By Andrew Mannion, Asst. Sports Editor
The Jaspers ultimate frisbee team is set to kick off its inaugural season in just a week. After months of preparation for the new team, they took on Adelphi University this past Sunday.
The team has been building its roster and practicing since October of last year. With the team being new to a sport that is not widely available throughout high schools, it has seen its troubles in gaining experienced players. Head captain of the team, Keller Peterson, spoke on how the team has been training for the upcoming season.
“Given that we’ve been practicing for about eight or so months, while the competition has been practicing for at least four years, if not more,” Peterson said. “I’m not expecting to win anything, but there’s been a lot of growth for the team going from zero to where we are now.”
The improvements of the team will come from the goals that they have set for each other. With many players having to learn the sport from scratch, a big responsibility is placed on players like Peterson who have a lot of experience in the sport already. He mentioned how it has been captaining a team with little experience.
“It’s definitely a learning experience,” Peterson said. “I’m a tutor, so I know how to teach people some things but one is academics, and the other is physical activity. There are some inherent differences, but I think I’ve done a pretty good job for my first time, so I’m excited to see where the team goes now that they’ve caught up to mostly where I am right now.”
Outside of the captains, players themselves have had to learn the sport as well. Many players have mentioned how much they have grown over the years, specifically Christian Molina. He spoke about his goals for the season and how he plans to improve as an individual player.
“I want to be as good of a player as I can be right now, and that’s with being in good shape, being solid with my throws and catches,” Molina said. “Then also knowing the sport like systems, knowing and doing the drills or watching YouTube videos about it. Just to make myself better as a player for the team. I think that’s one aspect that I really wanted to improve on.”
In preparation for their first tournament, the team has been solidifying the movements and plays that they will be using in the game. With many of the players still learning the ins and outs of the sport, it is still taking time for everything to come together. However, the team has seen significant improvement in the skills and movements that the team will use in their games. One player, James Cullen, spoke on how the team has focused on game-like situations during practice and how it has helped the team improve.
“We spent a lot of time making sure our route cuts are sharp instead of a more ‘U shape’,” Cullen said. “A lot of new people come on and have a hard time just doing that quick pivot because they just haven’t done it so long. It’s the thing that we haven’t practiced or touched on a lot since we got a bunch of new players just because we did it in September and October, and then moved on because we got it. We work on those things because they can become a glaring issue once we are in game situations.”
There is a lot of excitement around the team with their upcoming season, and it’s only a matter of time to see how the boys perform.