This past spring my eldest son joined his school's Ultimate Frisbee team. The OWL Manatee. Now, some people misunderstand Ultimate Frisbee to be Frisbee Golf. These are not the same things. Frisbee Golf is like golf, but with a frisbee. Ultimate Frisbee is like soccer and basketball and football all combined. Without the contact of football, thankfully.
OWL's team practiced and hosted games down on Nicollet Island- a good use of one of our fair city's little, underutilized gems. They'd walk there after school, across the mississippi and down a huge flight of stairs.
Then out on to this lovely green space where the kids spent the afternoon running after a frisbee.
There is much to love about Ultimate Frisbee. Great workout. Great ethic of sportsmanship and self-refereeing. Add to that OWL's multi-ethnic, multi-grade team and you have yourself a great place for your kid to hang out. I love that the Hmong teammates brought baggies of rice along for energy snacks and these became communal- kids grabbing a handful of plain rice on the sidelines to get that energy boost for the second half. And that Eli learned that some kids had to miss games in order to undertake family obligations- like fishing. The comaraderie on the team was lovely. The skill level was decent- bordering on very good when all pistons were firing. The parents along the sidelines were sparse, but dedicated- although not crazed or given to yelling at or to their children. We were led in some cheers by James who, with his southern accent, had us rhyming 'train' and 'thing'. It worked.
The up and down season ended with the boys taking third in their division at state. They looked like the bad news bears out there on the field with their random red shirts and team members ranging from minute 7th grade twins to large bulky seniors, but they had some skills, lots of dedication, and really, no expectations but to have fun. What more could a parent ask for in her kid's choice of sport?
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