Scrimmage

I'd been looking forward to yesterday for around a month. It was the day of a scrimmage between the Braineaters, the 5C open Ultimate team, and the teams from three other schools: USC, APU, and Occidental. I had gotten permission from the captains to play with the open team for the day.
I like to play with open teams when I get the chance because, in reality, the level of play is completely different from mixed or women's Ultimate. It's also invigorating to push my physical limits in order to compete against guys. Most of all, I absolutely love the Brains. They're a fun-loving team, and despite that, or, more likely, because of it, they won D-III nationals last year. They have a full team of real characters, and love and tease each other to death. It's an amazing environment to play in, and I'm honored they've allowed me to compete with them.
The thing was, it was a bittersweet kind of joy. For them, this is only the beginning. They have a whole year to continue to play together and mesh as a team. For me, on the other hand, this is probably the end. It's unlikely I'll be able to compete with them again, and I don't know if the captains would allow me to in any case.
I'll continue attending practices with them - after all, what would college life be like without 10+ hours of Ultimate each week? I'll still be learning and pushing my limits. But in a way, yesterday was the end for me. I'm no longer really a member of the team.