my ultimate nights

I played my last game of ultimate frisbee with a local pickup group here tonight, after which we retired to someone’s apartment for beer and homemade salsa. I’m really going to miss doing this every Tuesday; it’s become the second most anticipated event of my week, after choir practice. I started last spring and have played most pleasant evenings since then, the weather and travels allowing. It’s a non-contact energetic game, in which skill goes a long way to balancing out differences of size and strength. It’s also often played in a very non-competitive and friendly spirit, and no-one would ever berate a team member for dropping a pass or failing to make a point. We don’t even keep track of the score. Tonight, for example, a 12 year old passing through the park stopped to watch us, so we invited him to join the game and he had a great time, although he’d clearly never played before.

Growing up I had a far less happy relationship with most things involving organized sports. Like many nerds I usually sequestered myself in the library during recess and thought I hated team games because of all the macho posturing and tests of manliness which get associated with them in your average grade nine gym class. It’s been a lot of fun to realize over the past few years that I actually really enjoy them, with the right group of people. I even feel a sense of discovery and novelty as I try to think of what activities to try next.

I’m off to pack more boxes now, but anyone reading this with suggestions for friendly pickup sports clubs (or choirs!) in Montréal is very welcome to pass any leads on to me…