This weekend was my first game of "women's" ultimate in over a year. The day before Chick Flick, a women's hat tournament in Seattle, I rallied 2 Bellingham women to join me, Jessee and Betsy, and Erika was already planning on it. The four of us piled in my car at 6:30 in the morning and headed down to Seattle.
Unfortunately, 2 days prior, I came down with a cold that was either passed to me by Miguel from his students or from my co-workers, who had all fallen ill in the previous 2-3 weeks. I was battling the headache and congested feeling, but decided I was well enough to play; regardless of the fact that it was supposed to be cold, overcast, and possibly raining.
We took a few wrong turns on the way to the fields, but eventually found the place in good time. The four of us were on 3 different teams, which was nice so that we could meet new people. I joined the "Psyche" team with my friend Annie, who used to live in Bellingham. Our fine team included KK fron Riot, Eva from Riot, and Gwen from Fury (since they have webpages, I thought I'd link to them), two 8th Graders named Jesse and Sonya, and several other fine women from the Seattle area. Being one of about 2 women players in Bellingham for a couple of years causes me to get pretty excited when I have a chance to play good ultimate with all women.
And boy was I spoiled this weekend. I'd have a few photos to show you if I hadn't left my camera's memory card at work, but I'm sure you've seen ultimate photos before. Our team had a lot of energy, and although we made a habit of getting a slow start (scoring 1 out of the first 6 points, for example), our SOUL seemed to kick in, along with our Mojo, and we somehow pulled together a win for all 4 of our games! It feels pretty different having all women on the field, and narrows the gap a bit between the skill level and speed. It was really great seeing 14 year olds "going to" the disc and getting "up" to catch a high disc. It would have been so awesome to have played ultimate in 8th grade!
Anyway, I don't need to talk your ear off about it. Obviously I have an affection for women's ultimate. There's a hat tournament next weekend. I've also got a wedding function to attend, but I think I can squeeze it in. I'm hooked.
