What It's Like to Play Ultimate for Princeton University

Kelly Weeks bring us her take on the Princeton University women's team. She is a junior at Princeton University, studying Computer Science #nerdalert. She is a Chapel Hill native, who went to high school with UNC-Chapel Hill captain Lindsay Lang, who will be another one of our contributors. We love Kelly's perspective on her team #useofhashtags #loveforasians and we look forward to watching her and her team compete for a National Championship!

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What It's Like to Play Ultimate for Princeton University

First of all, you have to be unbelievably fratty. We have, in fact, partied with a frat, and were told that we might be too fratty for them. The second most important thing is to be Asian, and if you're not Asian, get comfortable with eating massive amounts of rice and being the only [insert your race here] at practice. Thirdly, you must be boss at Ultimate. Don't let Ultimate's bronze medal in our priority list fool you, this sport takes on a huge role in our lives. In what is probably the best representation of 1) taking one for the team and 2) being committed to Ultimate, one of our captains brought her very unfinished senior thesis, the crux of a student's academic career at Princeton, to Conference Championships, which was conveniently scheduled 2 days before it was due. For those of you unfamiliar with the Asian race, or the average Princeton student, sacrificing a grade for anything but another grade is nothing short of blasphemy. But like any good team, our biggest strength is not necessarily our talent. I can't speak for anyone else, but 98% of the reason why I come to practices on days when I'm not quite feeling it - whether it's too much homework, not feeling well, or just not in the mood - is to not let down the team (the other 2% is the fact that practice is an easy three hours of procrastination). Despite cold winters, poor/no fields, and sometimes less-than-stellar practice agendas, we still have strong attendance at practices (percentage wise, not numbers wise #smallschoolproblems). Fellow DIII contenders might not start shaking in their boots upon reading that our biggest selling point is "team camaraderie." But team camaraderie = playing hard. It's been mathematically proven (trust me, I'm Asian), and rest assured that you'll feel the fear when our 8000 ex-track runners run through you on D and then burn you on O. Get excited for it.