ANGELA TITULAR’S Ultimate journey started back in 2011 after her best friend, Mica Bautista, introduced her to the sport. Coincidentally, Bautista’s sister, Ping, founded a number of Ultimate institutions here in the Philippines and eventually became Titular’s most beloved coach.

Titular made great relationships with her peers early on, which was initially her main reason for playing Ultimate. However, she soon discovered that it started changing her for the better. Titular explains that “waking up very early for trainings and games, enduring physical workouts, setting goals, doing everything to get to those goals, and pushing one’s limits” were factors that helped her learn self-discipline.

She also continued competing because she loved the essence of the game and what it stood for. Titular borrows a cliché that best describes what Ultimate means to her: “What is essential is not winning or losing, but it is how you play the game.” She adds, “Ultimate demands of you to be fully knowledgeable of [the] rules of the game, to be honest with engaging such rules during the game, and to always play fair.”

However, Titular also experienced setbacks from playing Ultimate, specifically with her confidence. “I am hard on myself as I don’t want to commit errors during games,” Titular confesses. “Confidence is very important, so when you reach for that disc you know that you can take it and bring it home.”

Another challenge Titular had to endure was balancing Ultimate and academics, especially when training was on a school day. However, the self-discipline Titular was able to learn from Ultimate has helped her with this battle. To combat this, Titular says she prioritized her academic commitments first so that she would be free to concentrate on performing well during training.

Titular owes her success in getting through these trials to her very supportive family. Her younger brother and sister also play the sport of Ultimate. Coming from a sports-inclined family, her parents make it a point to cheer and support her and her siblings during their respective competitions. “We would adjust our family dates to our game schedules and they are fully supportive of us being in the sport,” she says. It was the support that Titular received from her family and friends that paved the way for her to join the national team to compete in the 2015 World Under-23 Ultimate Championship.