BE AGGRESSIVE

Let's talk about aggression. And I'm not talking about scary aggression. I'm talking about being aggressive in sports. Like "B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E".

I was always told to be aggressive while playing soccer. I knew it was something I was good at, you had to be, but I didn't think I was anything unusual. I am still a girl who likes to be pretty and dress up. And I wear vintage workout clothes that match my bike in order to fool people into thinking I'm more into my looks than anything else on a sports field.

Wrong. Now that I play frisbee, I sometimes feel like a crazy person. I never stop running, on offense or defense, and I will do anything in my power not to let my opponent catch the frisbee. The problem is that it's really hard to keep an eye on your man and on the person throwing the frisbee. I told Josh one time that I sympathize with professional football players who have to guard wide receivers. Because it is totally the same thing.

I usually just watch the person I'm defending and get in their way as much as possible, even though I can't see where the frisbee is coming from or where it's going. Yesterday, while guarding Nathaniel in the endzone, I like to think that I put my aggressiveness to the test. As he was about to catch the disc, I jumped in his face, blocked the frisbee with my head (ouch), stepped on his toe (accident), and fell to the ground scraping my knee (bigger ouch).

Maybe I just want to prove that I'm still a kid at heart because I come home with scrapes like this a lot. I won't lie, it does make me keel badass to make a diving catch or to stop a point with my head. But sometimes I do wonder exactly how much aggression and competition are appropriate in a particular circumstance.

We play frisbee for fun and I wouldn't do anything to change that. But I also love to win and I know I'm not alone.

I'm lucky I have a boyfriend who prefers my athleticism and competitiveness to my being clean and girly. And, who am I kidding, I will never stop being aggressive. I like to give it my all and that's never going to change.


But now is your chance: Do you find it annoying when people take friendly sports too seriously? Or do you think competitiveness and aggression are the signs of a champion?