Robbie put together a team for a small one-day tournament in CT today. Eight teams, the field was an indoor hockey rink. We rolled through our 'pool play' matches, dominating the first two teams completely and winning the third game by a respectable three points.
Our semis opponent was not much more skilled than any of the teams we faced in pool play. However, they had one guy who we just could not handle. Plays for Colt 45, someone said he is one of their captains. He is over six feet tall and can jump really high, coupled with aggressive play making abilities and great handling. They stuck him in the back of a zone and he made ill plays on any disc that came across his path. We did not have an answer for him, and he only subbed for one point. Consequentially, they beat us ten to five. There were other major factors that contributed to that loss, but seriously the dude was pretty nasty.
It is interesting to note that during pool play, particularly the first two games we felt the need to play all out for the entire game, even when we were so far ahead that a winning comeback was literally impossible. In retrospect it might have been smarter to have taken it easy after we were already up by five or so to save energy for later matches, although its pretty cool to win big. Also, in a perfect world all timed games would have observers to stop people from slowrolling the walk back to the line, the time before you pull, the disc check-in, etc.
Indoor ultimate is a crazy game, and a lot of fun.
Playing with the Marist guys was great. Four Marist players were on the team, three of them freshmen. It's pretty easy to see why Marist has gotten as good as the have. Their freshmen this year are ballers. Fast ballers. The Gunx are going to have to work hard if we want to beat them in the spring.
Tell you what, short range flicks (one to ten yards, roundabout) are where it is at. At that range, most people will throw a push pass or some such, but anyone interested in having a wide variety of throws would do well to develop a flick that can be thrown close range in a smooth, catchable manner. Gives you more versatility on a windy day when a pushpass will get blown to smithereens, or maybe you just really like flicks because they are great. Try it out. Takes practice but hey what doesn't?
So third place huh? Yeah.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Odds and ends
Not a few ultimate related things on my mind at the moment, may as well post them.
This blog is going to be pretty much centered solely on me during winter break, no team related content when both of my teams are in the off season. Good thing I have so few actual readers because it's going to be a straight up ego fest and make no mistake.
Winter conditioning: So far so good. Pushups! Crunches! Sports!
My pushup form is still fairly bad but getting there. Need to work on keeping my head level with my back. It's going to get good because by the end of this break I will have done probably around a thousand or two....
I just can't get over how good the Hodags are. Seriously. Watching videos of games they've played is a proven method to make myself get off my ass. Vegas should show whether or not they have what it takes to three-peat. They lost a lot of talent but they have the drive and proven methods to win. The fact that they lost so many stud players may even be a good thing, only in the sense that they will not be able to rest on their laurels if they want to play up to the standard of the last few years. One day I hope to actually see them play, you know like a fan of a real sport might do. Nationals?
Speaking of Hodags...today I randomly figured out the shoulder jerk, or at least I think I did. The reason I am posting it here is so I remember today when I am actually able to really throw again. That might not be for a week, or maybe I will go throw in the snow tomorrow. Either way, it could be big. Real big.
So I bought cleats today. On the internet. Speed TDs. Apparently I have been completely brainwashed by ultimate popular culture. Soon I will be sporting a jauntily angled trucker hat and a full beard, you wait and see.
Five emailed me back about the number problem with several viable and helpful solutions. My faith in them as a company is restored. Their service is slow but their product is good and they can admit their mistakes. Word to that. So most likely the Gunx will do our uniforms with them, although I am still debating the merits of Patagonia and VC. Worry not dear reader, I will know for sure with all possible haste so we can be ready to order as soon as school resumes.
Don Van Vliet is wonderfully weird.
The double post! So strong!
Self centered and uninteresting, but hey.
It gets the job done.
This blog is going to be pretty much centered solely on me during winter break, no team related content when both of my teams are in the off season. Good thing I have so few actual readers because it's going to be a straight up ego fest and make no mistake.
Winter conditioning: So far so good. Pushups! Crunches! Sports!
