sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter
SPRING 2017
MIT Womens Ultimate Frisbee Newsletter | womens-ultimate@mit.edu
sMITe at WUT, our first tournament hosted by Wellesley!
1,27 Recap!
Written by Mary Zhong & Neerja Aggarwal
sMITe has had a fun season so far! We started
off the fall season strong, with fun outdoor
practices in warm weather! In September, we had
a one day retreat, where we played game and
drank boba, the start of a boba-drinking trend
within our team. Then, we went apple-picking in
the afternoon! In the fall, we also continued our
fun tradition of Friday themed practices! Some of
these included twin day and monochrome day!
Our first tournament of the fall season was the
Wellesley Ultimate Tournament (WUT). Our
rookies got to play in their first tournament, and
they did great! Another local tournament we had is
the tournament we hosted in the middle of
April 1, 2017
October, Stop Hammertime! Although it was
basically raining the entire day, we and the other
Boston-area teams had a lot of fun playing!
sMITe had two away tournaments in the fall,
Code Green in Amherst, MA and Lobster Pot in
Maine! At Lobster Pot, sMITe once again
encountered some not so great weather, with wind,
rain, and even some fog on Saturday.
Other than tournament this fall, we also had
three scrimmage with Harvard, BU, and
Northeastern. It was awesome for sMITe to be able
to play full-length games with Boston teams, and
it was a fun experience! We also got to learn a lot
from these three scrimmages, and especially the
Northeastern scrimmage, where we recorded the
game and watched video afterwards. We also
continued book club throughout the season so far,
where we either watch USAU games that are
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sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter
We need your help!
Were looking at over $ 5000 in the spring
for just tournament fees, cars + gas for
sMITe. Our team is over 20 players strong.
We dont want anyone on sMITe to be
limited by funds, and anything you can give
helps.
Help us reach our goal of
$5000!
Your donations help pay for tournament
fees, hotel costs, rental cars, coaches, etc.
Any bit helps. You can also donate
frequent flyer miles! Or a living room floor
to host us on away tournaments. If youre
able to contribute, our MIT giving account
number is:
2720295 - through giving.mit.edu
(Please leave your contact info in the
comments) THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
In return, we will
As an even bigger thank you for your
donation. We will send you:
1. Donations above $1: Thank you card
with team photo
2. Donations above $100: Above plus signed
sMITe disc by the whole team
IF WE REACH OUR $5000 GOAL - we will
create a special musical video tribute
dedicated to our wonderful alums with
original sMITe singing, dancing, music, you
guess it!
Follow us on FB/Twitter!
Keep a look out on our social media to track
our progress towards our goal. And keep up
with news, tournaments, happenings.
facebook.com/
smiteultimate
twitter.com/
ultismite
April 1, 2017
sMITe stays with you wherever you go! Check out these
sMITe alums at Lei Out! A west coast frisbee tournament.
online, or watch clips from our own games.
Outside of playing frisbee, sMITe players did some
fun things this season so far! sMITe and Grim players
made an annual ski trip during IAP, and sMITe players
gathered together on Superbowl day to watch the game
and make dumplings!
Most recently, sMITe competed at the Commonwealth
Cup in Martinsville, Virginia. It was our first spring
tournament, and we had a lot of people come and play.
The weather was great throughout the whole weekend,
and we played many nationally ranked teams,
including UNC and UVA. Overall, we had a great time
playing ultimate over the weekend, and we definitely
learned and improved over the weekend.
This year, were excited to have Alisha, Dory, and
Maya, our three new coaches with us!
We have two more away tournament planned for the
spring for the two weekends of spring break, and were
very excited for the rest of our spring season. Your
support means so much to us, and you can donate to
sMITe at giving.mit.edu using our account number,
2720295. Thank you!
Spring Schedule
Date Tournament Place
Feb 25-26 Commonwealth Cup Axton, VA
Mar 25-26 I-85 Rodeo Axton, VA
Apr 1-2 New England Open New England
Apr 20-22 Sectionals New England
May 6-7 Regionals New England 2
sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter April 1, 2017

Meet the Team!

