This story comes from Jake "EZ" Thomas, 4th year student and senior captain of the Hampshire College Red Scare Ultimate team. Jake spent six weeks in New Zealand between the Fall and Spring semesters and sent this email to the team, welcoming them back for the Spring semester.

"Sometimes it takes the solitude of hours of hiking up mountains on the far side of the world to be able to really have the mental space to put one's life in perspective. Every step forward, over rocks, streams, and fallen trees is like neurons firing over the landscape of the mind. On more than one occasion my mind turned to Ultimate, to Red Scare. I considered the time, energy, and emotion I've sacrificed - and I cried. It made me sad to know that in one semester I will no longer be an integral part of this team that I have experienced since my first week of college and eventually took a major role in shaping and guiding as well as I knew how. I am proud of this group/team/organization called Red Scare and I will forever cite it as a dominant factor in the shaping of my character.

I remember standing in a circle of 40 people my first year and not knowing what the hell Ultimate was, I remember the moment I got my nickname, and I remember the beginning of this season, 3 years later, looking into the eyes of uncertain first years and realizing how much I had changed and what an impact this group of people can have on each other. I actually figured out that, roughly, I have played in about 200 games. Practice and tourneys combined I have spent .67% of my waking life on a field doing something Ultimate related; that's 9% of my waking life during the time that college has been in session for my 3.5 years. Why have I done this to myself? I hope you know. I hope you know why you do it. Thinking about this inspired me to write something that might inspire you for the upcoming semester, or at least provide some direction for us as a team.

Red Scare Ultimate exists for one reason: to play Ultimate. It is made up of individuals who play for different reasons and have different goals, all of which are laudable and equally as acceptable. But, there are a couple of forces that should exist in each of us: (1) to become a better player and (2) have fun. I would argue that the latter will come more easily if one personally feels they are succeeding at the former. So, how does one get better? Conditioning-Practicing-Playing. This is the golden triangle: each is indispensable and only as strong as the other. It is up to each person to choose the balance of these things in their own life. Also, realize that these qualities can be applied to most undertakings in life and will help you be successful.

Red Scare is more communist than you might realize. We all know that captains are fascist dictators, but their limited power exists only by the will of the team and the team exists only if that power is executed in such a way that it strengthens the team. But it is us, as a collective, who actually form the mass and the body of the team. Red Scare is individuals who identify each other as members of a team. When each of us is alone, we are individuals. When we practice we are very much both individuals and a team. But, in the deepest, most passionate moments of a game where blood, sweat, and tears are on the line we must truly cease to be individuals and act as a single cogent mind; we become the fingers of a mighty fist, individually we break easily, but together we harness our true potential. Win or lose, these are the moments that make my heart swell and I guarantee that how much these moments mean to each of us is relative to the level of sacrifice that each person commits to the team.

What happens on the field, however, cannot happen and/or does not mean as much if not for the toil of people off the field. Red Scare exists as an athletic team and a social identity because people put in time off the field to organize everything that happens. The captains certainly handle a good deal of the logistics, but again, it is the enthusiasm and dedication of every individual that feeds this process. For instance, if tasks are delegated, are you volunteering and following through? Organizations like FiCom, the Ultimate Hall of Fame & Center for Cultural Change through Sport, and other groups at this college help Red Scare because we help them. These are all opportunities to help your team and your friends. It's all up to each of us to contribute to this complex living organism that is the Red Scare. It is a team, a student group, a social identity, and so much more - a Legend. Be a part of it.

Let this be the greatest semester Red Scare has ever known. Do it for those who have gone before, for those of us who will soon be gone and, most of all, for yourself - sooner than you know, you too will be wishing that the horizon was not so close. Fight the coming of the night and run, jump, and throw with your comrades 'til you fall down in the grass panting and sweating. This is life, this is feeling, this is love. It is our destiny to be the coolest Ultimate team ever, because we already are.

There are several absolutes come Springtime: (1) Rain (2) Mud (3) Scrimmages (4) Georgia (5) BBQ's (6) Graduation (7) Century Game (8) Disc Golf

But, the clouds will part, the deluge will subside, and the mud will become terra more firma once again. Like the blossoming of buds to blooms, so too will each person's potential be realized and together we shall be a field of roses blazing BLOOD RED!

Believe,
EZ

ps - stay as late as you can this semester and I promise it will be well worth it."