At the 2021 Virginia High School State Competition, senior Kareem Jaber rifles the frisbee past a Marshall High School player. “The main thing about [ultimate frisbee] is just having fun. There’s not as much competition [as] there [is] sometimes in football or other sports,” Jaber said. PHOTO // K. LeClaire.
up to the
ULTIMATE Senior Kareem Jaber turns his ultimate frisbee playing experience into amateur coaching for a league-less team of Jefferson students
T
he first blow came on Aug. 23. Longtime coach and former professional ultimate frisbee player Jared Seyler notified an ultimate frisbee team comprised of Jefferson students that he would have to give up his role for the season. Then, on Sept. 2, even worse news: the team couldn’t compete against other schools because they didn’t have enough girls to participate in Fairfax Ultimate’s fall mixed-team league. With just 10 days before the intended fall season start date, the team found themselves without a coach, a league, or any idea of how to fix their issues.
challenge by Aarya Kumar and Eric Feng
Fast-forward to the present, though, doing,” Jaber said. and the team hasn’t crumbled under Jaber teaches the team skills, organizthe unfortunate turn of events — far es drills, and shares his personal game from it. Twice a week, the disc still flies experience. Months of playing in sumfrom one end of the field to another. mer youth leagues and adult leagues A STUDENT STEPS IN helped Jaber develop the skills needed At the core of the team’s resilience is to coach Jefferson’s amateur team. senior Kareem Jaber: player, captain, “I have enough knowledge to create a and, all of a sudden, coach. The twogeneric plan to run practices. The main and-half year ultimate frisbee veteran focus is to get fundamentals down, and was thrust into the role when the team then we’ll focus on a few drills that the failed to find a suitable adult replaceteam struggles to perform,” Jaber said. ment for Seyler. Without a competitive scholastic “I’m kind of just throwing myself league for Jefferson to compete in, into open water with a bunch of Jaber and other members of the sharks, trying to figure out what I’m