Alexis Oriole (Oreo) #19. Michelle Chen, #10 Amelia Becker (Mimi) #32
Course 18. 2018 Course 6-3. 2019 Course 6-1. 2017
Hype. Mary and I are also responsible for the sMITe has helped me grow so much as an
ridiculously high amount of boba this ultimate player. I love the team feel and
team consumes. support of my teammates.

Annie Phan, Captain, #2 Ariel Levy , #45 Claire Duvallet, #34

Course 6-2, 2017 2020 Course 20, Grad
Just like a fish - I flail. I LOVE THIS TEAM SO MUCH U GUYS Hanging out with the younguns keeps me
ARE LEGIT STEAK SAUCE in shape and up to date with happenings
around MIT!

Claire Keenan, #12 Erica Zhou, #51 Helen Li, #18

Course 5, 2019 Course 6-2, 2018 2020
I love sMITe for all of the amazing, I play ultimate because I love the spirit,
accomplished, athletic girls that I've skills, and athleticism that it entails. I 3
gotten to meet and play with. love frisbee and boba and sMITe <3
 sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter April 1, 2017

Jess Ong, #17 Kim Yu, Captain, #15 Lilia Poteat, #14
Course 2. Grad Course 6-3. 2018 2020
Chasing spinning plastic is fun! ultimate makes me feel like I'm alive I call it "bubble tea," not boba".
instead of just existing

Lydia Sun, #4 Marjoria Buss, #60 Mary Zhong, #23

2020 Course 10. 2018 Course 18. 2019
I love sMITe because of the community Being a part of sMITe has been one of the Michelle and I are responsible for logistics.
and support in women's frisbee! And most fun things about my time at MIT -
especially boba. the people are amazingly awesome.

Melissa Slaughter, Captain, #30 Milani Chatterji-Len, #77 Stacy Mo (Smo), #26
Course 6-3. 2017 Course 1. 2018 Course 2. 2017
I play frisbee because I love ultimate, and I Frisbee is quite fun. The thrill. The excitement. With the
love playing ultimate with my teammates. enthusiasm of a clueless dog I chase
Also, my teammates are always game to discs just so I can catch it, panic, and
order boba, which I definitely appreciate. dish it to trusty handler.
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sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter April 1, 2017

Neerja Aggarwal, #11

Cat Hart, #21 Course 6-1 & 21M. Grad Amy Liu, #36
Course 10. 2018 sMITe has been such an integral part of Course 6-3. 2019
Why do I play frisbee? Its the ultimate my MIT experience and helped me
form of fun! transform into an athlete.

