A Frisbee philosophy on life.

First I’d like to say sorry to my brother for making him feel that Frisbee is more important then me helping him out. I think that you’ll understand better after I share my thoughts with you all.


I have played ultimate Frisbee every week over the summer with a group of friends for a few years now. I love it. There is something about playing Frisbee that gives me a lot of perspective on life. In fact if I could look at every aspect of my life like I look at Frisbee I’d have a much healthier life.


I’ve learned that when you play you’ll make mistakes. You won’t always play great defense, even when you have the energy to do so. You’ll get frustrated when you let someone score because you read a play wrong and did something dumb. But just as in life in Frisbee things go on. You get more chances to prove yourself, not to anybody but yourself. When you fall get up and try again.

I’ve also realized that it is good to surround yourself with people who know what your potential is. People who know you’re better then your worst throw, or your worst drop. Bad days happen, but that’s not who we are. We need to be around people who know that. Good friends throw you the Frisbee even if you’ve dropped it over and over again, because they know that you can catch it.


I’ve learned from playing Frisbee is that I am not a Conrad or a Joe. I can’t throw as well as them and I can’t outrun either of them either. I am me, and I have learned to judge how I do in Frisbee on what I know I’m capable of and not what others are capable of. Some of you might think that means I’m selling myself short, but that’s not quite right. I know my limits in this game and I push them to, and sometimes past what I know I’m capable of every single week. I come home with grass stains and bruises almost every week. In fact I often judge the level of my efforts on how much I hurt and how many grass stains I have afterwards.


I’ve learned when to keep moving and when to take a break. I try my best to keep moving when I play Frisbee. I try to jog up the field even when the Frisbee is not in play. I do my best to keep myself moving because I know that if I stop for too long it will be that much harder to move again. However there are times when I have to pace myself and take it easy for a minute or two. When I pace myself I don’t sit down, I simply walk for a minute or two. I don’t know anybody that is capable of running back and forth for a whole game.

While there is a spirit of competition with the friends and I play with, there is also a sense of togetherness as well. If someone makes a defensive stop on me I tell them good job. I get high fives from both sides every time I make a good play and I return the favor as well. Keep things positive and remember that you’re not the only one who can do a good job.


I’ve learned that you should never assume someone is not good at Frisbee. The friends I play with know I can play and they take that into factor when they decide what move to make in the game. When I’ve played with people who do not know me I often don’t get the Frisbee thrown to me at all probably because I don’t look athletic. I have proven people wrong many times on that point. I’m really not athletic, but when you give something your all you can do amazing things and that goes beyond athleticism.

We judge ourselves very harshly sometimes. We are better then we think. Sometimes we have a stereotypical view of what people are capable of, but we find that every day we are proven wrong by someone who is amazing. The amazing people are the ones who despite what they look like or where they’ve come from, give it their all.

I have made a point of never counting anybody out when I play Frisbee. I have seen the prettiest girl on the field (make up and all) take down the biggest guy to catch the Frisbee. I have seen the shortest kid catch the Frisbee in a group of much larger individuals. He didn’t quit because he was the shortest, he only quit when he could no longer run. I’ve seen someone drop the Frisbee 30 times in a row, then make one amazing catch after another one. People have unlimited potential, and potential has nothing to do with our past mistakes.


I’ve learned that limits are only truly understood when they’re reached, and not when they’re seen from a distance. You don’t know if you can catch a long throw until you chase it down. I’ve found that even when I didn’t think I could catch the Frisbee, I often could if I just ran my fastest. And when I have ran my fastest and still not caught the Frisbee I have been content because I knew I did my best.


Oftentimes when you are chasing down a Frisbee at full speed you have to extend a hand and by so doing lose your balance to get it. This usually results in the catcher falling and sometimes rolling because they lost their balance in order to make the catch. Great things require great efforts, and falling is oftentimes a consequence. Now metaphorically speaking we think of falling as a bad thing, but please put that idea out of your mind, in my analogy it is quite good. There are some things in life that are worth losing your balance for. I can tell you that I know of few feelings greater then falling down to catch a Frisbee, rolling and coming up with that Frisbee firmly in my hand with a determined resolution to move it forward. Some choices require falling in a way. We have to be willing to make sacrifices in order to move on.


I always come back from Frisbee feeling quite accomplished. I take it quite serious, but at the same time realize it really is just a game. It’s interesting just how much I can get out of something as simple as throwing a Frisbee back and forth.