Last weekend I attended the one day co-ed thing in the bay as a member of Brown Chicken Brown Cow (BCBC say the name with a 70s porn bow chica bow wow melody), but wound up being a spectator. My plan was to have fun for a day, and maybe right something in the blog about scouting reports, my thoughts on co-ed, and why I'm playing open this year. Well, I don't really feel up to all of that, so I'll just stick with the scouting reports thing. Honestly, I wasn't as observant as I usually am, instead focusing on drinking and being obnoxious (I call it heckling). Still, I'll try and dig through the fog to say something useful.
Australia: I'm not sure about the ethics of giving stuff about a National team away right before worlds, but in reality, this probably won't help anyone. They run a vert stack and the dump goes up the line when activated. After that they like to hit the inside to the front as a space throw. Off the break the love to continue down the line. Even when you think you've cut off the around, they'll still take it, especially if you're forcing backhand. Aside from that, their cutters aren't the strongest throwers, but they are all good athletes. Employ hucker calls.
Night Train: I think loosing Nilla hurts them, they seem like they could use another set of hands. They still love the deep game, and Will DeBello is still the go to cutter in terms of the guys. Bethany is good, don't let her go deep on you. Doug needs to do more, he just doesn't have enough ego to assert himself like he should. Brian Yoxall is so married.
Mischief: They're a very different team at these things then they are once the series rolls around. They're also a very different team this year without Kevin 'Dollar' Smith and Tyler Grant. They still rely heavily on their athleticism, and seeing as most teams in co-ed can't match it, they probably won't regret their strategy any time soon. Chucky needs to sack up and drink more, I don't acknowledge 'I've been drinking for the past three nights' sort of excuses; sometimes it's 10 am and you need a beer.
CTR: They're a very meat and potatoes type of team. They move the disc well, and don't really take many chances. Still, if Shasta is indeed not back with them, they've lost a lot of the possibility for big plays (from the thrower end). Mateo is a nice pickup for them, super consistent, and has the ability to dominate as a give-go handler in co-ed.
All I can say about Monkey and AIR is that they have some beastly athletes. Don't underestimate Lil' Tom James or Beach.
Hope that was interesting, and good luck to all these teams as the season continues. Extra good luck to Australia at WUGC.
Word.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
My Future in Ultimate
I've spent a lot of time this summer facing obstacles in the advancement of my ultimate carrier, at least, in how I saw it going while I was in college. I always thought I'd make an elite club team within the first two years I graduated from school, and that I'd be traveling around the western US playing high level disc. Well, by the time DUI ended I had been cut from both Jam and Revolver, and I had to settle on how to spend my summer.
If I was still in school at Claremont, the decision of where to play would have been easy. All I would have to do is find the best way to get better individually over the summer off season. Well, seeing as I no longer have a college team as a reason to devote myself to individual improvement, I had to reconsider my reasons for playing competitively. I thought about my personal goals in Ultimate, and decided to by into Yeager's desire to improve the UCSC program.
I agreed to co-captain a team with him, and once again became excited about the game. I wanted to help the Slugs, and have an outlet for playing quality disc with friends (of course, being in a position of leadership wasn't a downside). I also told Yeager that, seeing as I was helping to captain a Slug centric team for the summer, I'd be more than happy to help the Slugs prepare for the college series in whatever capacity I'd be useful. Even with these new reasons for playing the club season, I was unsure of my individual aspirations.
After a couple of practices with our fledgling team, Yeager and I led a rag tag bunch of 14 to solstice and wound up winning the open devision. This promising result, combined with picking up some Stanford kids and a couple more Yay Area club players started to get me reall stoked about the team's potential, and I dedicated myself to actually getting in good shape for Ultimate. Then, right as I had started to get into a grove in terms of workouts, feeling a little in shape, and even climbing reasonably strong (flashing easy 11s, redpointing some harder 11s and working on some easier 12s, still only climbing v5 though, I hadn't broken back into the 6s) I tore up my knee.
