On April 21, Park’s girls and non-binary ultimate frisbee played against BSM. Although the team lost 6-15, they kept the spirit high by cheering on their teammates in between plays and continuing to use their practice and skills from the season to play against the Red Knights.
Head coach Claire Cech said she has been observing new players who are joining the ultimate team and immediately getting involved and learning new skills despite the challenges that come with joining a new sport.
“This season (I have) been seeing how many new players are joining the team and how quickly they jump in, get involved and try new things,” Cech said. “It can be really intimidating joining a sport that you’ve never done before, but it’s been great having players try out whatever they can and learning on the fly.”
Junior Molly Haen said the team is made up of players with varying levels of experience and commitment, from those who are highly dedicated to frisbee to people who are involved in many other extracurriculars they have to balance frisbee with. She said even with these varying degrees of skill, everyone is given the same opportunities.
“There’s a lot of people, so there’s a very wide range of skill levels,” Haen said. “Some people are really invested in frisbee; it’s their main sport and they play in the off-season, they play in all the seasons. For some people, this is their secondary sport, or they play this alongside other activities. When we’re out on the field, it’s a range. It’s not just all the people who play intense, high levels of frisbee. It’s a nice mix, which feels good. Everybody is treated equally, no matter what their skill level is.”
According to sophomore Caroline Phan, with the wide range of experience and attitudes toward the sport, players are able to be as competitive or casual as they want. She said everyone will receive support from their teammates no matter their skill level.
“With the diversity of experience we have on the team, there are some people who are really locked in. I don’t take it that seriously, and I think that’s the beauty of it, because you can be as serious or unserious as you want. No matter where you are, you’re going to get a lot of support and a lot of hype,” Phan said.
Haen said her favorite part of ultimate frisbee games is cheering her teammates on from the sidelines. She said the team has many different cheers they make up, including ones relating to pop culture, which make the games more lighthearted and enjoyable.
“I love cheering on the sidelines,” Haen said. “That’s my personal favorite thing. I love to cheer on the sidelines, maybe more so than playing. I love seeing my teammates play, and I love doing all the fun cheers. We have a Wicked (cheer), where it’s the Wicked riff. The wicked riff is my favourite one because it’s just really fun. We came up with that one last year, and it’s really silly and exciting to do.”
Phan said she enjoys frisbee games because of the team’s optimistic, encouraging energy and prioritization of having fun over worrying about the final score. She said they end the game with a team meeting where they give out spirit awards to players who performed especially well that game.
“(My favorite part of being on Crush) is always the games,” Pham said. “No matter what happens, at the end, we always just have lovely positive attitudes. I love the spirit circles that we do at the end, and giving out the awards, especially.”
According to Haen, she hopes to become a better player in the future by having a better understanding of the various rules that come with the many aspects of frisbee.
“(What I hope to improve on is) honestly my personal knowledge of the sport,” Haen said. “I think I don’t fully understand some of the rules, and I think that’s just a me thing. Being aware of some of the rules and understanding new techniques and that kind of stuff is my main point of interest right now.”
Cech said this game exposed the team to new defensive strategies, which gave the coaches insight into parts of the game the players can work on, and new strategies to practice with drills to improve the skills of those on the team.
“This game helped highlight a few things that we haven’t experienced before,” Cech said. “They played some defensive focuses that were new to us, so I think it helped highlight some options and new things that we can try out in drills and practice.”
The team’s next game will be May 4 against White Bear Lake at the High School Stadium.
