D-III Nationals - Why We Didn't Go

The first year of D-III nationals, captain Alex and I talked about attending it briefly after the tournament announcement and decided the we (Claremont) wouldn't go. We decided that the combination of school being out of session and the team not being accustomed to flying to tournaments was enough to not go. In addition, we thought we had a legit shot of making it to UPA Nationals that year, and we didn't want settling for D-III nationals to be okay with anybody on the team. Some people brought up the idea of going, but the majority of the team was in favor of out decision to focus on the UPA series.

The next year I was a senior and a captain and the team had almost no shot of making nationals (we wound up tied for 3rd in a region with one bid, but we knew Colorado and SB were better than us that year). We decided to have a team meeting about D-III nationals (it's not that hard to have team meetings when everyone lives on campus). My stance, along with that of many of the other seniors, was that we wanted to be as proud of our senior season as possible. To us, that meant finishing as high as we could at regionals, and pouring our harts into doing so.

At the team meeting, the general consensus was that because D-III nationals isn't hosted by the UPA, and because we knew other top level D-III teams wouldn't be there, any victory wouldn't be satisfying. We also wanted to put the team in a position to succeed in years to come, and we thought having people focus on regionals was the best way to do so. The team voted something like 16 to 3 not to go to D-III nationals that year. If the UPA hosted some sort of devision two event for small schools, we would have gone (especially because our club sports department would have paid for our trip).

So that's where Claremont stood on D-III nationals while I was there, and it seems like not much has changed. Also, as the team improves, I wonder if they'd even go to (or be eligible for) a UPA hosted D-II style event (still, it'd be hard to pass up the free accommodations).

Word.

The End of My Season

I drove Connor to the airport this morning so he could fly to Boulder and play in college nationals. It really happened, and I could have been there. I'm happy with my decision not to go to school. Anyway, I get to go to Claremont instead.

NW Regionals

This was my first time ever as a spectator and not a player at college regionals. Man that sucked. Still, I got to watch the team I should have been playing with win regionals. It was great to see all the guys I call friends and used to call team mates step up.

What stood out to me:

All of Stanford's cutters not named "Ezra" or "Tom James" are willing and eager to loose yards to give the disc to Sherwood. They'll catch an in cut and turn around and give the disc to Sherwood loosing 5 yards. By now Mark must have a sore back.

Jeremy Nordan played great in the Whitman vs. LPC game. I thought that if Whitman was eliminated on day 1 things would be a lot easier in terms of FOTY voting, well, Whitman wouldn't let that happen. Of note, Daryl, the SC coach was kind of fed up with all the Cassidy vs. Jeremy talk and said "Why can't they just be co-freshman of the year? It's happened before, it should happen again. One as a cutter, one as a handler." Seeing as both were within 5 yards of him at the time I just said, "Maybe they should fight to the death."

Speaking of Daryl, he doesn't get enough credit for the development of the young players (and even the vets) on the Slugs (I know, he doesn't really want the credit, well to bad!). Yes Danny is the on field leader, and yes Danny is deserving of their callahan nomination, but he isn't responsible for the Slug's hard nosed D or team wide understanding of the rules, or their practicing calling marking violations in practice. Also, Daryl called all the lines at regionals, and is a great calming force to counter Danny's fiery-ness.

Um, it was 99 degrees when I got in my car to leave Davis. So yeah, as hot as SoCal Sectionals. People were talking about how they couldn't believe they were playing in that kind of heat, try playing in the desert section, or a lot of SoCal.

I know, it's not much, but who needs scouting reports now that the best part (regionals weekend) of the season is over?

Word.