The Greatest
In Ultimate, a player may leap from inbounds, grab a flying disc and throw it back into play before he/she hits the ground. If that disc is caught by a teammate the player has completed a "Greatest".
I've never completed a Greatest, but I want to.
Sunday afternoon I had already sweated buckets as I charged back, forth, to, AND fro chasing that 175 gram disc. It was reported from the sidelines that some were questioning whether the guy in the red shirt ever stopped running. I try not to. It's what they pay me for, after all. (They don't pay me.) Hot days are hard on me. The team had been playing well, but we were starting to get tired. I was being covered by a young man they call "Scrapper". A pass went up to our Captain on the home sideline. He snatched it out of the air. While he was turning up field, I faked hard toward him and then propelled myself toward the back corner of the endzone. I had a good two steps on Scrapper. Our captain zipped me one of his trusty lefty backhands. Tired minds and tired muscles can destroy things like trusty lefty backhands. The backhand was going to be reachable, but not before it went out of bounds. I could see the back cone out of the corner of my eye. I planted my foot and leapt out after the disc. As I took off, my calf muscle seized up in a cramp. I grabbed the disc and snapped my wrist to send it flying back into play before I landed on the ground. The disc went up and then trailed away further out of bounds. I watched it flutter away in the wrong direction and then like a baby suddenly realizing that his pacifier is missing, I collapsed to the ground seized by the pain in my calf muscle. The Greatest attempt was now just a pain in my leg.
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