So today...FRISBEE. My love, current obsession, and passion. It's so great.
Last year at this EXACT time, I joined my first frisbee league, starting out in what is called "Skillz League", which is basically a really laid back beginners league. It was amazing amounts of fun, and along with making fantastically colorful and awesome friends, I also found I had quite a knack for it. A lot of my team members say I'm fearless and quite aggressive when I play (not in a bad way, I hope), but honestly, after being a gymnast for 10+ years, not much phases me. I mean, how intimidating can it be jumping up after a disc, or diving to catch a frisbee, if before I was used to flipping, twisting, and sprinting...usually at very high heights. I was by no means fearless in gymnastics (just ask my old coach Paul, he used to call me a chicken all the time), but in comparison frisbee seems mild. Kind of. Don't get me wrong, I still get nervous every time I play, and some of those players are crazy talented and focused, but in a different sorts.
But, the point to this story is that I made some great friends through frisbee, and especially my summer league team, which eventually turned into more than just a "summer fling". Facilitated through my coach, Ryan, we began to have regular practices, and even entered a tournament or two. All great fun with great friends. It's hard to move "up" in the frisbee world because there aren't necessarily a lot of options for beginners, like myself and my teammates. There are lots of club teams in Portland, but many of them are at a higher skill level than one or two years of frisbee playing will get you. And so, this formation of semi-inexperienced players, allowed for a venue where focused, talented beginners could do drills, practice, and scrimmage all year round.
This group of frisbee friends has now turned into a full fledged club team. Once upon a time, two weeks ago or so, my friend Whitney and I sat down at her house, after an evening throwing session, and hammered out all the details of our new team, such as: weaknesses, strengths, vision for our team, our realistic goals, a real name for our team, and a color. All of this was done over several hours, and over a bottle of wine (aka thinking juice). Whitney and I were very serious about taking our team to the next level, and in that one night catapulted us into a legitimate team in Portland, at least in the paperwork sense. All in all, it's really coming together. It's exciting to be a part of something new in Portland, the city I love.
So....we are team Lawn Chair (it's an inside story) and our color is forest green. Our practices have become more structured and organized, even including a warm-up put together by yours truly, and we have several tournaments planned for the future***So I posted our logo and the link to our page on Portland's Ultimate Frisbee webpage. Check it out!
Love always,
Lizbee (Liz + frisbee=Lizbee)
http://portlandultimate.org/where-to-play/teams/lawn-chair-mixed
***basically frisbee tournaments include a day full of frisbee games, followed by a long night of drinking, followed by another day of frisbee games (at a slightly less enthusiastic level of play, due to the drinking previously mentioned). Awesomeness. Oh, and also they usually include camping out, or bunking up with your teammates.
(thumbs up!)
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