Frisbee in the frio

I can't get enough ultimate frisbee, it would seem. This weekend I played an outdoor tournament with Mt. A in Halifax. Yes, outdoor. It is called "The Tournament of Fools," and with good reason; when we arrived on Saturday morning, the field was covered in six inches of snow.

Even with cleats, the first few games included a lot of sliding and skidding. By the end of the first game all of us had wet feet - the main downside of playing in the melting snow.


By the end of the day all of us also had sunburns, our feet were still wet, our hands were swollen with the cold and we hadn't won a game. Despite these downsides, we were all still pretty happy.

We had a mascot - Oliver the six-month-old golder retriever - who was wrapped in a hoodie for most of the tournament to keep warm. Our starting cheer featured the team running around in a circle with airplane arms and then 'flying away'.

I stayed with a good friend who's attending King's College. After the Saturday games I went back to her place for a shower, lasagna, a glass of wine and some cake. I was very, very happy when I fell asleep on her couch.

We placed 10th out of 12 teams - not a bad feat for Mt. A. We are a young team, which means our stamina is our strength, but we don't have a lot of strategy.


This was my last tournament with Mt. A - my frisbee career began in first year after I didn't make the cut for the varsity women's soccer team. At a party during frosh week, a mostly drunk guy asked if I wanted to play some frisbee. Not knowing the sport, and assuming he wouldn't remember this conversation the next day, I agreed. The next day he found my residence room and left a note on the door asking me to play in a tournament the following weekend. The team needed girls, and he had been out recruiting.

My first tournament consisted of me standing in the endzone and trying to catch anything that came my way. I have learned a lot about the sport since - it is a neat game, because a lot of the learning happens experientially. Needless to say, I am very grateful to the guy who asked me to play in the first place - the sport has kept me active and a bit more sane during my degree.