They say it’s not as bad as it was yesterday. On the first day of the tournament, the sky was black and rain fell in torrents. The university close the intramural fields, so their games got moved to San Marcos, where I guess they don’t care as much. And the girls say that these fields (just north of San Antonio, where they also evidently don’t care) aren’t nearly as bad as yesterday, although to my eyes, the mud’s pretty bad.
Twenty-two teams or so of women playing ultimate just off the freeway in fields that surely were lush and green this morning after yesterday’s storms. Surely were lush but now are brown and wet.
They throw themselves into this sport. Tumbling over each other. Slamming into the ground. Sliding in the mud. Covered from head to toe, some of them. Some of them wear rubber boots. Some where flip-flops. Those are the sidelined ones. The ones who played too hard yesterday. Or got hurt. Or got food poisoning last night. But most are in shorts and jerseys and cleats caked with mud. When they have a chance, they claw at the mud with their fingers, trying to get some of it off. Trying to expose their cleats for a better grip. To let them run back out there and throw themselves back into it.
But aside from the mud, today’s sky is blue. And the air is warm. And there is a breeze blowing across the fields from the southwest.
Lexi walks up. She looks down at me and up at the blue sky and squints at the sun. And then she smiles and says, “It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do.”