The CU club ultimate Frisbee team recently lost Adam Simon, one of the best players in the program’s history. Simon graduated in December and left the team to focus on medical school applications.
With CU, Simon led the Buffs to the 2004 Club National Championship over University of California, Berkeley. Simon, an MCD biology major, was also active in two rock bands and BufferZone, an all-male a cappella group on campus. He recently took time to talk to the Campus Press about his experience as a student-athlete.
CP: What do you miss most about playing club ultimate Frisbee in college?
SIMON: I miss the spring season. Practice was four times a week. You actually started to get slightly sick of the game by the end of the season, but it sure beats feeling like you’re in a drought like I do now. College gets much more attention. You can play elite until your knees give out. You can have a decade of shots at the title. In college, your chances are much more finite.
CP: What is the best memory from your Frisbee career?
SIMON: Winning nationals was great, but we were seeded second overall. My best memories are from Spring 2003 and Fall 2006 because we came into nationals seeded well below where we finished. I always seem to play my best when my team is an underdog. It’s much more satisfying to accomplish something that no one thinks you can accomplish.
CP: What is the worst memory from your Frisbee career, the one that stings the most?
SIMON: There are two that were equally hard. The first is losing 15-14 to Brown in the 2005 national finals. We were leading the entire game and, with luck on their side, they came back to win. I got scored on to end the game. The second is getting scored on in pool play of elite nationals and having the disc spiked off my back. Anytime I feel like I would rather not work out, I recall one of these two memories. With that as motivation, I’m either in the gym or on the track within 15 minutes.
CP: You had a decorated career here at CU, have you won any awards in the sport?
SIMON: Last Spring, I finished fourth in the voting for the men’s Callahan award, the college ultimate equivalent of the Heisman trophy. Also, CU gives out a scholarship to the best freshman player every year. I won the inaugural CU ultimate Frisbee scholarship, as a newcomer to CU in 2001. Also in 2001, I won the high school national title with my team from Atlanta, Ga.
CP: We hear that you are not just a gifted athlete, but also a successful musician in the popular Denver band “Waking Rothko,” tell us about your interest in music.
SIMON: In eighth grade, I was told I’d never be much good on guitar. That was all it took. I taught myself that summer, and performed my first song for my entire high school in March of 1998. I found it such an irresistible form of self-expression that I couldn’t imagine not doing it.
CP: You have also done quite well in the classroom, as you graduated in December as an MCD biology major. Where have you applied to medical school and what do you hope to do with that degree?
SIMON: I applied to Stanford, UC Davis, University of Colorado at Denver, Tufts University, Boston University and Dartmouth. I would like to become an orthopedic surgeon and specialize in sports related injuries. In short, I would like to fix knees and work with athletes. Many of my good friends have dealt with knee injuries from various sports, including ultimate Frisbee.
CP: We understand that you had a very interesting nickname on the team here. Would you mind explaining that?
SIMON: The call me “Chicken.” I have remarkably skinny legs, and from time to time, my voice still cracks as if I’m 13. I used to be about 25 pounds heavier, and I was a bit pear shaped. One of the captains my freshman year coined the name, and it stuck.
CP: How did you possibly maintain a high GPA, captain the Frisbee team to such success, and participate as actively as you did in your musical endeavors?
SIMON: Time management was always a challenge. I was very good at prioritizing the things that I thought were most important. School was always a high priority. I would often finish work several days in advance so that I could spend more time writing songs or in the weight room. I got comfortable on a schedule that only afforded me about six hours of sleep a night. It was actually kind of fun. I felt like a machine, like I was on a mission to get an impossible amount of shit done.
Contact staff writer Ben Dignan at Benjamin.Dignan@thecampuspress.com
