Study Abroad and College Ultimate: Some Follow-Up

My last post was on study abroad and ultimate and some of my teammates read and responded. They are going to Mardi Gras this weekend almost savage, and so I feel even more guilty now than I did before, but anyways, I wanted to share some of their thoughts because I think they are worthwhile.

I said in my last post about friends who had studied abroad: "They came back with cool jerseys and discs and awesome stories and maybe a better understanding of how ultimate is growing in other parts of the world." I wanted to expand on that a little bit. First, if you study abroad and play on an established team, you're bound to learn something new. Any team you play for will have different styles of play but also leadership, practice structure, drills, and team culture. A discerning player can evaluate these differences and see if it's worthwhile to bring some new skills and drills back to their home teams. The other possibility is studying abroad in a place without an established ultimate scene, and, well, one of my teammates said it better than I could:

"The alternate possibility is study abroad in a developing country with little to no frisbee presence, and I think this can be even more educational. I learned more about the game trying to to teach people in Ecuador who had never seen a frisbee than I have in any team I've played with or practiced with. Plus the excitement of introducing a game that occupies such a huge place in your life to people who have grown up playing soccer with roundish pieces of fruit is such a nice reminder of how powerful (religious?) throwing a frisbee can be."

That about sums it up. I had not thought about the benefits of not just playing ultimate abroad but teaching it to people abroad, something that is very possible if you study in a place where ultimate is not well-known.