President's Corner

I had only been playing ultimate two weeks (for Melee) before I went to my first tournament. It was sort of by luck. One of the guys on Tuff sprained his ankle and was looking to get rid of his plane ticket (that was back when you could still change the name on the ticket). I was persuaded to buy it from him and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. My first ultimate tournament was President’s Day held in sunny San Diego California for 3 days.

But as Gary called me out on, Melee was not my first ultimate experience. I really got my start back in high school during the off season of cross country. We used to play in the gym (since it was colder outside) with some weenie Wham-o disc. The coolest thing was during the spring of my first year playing on Melee, I saw my former Cross Country teammate, Casi Cook, who played on Sky-U, the Texas A&M team.

I think most of us can say that it was the first tournament that got us hooked and kept us coming back for more. Further down the line, what keeps us coming back are new tournaments. I encourage everyone to travel to a different state or even a different country to play in a tournament. It’s usually easy to pick up with teams (just email the TD). You make a bunch of new friends and you get to see a new city.

Happy Travels!