My pushup form is still fairly bad but getting there. Need to work on keeping my head level with my back. It's going to get good because by the end of this break I will have done probably around a thousand or two....
I just can't get over how good the Hodags are. Seriously. Watching videos of games they've played is a proven method to make myself get off my ass. Vegas should show whether or not they have what it takes to three-peat. They lost a lot of talent but they have the drive and proven methods to win. The fact that they lost so many stud players may even be a good thing, only in the sense that they will not be able to rest on their laurels if they want to play up to the standard of the last few years. One day I hope to actually see them play, you know like a fan of a real sport might do. Nationals?
Speaking of Hodags...today I randomly figured out the shoulder jerk, or at least I think I did. The reason I am posting it here is so I remember today when I am actually able to really throw again. That might not be for a week, or maybe I will go throw in the snow tomorrow. Either way, it could be big. Real big.
So I bought cleats today. On the internet. Speed TDs. Apparently I have been completely brainwashed by ultimate popular culture. Soon I will be sporting a jauntily angled trucker hat and a full beard, you wait and see.
Five emailed me back about the number problem with several viable and helpful solutions. My faith in them as a company is restored. Their service is slow but their product is good and they can admit their mistakes. Word to that. So most likely the Gunx will do our uniforms with them, although I am still debating the merits of Patagonia and VC. Worry not dear reader, I will know for sure with all possible haste so we can be ready to order as soon as school resumes.
Don Van Vliet is wonderfully weird.
The double post! So strong!
Self centered and uninteresting, but hey.
It gets the job done.
I am Snowbeard Icefist. I will triumph!
SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST....
Once upon a time, back during the wily days of high school I too could layout full horizontal, at least once in a while. Not much beats the feeling right before, when your brain says "dude no way you are catching this" and then suddenly you are sprawled on the ground clutching the disc in your trembling hand, maybe bleeding in a way that makes the women swoon most awful.
Trouble is, when I got in shape I no longer needed to lay out as much to catch it on O and now I don't have the reflex. I balk at a full horizontal midair layout. I can slide like a champ and half-bid on my leg which (knock on wood) has yet to result in a serious injury. But it's only a matter of time.
So: I will learn to layout. This winter. I know the proper technique. Heck I've even taught it to other people. Today, after shoveling the driveway, I made myself bid in the snow until I could snag a disc with something like proper form. It was like old times - my first training philosophy was "if you can do it in the cold its usually easier when its not cold". That's how I learned to throw. Will it work for laying out? Time will tell. So far, so good.
SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST LAYOUT!
Since Doober has "best team blogger" locked up, I wonder who will capture the elusive "hardest worker over winter break" title. We'll see when indoor practice starts. I am certainly going to put my name in for consideration.
If you are on the Gunx and are reading this, ask yourself "how hard did I train today?"
Are you satisfied?
Once upon a time, back during the wily days of high school I too could layout full horizontal, at least once in a while. Not much beats the feeling right before, when your brain says "dude no way you are catching this" and then suddenly you are sprawled on the ground clutching the disc in your trembling hand, maybe bleeding in a way that makes the women swoon most awful.
Trouble is, when I got in shape I no longer needed to lay out as much to catch it on O and now I don't have the reflex. I balk at a full horizontal midair layout. I can slide like a champ and half-bid on my leg which (knock on wood) has yet to result in a serious injury. But it's only a matter of time.
So: I will learn to layout. This winter. I know the proper technique. Heck I've even taught it to other people. Today, after shoveling the driveway, I made myself bid in the snow until I could snag a disc with something like proper form. It was like old times - my first training philosophy was "if you can do it in the cold its usually easier when its not cold". That's how I learned to throw. Will it work for laying out? Time will tell. So far, so good.
SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST SNOWBEARD ICEFIST LAYOUT!
Since Doober has "best team blogger" locked up, I wonder who will capture the elusive "hardest worker over winter break" title. We'll see when indoor practice starts. I am certainly going to put my name in for consideration.
