Through some quirk of fate, I am playing in the A league of the association de ultimate de Montreal. A is the highest of leagues A through F, with several of the divisions having splits within them (b1 and b2, for instance). Other than a brief stint with East Van Halen (who were rockin!!!! the team uniform was whatever rocker/heavy metal shirt a given player could dig up) I haven’t played since 1999, when I was part of a low-level rec team that my housemates in Ottawa had just for fun. Sargent Fun–this was really her nickname–in particular played on a couple of other ‘real’ teams, and the main object of our team was to have an excuse to wear mango shirts and hold fruity drink parties. In fact, a whole wall of the fishbowl was devoted for a time to a series of pictures of me holding large fruity drinks.

How I digress!! My point is just that I am surprised to be playing on a high level team, and even more surprised, now that I am over my performance anxiety, to find that I really enjoy it. I like the players. They have spirit! And they also have strategy. This is actually what distinguishes them from other teams I have known. Not handling, not fitness, not fancy plays and drills–just really excellent strategy, the ability to analyse in detail and on the fly how the play is going, and to adapt plays and planning accordingly. Of course, the players are also highly skilled, but it’s their calm that carries them, the thinking they do as they run and pass and check.

They are also from quite a different cross-section of Montrealers than I meet in other life. More on that perhaps another time–it’s after midnight and I must sleep.