In high school, graduate Tim Perkey was a part of the wrestling, track, and football team. But never played ultimate frisbee.
The first time he played ultimate was his freshman year at Ball State. Perkey said he couldn’t join any of the varsity sports at college.
“I wanted to stay active and stay in a competitive environment,” Perkey said. “And so coming into college, I wanted to do ultimate frisbee, because I knew of those things and I had no idea what it would become or if I was going to like it this much.”
Since freshman year, Perkey has had great experiences with this team. During last year, he decided to give up his presidency on the team and focus on other responsibilities.
“Since I was the president for the past two years, ultimate was my main focus for those two years,” Perkey said. “And then now it’s not because I had to shift my focus towards life and real experiences.”
And he knew that coming into this year he wasn’t going to be playing much.
“And that doesn’t necessarily matter really, what matters is how the team is doing,” Perkey said.
Throughout his four years, Perkey has made some really good friendships on the team.
FRIENDSHIPS COME IN DIFFERENT SIZES
Perkey remembers coming to college with wide eyes and being a naive 18-year-old. He met his roommate and friend in Brandon Groff at freshmen orientation. Perkey said he and Groff just decided then to room together.
“And after that first year, even less than that, we knew that we got along really well and just wanted to why not stay as roommates,” Perkey said. “And so far, for all four years, we have been roommates and played on the ultimate team together. While we have different paths in our lives of where we’re working and job fields, we’re still really close.”
Perkey also said ultimate frisbee has been the supporting factor of all things considered.
“It’s one of the closest friendships/ relationships that I have ever had with anyone. It has been a great experience. We compliment each other well, we do nearly everything together,” Perkey said. “Ultimate has helped us grow closer as roommates/friends/brothers.”
Another close friendship is with Robbie Craven. Perkey said he remembers being in Craven’s wedding last year.
“Without ultimate, it gives you the opportunity to make lifelong friends and I have definitely done that in my four years of playing,” Perkey said.
In a phone call interview, Craven said his friendship with Perkey started when Perkey joined the ultimate team.
“From the very beginning we kind of hit it off pretty decently,” Craven said. “We are both very competitive, so we pushed each other to be better and with that, we actually developed good communication and started hanging out of the field and on the field.”
Last year, Perkey was invited to be part of Craven’s wedding as one of the groomsmen. Craven said it was a friendship that began on the field.
“He was somebody that I could go to about personal stuff that wasn’t just frisbee,” Craven said. “Actually a great friendship that we have built together and I was happy to have him there at my wedding.”
With these friendships on the team, teammates have shared their comments about Perkey.
TEAMMATES REMARKS
This season was freshman Alex Warfield’s first season playing for the Wizardz. In a Facebook messenger interview, Warfield said this year’s senior class was great.
“Even though this is my 5th year playing ultimate, I feel like they have taught me so much on and off the field,”
Along with Warfield, team captain Garrett Fuelling shared his comments about Perkey.
“Perkey brings fiery man D and is not afraid to guard their best player,” Fuelling said.
And it shows in the statistics this season. Perkey had 17 Ds, which was tied for seventh with freshman Jaden Jarrett.
Along with these remarks from his teammates, Perkey wants to leave these comments for them.
“Enjoy it. It’s four years and you get these four years to be a family with a team and it’s great,” Perkey said. “Take all the times in the nasty hotel rooms and cherish them, because I mean in reality that is what it is.”
Perkey also said that his teammates should play hard and give it all you can.
“Because you don’t know how much longer you will be playing. So just do your best at every point, every play, every tournament, and it will be good.”
Patrick Murphy 