The ULTIMATE life

Today was the last day I played the sport of Ultimate for a grade in my PE class. But I definitely hope that this would not be the last day I would be playing Ultimate.

I still remember that enlistment day when I just enrolled in this class because there were no other PE classes with available timeslots that would not conflict with my schedule. Back then, the sport was listed as "Ultimate Frisbee" and I had no idea what the significance of the word "ultimate" was. Couldn't they have just called it "Frisbee"? It wasn't until my first day in class that I found out that "Ultimate" is the real name of the sport. The term "Frisbee" is a brand name of a disc. And, ironically, the Frisbee brand is barely even used in the sport.

I took it for just one semester. I took it just to fill out that "PE" blank in my course checklist. Little did I know that I'd grow very fond of it. And I can't help but feel sentimental now that I'm about to scratch this PE course from my "academic obligations" list.

Goodbye to the classmates I got to know in this course. Goodbye to the friends I've made. Goodbye to the 'kuyas' that helped us rise above our own shadows. Goodbye to my crush in this class, whom I never got to talk to. Goodbye to Sir Avox (pronounced "AWEX"), his life-enriching, thought-inspiring, block-busting poetry reading, his patient tolerance of our error-filled games, his atheist-existentialist-inspired beliefs that I guiltily find useful in living my own life. Goodbye to you, Ultimate.

Goodbye.

For now.

A few random facts about my Ultimate life:

• I had perfect attendance.
• I got a .25 plus in my final grade because of my perfect attendance.
• I've played all positions: long, mid, and the handler position.
• I learned to throw backhand properly early on in the course.
• I learned to throw forehand properly...oh, wait. I haven't.
• I've been a part of five different teams and none of them won a game when I was a part of them.
• When asked by Sir Avox what grade I think I deserve, I was going to say "2.00", but I remembered about the .25 plus for my perfect attendance. So I said "1.75".
• Sir Avox gave me 1.5 - I'm not sure if the plus is already included.
• The last cheer of my team today was: "Ang galing-galing ni Sir Avox! Awuh!!!"
• The last cheer of the other team today was: "Same here!!!"
• The last cheer of everybody, as we all stood in a circle with our hands on one disc, was: "ULTIMATE!!!"
• Our class was the first ever PE class of the sport Ultimate in the University of the Philippines. Maybe even the entire country itself.