If

the team is smaller, and the rotation is smaller, then my role is necessarily different from last year--on the surface. As an "O player" I could start with the disc, and do whatever it was that I could do to get that disc in the endzone. But all too often, we gave that disc to the other team, and had to get it back. All too often, we didn't. So really, my "role" last year was a sham--a superficial category applied to my name on the roster, which I welcomed as an opportunity to remain more often within my comfort zone, and used both productively--we're the "O line" and we should not give up the disc--and non-productively. All too often, I worked hard to not look silly--the pansy approach to Ultimate. Don't look bad, you might not get as much playing time. You're not the D superstar, so your job is to contain your man as best you can if we've given the disc up. Make the play if you can, and try not to resent your teammates when they can't, when they've made the error in judgment or execution that made it so you have to play defense, so you're forced outside of your comfort zone. Why couldn't they just throw and catch? They're the veterans/ballers/tallers, don't they know that I'm new here?

Well now I know (for now). If I have the disc, I move it to a more advantageous position. If my teammate has the disc, I create an opportunity to move it to a more advantageous position. If an opponent has the disc, I take it away, or don't let my man get it. At the very least, I make him get it in a less advantageous position, make him uncomfortable.

Being better conditioned is basic to all of these things. I can't rely on my teammates to push me. Walk, not talk.

Here we go.