Saint Rose Experiences: Ultimate Frisbee

Prior to college, I have been involved with five different sports; baseball, football, basketball, soccer, and track and field. However, when I came to the beautiful campus of The College of Saint Rose, there was a new sport that caught my attention. Prior to joining the school’s team, I had little to no experience in this sport. This sport is ultimate frisbee.

Before this, I have thrown a frisbee and played Kan Jam. That’s it. I had no background or knowledge of the rules of ultimate frisbee. In fact, I probably still do not know all the rules, truthfully. I’m learning though so it’s okay. I never thought I’d get so into ultimate frisbee like I am now.

As far as I can remember, I had always been a baseball player. I could catch a round ball as well as just about anyone, but now I’m switching to a flat disk? How did this happen? Am I becoming the stereotypical college kid who picks up frisbee in their spare time? Well…I’ll explain my journey.

Around the beginning of spring semester last year, my floor and I were trying to make a club baseball team happen. Baseball has always been something I have been incredibly passion about since forever. Baseball was my first love and she’s always been there for me. After lots of time and patience, Student Association has approved Club Baseball. Suddenly, my baseball career was not over just yet.

Just coming off a summer league championship, you could probably imagine my level of excitement. Playing baseball with my Lima 1 boys was something I could look forward to. I actually grew up playing baseball with my roommate, but we hadn’t been on the same team since we were about eight, so I was ready to see how much harder he would throw.

As club baseball was becoming a reality, there was another club blossoming. As you could probably guess, this newfound club was Ultimate Frisbee. How did I get myself into this club? It all happened because of my now-suitemate Matt.

One day, Matt and I are hanging out, catching up and we’re talking about clubs and other random activities that we were getting involved with. Matt looks over at me and says, “Dude, you should get into this ultimate frisbee team that’s about to start up”. At first, I was pretty skeptical at first because, well, I’ve only played ultimate frisbee in gym class. Not to toot my own horn, but I was pretty good in gym class.

Little did I know, I actually wasn’t good. Well, wasn’t good enough up to real ultimate frisbee standards. Looking at it now, I think I’m okay. When I started, I knew just about nothing. I did not realize what “good” actually was.
Anyway, I started to consistently attend practices and I instantly fell in love. Ultimate frisbee quickly became not something that I liked, but something that I loved. Not only that, but it was also something I knew I wanted to commit to.

Now, I’m the type of guy who, when I find something that catches my eye, will pursue it wholeheartedly. Once club baseball fell through, I knew that I had ultimate still there for me. Everything happens for a reason, so I knew my baseball career ending had to mean something more substantial than just one door shutting and locking for now.

Over the past two semesters, many things have changed. I do now consider myself a member of the Saint Rose Kings of the North Ultimate Frisbee team. The frisbee community is another community (much like the Saint Rose community) that I would like to continue to surround myself with.

Just a nice little Frisbee selfie

Okay, time to get really cliche. The Kings of the North is not just about frisbee. It seems to go way beyond that. It’s even more than a team honestly. It’s a family away from a family. Even though they don’t share the same last name as me, they are my family. I have already gotten really close to several members of this team and my love for this sport increases every time.

Yes, every time. Even when we’re doing conditioning drills, I still remember why I fell in love with this sport in the first place. I mean, everything happens for a reason, right?