Ana Leon ’16 traveled home to Atlanta, Georgia last weekend to compete with her Atlanta-based ultimate frisbee team Bucket in the club division regionals tournament. The team took home first prize. Leon and Bucket will go on to play in the Nationals tournament the weekend of October 1-4.
Though spring is the competitive season for college teams, including Bowdoin’s Chaos Theory, independent club teams compete from summer into fall.
Bucket finished first in this weekend’s tournament after playing six games over the course of two days. The team needed to win the tournament in order to proceed to Nationals, as the Southwest region only received one bid.
Leon joined Bucket--one of the most elite mixed club teams in the South--in summer 2014. The team consists of 26 players, with an equal number of women and men on the squad. The players are largely from the Atlanta area. Unlike college teams, club teams draw from players of all ages-Bucket is made up of players who are mostly in their mid-to-late 20s and early 30s.
“The biggest difference is that these people have been playing for at least four or five years,” said Leon. “Some of them have been playing for as long as I have been alive, so it’s been really nice to play with people who know so much more about the game than I do.”
Bucket’s season started in mid-June and will end with Nationals. Tournaments are mainly held regionally in the South, but the schedule also incorporates larger national tournaments, such as a tournament in Colorado earlier this year.
Nationals will feature 16 teams from all regions of the country. Leon says she believes Bucket will land in the top ten at Nationals.
Frisbee players are either designated as a handler or a cutter. Handlers are the players who throw, while the cutters try to escape the defense and catch the disk up the field. As Leon has grown as a player and developed her throw, she has switched positions several times. While she is technically a cutter at Bowdoin, she is now the defensive line handler on Bucket, checking the opponent’s best attackers and opening counterattacks with long throws.
As one of Chaos Theory’s two captains, Leon spends a great deal of her time at practice teaching the game and leading the team.
“Outside of Bowdoin frisbee, [Bucket] has been a time for me to step back from my captain or coach role and just play again,” said Leon.
The game strategy and style of play also differs between the two teams. Leon points out that the mixed-gender nature of Bucket’s competition makes a large difference.
“I really like playing mixed because it seems like it’s a faster paced game,” said Leon.
Leon said her defending duties are made more challenging due to this faster pace as well as the tendency of men to launch longer and deeper throws. When a player cuts deep, he or she is able to stay open for longer because the men are able to throw longer.
Taking on the responsibility of Chaos co-captain with Hannah LeBlanc ’16, Leon notes the difficulty they face in playing the “dual role” of acting as both the coaching figures and also contributing members of the team. She and the other veterans are more responsible for translating what they know to the new players, who may not have even touched a Frisbee before coming to Bowdoin. While challenging, she cherishes her tenure on the Bowdoin team
“It’s a great experience,” Leon said, “And it is truly rewarding to see everybody grow.”
In 2014, Leon told the Orient that her goal as a player was to become more versatile, and this year she going after that goal by trying out different positions from week to week.
“I had never been a handler before for a club team or even here at Bowdoin. I’ve had the experience of starting off as a defensive cutter and then going to an offensive cutter and then being a defensive handler,” said Leon, “It’s really nice to move around, and I’m lucky to have that opportunity.”
One of Leon’s greatest strengths is field awareness, something that the chaotic nature of ultimate Frisbee makes a rare and valuable skill. She has made it a goal to be able to “see how one player’s movements affect another.” In this way, Leon stays one or two moves ahead of the game, and moves the disc in a way that will involve the entire team.
Looking forward, Leon is unsure how long she will continue with Bucket, as it depends on her post-graduation plans. Regardless, she plans to continue her passion for ultimate Frisbee.
“I know I will end up playing somewhere, no matter where I am,” said Leon.