Today is field day, that wild card of a day when weather can
wreak havoc on the best laid plans. In
years past we've had torrential downpours (indoor activities) and heat so bad
that severe armpit sweat was actually the driest of our bodily perspiration zones. This year, though, the weather totally
cooperates -- sunny, breezy, high 70's, blue skies.
I've signed up to help my teammate on the Ultimate Frisbee
field. I know a little bit about
Ultimate Frisbee, but the whole end zone change-up drives me crazy with my
short attention span and my lack of a sense of direction. I figure that I can tag-team my buddy,
though, so we can take turns sitting in the shade if necessary.
We gather some kiddos and start a game. I've watched this game for years but never
played, so we all warm up with some disc tossing, which turns out well. Apparently throwing a Frisbee is a skill
never forgotten, like riding a bike or spitting cherry pits into a
strategically-placed bowl.
By the time we pick teams and start a game, I have enough
energy to actually run down the field.
My first handle results in me scoring a goal, and I'm very excited about
that. I might've cheated, I don't know
because I don't know the rules, but I'm pumped.
I jump around and scream, waving the disc in the air and scaring the
buhjeezus out of the locals who've made the mistake of coming to the park on
our field day.
After the game winds down, we go back to flinging the
Frisbee around. Suddenly I get a severe
pain in the middle finger of my left hand.
When I look at it, it is obvious that I have dislocated it. This has happened to another finger when I
popped it out and back in again lifting weights at the gym a couple of years
ago. I try to pop it back in myself, but
it's not quite working. My teammate
comes up and pulls my finger back into place.
By the time we have accomplished getting my hand back to almost-normal,
my finger is turning a little black and blue in the middle and tingles like
pins and needles, but I have my finger back.
I can play with the Frisbee and/or chuck the bird if necessary. I'm as good as new.
As soon as that injury is taken care of, a student takes a Frisbee
to the mouth. He seems okay and doesn't
lose any chicklets, but we go in search of ice because he is bleeding a little
bit and the lip is swelling some. No ice
can be found, and we wait five minutes for the nurse, who never shows up, so we
haul our bloody mouth and purple finger back to the Ultimate Frisbee field.
After a while of more playing, we take a break to play World
Cup Soccer. This involves my teammate
and me running at one another, pretending to smack into each other, counting to
three, then falling onto the ground like we've been shot while we motion to the
make-believe ref. My teammate also
pretends to blend into the grass (we are wearing green shirts) while I hide
(not very effectively) in the shade of a flag pole.
We continue doing this off and on for about an hour --
playing Ultimate, tossing the disc, pretending to be soccer players, and hiding
in the grass and shade. We accost
everyone, teachers and students alike, who comes near the field, assuring them
that if they touch the field, they must play with us. We fling Frisbees at them if they refuse.
Our game of Ultimate Frisbee never really catches on. Sometimes we play, sometimes we blend into
the grass, and sometimes we have impromptu chicken fights (piggy back wars)
with the students. No one is really
supervising us as the administration mistakenly assumes my teammate and I are
the mature adults at our field station.
Ultimately (get it?
Frisbee joke!), we make our way back to the school via buses, have
enough time for a brief locker cleanout, and prep for our last day and a half
of school next week. Next year my
teammate won't be my teammate anymore after seven years together -- she's
moving down to sixth grade and I've been moved to the other grade seven team --
but we can still sign up to supervise Ultimate Frisbee again.
After all, we got through it with only two injuries, one of
which is mine so it doesn't really count.
That rates as a success as far as I'm concerned.
