5 Weeks in Cape Town: Why Your Opponent Is Your Biggest Asset

The adventure starts

In late January of this year, I (Noss Anossovitch) headed off to the southern hemisphere for what was guaranteed to be an adventure of a lifetime. Before I left, my outstanding housemate (Alan) told me – “Noss, you are going to love it.” And love it I did.

Countless things struck me about the 5 weeks I spent in Cape Town, South Africa. I could probably write a short book about my experience, but it’d be too hard to anonymise the characters. The overbearing feeling I couldn’t shake and remains with me to this day was just how lucky I am. And I want to expand on that, because I mean it in a few ways.

Arriving in Cape Town

First, as soon as I stepped off the plane, I was immediately confronted by how lucky I am to be in my socioeconomic position. This is less-so luck than it is privilege. Taking £530 out of my Christmas bonus put me on a plane with the type of crowd you’d expect to see boarding a plane in London – white young professionals with AirPods and patchwork tattoos.

As our cohort of Vitamin-D-deficient travellers disembarked, the first thing that became glaringly obvious was that every single Cape Town Airport employee was black. Every. Single. One. Decades of Apartheid rule still bleed through most aspects of South African life. I became painfully aware that I was yet another white person with alarming purchasing power coming to enjoy some Caucasian tom foolery – teaching other people (who I would find out would also all be white*) how to throw plastic better. I’m not educated enough to contribute solutions for uprooting centuries of colonialist history, so I shall move on.

Lauren & Dylan

An introduction to the frisbee scene

My gracious hosts (Lauren & Dylan) met me at the airport with my name written on the back of a disc and grins on their faces. They drove me home and showed me the room that I otherwise would’ve been sharing with my British co-conspirators, if they’d been lucky enough to also be granted 5 weeks of remote work allowance (Connor & Jamie).

The generosity of one of Cape Town’s premier frisbee power couples and the new-age corporate mercy of my gracious employer is less-so luck than it is targeted goodwill. Kindness would be extended to me for the next 5 weeks straight. A sober neighbour offered to deso-drive every time we wanted to go out for a drink (Roark). The recently graduated physio gave my ankle free check-ups after I twisted it while orienteering (Torey).

Liza & Torey

Running some sessions

Her girlfriend, the face of University of Cape Town Ultimate, organised attendees and free pitches for every single one of my development sessions (Liza). An eager assistant coach came without fail and without complaint to lend a hand (Darren). An unbelievable number of pieces came together to help me develop my coaching skills by running sessions for FMPs (Female-Matching Players) in Cape Town.

Getting around to the actual sessions, a typical 2-hour evening slot would consist of a solid 30-minute warm up (body warm up + a specific throwing focus, e.g., putting touch on the disc), followed by an hour of drills (e.g., practicing endzone offence by training a thrower-initiated iso, iso cutting from the front, handlers taking a shoulder up the line, and a lateral reset pattern), and finally, a 30-minute scrim.

Finding competition

I indeed was lucky to be coaching the phenomenal amount of athleticism, talent and passion present on Cape Town pitches. I saw players throwing perfect centring passes off the sideline in blustering conditions (Alice), running 10km to and then 10km home from training (Dana), and pulling the full length of a pitch (Christine). The women who attended my sessions were always engaged. They always gave it their all. Always eager for pitch time. The problem? The South African frisbee scene doesn’t provide a stage big enough for them to perform on. At the last Open/Women’s Nationals, Cape Town’s women travelled hundreds of kilometres to beat the other two women’s teams 15-3 and 15-6. Cape Town women find their toughest match ups at Monday night league.

Too many teams?

I’d like to take this opportunity to contrast a response that cropped up too often as a reaction to Spice’s recent relocation to London. Albeit a genuine tragedy for Midlands-based FMPs seeking high-level playing opportunity, the move was also met with “London doesn’t need another women’s team”. I would whole-heartedly push back on this and go even further to say that London actually needs more women’s teams. Every single competitive London women’s team has had to send out rejection letters this season. Trials are more competitive than ever. Talent continuous to grow, even as Spice, SYC, Iceni, and LMU’s rosters reach full saturation. It should considered an outright tragedy when a single FMP is denied the chance to participate in our beautiful sport, or even worse, relegated to the mixed division.

Recognising the impact of diverse opponents

I implore the British Ultimate community to calibrate their mindset to appreciate the value their competitors bring to the game. Without them, we wouldn’t have the vibrant competitive divisions (especially in women’s) that exist in the UK. I think we’ve all been guilty of wishing downfall upon another club, for example, when they beat you in the Nationals semi. But ultimately, we’re lucky to have such strong opponents to match up against – they are the ones who push us to be better and make the sport what it is. We need to be grateful, but we also need to be doing more to grow the sport at an intermediate/beginner level and outside of major cities.

A big thanks

Thank you to all the players in CT who showed up for me in my short time with you – there’s a lot of names that I missed out in this write up. And thank you to all the FMPs who’ve made our women’s division what it is today.

So, are you feeling lucky?

*Sorry Sarah – I know you’re not white, but on the whole, my point on diversity stands.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse