Last Thursday was the single worst pickup experience of my life. People were disorganized, making cuts they shouldn't have been making, moving at the wrong times, making bad throwing decisions (me included), etc. I was getting incredibly frustrated. Offensively, anyway. Don't get me wrong, this was pickup. That's kind of what happens at pickup. But this was to a degree that I just couldn't handle. So, I decided to change my approach. I wasn't going to do anything on offense for the rest of the night. And I didn't. I literally walked up the middle of the field, either being in front and setting the stack, or just sitting in the middle. But I wasn't making any productive movements. No cuts of any kind. I just focused all of my energy on playing defense. And you know what happened? My line was successful. At one point, we scored 8 points in a row. I only touched the disc once, and that's because Uni threw some obnoxious break throw to me while I was standing still. I quickly moved the disc to someone else, and went on with my non-productivity.
Now, you might be thinking, "That's childish/immature." And you'd probably be right. On the other hand, my team ended up playing some pretty good offense without any of my help. And I ended up playing some pretty good defense. (I did get scored on twice, though. One was a break throw I couldn't do anything about, and the other was because I slipped and got beat open side. Stupid mud.) Along the way, I kept my mouth shut (literally, talking only when talked to, and even then giving just one-word answers) and did my best not to get upset directly with any one person.
After playing this way for a little over an hour, I decided I'd had enough. I left about 45 minutes before pickup usually ends, got home, showered, and went to bed.
Friday morning was spent getting ready for my weekend in Palm Springs with my fellow staff members for the high school group at my church. The weekend was an awesome getaway. Going in, I turned off my Twitter updates so I wouldn't be bothered incessantly. I barely ever checked my phone, and that turned out to be a pretty good feeling. Contrary to usually receiving texts every 15 minutes or so, the only texts I received all weekend were about the Rams game. I was truly able to relax (even though that's something I don't generally like doing). But, that's enough sidebar about the weekend.
We have practice every Monday morning, but I decided not to go. First off, I had to take my mom to work so that I could use the car later that day. I ended up getting home with enough time to make it to practice, but decided I still didn't have the right mindset to go and I just would have been a detriment to myself and those around me if I did. Plus I didn't want to worry about rushing to the meeting I had to go later in the day. Going into Tuesday, I still hadn't as much as thrown a disc with someone since pickup. For me, going 2 full days without throwing is very rare. Well, I just went straight to class and then straight home that day. So, That made 5 full days without any ultimate/disc activity. Wednesday practice got rained out, so we did a track workout (not including me, I have no running shoes) and threw a little. I didn't go to pickup on Thursday night because I went to a Los Al JV football game featuring one of my friends, and ended up hanging out at his place the rest of the evening. Pickup got canceled anyways.
So, Friday comes around and I have officially had 7 full days of not playing Ultimate. I proceed to have one of the best practices I can remember. My body feels really good and my throws weren't adversely affected by the time off. Unfortunately, we're missing a few guys due to other engagements, and some people have to leave early. Meaning the rest of us had a lot more playing time, which can be difficult when you haven't run in a week. At any rate, Friday felt really good.
The point I was trying to make (and ended up straying from a little bit) is that going that whole week without playing was incredibly beneficial for me. I wasn't sore, was in no pain, wasn't experiencing any type of discomfort anywhere on my body. I was able to run hard consistently and it made a huge difference. The same thing happened at beach pickup on Saturday. I still felt really good, and played really well. I felt like I was getting higher than usual when I jumped and I was way more aggressive because I didn't have to worry about my body holding me back. It is incredibly rare that I go even a couple days without some strenuous activity, just because I love playing everything so much. However, my eyes have been opened to the benefit of taking some time off every now and then to let my body recover. I definitely plan on doing that more as the season progresses.
On another note:
Throughout this process, Ultimate has become a little frustrating. Whether it's just me overreacting to little things that happen, or whether these are actually real problems that need to be resolved, I am not sure. All I know is, everything else I've done in the last two weeks has been fun and enlightening and I've been enjoying all of my time away from the field. I haven't been looking forward to Ultimate. It has more or less become something I need to be present for because I have a responsibility to the team. The importance of the game in my life has been relegated a bit as a result. Which I view as a good thing. My relationship with God has strengthened, and my relationships with non-Ultimate friends have also grown. I plan on that continuing to be the case. Not that I want to stop playing Ultimate, or that my friendships through Ultimate will be less important. That's not the case at all. I love the sport and those people too much. I just need to remove Ultimate from the lofty pedestal I had it on.
We'll see what happens.
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