An Ode to the Sport, A Ballad to the Team

“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
                                                                        - Vince Lombardi

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Identity. Friendship. Fulfillment. In one form or another, each of these words is fundamental to the college experience. Going even further, these three words make up the human experience.

Millions of people across the world search their entire lives for these things. Here at Auburn, over 25,000 lives overlap for a short period of time. It’s rare to feel the full significance of that. Many of us start to feel it at football games when we combine as one voice to serve one purpose. But some of us know a more intimate version of this. Let me tell you where I’ve found it.

I arrived my freshman year of college unsure about a lot of things — however, one thing was certain. I was going to play Ultimate. I played for my high school and fell in love with a sport I had no idea existed for most of my life. What I discovered that season impacted me in the most unpredictable and important way, and I quickly came to understand what the team was about. It boiled down to a simple goal: use the team to become the best you can be, on the field and off.

I struggle to describe the type of brotherhood found within the Auburn Ultimate community, but spend any amount of time with us, and you’ll see it. We embrace our personalities and aren’t afraid to show it, and we’re the most eccentric group of people I have ever known. The entire Ultimate community sees us and wonders how we do it. I was once asked, “How do you guys stay so happy on the sideline? I mean, we literally can’t tell if Auburn is winning or losing because you guys are so loud and so weird all the time.” My answer was simple "we do it because we love this sport, and we love each other..."

We placed fifth at nationals, which is our highest accomplishment so far, and we know that our passion for the sport and for each other got us there. We beat teams we never should have beaten, simply because we believed we could. We all bought in to giving it our all. Identity, friendship and fulfillment — we have found them in one another.

Identity: we’re a bunch of guys on a mission to shake up the Ultimate scene.

Friendship: I consider anyone on the team my brother, and I know they would say the same for me.

Fulfillment: Ultimate drives us to be better players, students, people and teammates. Anyone who has been around the team will tell you, Auburn Ultimate is a family unlike any other.

My challenge to you is to find your passion. What do you love? What do you look forward to every day? Embrace it full force, and start searching for opportunities to show it. You only have a few years here, and you don’t get any of them back.

Don’t waste a moment.

Be well, Auburn.

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Photography: Lydia P.