Serena Xu , #8 Angela Cai, #41 Alicia Lai, #25

Course 18C. 2019 Course 10. 2018 Course 9. 2019

sMITe goes apple picking at our fall retreat

Kelly Chen , #7
Course 2A. 2019

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 sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter
Creativity Corner
sMITe word cloud designed by: Helen Li
Memories off Amherst Street
By Michelle Chen
I look out my window and see
Concrete, pavement, and tree,
But also the grass
Where I threw my first pass
That flew and made me feel free.
April 1, 2017
Moms Most Delicious Breakfast
Disc Recipe
By: Annie Phan
This basic breakfast disc is made from a simple
batter of pre-chickens, flower, cow milk, and
baking powder for leavening. You can use different
types of flour, like whole wheat or buckwheat if for
some reason you want to eat healthy breakfast
discs. And you can also add fruit and chocolate
chips to the mixture.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
2 eggs
1 1/2 - 3 cups milk
Step 1
Heat a large metal handled disc over medium-low
heat. Since the disc is made out of metal, it will not
burn when you put it over the stove. In a bowl,
otherwise known as disc that has been taco-ed in
all directions, mix together the dry ingredients. In
another bowl, beat together eggs and milk. Gently
stir this mixture into dry ingredients, mixing only
enough to moisten flour; dont worry about a few
lumps. If batter seems thick, add a little more
milk.
Step 2
Place some butter or oil on the metal disc. When it
starts shimmering, like the eyes of your
teammates after making a great play, pour that
batter on that hot motha-effing disc. Guess what
shape it is after you pour it? Thats right. Another
disc.
Step 3
Dont flip the disc over until you know you're
game-ready. When it is finished cooking, wipe it
on someone with some syrup. Enjoy your mothers
most delicious breakfast discs.
Step 4
Maybe Google a real breakfast disc recipe if you
want to cook them. And by breakfast disc, I mean
pancake. This is a pancake recipe. I stole it from
the New York Times.
< Michelle, Annie, Mary, and Smo are soup cans
during the annual halloween scrimmage!
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 sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter
The Ultimate Sport
By Mary Zhong
I didnt know ultimate was a legit sport until the
summer before my freshman year. Id thrown a
frisbee before, but I had no idea that ultimate was
played competitively at the high school, college,
club, and professional level.
I knew I wanted to be on a sports team at MIT,
but to be honest, one of the biggest reasons I joined
sMITe was because I found out that MIT didnt
have a club basketball team. It was the first time
that I would not be playing on a basketball team
since the second grade, but once I stalked sMITe
online, I decided that I wanted to join. Just like
that, I was thrust into the world of frisbee.
Immediately, I discovered many similarities
between ultimate and basketball. Playing defense,
how to get open on offense, lots and lots of running.
Learning how to throw well and the amount of
practice put into throwing reminded me of the
thousands of hours Ive put into perfecting my
basketball shot. On the other hand, I discovered
many new things. The idea of stacks, vertical and
horizontal, was completely new, and the non-
contact part of the sport was definitely different.
At the beginning of the season, I tended to push off
of people when I cut or physically box people out (I
still do both sometimes even now). I very quickly
got more invested into ultimate, enjoying all the
practices and fall tournaments and enjoying the
time spent with my teammates. Playing at
tournaments and competing was definitely
something I enjoyed the most, and I loved cutting
deep and laying out. As the fall semester
progressed, sMITe became a larger and larger part
of my life at MIT.
Spring season quickly approached, and due to
some injuries on the team, I was suddenly put into
the position of playing a lot during tournaments,
particularly at the Florida Winter Classic in
January. I remember playing four games in a day
with no more than 10 minutes of rest between each
game, and I remember playing consecutive points.
The first couple days following that tournament, I
wasnt able to walk up and down stairs properly,
and it was the most sore I had ever been in my life.
Ultimate had definitely pushed me physically
harder than basketball, or any other sport, had
ever done.
Because of this, and perhaps because of my not-
so-great cleats and a lack of stretching and rolling,
I developed a foot injury in late January called
April 1, 2017
Helen, Erica, Michelle, and Mary are super fit! They
completed the 50FlightFight challenge climbing 50 flights
of stairs of the Prudential building.
Mortons Neuroma. Essentially, a nerve between
two of my metatarsals in my left foot was inflamed
and irritated, causing me pain whenever I ran and
cut. I was told that there wasnt a real cure for this
condition, and the things that I could do to treat it
would just lessen the pain, but not return my nerve
to its normal size.
I was not a stranger to injuries. Before I came to
MIT, I suffered one broken leg and sprained each of
my ankles at least once. But this injury was
different. Even if I rested and did everything the
doctor told me to do, that enlarged part of my nerve
would never shrink back to its original size. A
sprained ankle heals with time and rest; this new
injury was not guaranteed to do so. However, I was
able to recover enough to finish out the spring
season, but the pain and uncomfortableness in my
left foot persisted, and I would always have the
feeling of tightness in the ball of my left foot. It just
never felt normal.
This past fall, in September of my sophomore
year, I had cryotherapy done on my left foot; the
idea was to freeze part of my nerve and partially
