more of the same.

i'm completely wiped. teaching, coaching, etc. i'm not even at the magic 5 year mark of teaching by which 50% of teachers quit.
02-03, grad school
03-04, subbed
04-05 half time
05-06 taught
06-07 taught
07-08 taught

so 5ish.

the coaching is wearing me down. i coach, almost 52 weeks a year. i get paid for about 20 of them. it's affecting my training.

tuesday, i cancelled practice. it's been pouring rain here: our fields don't accomodate them well. it doesn't help that our 'fields' were closed by sinkhole for 2 years. pretty irritating. i ran stairs.

wednesday. i went for a short bike ride.
thursday. coached frisbee, played a lame league night.
friday. slept
saturday: got dressed to ride, saw lightning, went home, sat around in my kit for 5 hours as it poured rain. the break never came, so it was another rest day.
today, 1.75 hour mtb ride, .5 of commuting errands, 2 hours of ultimate.

and what sweet ultimate it was.

my ideal 'pickup' ultimate was met.
a bit of a breeze (makes things more interesting)
hard play (everybody was running)
civil play (it's pickup. there are rookies out here. let's skip the close calls)
good humour (a personal beef. i have a hard time with bullshit heckling)

literally, as far as i can remember, not a single call was made... i know i tried to play my part... i dug one out on a go to cut... but i felt grass (it was high).. i just threw it down, told my team mate (ahh... shorter grass, it's for sure up, but it may have hit the grass)... a nice, tight clean game was played, with every player giving the other team the benefit of the doubt. win it with excellence, not with calls.

to me, the perfect way to play a pickup game. that said, i can be the worlds biggest asshole, stickler to the rules. but sunday in the park, just win it with your legs, and throws, not with your calls.

in contrast: i've just given up on some calls in league play. they fall on deaf ears.
'a turnover in the endzone, and the opposing player is walking it up, and spinning it on their finger and drops it, and picks it up. (i just let it go).
'a player cramps, (on a team with tons of subs).' they stay in
'2 players leave for injury in one point.' i sub 2. they say 'you don't HAVE to sub' 'Thanks, i say'

i'm good with all of this, until the opposition starts screaming pick, when they poach, or losing it when we play zone, and they call every ticky tack double (fair) but when i ask their cup to step off the double a bit, they lose it.

back to an earlier post:

why is it OK to let a bad result stand in the interest of 'let the players sort it out' where ignorance is concerned?
if a player doesn't really know the rules, is it right to let a new player be taken advantage of?

at the risk of alienating everyone:

your child gets in an argument with your other child or another child.
is your instruction 'work it out' . or is your desire for a right outcome.

seriously. teaching the rules is part of spirit of the game, codified in ettiquette.

From Section 1. Introduction, item B. "Spirit of the Game. Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional infractions, or other 'win-at-all-costs' behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game and must be avoided by all players."

specifically, adherence to the rules. that's part of spirit of the game. where players don't know about the rules, we should make sure they do!!!!