If you are on the Gunx and are reading this, ask yourself "how hard did I train today?"
Are you satisfied?
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Brendan for Callahan 09
Sunday was our final team meeting of the year, a pickup game in honor of Brendan who is departing the team for greener pastures. We're all going to miss that dude a lot. He is a great ultimate player, but moreover he is an amazing teammate and an all around great guy. The Gunx are going to have to work hard to replace his presence on the team, on the sideline, on the field. Any player on the team who uses him as an example will do just fine. Hard work, great spirit, sick plays. Brendan, if you should read this, you're welcome to play with us any time.
Yesterday I actually got off my ass for a change. Finals week can be a problem, be careful. Tossed around with my roommate and threw some big backhands. Later, went to the gym with my man Eric. I think I have a workout routine now, thanks to him. Don't feel too sore yet, but its creeping up.
Winter break conditioning is going to be interesting. Won't have access to a gym, so it's going to be pushups and crunches all day baby. Running on the track, sure. That I can do. Hopefully some ultimate. In any case, I have to train to avoid getting lambasted on Doober's blog come 2009, and also so my defense becomes something less than pathetic. I'll be practicing my throws out in the snow(s), you better believe it.
Yesterday I actually got off my ass for a change. Finals week can be a problem, be careful. Tossed around with my roommate and threw some big backhands. Later, went to the gym with my man Eric. I think I have a workout routine now, thanks to him. Don't feel too sore yet, but its creeping up.
Winter break conditioning is going to be interesting. Won't have access to a gym, so it's going to be pushups and crunches all day baby. Running on the track, sure. That I can do. Hopefully some ultimate. In any case, I have to train to avoid getting lambasted on Doober's blog come 2009, and also so my defense becomes something less than pathetic. I'll be practicing my throws out in the snow(s), you better believe it.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
On the endzone drill
Last year I was a huge proponent of the endzone drill. Some might recall the captain's meeting where I argued that we should do it for twenty minutes every practice.
Oops.
Well, I like it still. Its a useful drill for teaching teams flow, and with the addition of defense its fairly sound.
However, as many others have pointed out it has two problems: That it only involves one disc, and that it leaves too many players standing around waiting. One can argue that at least a few players are usually standing around in a vertical stack offense, but I'm likewise becoming disillusioned with the way the Gunx run vertical stack.
Tell you what, in 2009 I guarantee the Gunx will be running the endzone drill. But I plan to approach it differently. I feel that running it will smaller groups will increase the efficiency, or at least decrease the downtime. Maybe six people per group. That seems a small number, but only two people are ever really active at the same time. Also, it will put more pressure on the players to hustle back to the stack. Too many people jog or walk back nonchalantly, which teaches about six terrible habits at once. A three person stack should sort that out I daresay!
Also, I want to discourage the other team leaders from using it as a pre game warmup. Lately, doing endzone drill before a tournament game leaves me wistfully imagining getting a few pulls in instead. On the other hand, I am not a warm up expert. At the moment I don't have a personal routine and my feelings about stretching are generally negative and most likely ill informed. But I'd much rather throw five long backhands than stand in a stack for five minutes and get three cuts in. The double disc go-to drill seems much better for an active warmup. Hmmm....
Yes perceptive reader, you are right in thinking that this post was inspired by/is a blatant rip-off of a recent Jim Parinella post. You win a gold star.
Oops.
Well, I like it still. Its a useful drill for teaching teams flow, and with the addition of defense its fairly sound.
However, as many others have pointed out it has two problems: That it only involves one disc, and that it leaves too many players standing around waiting. One can argue that at least a few players are usually standing around in a vertical stack offense, but I'm likewise becoming disillusioned with the way the Gunx run vertical stack.
Tell you what, in 2009 I guarantee the Gunx will be running the endzone drill. But I plan to approach it differently. I feel that running it will smaller groups will increase the efficiency, or at least decrease the downtime. Maybe six people per group. That seems a small number, but only two people are ever really active at the same time. Also, it will put more pressure on the players to hustle back to the stack. Too many people jog or walk back nonchalantly, which teaches about six terrible habits at once. A three person stack should sort that out I daresay!