kill it, and along with it, the inflamed and irritated
portion that caused my pain. I remember having a
giant needle injected into my left foot, and I felt so
much pain as the ice ball that would partially
destroy my nerve formed at the end of the needle.
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Quite miraculously, the procedure worked! Ive
 sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter
Quite miraculously, the procedure worked!
Ive been able to play consistently and to the best
of my abilities since recovering from my
procedure. I often still get weird sensations
around my foot, and I limped around for a week
after the procedure. Sometimes after practices
and workouts, I feel some tingling and soreness
around the injection site, but, most of the time,
my left foot feels completely normal, something
that I hadnt felt since January 2016. Im able to
make cuts and run as fast as I can on the field.
Through all of this, Ive gained a much deeper
appreciation for the fact that Im healthy and
able to give my 100% on and off the field. In
addition, Ive definitely realized the importance
of stretching and warming up.
Its been a year and a half since I was
introduced to ultimate, and this team has become
one of the most important things I do here on
campus. Whether its playing with my
teammates at tournament, doing workouts with
them, or just hanging out and joking around, I
have the best times with the team. As my second
spring season approaches, Im looking forward to
playing at tournament with everyone, and Im
looking forward to giving my best on the field.
Pre-frosh me would never had thought that I
would say this, but I am so glad that MIT does
not have a club basketball team.
sMIITe rookies and vets play at the local fall tournament
Code Green.
April 1, 2017
Sprit of the Game
By Kim Yu
Go hard. Play fair. Have fun. I dont
remember exactly when or how I first learned
about Spirit of the Game, but I definitely felt it
when I first joined sMITe. SOTG embodies the
values that I was raised by, and it makes me fall
in love with ultimate even more.
What is SOTG? USA Ultimate defines it as
Spirit of the Game...sportsmanship that places
the responsibility for fair play on the player.
Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never
at the expense of mutual respect among
competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules,
or the basic joy of play...win-at-all-costs
behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game
and must be avoided. (USA Ultimate 11th
Edition Rules, Section 1B)
Spirit of the Game is an empowering concept,
a uniting force for people of different
backgrounds, and is what makes ultimate
frisbee a unique sport. SOTG is about self-
officiation, but more broadly about integrity,
respect, and giving your all while having fun.
Growing up, I lived with my identical twin
sister, my parents, my aunt, and my late
grandparents. The only children in the
household were me and my twin sister, and our
parents always tried their best to keep
everything fair. We grew up hugging the same
stuffed animals, wearing the same/similar
clothing, sharing a room, participating in the
same extracurriculars, and taking the same
classes. As we grew older, people naturally
started to compare us in almost every aspect of
life, and we tried extremely hard not to view the
other as a competitor or opponent. My
parents constantly reminded us to treasure and
respect each other, just do our best, and to talk
things out instead of giving each other the silent
treatment. I came to understand that
communication is essential for good
relationships, and in order to be at the top of the
ladder, you dont push others down; you pull
yourself up.
We didnt interact very much with our
grandpa, but every time he spoke to us - no
matter what we were talking about - he would
always sneak in: Yng gng o! N yu yng gng
ma? N yo nl. (Translated from Chinese to:
Work hard! Have you worked hard? You must
be diligent.)
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sMITe Spring 2017 Newsletter
At first it annoyed me because I thought he was
implying that I wasnt working hard, but
eventually the repetition got to me, and I found
myself repeating the same thing to myself. Its
been nearly a year and a half since my grandpa
passed away, and I can still hear him saying
yng gng o! as I work on a pset or run during
an ultimate frisbee game.
The more I play ultimate, the more I learn about
SOTG, and the more I realize how it encompasses
the values my parents have instilled in me all
these years. SOTG continues to reinforce the
important traits of integrity, respect, and hard
work. I try to remind myself of SOTG every time I
get tired during a long point, when I dont get the
disc but my defender does, or when we lose a close
April 1, 2017
game. My biggest fear is that when the stakes are
high, my desire to win overpowers SOTG, and I
end up losing my cool. The responsibility of
upholding SOTG not only keeps me mindful
during games, but also helps me stay mentally
tough and have fun while competing.
Everything I grew up learning boils down to Spirit
of the Game. SOTG is the main reason I
committed to joining sMITe when I was a
freshman; its why I play ultimate now. It will
always be a part of my life. SOTG makes ultimate
fun and worthwhile, and I cant help but think
that the world would be a lot more pleasant if
everyone played the game of life with a little more
SOTG.

sMITe at I85 Rodeo tournament in Martinsville, VA

These stories would not be possible without your help!

Its never too late to give. Your donation will help us pay for our spring tournament, transportation, and
accommodation fees. Help us keep women ultimate a thriving program at MIT. Help us reach $5000!

If youre able to contribute, our MIT giving account number is:

2720295 -
through giving.mit.edu
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!