Thursday, March 27, 2008
Non-contact sports
I was filling out a survey about ultimate frisbee injuries just recently that I'm sure many of you received through the Ultimate Chicago. While taking the survey it dawned on me just how many injuries I've sustained playing ultimate. While it's a non-contact sport, you contact the ground more than in most other non-contact sports, so I've hurt myself much worse in 8 years of ultimate than I did in almost 15 years of soccer. So far I've broken a finger that's required surgery (most recent obviously), torn a ligament in my knee that came close to requiring surgery, broken my nose, blacked out from hitting my head twice, once going to the hospital with a concussion, and suffered knee and elbow tendinitis as well as the scrapes and bruises that come with laying out on patches of dirt. The thing is, I feel this is probably the typical experience for an ultimate player. Is our sport that dangerous?
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4 comments:
Well after watching you play for several years, I think that your mind doesn't think along the lines of "How will this hurt me when I land?" I'd bet the only thing going through your mind is "I'm getting this fucking disc." It makes you good, but also leads to your injuries.
When we went to that indoor tourney with Chris, and I felt that thinly covered concrete floor, I told myself not to lay out. I clearly remember you laying out for that disc that hurt your knee (first game!) , and the only thing that was going through my mind when you did that was "Wow, he is so fucking hardcore, awesome."
So I guess the price of going balls out all the time are injuries. But in between injuries, you play fantastic ultimate.
Rich, you are a monster. There is no letting physics or body mechanics get in your way. Let's see... the time when you laid out into like 4 foot tall grass... the time when you laid out into a hillside... the time when we took a team of rookies to a tourney and you were massively hung over and you played 110% only with like one break to puke on the sidelines.
I mean I haven't played ultimate with you in years, so I'm sure I only remember like 5% of the shit you did that amazed me. And maybe some of those details are a little foggy. But I know I am left with the distinct impression that you are most definitely hardcore on a level not matched by anyone else I've ever played with.
Interestingly, my injuries from ultimate have all been relatively minor, and the most serious of those were more in training for ultimate (the Air Alert debacle) or playing indoor soccer (this broken toe) than playing the sport itself. I get all sorts of surface wounds all the time, but somehow have managed to evade the real serious injury (knock on wood). I have been very fortunate for all the near-misses over the years (taking Kang's knee to the face, risking dislocated fingers and broken ribs, getting head-butted by Vijay in postgame finger fencing, etc.)
But it IS a dangerous sport by nature. If you think of all the instances in which you're following the flight of the disc, whether on defense or offense, and not even watching where you're running, you or someone else can get blind-sided...the violent nature of hard cutting and hard on-their-hip defense and its effects on the knees and ankles...hand blocking and foot blocking...the fact that we play in almost any weather...
I do think soccer is just as dangerous, but in different ways. Slide tackling can really fuck you up...trying to win balls in the air...point-blank shots to the body.
Yup, I certainly think ultimtate holds its own in the injury-risk department, especially the harder you play.
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