9. Restarts

Monday, September 12th

The first week of school for Jason was one of those weeks that went by incredibly quickly and painstakingly slowly at the same time. Before he knew it, the weekend had arrived, but each individual day of classes was horribly slow. He always looked forward to his class X and Frederick and the time he spent with Terry and Aafa. Still at the end of the day, he found himself missing Vancouver, thinking about what his friends back home were doing without him.  He never checked up on them though, Jason reasoned that he didn’t want to burden his friends with keeping him up to date. At the end of each day he felt stuck, not wanting to be a burden to his friends back in Vancouver, but not yet willing to accept Madison as home.

Monday during lunch was the club fair for Madison North High School. Jason wanted to avoid it, but Terry and Aafa convinced him to at least walk around the fair. The trio made their way to the gymnasium where dozens of tables were set up to allow different clubs to advertise and recruit members. The moment Jason, Terry, and Aafa walked through the door, Terry was dragging them to a booth one of his friends was in charge of. The booth had a big sign that read “Madison North Drama, Debate, and Forensics” Terry had a quick convo with the booth operator, handed Jason an information pamphlet, and then dragged him along to the next booth. 

Terry dragged Jason to half a dozen different booths, introducing him to people involved in mock trial, art club, creative writing club, the LGBTQ student union, rugby, and robotics. As Terry walked past the Ultimate Frisbee club table, he waved to Anya and Reagan and then turned to face Jason.

“Ever thought about playing ultimate frisbee?” Terry asked. 

“Oh boy, here he goes” Aafa dryly responded, smiling because she knew how much Terry loved recruiting players to the frisbee team. 

“Oh, I uh, I used to play actually.” Jason shyly responded, looking at his feet. 

Terry cocked his head and bluntly responded “Why don’t you play anymore?” 

Jason paused for a moment to formulate a response. “I don’t really want to anymore... I guess I don't really love the sport.” It was a true enough answer for Jason. He knew he didn’t want to play, but could not figure out why he did not want to play anymore. 

Terry nodded and accepted the answer “Fair enough” he shrugged before setting his sights on the next booth. “Have you ever considered joining the baking club?” Jason was relieved that they hadn’t lingered on ultimate at all, and gladly followed Terry to the next booth.  

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The next day, Tuesday, September 13th

Anya sat in her last class of the day. It was english literature with Mrs. Spenson, who spoke with a monotone hum that made each minute last for an hour. Anya was watching the clock high on the wall above the whiteboard. She tapped her foot as she followed the second hand as it ticked towards the 12 at the top of the clock. As dreary and boring as most classes were with Mrs. Spenson, today slogged on even more. It was Tuesday of the second week of school, the day that ultimate practices began. 

Finally, the second hand of the clock made its final trip around the face of the clock of the class period. Three chimes sounded out when the hand reached 12. Anya reacted quickly, grabbing her bag and exiting the room mere instants after the last chime rang through the building. Anya made her way up a flight of stairs and around a corner, arriving at one of the shared offices for history teachers. She cautiously stuck her head into the office and looked around, seeing if Mr. Day was there. Mr. Day was one of the faculty advisors for the ultimate program, and his office often served as a storage space for ultimate equipment. The office was empty so Anya walked right in and grabbed a large bag full of discs and bright orange plastic cones next to Mr. Day’s desk. Anya left the room and was greeted by X and Frederick, who had US history just across the hall from Mr. Day’s office. 

“Shall we?” X said with a smile. Together the three walked through the school to a back exit of the building. Waiting by the exit was X and Anya’s younger brother, Zed. Anya and X hadn’t had any trouble convincing their brother to play. This was the first opportunity Zed had had to play on the same sports team as his siblings, and he had no intention of letting that opportunity slip by. In addition to that, Zed looked up to Frederick more than anyone else in the world, and wanted a chance to impress him. They walked a ways to the fields where they practiced in the fall. In the fall, the JV football teams got higher priority for field use, so the ultimate team was stuck playing on the farthest field from the school. 

Reagan and Sofia from the women’s team were already at the field when Anya’s group arrived. Over the next 15 minutes people filtered in. Terry loudly greeted the whole team as he arrived, elevating the energy of the space in an instant. 14 people showed up in all, 8 from the women’s team and 6 from the men’s team. As was standard with ultimate practices, the players organically broke into pairs as they arrived and began throwing. two rows formed about 15 yards apart and each pair tossed a disc back and forth. While the others were throwing, Anya and Frederick set up a field and then called for everyone to gather up and form a huddle. The four captains, X, Anya, Frederick, and Reagan, all introduced themselves before having everyone introduce themself. 

