Pickup

I missed Monday's summer league game because I got stuck at work in Jersey City. Tuesday was pickup, though, so I went thinking it could be fun. To my surprise and delight, it was pretty enjoyable. When my team was pulling, I tried to match up against either one of the seasoned handlers of the league or the tall kid from Amherst College, but I often ended up guarding a quick cutter with no throws, an old handler with no legs, or somebody from the middle of the pack. I got to D a bad huck in the endzone, sky several people (including tall Amherst), get some blocks, throw and catch some goals. One of my hucks was too low and got picked off by my mark, who was 10' away. I threw some nice hucks, though, and my short forehands felt great.

I was trying to avoid injury during the game...I started to wonder whether most injuries in Ultimate come from competitive games or pickup situations, because there were a lot of hospital passes--times when the thrower would lead his guy into a poach or put up the disc in traffic. I almost collided head-on with a guy who was cutting up into the endzone, but I slowed up and gave up the D to save my face (not to save face, but to save MY face). I got put up in traffic once, but thankfully I came down with it with no more than some arm contact. The real problem, though, was when a female friend of mine from NYNJA was trailing her defender back into the front of the stack. I was trailing my guy, baiting the throw to the open-side in cut. The throw went up, and the girl followed it for the opportunistic D. I saw her and hesitated, but then she slowed down (presumably for the same reason I did), so I took another couple steps and then jumped and D'ed the disc right before it came to my man's hand. Of course, when I went up, she was still running toward us. My hip met her face and took her out. She was on her back, we gave her air, she got a nosebleed. I felt bad, she said it was her fault (for trying to run head-on into an in-cut contest), somebody gave her a towel. Later, she came back into the game and somebody hucked it to her when two tall dudes were covering her (one was her man, the other a poach).

These sort of things still happen in high-level Ultimate, but not as frequently. There is usually less poaching, more vision from the thrower, and single-gender play. I mean, with my momentum I definitely would have taken out even most dudes, but for some reason I think I would not have felt as bad, especially if he were an experienced player who should know better. But that's pickup for you.