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- Science teacher Matt Anderson plays Ultimate.
by Julia Moss
Science teacher Matt Anderson balances teaching with playing on a national team. Anderson is a member of the Death or Glory Ultimate team, and will play in the Ultimate National Championships in Sarasota next weekend.
Playing on a National team is a huge time commitment, requiring a fair amount of traveling and a great deal of work. “Balancing teaching and ultimate is tough,” Anderson said. “Staying in shape takes a lot of workouts during the week, and tournaments on the weekends make it tough to keep up with grading and planning. I’ve just got to work extra hard during the first couple of months of the school year to stay on top of things. Just like anybody who plays a sport in high school. Things will be back to normal after Nationals.”
“In order to get to Nationals, we had to be in the top two teams at Regionals,” Anderson said. “We finished first.”
Since it formed in 1994, the acclaimed Boston team Death of Glory has won six national titles in a row and three world championships. “DoG is traditionally a really good team,” Anderson said. “Since some of the guys on the team are legends of the sport, it’s been a terrific learning experience playing with them.”
Anderson has been playing Ultimate for nearly 20 years, but only started playing against national-level teams seven years ago. “I’ve been playing Ultimate since my first week of college,” he said. “A friend from high school was a year ahead of me and played on the team, so I knew I’d know somebody if I joined Ultimate. I never gave up.”
This year will be Anderson’s second time at Nationals. “Last year when I joined DoG was my first trip to Nationals, which was amazing,” Anderson said. “I was a bit nervous though, so I probably made a couple bad plays because I was too excited. This year I’m hoping the experience of last year will give me the confidence to play smarter.”
Over the years, Anderson said, he has played all over the world: in San Francisco, the Netherlands, Australia and up and down the east coast. “And most notably, Sarasota, Florida, for the National Championships,” he added.