Burn Out

In the last few weeks I have:

• -been an Observer at Club Nationals
• -moved into a house with 4 other frisbee guys
• -become deathly ill
• -helped my team get to the finals of Sean Ryan (our best finish at that tournament)
• -made the freshmen in my car read through the entire rule book on the 8 hour trip to Santa Cruz
• -attended track and practice and pasta feeds when I should have been resting
• -organized and TD'ed SoCal Warmup with less than idea field space (11 fields, 24M/20W teams)
• -trying to play in SoCal while juggling illness, other teams, and a Sports Clubs department that is very angry with Ultimate

and I have been feeling a little burned out. This burn out became very apparent to me when I realized I just was not having fun playing at SoCal with all these rookies. I used to be really patient with rookie mistakes but in my fifth year, I just get really annoyed when people don't do the right thing that's so obvious to me. And that's fucked up of me to get upset when people don't do something that they have only seen once or twice and have no real experience for. I don't yell at them and I DO try to talk calmly with people after a point, but I have a hard time caring or getting motivated or getting other people motivated. I just could not bring myself to try very hard for my team: maybe it was that my mind was elsewhere because of the sickness or my TD responsibilities, but I just couldn't bring myself to care.

Don't get me wrong, I still love frisbee: I am pumped that the Championship Finals are finally up, (even though there aren't any good shots of me making calls in the open final). But I was starting to get a little tired of it.

That's why I am really happy about last night. I got back into the weight room for the first time in 2 weeks, and even though I probably have lost 10 pounds in snot, my strength was not feeling as bad as I thought it would be. Then I went to track and watched our coach beat the crap out of the guys with a brutal workout (really glad I opted out because of sickness). Afterwards, the coaches, captains, and I got together for a few hours of discussing who was gonna make the A team. Damn did it feel good to think about playing with only the rookies who know whats up. Just the thought of not having to worry if a teammate will doink an easy throw or forget the force brings a smile to my face (Don't count your chickens before they hatch).

A team is gonna be really hard for the rookies this year because we have a ton of them and even more guys that are gonna be on the B team that want a spot. Ever A player will have to continually earn his spot with commitment and hard work. I am very eager to see which dudes step up and which can't hack it. Deciding on the A team list really rejuvenated me because Santa Barbara Invite just got a lot closer in my mind.

Now if I can just survive this quater of school...