Also, I want to discourage the other team leaders from using it as a pre game warmup. Lately, doing endzone drill before a tournament game leaves me wistfully imagining getting a few pulls in instead. On the other hand, I am not a warm up expert. At the moment I don't have a personal routine and my feelings about stretching are generally negative and most likely ill informed. But I'd much rather throw five long backhands than stand in a stack for five minutes and get three cuts in. The double disc go-to drill seems much better for an active warmup. Hmmm....
Yes perceptive reader, you are right in thinking that this post was inspired by/is a blatant rip-off of a recent Jim Parinella post. You win a gold star.
Disc in a hoop?
I want to try playing dischoops if the chance should arise. Its interesting. I'm fairly ambivalent about a lot of the dischoops vs ultimate arguments that happen on RSD, but I am strongly in favor of tipping, airbrushing and self caught passes. When I first played in high school, it never made sense that such moves were not legal in ultimate. After two years of college and club experience, it still does not make much sense to be perfectly honest (alright delaying can't be allowed in ultimate because it would be impossible to legally stop. It made sense in high school because I did not understand the nuances of the travel rule. But c'mon tipping and airbrushes? That should be legal. Give me one good reason why not.).
Legalizing self caught passes would add a new and exciting dimension to the game, and tips and brushes would add to the variety of cool offensive things a player could do. Maybe its just my roots as a pickup player with marginal rulse knowlege, but nothing I've read has convinced me otherwise. Plus, there are enough videos online to prove that Crazy Frank has an arsenal of sweet throws.
The knee jerk RSD reaction to his wild theories and belligerent attacks seems to be to attack dischoops 50% of the time (statistic totally fabricated). But it really seems like a pretty interesting game, and those who mock it in arguments Frank usually come off as sort of ignorant and spiteful.
Honestly though, what am I doing reading RSD in the first place? It's bloody awful these days since C1 died down. Although I did find out that nats are in Ohio this year. I was hoping for Boston, but pretty much all hope of that happening died with the NCUA. Maybe it's just as well.
Legalizing self caught passes would add a new and exciting dimension to the game, and tips and brushes would add to the variety of cool offensive things a player could do. Maybe its just my roots as a pickup player with marginal rulse knowlege, but nothing I've read has convinced me otherwise. Plus, there are enough videos online to prove that Crazy Frank has an arsenal of sweet throws.
The knee jerk RSD reaction to his wild theories and belligerent attacks seems to be to attack dischoops 50% of the time (statistic totally fabricated). But it really seems like a pretty interesting game, and those who mock it in arguments Frank usually come off as sort of ignorant and spiteful.
Honestly though, what am I doing reading RSD in the first place? It's bloody awful these days since C1 died down. Although I did find out that nats are in Ohio this year. I was hoping for Boston, but pretty much all hope of that happening died with the NCUA. Maybe it's just as well.
Days like these
I got dem end of season blues. No ultimate other than indoor pickup on Tuesday, and I played mediocre at that. On the other hand indoor is a slow but sure way to get better at man d, since one needs to run harder than outdoors and I have Brian constantly urging me to be aggressive. I got five d's last game: two on bad throws that pretty much came to me, so forget that. One d on a huck that was alright, decent positioning but I also got a little lucky, prob'ly. One d on an incut that was actually pretty good, and one handblock. Getting there I guess.
Not throwing everyday sucks. I have to find a way to throw this winter, I'm losing a little edge and I don't like it.
Throwing now would be amazing, but sane people are asleep, and thus noone is around to throw with me. Oh well. One more indoor game before the end of the semester and some indoor tournament in late Dec that should be a blast. Since throwing is not an option, I'll have to make do with working out a little after this post is done. Maybe that will get my head in the right place to write a damn paper.
Finally got the uniform design figured out. Too late to order this semester though. On the bright side, ordering in January means I have a while to research my top jersey companies, and maybe five will email me back.
