Ultimate frisbee is a sport I have played since the past 3-4 years, and it is something that I thoroughly enjoy. I have also participated in frisbee tournaments previously, but not in the past 1-½ year due to the pandemic and lockdowns. Hence, I was eagerly anticipating a few upcoming tournaments and decided to make them part of my CAS experiences.
The first tournament was a mini-ultimate tournament (5V5 on a smaller field), organized by my peers and me as a part of another CAS experience. This tournament was the beginning of my return back to competitive ultimate as I realized where my level of gameplay was, and identified the areas I needed to improve upon. Since I was also acting as an organizer in this tournament, I had to balance between commitment to my team and managing the tournament. For the first time in a while I played with a team, and appreciated the importance and effectiveness of team-work. Since I was also playing with a new team, I had to communicate with my teammates to ensure that we played well, developing communication skills (something I am not very good at).
Following this tournament, I started doing workouts and regular practice (as a part of another CAS experience – Strength and Conditioning Program) to improve upon my weaknesses and become a better player. A lot of motivation and dedication was required to workout 5-6 times a week. Thinking back, I am thankful to myself for going through this as it helped me prepare for the following tournament, and also instilled essential values in me such as discipline. Although I am a generally hard-working individual, trying to put my best efforts at studies and sports simultaneously was quite difficult, and required a lot of time-management.
The second tournament I played in was an inter-city tournament with teams from Surat, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. My team finished 5th out of 10 teams, starting at 7th. This tournament was highly competitive and required our complete efforts and focus. I realized the importance of a positive attitude and sportsmanship for any team. One of the most significant moments of this tournament was when I committed a mistake in a role that I had trained a lot for. I was disheartened and stopped playing in that role, but the positive words of my teammates and coaches gave me the confidence to overcome the mental barrier and try again, this time succeding. I understood that mistakes are a part of the process, and that “Teamwork makes the dream work”.
Lastly, I participated in a hat tournament (where teams are made randomly), where I had a lot of fun and got to know several new people through frisbee. I am generally an introvert, but I realized that with a disc in my hand I can talk a lot. This was the last tournament in my CAS experience, which was an extremely fruitful and enjoyable process.
