Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Farewell Tourney
I must say, it was a good way to go.
I was supposed to semi-retire from frisbee about a month ago to give me time to train for the bike trip, plan the wedding, complete my thesis, and recover from or, just maybe, avoid the injuries that I seem to get about once an ultimate season. Several people are very concerned that I will be going down the aisle on crutches. There may or may not be a betting pool somewhere. In any case, all those plans for personal health and safety were put aside when I found out that Sheila would be flying in from Spain to play. Sheila was my co-captain and co-creator of the Gettysburg women's team and just generally my frisbee soulmate. You also don't really say no to Sheila, so I instantly got on board. When we realized it was a split gender tournament we scrambled to recruit enough women for a team since we only had five alumni. I brought along Ducky, my summer and winter league captain, and Devon or Devo, a UVA freshman with frisbee in her blood, camera knowledge at her fingertips, and the same nickname as Kyle, which was only slightly confusing. I was very excited to bring my ultimate worlds together and to hang out with Dave and Kyle whenever we weren't playing. Those two were truly superb hosts and made us really scrumptious dinners and breakfasts.
Our first game of the tournament (after I ran across the field with outstretched arms calling Sheila's name and tackled her, of course) was against The Ferocious Chick Peas, the current Gettysburg team. (Our name on the schedule, by the way, was "Sheila and Friends," which I think could be a hit children's television show. We also called ourselves "Funklums" since our coed years were as the Pan Fried Funk.) The Chick Peas made me really proud and excited that the women's team Sheila and I struggled to put together three years ago has survived and thrived so much. I mean, they have subs and jerseys and plays and everything! They also came out ready and raring to play. My all-grown-up frisbee daughter Pie had her game face on and her picture perfect hucks ready to go (definitely not something she learned from her frisbee mother) and the whole team was heads up, fighting hard and laying out. In the end, however, we won 13-5; we may be old and rusty and thrown together but there's definitely something to be said for experience. The rest of our games were much less exciting, as in no one else scored more than two points on us all tournament. We all had a lot of fun on the field though. I got in some nice layouts and caught a huck score from Sheila (though sadly it wasn't a vintage blade) which was really all I wanted.
And then this happened:
It may look like I'm laughing. And actually I probably am, since I couldn't believe that Kyle had turned paparazzi on me. But a few seconds earlier I was saying "OH! Oh it popped back in. It might be okay." And a few seconds before that I was screaming and writhing in pain because my left shoulder had just been dislocated. It happened as I was running forward on defense in step with my mark. As I reached out to D the disc she caught it with both hands and wrenched it away. Unfortunately my arm was in between hers and got wrenched back right along with it. It was disturbingly reminiscent of breaking my ankle actually; I really need to learn to keep limbs disentangled when I'm running to the disc. It was also painful, though getting the shoulder back in its proper place changed the pain from insane to manageable. One of the Chick Peas, aptly nicknamed Joints, dislocated her shoulder a few weeks ago and had to wait almost 3 hours before the ER people popped it back in for her. I can't imagine how much that must have sucked. Well, I guess I can imagine now, but I'm very thankful that I didn't have to go through it.
To be safe, Kyle did take me to an Urgent Care Facility when we returned to Frederick. (Never go to the Gettysburg Hospital. Ever. Trust me.) Everything was as expected and they gave me a sling to wear for a week or so. I was a bit disappointed that my sling was much less impressive than the one Joints got, and only a step above the one that Girl-Scout-trained-MacGyver Ducky fashioned for me out of a tshirt and headband. 
Then again, if I had received a less flimsy sling Joints would have been able to convince me to play against her the next day, which could have been a very bad plan. That's right, the girl was playing with her dominant arm in a sling. I felt kind of lame about refusing her challenge but I'll pretend it means I'm old and wise now. It would have been a good photo op though.
Speaking of photos... While not playing on Sunday I got to try out Devo's snazzy digital SLR. It was a bit challenging to wield with one hand since you need a second hand to zoom, but I managed to get a few good shots (some are on Flickr) and it was something to do other than heckling the boy hecklers. I did have a few moments of all out cheering insanity while watching the Chick Peas play F&M (one of their rivals and also the shoulder dislocators) and WIN on universe point to make it to the championship. Pie referred to it as the College Championship and it was definitely the most badass game of the tournament. We then beat the exhausted Chick Peas 15-5 to win the Bubble Wand Trophy of Awesome. Bubble making and giggling ensued. It was awesome. Also congrats to the Gettysburg guys for winning the wand on the men's side, though I'll admit I was hoping for an alumni sweep.
Seeing so many of my old friends and being part of such a fun and talented team helped take the edge off of the shoulder injury. Of course I was really disappointed that I couldn't play the second day and none too pleased about the shooting pains all over my arm, but overall I was surprisingly upbeat. I really think that I was subconsciously expecting to get injured, because that's what I do, and was therefore glad that it wasn't any worse. I don't think I could handle crutches one more time, and I've already sworn off casts forever no matter what the doctors say. Plus this was going to be my last tournament for a while anyway, so all I'll miss are a few scrimmages. I don't look forward to finishing my thesis with one hand, but overall I'm almost preoccupied with the silver linings. I'm glad I guess...but also kind of disturbed that frisbee has brought me down to the point where I can be relieved about a painful and inconvenient dislocated shoulder. Oh cruel mistress Disc, how I love you so...
And you know I'll be there for the next Sheila & Friends appearance. Bring It On.
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| posted at: 20:20 |
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