As you have no doubt already guessed, in the event that you actually read this far, I have nothing particularly interesting to blag about these days. Until the spring season it will probably mostly just be thoughts on team development and how badly I want to play some freaken outdoor ultimate already jeez. I can only implore that you, dear reader, stay tuned.
The Grammar in this post is bloody awful. Ho hum.
Not throwing everyday sucks. I have to find a way to throw this winter, I'm losing a little edge and I don't like it.
Throwing now would be amazing, but sane people are asleep, and thus noone is around to throw with me. Oh well. One more indoor game before the end of the semester and some indoor tournament in late Dec that should be a blast. Since throwing is not an option, I'll have to make do with working out a little after this post is done. Maybe that will get my head in the right place to write a damn paper.
Finally got the uniform design figured out. Too late to order this semester though. On the bright side, ordering in January means I have a while to research my top jersey companies, and maybe five will email me back.
As you have no doubt already guessed, in the event that you actually read this far, I have nothing particularly interesting to blag about these days. Until the spring season it will probably mostly just be thoughts on team development and how badly I want to play some freaken outdoor ultimate already jeez. I can only implore that you, dear reader, stay tuned.
The Grammar in this post is bloody awful. Ho hum.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I'll show you a blag....
The fall season is over. Final game was against Marist. Not much to say. We lost, refer to post about Scranton for the approximate details: It was windy, we ran zone. Our zone is pretty good. Our offense did not click very much at all. Doober made possession saving layout grabs. Kelsey led the team for scores yet again.
It was cold.
Like, my lower jaw was practically frozen shut. I spent most of the game yelling, so at times I frothed at the mouth and I'm pretty sure I spat on at least one person during a huddle talk. I'm a great captain.
Anyway, now its go time. Winter conditioning, where motivation is key. I will venture into never before explored depths of athleticism, and not bitch out. Not a bit. Went to pickup today. In an honest appraisal of my gameplay, I made some sick highlight reel catches (indoor basically equals full field blades, in these parts) and my defense sucked. No fire, no kill mode. I got maybe one d and got burned deep at least three times. Brian said that I have to call more fouls and picks or else I am dishonoring the spirit of my state. Fair enough.
Anyway yeah. I had a long post in mind about what we have to do better next semester. It was right boring. In summary:
We need a new offense. I am thinking 2 - 3 - 2.
On another note, ever throw only high release backhands to break the mark for five months? Sometimes your regular breakmark throws get shitty. Time to drill breakmark backhands until I can throw a kill shot from anywhere on the field anytime. Cool.
Recent competition for the title of the team's best blogger has thus far been a positive force for change in my life.
Take it easy.
It was cold.
Like, my lower jaw was practically frozen shut. I spent most of the game yelling, so at times I frothed at the mouth and I'm pretty sure I spat on at least one person during a huddle talk. I'm a great captain.
Anyway, now its go time. Winter conditioning, where motivation is key. I will venture into never before explored depths of athleticism, and not bitch out. Not a bit. Went to pickup today. In an honest appraisal of my gameplay, I made some sick highlight reel catches (indoor basically equals full field blades, in these parts) and my defense sucked. No fire, no kill mode. I got maybe one d and got burned deep at least three times. Brian said that I have to call more fouls and picks or else I am dishonoring the spirit of my state. Fair enough.
Anyway yeah. I had a long post in mind about what we have to do better next semester. It was right boring. In summary:
We need a new offense. I am thinking 2 - 3 - 2.
On another note, ever throw only high release backhands to break the mark for five months? Sometimes your regular breakmark throws get shitty. Time to drill breakmark backhands until I can throw a kill shot from anywhere on the field anytime. Cool.
Recent competition for the title of the team's best blogger has thus far been a positive force for change in my life.