Injuring my knee brought me out of focusing on the short term success of SCUC (the Santa Cruz Ultimate Club, sort of what we settled on for a club name, we can still have different team names at tournaments), and back to thinking about my long term plans for ultimate. When I told my boy Robin I was no longer sure of why I play the game he responded "I think I get it. You've invested a lot of time in the community and you're well respected within it. You also have a lot of potential to advance your standing."
Robin is right, it's easy to know I'll continue to play ultimate for a long time just from the fun I have playing, and my involvement in the community. The real question is what are my competitive aspirations. I guess in every short term situation I play for my teammates (and therefore will remain dedicated to the SCUC guys this summer), I've just been struggling with finding a reason I play for myself.
I understand that at 22 I'm still young and have a lot of disc still ahead of me, but I'm no longer sure I'll need to play on the absolute best teams to fill my competitive aspirations. I'll still want to push myself athletically, and playing elite is one way to do that, but wanting to play elite is no longer the main reason I play competitive ultimate. I guess what I do next summer will really answer the questions I have about my competitive aspirations. Either I push myself to get in shape for the tryout season and dedicate myself to the process, or I show up in not the best shape again, and wind up playing with a second tear team for another summer (and likely many more). It seems that in the end I can't come up with the answer just sitting at my house and over-thinking it. I do know I want to make it back to open club nationals, and I would enjoy playing playing with the best. I also know that I don't have to play with the best to be satisfied, I just need teammates.
Word.
P.S. I really appreciate the concept behind Bob's WDUPU series.
If I was still in school at Claremont, the decision of where to play would have been easy. All I would have to do is find the best way to get better individually over the summer off season. Well, seeing as I no longer have a college team as a reason to devote myself to individual improvement, I had to reconsider my reasons for playing competitively. I thought about my personal goals in Ultimate, and decided to by into Yeager's desire to improve the UCSC program.
I agreed to co-captain a team with him, and once again became excited about the game. I wanted to help the Slugs, and have an outlet for playing quality disc with friends (of course, being in a position of leadership wasn't a downside). I also told Yeager that, seeing as I was helping to captain a Slug centric team for the summer, I'd be more than happy to help the Slugs prepare for the college series in whatever capacity I'd be useful. Even with these new reasons for playing the club season, I was unsure of my individual aspirations.
After a couple of practices with our fledgling team, Yeager and I led a rag tag bunch of 14 to solstice and wound up winning the open devision. This promising result, combined with picking up some Stanford kids and a couple more Yay Area club players started to get me reall stoked about the team's potential, and I dedicated myself to actually getting in good shape for Ultimate. Then, right as I had started to get into a grove in terms of workouts, feeling a little in shape, and even climbing reasonably strong (flashing easy 11s, redpointing some harder 11s and working on some easier 12s, still only climbing v5 though, I hadn't broken back into the 6s) I tore up my knee.
Injuring my knee brought me out of focusing on the short term success of SCUC (the Santa Cruz Ultimate Club, sort of what we settled on for a club name, we can still have different team names at tournaments), and back to thinking about my long term plans for ultimate. When I told my boy Robin I was no longer sure of why I play the game he responded "I think I get it. You've invested a lot of time in the community and you're well respected within it. You also have a lot of potential to advance your standing."
Robin is right, it's easy to know I'll continue to play ultimate for a long time just from the fun I have playing, and my involvement in the community. The real question is what are my competitive aspirations. I guess in every short term situation I play for my teammates (and therefore will remain dedicated to the SCUC guys this summer), I've just been struggling with finding a reason I play for myself.
I understand that at 22 I'm still young and have a lot of disc still ahead of me, but I'm no longer sure I'll need to play on the absolute best teams to fill my competitive aspirations. I'll still want to push myself athletically, and playing elite is one way to do that, but wanting to play elite is no longer the main reason I play competitive ultimate. I guess what I do next summer will really answer the questions I have about my competitive aspirations. Either I push myself to get in shape for the tryout season and dedicate myself to the process, or I show up in not the best shape again, and wind up playing with a second tear team for another summer (and likely many more). It seems that in the end I can't come up with the answer just sitting at my house and over-thinking it. I do know I want to make it back to open club nationals, and I would enjoy playing playing with the best. I also know that I don't have to play with the best to be satisfied, I just need teammates.
