Additionally, if any (or many) of you are interested, the Ultimate frisbee club is starting to play pick up again now that the weather is nice and the travelling season is done. Tuesday and Thursdays (weather permitting) at Multi-purpose fields at 9:00. We're playing tonight, so come out, anyone and everyone welcome.

Also, send me your e-mail address (e-mail or AIM clicky below) if you want in on our schnappy list serve to keep abreast of our pick up schedule (weather causes us to cancel sometimes).

Come say hi... I'll be the guy with the hair.

I'd like some light-hearted frisbee, the couple times I went to the ultimate club I didn't have much fun.

If you have to wear cleats to play frisbee, you completely missed the point of the game....

Concurrence

While I agree with you for just throwing a disc around (we do that most days at 12:00 at the Puck if you want to stop by... no cleats required ), I guess I have to disagree in regards to ultimate frisbee. Ultimate frisbee is about as similar to throwing the disc around as the sport of baseball is to two guys throwing a ball between them. Ultimate frisbee is a game played competitively on the HS, college national and international league levels (both a part of the World Games and its own world championships... http://www.upa.org) and regularly broadcast on CSTV. Your statement seems about as valid as me saying if you have to wear cleats to play (soccer, baseball, lacrosse, insert other sports here) you completely missed the point. While I apologize if we play a bit intensly at times for pick up, I think that most people that come out will agree with me when I say on the whole we're pretty laid back, especially now that the college season is over for us.

And I played barefoot last Thursday and had fun. =p I would argue that you don't have to have cleats to enjoy playing pick up with us. But perhaps I would argue incorrectly.

I see your point, and perhaps you misunderstood mine. I enjoy a good competitive game as much [or more] as the next guy, but if you are playing the game or something to be competetive, rather than the competetiveness that comes from a good fun game. I played a fair bit of ultimate in hs, had a great time. By the end of the year, I was running faster, jumping higher, in better shape, much better at throwing etc, but it would have been pointless without the fun. We ended our sessions usually quite happily exhausted. And that is why I think it was good.

Also, a few problems that really can't be avoided. After playing a few hours with you guys, some of you realized that I was willing to run, I could throw and catch well, I wasn't afraid to lay out for catches, but you still throw to the people you know, despite their being guarded.

And the little things. Wth do you play at night? Ultimate is supposed to be played in full sun, preferably without shirt or shoes.

*Split topic to stop me from hijacking football thread*

These are actually topics that we discuss at length when the travelling team gets together, and something we realize we're not very good at... although we try.

As in any sport involving passing, people seem to want to pass it to people they know (and have been playing with a long time) over people they don't. It's really hard to get out of that mindset, and I even experience it every time I pick up with a new club or summer league team. We try to get the disc around, but it's really hard, both for the throwers knowing what the receiver is going to do and the receiver knowing what the thrower wants. It pretty much sucks.

Also, it's hard for the travelling team to scale back their mentality from tournament/practice mind set to laid back pick up. We try to walk the thin line by incorporating easy things to learn (stalls, forces, stack, etc) into pick up while still trying to have some laughs and not make it too serious. I think we balance it well, but I might be wrong... I get very little feedback from pure pickup players. And in a way, we need to balance it. Perhaps you've experienced it in high school, but once you begin playing at a set level (tournaments, whatever)... playing completely structureless chaotic pickup is frustrating, for a number of reasons... mainly us being lazy. So that's probably where our perceived competitivness comes from. It's another aspect that I promise we're trying on... but we probably still fail miserably.

And I completely agree with you on daylight playing. This was probably the hardest thing about transitioning from HS pickup to UMR. We play at night for two reasons. One is tradition. It's been this way for 6+ years (I got here 6 years ago), even when it was strictly pickup. (Sidenote... back then, every game just turned into massive hucks back and forth since we played on 100 yard fields). Also, people have afternoon classes, meetings, etc and it's nearly impossible to schedule an afternoon game that everyone can make it to. I think only TJHA has Tuesday 9:00 stuff and Thursday should be free to almost everyone. But we do get together now at noon at the puck to throw the disc around (or recently play a new game, double disc court).

Also... if I may ask, who are you (name). I'm horrible with names, so I probably don't remember you, but perhaps I will.

In conclusion to a post that's WAY too long. Switching from HS pickup to playing pickup/travelling team at UMR is probably harder than just starting to play ultimate with us, mainly becasue of a different mindset. We try to keep things laid back, but there are sacrifices that both sides have to make. If you enjoy ultimate (for ultimate's sake) I would suggest trying to come out a couple more times (perhaps from now till the end of the semester). I think you'll find it worthwhile and hopefully will start becoming "happily exhausted" at the end of our pickups. We're playing tonight at 9:00 if you're interested. And we can talk about this a lot more in the more efficient form of "conversation". I'd love feedback on our pickups from someone not on the team, and what could make them better. If you're convinced you wouldnt' enjoy it, we're much more laid back at noon at the puck (usually bare footed and shirtless) and you can come out then, and then let me persuade you to come out to pick up ;0 We'll be doing that tomorrow assuming the weather is nice.