Take it easy.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Catchable
Throwing with some people yesterday I realized that lately I've become rather lazy on the field. I've been doing stupid things like giving up on a catch I could have just because it seems like I can't get to it. I've been jumping less and making less plays and all in all that is no good. So during the throwing session I had an epiphany. My lack of playmaking has been largely due to attitude. I frequently implore the Gunx to play with confidence and yet my own play has been lacking it. So my new mantra is "catchable". Saying "catchable" when a throw is coming is a good way to motivate oneself to actually make a play and catch the damn disc. In cut? Catchable reminds me to go to. Huge bladey huck? Catchable reminds me to run it down hard. Out of reach disc? Catchable reminds me to make a play.
Sounds cheesy but the idea is if you attack the disc with a positive confident attitude you will be far more likely to make a play than if you immediately say to yourself "no way I can get this". So try it out. Next time a throw comes your way, any throw, tell yourself confidently it's catchable, whether you believe it or not.
Sounds cheesy but the idea is if you attack the disc with a positive confident attitude you will be far more likely to make a play than if you immediately say to yourself "no way I can get this". So try it out. Next time a throw comes your way, any throw, tell yourself confidently it's catchable, whether you believe it or not.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tales from the Electric City
The time and place: Friday, Wendy's, Scranton PA. The Gunx had just arrived and were preparing to eat when Bridget broke the news that day one was cancelled due to the weather forecast. Ouch. No Saturday games. The team was understandably upset about this turn of events, but the mood lightened when we arrived at the appartment we'd be staying at. It was sick, and we partied with Scranton long into the night.
Saturday we were able to play two short scrimmages vs. Scranton and the Scranton alumni. We started strong with a three point run against Scranton but ended up losing 5 - 3. Scranton Alumni rolled for four points straight, before we picked up the slack and scored a few to make it 5 -2 or maybe 5 - 3 (?). Sideline hilarity ensued. People were table-topped, including yours truly. The weather was fairly epic. The mistake that probably cost us the game against Scranton was not setting zones on the turn. Our zone d was looking strong and if we had ran it throughout we probably could have done some more damage.
Sunday: The fields were sort of rolling hills, like a rippling wave. Or something. Anyway, it was kind of neat. In any case it made far less of a difference in the games than the wind did. Wind was something like 20 or 30 mph I'd guess (although honestly I have no clue. It was strong. Yeah.). Obviously, we saw a lot of zone. First game of the day was against Bloomsburg A, and they ran a Florida style four man cup. The Scranton alums also ran a four man, and it left me wondering whether this is directly due to UFUCT's influence or if its just a coincidence. I'm willing to bet its trickle down strategy, but whatever. In any case we got rolled in the first half. Only scored one point, on a crazy OI flick huck that Charlie threw. It dropped way short but was somehow caught just inches above the ground, leaving defense and offense alike flabbergasted.
Second half we rallied, and also began setting zones on the turn instead of man defense, which improved our game a lot. Our zone d was pretty fine, and it allowed us to score three more times in the second half before the hard cap. Final score 12 - 4 Bloomsburg.
Our second match was against Kudztown. They had a dude on their team that looked like BJC and it turned out they actually know each other. Small ultimate world. Gunx came out strong with a two point lead but failed to score again until the second half. By this point we were playing zone every defensive point, and in the strong wind we were able to consistently generate turns. The offense could not convert, but we played some strong offensive points. Doober had a couple of possession saving layout grabs that were pretty sweet. Kudztown had a couple of strong throwers that were able to score despite the wind and our persistent zone, and perhaps also the Gunx got complacent after taking an early lead.
In the second half we went 1 and 1, and the game definitely seemed in reach. Sure we were down five but our zone had rallied and the final point of the game was a series of big offensive plays followed by shut down d before we converted on the third attempt. We might have been able to convert quicker if I had been less intent on jerking it deep. Unfortunately we got capped, and the final score stood at a disappointing 8 - 3, the game an epic comeback that might have been.
The third game was not to be, as RC hammer dropped out and all the other teams had matches. Dave felt that such a lackluster display of testicular fortitude must be punished, and unleashed a mighty shark attack as a challenge to all enemies of the Gunx. Scranton and the other PA teams in attendance are not going to forget us in a hurry, that's for damn sure.
