I Play Frisbee Now?

If you would have told me last year that I had decided to quit running track at Carleton (a sport I have been doing since second grade) to try out for an ultimate frisbee team during my sophomore fall, I probably would have laughed and said that was a ridiculous idea. Well… here we are and all of a sudden I am playing for Syzygy, the D1 women’s ultimate frisbee team at Carleton.

Some background for you…

Last year I was hurdling for the Carleton Women’s Track team, which has two seasons: indoor (winter term) and outdoor (spring term), along with fall practice. While I enjoyed spending time and meeting my teammates, by the end of the year, I came to the conclusion that I had lost my passion for track. Though I liked my coaches and the technique of hurdling, I started dreading the running workouts and even meets (something that you should be excited about as a track athlete!).

I had a really hard time coming to terms with the fact that I was no longer enjoying something that I had previously loved, and I felt that if I quit I would be giving up on something that had been a part of me for a really long time. I wasn’t wrong, quitting track would be losing a part of my identity, but it also created space for something new. That being said, I went back and forth about quitting for a long time because I wasn’t sure if I was ready to let that identity go.

Frisbee

In the spring of my freshman year, I joined an intramural frisbee team with some of my friends who played on official frisbee teams here at Carleton just for fun. I ended up enjoying it so much, and I loved playing (though it was a bit of a jungle rules situation as most people had no clue what was going on, myself included). My friend Audrey and I joked about quitting track to join frisbee, but it wasn’t something I seriously considered at the time.

When summer started, I was running one of my track workouts for the summer when I stopped on the track, mid-300 run, and considered my life choices. I essentially asked myself, does this activity still bring me joy? After contemplating that question for a couple of days, I realized that the answer was, not anymore, at least not as much as it used to.

With that information in mind, I decided that I wouldn’t make an official choice until I checked out frisbee as an alternative option. When I got to Carleton during New Student Week, I joined in some games of pickup frisbee, which was mildly stressful but also exciting. I started looking forward to the next time I would get to play.

After New Student Week pick up, I started attending fall frisbee where I practiced with what we call “the heavenly bodies”. This combination of people consists of all three of Carleton’s women’s frisbee teams: Syzygy, Eclipse, and Nova (all of them are space-related which is how the name heavenly bodies came into existence). I had the opportunity to go to Exit 69, an early fall tournament, where we were randomly all mixed up and put into three teams.

The tournament was probably in my top five favorite things I have done at Carleton, and after that, I knew that playing frisbee was something that I wanted to do. I talked to my track coach, thanked her for the previous seasons, and told her I would not be returning to the team.

I decided to try out for Syzygy despite never having played frisbee before, and I ended up making the team. So… apparently, I am a frisbee player now? I have really enjoyed practice, my new team, and I look forward to each day when I throw a plastic circle at various people on a field. The funny thing is, when I was in high school, I thought ultimate frisbee was a terrible sport. How the tables have turned!

Moral of the story, you are going to change while in college. Parts of your identity will change, some doors will close and others will open. College is a time to try new things, especially things that are outside of your comfort zone, or things you never thought you would like. While many people enjoy being on the track team, and I will always support and love my old teammates, in the end, it just wasn’t right for me and that is okay. I am so excited about the next three years I will have on Syzygy, and so glad I was willing to try something new.

Hannah is a sophomore interested in Geology, Political Science and Classics. Still unsure what she will major in, she likes to spend her time learning as much as she can about whatever she can. Born and raised in Minnesota, she considers herself somewhat of an expert on MN winters. At Carleton, she fills her schedule with writing for the Admissions blog, working as a CCCE Communications Fellow, taking flute lessons, and increasing voter engagement on campus. When Hannah isn’t in class, she can be found tossing a frisbee, thrifting, running for fun, looking at rocks, reading, walking and skiing in the Arb, and hanging out with her besties. Meet the other bloggers!