NOT EVERYBODY discovers their passion immediately; sometimes, our passions find us by accident. Gerard Diño admits that he had his own misconceptions about Ultimate at the beginning, knowing it only as a Frisbee disc being passed around without any objective. Even today, this misconception about Ultimate continues to hold true for many.
Eventually, Diño discovered that Ultimate entailed so much more. The management economics sophomore’s interest in the game started by chance in 2010 after enrolling in the South Luzon Ultimate (SLU) Frisbee Clinic. “I was unsure of joining because I had almost no background in Ultimate Frisbee,” shares Diño. However, after playing in school during one lunch break, he realized how fun the game was and decided to join the clinic with his peers.
After his unforgettable experience in SLU, Diño continued to play Ultimate everyday in school, which led him to develop a genuine passion for the game. When asked about why he continues to play, Diño cites the community, his teammates, and his coaches, who have all played an important role in helping his passion for the sport grow. “Most importantly, I loved my team. If it weren’t for [them], I probably would not have grown to love the sport as much as I do now,” he adds.
His continued involvement in the game through the years has made Diño realize that it was his dream to compete in the World Under-23 Ultimate Championship (WU23UC) someday. “I have always dreamt of being able to represent the country in tournaments like the WU23UC and I still can’t believe that it actually happened,” he says.
However, Diño’s journey to the WU23UC was not all fun and games. There was a time in his Ultimate career when his knees were badly injured. “I was told that I needed to strengthen my knees and to put an ice pack on them after I play,” shares Diño. “After over a year of strengthening and icing my knees, they became better and it helped me improve as it was no longer hindering me.” Diño used his injury as a motivation to achieve his dream to represent the country on the international stage.
Although Diño discovered the sport by chance, he continued to do whatever it took to make his dream come true. Perhaps Diño’s road to the world championship was not a fluke after all but, rather, a culmination of all the things he has learned throughout his journey playing Ultimate.