Because, anyone that will lay out after a disc should be coming out... no if's and's or buts.

I used to come out and play every tuesday and thursday, but when it started getting to the whole travelling team mode the fun of the pickup game was ruined. Suddenly people started getting pissed if you didn't know how to run the defense that they wanted, and people would get yelled at for dropping passes. It completely ruined pickup for me and I haven't come out to play since. Before that it was a good way to unwind a bit. People would come out and have a great time, hell TJ would usually be smoking a cigar and Big Sexy even showed up drunk a few times. Don't get me wrong, I could still hang with the majority of the guys out there when I quit coming, but the drilling and practices during pickup completely ruined the sanctity of it.

My $0.02

My thought to your post is that you should do it in the afternoon AND the evening. I would be much more likely to return if it was in the afternoon, and I don't really see any reason to NEED to have 60 people at each pickup, like there was the times I went. Maybe have the people who want to play in the afternoon play in the afternoon, and for those that can't play in the afternoon can play in the evening. This is a bit more applicable to me, as I will be soon working evening shifts.

Note: also is best if you have some good music, Rusted Root seems appropriate, for example. :]

hehe... you must be as old or older than me. TJ was a beast. In the last couple of years pickup has become more intense, I will give you that. But for the next couple of months (end of this year and into next year) we're going to try to scale it back a bunch. Hopefully that will encourage some of us with nostalgia for the good ol' days to come back out. Honestly, we don't mean to drive anyone away.

Sidenote... remember when the posts used to be on the fields, prime to be ran into. Good times.



Ah... yes, the first couple of weeks there are 60+ people at pickup (Braveheart ultimate ftw). The problem is that quickly turns into 20ish. Right now we're at about 20 for pickup, perhaps a bit less. So splitting the pickup is kinda rough. I'll see if I can get enough interest to start a weekly pickup game in the afternoon. The only problem is the condition of the IM fields means you need shoes on... so we'd only be semi-"pure".

And, you're on your own for music, boomboxes are hard to come by this day in age. =p

I am quite talented at running into things. If you had seen the list of how many things I have had replaced or repaired on my bike, you would understand.... :p


That fact alone makes me more likely to come.

Any taco'd front forks? That's my claim to fame. The bike quickly becomes unusable when your tire is rubbing your frame's bottom tube.

I make wheels explode. Literally throw spokes in every direction. Not good at 30 mph down a gravel trail.

I completely agree with dash, kbHitman and jthxv, ultimate frisbee at UMR is not fun anymore, not on the team or during pickup. I used to come out all of the time and I felt like no one wanted any new members there. I talked to some of the guys about it and they said not worry, it time I'll feel like I fit in and I never did so I quit and started playing in tournaments with teams from STL.

In defense of the traveling/competitive. There are about 20 people at this university who want to play Ultimate Frisbee as described above. With set plays, with set offenses, and strategies. So if on a great braveheart-tamite night, we have 60 people out there, 20 of which are "hardcore." That means 1/3 of the people who show up on a regular basis should have their feelings taken into consideration. When do those people get to practice for tournaments? When do they get to better themselves at the sport that they feel so passionately about? There has to be some give and take on both sides. Now, I don't play anymore, but I did help start the travelling team, and when we did that, we thought we were doing something good for the ultimate club. Then everyone just stopped showing up. So yes, we may have inadvertently pushed some people away, but we have always been more than willing to have them back. This is the part where you have to give some, if it's your first time back in three years and the majority of the people there don't know your name?, why not introduce yourself and try to get to know us. It'll make us a little more apt to toss a disc in your direction instead of looking you off.

Well played sir.



Sorry we made you feel unwelcomed... I happen to think we're laid back and open, but I know I don't talk very much while playing, so maybe it's only before and after when we're just hanging around. And I agree with all the above posters as well. Honestly, pick up has become "less fun" to the recreational player the last 3 years. That's what we're trying to work on. We don't want the travelling team to kill pick up.

But also, I love new members, and I love having new people show up. I try to thank them after the game for coming out, but I guess I'm pretty quiet during the games.

As can be seen from the above posts, I'm trying to get us to turn over a new leaf and be more open to experienced and new players alike. What could we have done better to make you (and others, I'm sure there are many) feel more welcome/ have more fun? (I sound like a lame fast food comment card).

Anyways, if I can ask, what's your name, and also, what teams do you play with out of StL? I played with Big River (new club team) this summer, just wondering if we know some common people.



And this is on the "peak" nights during the first week or two of school. Most normal nights, >50% of the people at "pick up" are from the travelling team. On the most extreme of nights there might be 1-2 players who only come out to pick up. It's very, very hard to scale all the way down to pick up level when not many "pick up players" are coming out. The arguement becomes circular very quickly (pick up players don't have fun, so don't come out, so we play less "pick up like" so less come out, etc). We're trying to break the cycle during the next month or two. Help us out by letting us know what to do.