and expectations.

Really, though, I'm just glad to be back in the game. For the first few days of physical activity, I really felt soreness and tightness in some traditionally difficult areas (hamstring, knee, groin). Now though, having gone through the first week of practice and throwing, I'm feeling great, and I'm praying to the various deities that I can stay healthy for once. But I do think I damaged my hand, maybe even broke or fractured it. It doesn't hurt that much but damn does it swell when I hit it on stuff. Oh well, I guess I won't be cold-cocking anyone until the spring anyways.

I have to say, these new duties seem daunting to me right now. At GW, only in my last semester did I really have a position: D-line handler. Before that, it had always been "defense," but varying things besides that at the discretion of whoever was in charge. Now, it is abundantly clear what the Mama?s want me to do for them: be the #1 or #2 handler. I've had different reactions to this, from pride to downright trepidation.

It's nice to know you're needed. From the first visit I made after I told these guys that I was coming to IU, I felt like they really wanted me here. When I started coming to practices, and I was introducing myself, people consistently said "Oh, yeah! I've heard about you." Of course it's extremely complimentary, but it's also kind of scary in that people already have expectations for me. I have never been a great offensive player. And furthermore, I've always had some kind of physical limitation to keep me from playing all season at full power. But now I have to be on every point, and start calming down, hucking, and dealing with moody O-line players (not a comment on IU, but O-liners in general. D-line is crazy, and I know how to deal with crazy, but it's O-line drama queens that I could never deal with). Another big thing is that I can no longer consistently bitch about O-line sucking it up, since I will now be integral to its suckitude.

So far, I'm not as into the team dynamic here as I was at GW. Granted it's probably just because I'm new here, but I feel like g-dub was a lot tighter as a team. Hopefully I can play the part of social nexus and get a good solid... I hate to say clique but I guess that's what I had at GW... here. It's funny, I've been walking around campus for a good solid two weeks now, and I've only encountered members of my team on maybe two occasions. Much different from walking down 20th between E and F at 11:00 and seeing half of the ultimate team on the way. I think the sheer size of the school and breadth of non-ultimate activities available to people draws down the closeness of the team. We'll see though, I mean, this is definitely a group of guys of which I want to be a part.

We had roughly 60 rookies come out, which has thinned to about 25-30 on any given day. A few of them are pretty promising, and fewer nerds show up than did at GW on the first few days. I'm looking forward to doing my favorite thing in the world -- teaching sports -- for the next few months. It's always exciting to single out the few kids that actually want to learn and ask questions and get better, even if they do suck at first. Hell, I sucked at first. I can barely remember my first day, but I can remember Faust throwing with me and putting up with what were, I'm sure, a terrible display of ultimate retardation.

Today we practiced for the most part separated: people going to Heavyweights this weekend, and the rookies who would not be going. At the very end, the current Mama?s scrimmaged a team of ex-Mama?s and community players. One kid, who has been trying his damnedest to improve his throws and comprehension of the game, stuck around for like an hour, just watching, and trying to pick up how the game really went. That's the kind of kid you need to keep around, because years down the road, when he's tearing up the field, he'll be able to look back on people helping him out, and produce the next generation of converted players. Why? Because athletes from other sports don't think that much of ultimate, and it's hard for people who have been playing forever to connect with people who aren't sure this sport is for them. Sure it's great to have people who already come in knowing how to play, but there's something noble and respectable about someone who comes to practice and throwing every day, even though three weeks ago they didn't know what a flick was.

Anyhow, that's enough of the emotional stuff for now. Look for a post about Heavyweights sometime mid-next-week, since the beginnings of weeks are absolutely murderous for me when it comes to readings. Hopefully this weekend will allay my fears about my new exceedingly young but talented team.