This One is for the Ladies

High school ultimate. That was a joyous time. During that time, my team would travel to many tournaments with no more than 12-14 bodies. We would often have a good number of guys, but our ladies would always struggle in numbers. Since high school ultimate is coed, finding and keeping ladies for out team became a crucial task.

I found out during this time, just how important our ladies were to our team. There was much more to it than just having numbers. A good lady could, in many ways be more useful to our team than another good guy. I still to this day, when playing coed ultimate, value talented ladies over talented men by a wide margin (though not to the extent where Bob can give me a team with 9 male scrubs and 3 good ladies and expect me to compete on the same level).

Our college does not have a women's ultimate team (at the moment). But we still have some talented female ultimate players who take part in our practices and join us at our tournaments. While they may not be doing the same thing as the high school ladies, who I found to be so important, our ladies carry an importance of their own that I have truly grown to respect.

I'm not talking about the fact that they take stats for our team, or take pictures or film the games. All these things are great, yes, but I find that they help out our team in another aspect that helps us out so much more.

Our team's biggest weakness, is our number of players. Each year we have several players on the cusp of staying with the team and each year they kill us. We go to 3 day tournaments with 16 players on the roster and only 12 of them are able to play by the last game. All the while, the few subs that we get to enjoy leave us gasping for water and trying to ready ourselves for the next point. It's a struggle for us to take on the role of the good sideline player when we are so exhausted.

Our ladies, ever resilient, are always there. Always offering the encouraging remark. Always reminding us, that we have people there for us, backing us up. I am regularly impressed with Sara and Alma's sideline voices. Their encouragement always makes me want to push myself. To spring down on that pull. Faster. Faster still.

Then comes the point where I finally take a sub and my male teammates who are on the sideline are talking to the mark, or instructing teammates in the zone. The ladies are still shouting encouragement. I struggle to find somebody's water to drink and I hear one of our other ladies telling me that I'm playing well. She tells me to get her a D. It brings a smile to my face. I'm playing like crap. I could be playing better. But the compliment helps. I want to play better. And I don't have time to feel down about my level of playing. Thanks for the compliment. It's time for me to get excited.

The game will end. Saturday will end and we will gather together as a team and think about what we did well and what we need to improve on tomorrow. I'm tired, hungry, thirsty and stressed out. I know I could've played better. We all could have.

I don't want to talk much on the car ride but the ladies have already started bumping the music. Ami and Natasha are choosing the next song. Sara's in the back busting out another dance move. I must admit, it is hard to stay stressed out when you have a car full of beautiful women dancing to club music. My stress wears off, I lose myself in the music and forget about all the throwaways I had, all the drops I had, all the layout D's I failed to lay out for.

The night is great, I have a ball. I go to sleep with more than a little liquor in me, but I go to sleep with a smile on my face. My body may not be in prime condition for tomorrow. But at this moment, I am ready. I am ready to dream about ultimate.

Come tomorrow, I am going to struggle waking up. I might have a hangover. I'll be dehydrated. But the ladies will come to the field with their lattes in hand and be ready to continue cheering us on. They're not giving up on me, there's no way I'm going to give up on them.

Thank you ladies.