Word.
P.S. I really appreciate the concept behind Bob's WDUPU series.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Solstice Recap
This is the latest recap I've ever written. I guess I just have to post it so I can move on to writing about other things.
I am now officially part of the leadership of a team again. We were called the Yeager Bombs at Solstice in Eugene, but we're not settled on a name as of yet (okay, the program said Jaeger, but we all know it's with a Y). It seems like being a captain has potential to change how my tournament recaps go. Well, here is the first chance to see if it does. Game by game:
Game 1: UOish
Both teams looked horrible to start, with a 5 turnover point to start the game. Both teams were clearly learning to play with each-other, and I think they had a bit of a head start on this. Things that stick out: Us having bad zone points (these were gone by the end of the weekend), and Kevin Stout getting an amazing D on what looked like a great hammer from Yeager to Jughead. We wound up wining, and thus started and undefeated season (or so we joked).
Game 2: UWish
This was the game we played our poorest in for the weekend. Jughead played maybe 2 points due to a sore hamstring, Laurent was out due to a gimpy calf, and Aman reinjured his rotator cuff. Anyway, they wound up winning a close one. Our shorthanded roster couldn't keep up with their deeps, and we continued to learn to play with each other. I guess our undefeated season was over. We were down to 11 at this point, and we could have mailed it in for the tournament but we resolved to stick with it.
Game 3: Predator (Tacoma)
They looked really organized, and had a really tall receiver. It was our third game of the day and they came in really confident, we came in really tiered. Well, the wind picked up a tad and made the game noticeably upwind downwind. I think it was in this game that Yeager hurt himself getting a huge layout D. That Injury brought us down to 10 guys which was pretty devastating considering how out of shape we were (people have been taking a small break since hard college seasons, I was just out of shape). It seemed like we were loosing the whole game, mostly because we were working so hard for the points we scored. Somehow, it turned out the game was really close, and we wound up wining by about 2. We were surprised and excited. The reward was #1 in our pool and a crossover with the Seattle 3rd team.
Game 4: 3rd (Seattle)
We were exhausted. Sitting on the sidelines, sitting during time outs and half, stalling for more rest. It was just bad. It felt like we were being crushed the whole game. Still, somehow half was on serve, and we won on universe point. It wasn't glamorous or pretty, but it felt damn good.
After finishing an exhausting day we went back to the house where we were staying (3 blocks from the fields! sick). And gathered to plan the evening festivities. We were able to grab showers at the Y then head over to the showcase game and dinner. After dinner we regrouped and eventually made our way to the party.
The party was really good. The beer wasn't great, but I enjoyed to local. And of course, any party with Alex Wells will be great. We stayed pretty late, I got good and toasty, and Yeager rocked the dd status seeing as he had hit his head on a bid earlier in the day.
Game 5: Kirkland Frisbee Club (KFC)
Day two started with us playing a young team from the Seattle area. They wound up scoring one or two points, it was a nice warmup, and even better than a bye. Winning this crossover put us in the semis against the UWish team.
Game 6: UWish
Our second game against UW was also really close and contested. We commited to taking away Sean's flick, and we tried to keep the disc out of Gabe's hands. Well, we wound up winning by a couple this time, but not before letting our out of shape-ness catch back up with us. Winning this one put us in the finals against a local team.
Game 7: Eugene Open
Our seventh and final game of the weekend was against the team formerly known as Darkstar. The game was close, with us up one or two the whole time. I don't remember that much because I tweaked my back early in the game, and was relegated to sitting on the sideline trying to stretch out. I do remember Aman dropping one huck because he had to go left handed, then deciding to do the sure thing and catch the game winner two handed.