Joining X, Frederick, Zed, and Terry for the boys team were Zheng, a sophomore and Austin, a senior. Anya, Reagan, and Sofia were the seniors for the women’s team. They were joined by Heidi, Julia and Isabella, who were all juniors as well as Sabrina, a sophomore, and Valerie, a brand-new freshman. Frederick led the team on a warm up, first jogging around the field and then leading stretches in one end zone. After the warm up they split into teams and began scrimmaging. They were playing 5v5 to allow two subs per team. 

As the rest of the players began the scrimmage, Anya pulled Valerie and Zed aside to give them a rundown of the rules. 

“Alright the basics are you try to pass the disc to your teammates to eventually catch a pass in the end zone.  You have 10 seconds to pass the disc. If you don’t throw it in those 10 seconds, or if you throw to the other team, or if a pass is not caught inbounds, the other team gets possession. Try to avoid contact, be nice, and don’t be afraid to ask questions, got it?” Anya looked at the two newcomers, smiled, and then added “You’re gonna do great.”

On the field the game started off slowly. Several players were knocking off rust from the summer. The team on offense consisted of X, Terry, Julia, Sabrina, and Sofia. X and Julia hung back while their three teammates formed a horizontal line across the field several yards downfield. Julia had possession of the disc in the center of the field and watched as Terry and Sabrina made mirrored cuts, Terry striking deep and Sabrina cutting towards Julia. Julia pump faked, signaling for both to change their cuts and attack new space. Terry chopped his feet and cut under to the space that Sabrina had cleared, unable to get any separation from Frederick. Sabrina cut deep, Reagan stuck with her cut though, preventing an open look. Julia was being marked by Isabella, a lanky Chinese girl who excelled at on-disc defense. 

Julia turned towards X, asking for a cut so the offense could reset. Guarding X was Austin, a quiet and consistent player who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. As it turned out, the teams had been roughly split into a team full of offensive firepower, and a team of good defenders. X took two steps into the backfield before cutting upfield. Austin hung close, but there was a small window that was enough for Julia to thread a pass in. Julia’s throw was beautiful, X was able to run onto it and catch the disc in stride. Sofia then timed a continuation cut perfectly, catching Heidi ever so slightly off guard and getting a few steps of separation. X planted his feet  and then smoothly fired off a pass to the cutting Sofia. 

Sofia, X and Julia worked the disc up the field together, relying on their timing and pinpoint throws to gain yards and maintain possession. As they marched up the field, Anya talked to Valerie and walked her through how the offense was working and things to look out for. Eventually Terry was able to shake Frederick for a moment and caught a pass from Julia in the front of the end zone, scoring the first point of the scrimmage. The rest of the scrimmage went smoothly. The offensive minded and defensive minded teams battled it out for the next hour and a half. Nobody was keeping score, but there was never any doubt how much each team wanted to win. The individual matchups proved to be chaotic and intense. 

Frederick was the best player on the men’s team, and Terry the most explosive offensively. They were the two best athletes on the team and loved a challenge, but had very different playstyles. Frederick won the matchup most of the time, outplaying Terry and repeatedly placing his mark on the game. Terry however did put Frederick on a poster a few times, snagging 50/50 discs that Julia and X had thrown up for him to get. Anya ended up matched up against Julia for most of the game. Julia was the best thrower on the team, but Anya made sure that Julia didn’t get the disc much at all when she was on offense. Zheng and X had a similar battle. X was an outstanding thrower, but Zheng made sure to limit his opportunities to get the disc. Valerie showed off her speed and athleticism, while Isabella made it a nightmare for Valerie to try and get a throw off. Austin’s consistent presence sharply contrasted Zed’s enthusiasm and erratic play. Sabrina’s workhorse style of cutting and Reagan’s shutdown defense meant they were rarely at the forefront of the action, but when they were, it was incredibly impactful. Sofia proved to be the most effective offensive player for her team, coordinating the team and exploiting Heidi’s lapses in concentration. 

When practice was finished, everyone was tired and sore, but happy. It was a great introduction for the new players, and a great restart for the returners. The heat of the summer still lingered in the air of the late afternoon. By the time most of the players reached home, the sun was beginning to set, sending warm colors across the sky. Beneath the same sky, Jason sat in his room, deep in a funk, on the verge of tears. 

Fin Chapter 9