June 13, 2018

Ultimate Frisbee @ The Ultimate AO

Morg, Uncategorized, Weekday

  • THE SCENE:
    Hawt, marshy, and bright at F3Memphis’s premier AO & reigning KotB champion (The Morg for any out of towners).
    Is your AO named after Morgan Freeman? No? Ok then.
  • F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
    Done.
  • WARM-O-RAMA:
    • “7 burpees” (7x IC, with Navy/Soulja Boy reverse count to signal the 7th rep)
      1. Burpees (6ct)
      2. Aussie Burpees (4ct)
      3. Bodybuilders (8ct)
      4. Burpees Without Merkin (4ct)
      5. Tuck Jump Burpees (6ct)
      6. Burpees With Maktar N’Diyanes (8ct)
      7. Alternating One-leg Burpees (6ct)
  • THA-THANG:
    • Ran to the field from STARTEX, squats until all in, then numbered off by twos.
    • Ultimate Frisbee rules (more or less, cobains PhP)
      +
      2 burpees any time the disc his the ground
      +
      Victors Al Gore or Plank during the Vanquisheds’ walk of shame (bear crawl, crab walk, shrimp walk, lunges, etc)
  • MARY:
  • COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
    • 6 PAX (0 FNGs) for pre-BC Ruck: Choker, Orange Julius, Mr. Wonderful, Bootheel, Phat Pat, Granola
    • 15 PAX (0 FNGs) for BC: Choker, Orange Julius, Mr. Wonderful, Bootheel, Phat Pat, Granola, Commie, Flobee, Woodpecker, Carport, Crevasse, Roomba, Soulja Boy, Wall Builder, Zima
  • CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

My 9 year old 2.0 & I were quietly riding the waves down in Orange Beach–treading water, enjoying the sun, staying cool, etc. This wasn’t his first time away from shore; he’s a decent swimmer and about 10 feet away from me. I casually ask him, “You doing ok?” He quietly says “no”, which was not the answer I expected. I asked him again because it caught me so off guard. “Oh. Wait. What??” He just calmly says “no” again. I swam over to hold him and asked him what was going on. He said, “the current was pulling me out farther than I wanted to go.” I had NO idea. He looked so peaceful. I was just making small talk. We were both glad I asked.

This reminded me of another time 7 years ago when that same 2.0 fell into and sank to the bottom of a 12 foot pool. I had been sitting next to him and immediately dropped in to pull him back up. Of the difficulties related to rescuing my sinking 2 year old, him flailing around was not one of them. Years later I came across this article that transformed my view of drowning: “Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect.”

Two weeks ago, I was blindsided by a bout of suicidal depression. I struggled with depression as a teenager, but have been managing it successfully for about three years by watching what I eat. In hindsight, at least for me, I saw a parallel between my depression and drowning.

Many of us think we *know* what drowning looks like; many of us think we *know* what depression looks like. We all tell our loved ones that they can *always* reach out to us for anything any time. The problem is, I can’t always reach out–I couldn’t even return texts for the dear saints who reached out to me.

I shared all this because the silence and stigma surrounding mental health is unhelpful. I did not share this to be treated differently, babied, or put on suicide watch. I think I am a reasonably high-functioning introvert, but I do need more alone time than most. No need to freak out if I fartsack (though maybe if I fartsack another KotB).

At the end of the day, as nice as intentions, text messages, social media, and even Slack can be, there’s no substitute for face-to-face, life-on-life community. Sure, we can hide in community, but we stand a greater chance of getting help together rather than in isolation #bettertogether

By all means, keep making sure your loved ones know you love them. Just please know–and don’t take personally–that some of us just can’t reach out, even when we need it the most #CheckOnALLYourFriends

  • MOLESKIN:
    • YHC was excited to bring this Q back with the lessons learned from the first time. This was the first time for some of the PAX to play Ultimate, but you couldn’t tell. No merlot splashers though… Just mud puddle splashers. YHC saw Commie rolling around in a puddle to cool off during one of our walks of shame.
    • YHC was hoping/expecting for more grumblechatter during Warm-A-Rama. The Choker reviewed my Q and had expressed some concerns about making sure “everyone gets work.” YHC thought 7 reps of 7 kinds of burpees would have accomplish that objective, but alas, it did not. This will have to be revisited.
    • Great effort from all this morning. There were some incredible catches and steals.
    • YHC didn’t mean to bring a super heavy COT, but was glad to be a part of several conversations. In the few hours between then and posting this BB, various PAX have reached out to share their own stories of silent suffering and/or support. Prayers were offered for those experiencing and directly affected by depression.
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