It was great to win Solstice, even if it was just the open devision. We had victory cigars thanks to Aman (they were for Spain winning in the UEFA Cup), and everyone on the team got excited for the upcoming season. Anyway, we've got Chico next weekend. Maybe having a larger roster can help us throw down.
I am now officially part of the leadership of a team again. We were called the Yeager Bombs at Solstice in Eugene, but we're not settled on a name as of yet (okay, the program said Jaeger, but we all know it's with a Y). It seems like being a captain has potential to change how my tournament recaps go. Well, here is the first chance to see if it does. Game by game:
Game 1: UOish
Both teams looked horrible to start, with a 5 turnover point to start the game. Both teams were clearly learning to play with each-other, and I think they had a bit of a head start on this. Things that stick out: Us having bad zone points (these were gone by the end of the weekend), and Kevin Stout getting an amazing D on what looked like a great hammer from Yeager to Jughead. We wound up wining, and thus started and undefeated season (or so we joked).
Game 2: UWish
This was the game we played our poorest in for the weekend. Jughead played maybe 2 points due to a sore hamstring, Laurent was out due to a gimpy calf, and Aman reinjured his rotator cuff. Anyway, they wound up winning a close one. Our shorthanded roster couldn't keep up with their deeps, and we continued to learn to play with each other. I guess our undefeated season was over. We were down to 11 at this point, and we could have mailed it in for the tournament but we resolved to stick with it.
Game 3: Predator (Tacoma)
They looked really organized, and had a really tall receiver. It was our third game of the day and they came in really confident, we came in really tiered. Well, the wind picked up a tad and made the game noticeably upwind downwind. I think it was in this game that Yeager hurt himself getting a huge layout D. That Injury brought us down to 10 guys which was pretty devastating considering how out of shape we were (people have been taking a small break since hard college seasons, I was just out of shape). It seemed like we were loosing the whole game, mostly because we were working so hard for the points we scored. Somehow, it turned out the game was really close, and we wound up wining by about 2. We were surprised and excited. The reward was #1 in our pool and a crossover with the Seattle 3rd team.
Game 4: 3rd (Seattle)
We were exhausted. Sitting on the sidelines, sitting during time outs and half, stalling for more rest. It was just bad. It felt like we were being crushed the whole game. Still, somehow half was on serve, and we won on universe point. It wasn't glamorous or pretty, but it felt damn good.
After finishing an exhausting day we went back to the house where we were staying (3 blocks from the fields! sick). And gathered to plan the evening festivities. We were able to grab showers at the Y then head over to the showcase game and dinner. After dinner we regrouped and eventually made our way to the party.
The party was really good. The beer wasn't great, but I enjoyed to local. And of course, any party with Alex Wells will be great. We stayed pretty late, I got good and toasty, and Yeager rocked the dd status seeing as he had hit his head on a bid earlier in the day.
Game 5: Kirkland Frisbee Club (KFC)
Day two started with us playing a young team from the Seattle area. They wound up scoring one or two points, it was a nice warmup, and even better than a bye. Winning this crossover put us in the semis against the UWish team.
Game 6: UWish
Our second game against UW was also really close and contested. We commited to taking away Sean's flick, and we tried to keep the disc out of Gabe's hands. Well, we wound up winning by a couple this time, but not before letting our out of shape-ness catch back up with us. Winning this one put us in the finals against a local team.
Game 7: Eugene Open
Our seventh and final game of the weekend was against the team formerly known as Darkstar. The game was close, with us up one or two the whole time. I don't remember that much because I tweaked my back early in the game, and was relegated to sitting on the sideline trying to stretch out. I do remember Aman dropping one huck because he had to go left handed, then deciding to do the sure thing and catch the game winner two handed.
It was great to win Solstice, even if it was just the open devision. We had victory cigars thanks to Aman (they were for Spain winning in the UEFA Cup), and everyone on the team got excited for the upcoming season. Anyway, we've got Chico next weekend. Maybe having a larger roster can help us throw down.
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