Various statistics:
Points were caught by Kelsey, John, Nathalie, Charlie and me.
Dave and I had three assists each, the seventh thrown by Charlie.
Dave's landsharking was assisted by John, Doober, Mitch, Charlie, Brendan and probably others as well.
Strategic thoughts and mumbo jumbo:
Zone d: Getting pretty sick. Our cups were forcing turns left and right. Our midfielders need to work on shoring up the holes in the cup, and by bacon I need to get more aggressive as a deep. On the other hand, our communication in the zone is getting stronger, and a lot of players began play their roles very confidently.
Zone o had its ups and downs. When it worked we had flow like the Rhymenocerous, but sometimes the wind was just too much and someone would do something silly like huck a hammer or throw a thirty yard OI flick into the wind. Our offensive problems were twofold: Throwing mechanics and decision making. Too many throws were released high, too many open cutters overlooked. Some players had bright ideas like the afformentioned OI flicks and hammers. I'll take responsibility for most of the hammers, although hammer pulls are good money when the wind is fairly consistent. One problem that can be easily addressed is that the cutters need to move more, and stretch out the zone.
Thoughts on the tournament:
Scranton is one heck of a classy team. They ran a great event and although we only got two real games I do not feel that the weekend was in any way wasted. They put us up and threw a great party, and let us scrimmage with them and their alumni. Definitely a team I'd like to play against and party with in the future. In the long run I feel the weekend will prove beneficial for the team, as it was great for team bonding and dynamic building. It was fun. Fun is cool.
Now we come to what is in all likelihood the last week of practices of the year, and the Gunx host Marist this coming Saturday for our final game of the season. If we don't win I'm not shaving my mustache until 2009. We're going to win.
Saturday we were able to play two short scrimmages vs. Scranton and the Scranton alumni. We started strong with a three point run against Scranton but ended up losing 5 - 3. Scranton Alumni rolled for four points straight, before we picked up the slack and scored a few to make it 5 -2 or maybe 5 - 3 (?). Sideline hilarity ensued. People were table-topped, including yours truly. The weather was fairly epic. The mistake that probably cost us the game against Scranton was not setting zones on the turn. Our zone d was looking strong and if we had ran it throughout we probably could have done some more damage.
Sunday: The fields were sort of rolling hills, like a rippling wave. Or something. Anyway, it was kind of neat. In any case it made far less of a difference in the games than the wind did. Wind was something like 20 or 30 mph I'd guess (although honestly I have no clue. It was strong. Yeah.). Obviously, we saw a lot of zone. First game of the day was against Bloomsburg A, and they ran a Florida style four man cup. The Scranton alums also ran a four man, and it left me wondering whether this is directly due to UFUCT's influence or if its just a coincidence. I'm willing to bet its trickle down strategy, but whatever. In any case we got rolled in the first half. Only scored one point, on a crazy OI flick huck that Charlie threw. It dropped way short but was somehow caught just inches above the ground, leaving defense and offense alike flabbergasted.
Second half we rallied, and also began setting zones on the turn instead of man defense, which improved our game a lot. Our zone d was pretty fine, and it allowed us to score three more times in the second half before the hard cap. Final score 12 - 4 Bloomsburg.
Our second match was against Kudztown. They had a dude on their team that looked like BJC and it turned out they actually know each other. Small ultimate world. Gunx came out strong with a two point lead but failed to score again until the second half. By this point we were playing zone every defensive point, and in the strong wind we were able to consistently generate turns. The offense could not convert, but we played some strong offensive points. Doober had a couple of possession saving layout grabs that were pretty sweet. Kudztown had a couple of strong throwers that were able to score despite the wind and our persistent zone, and perhaps also the Gunx got complacent after taking an early lead.
In the second half we went 1 and 1, and the game definitely seemed in reach. Sure we were down five but our zone had rallied and the final point of the game was a series of big offensive plays followed by shut down d before we converted on the third attempt. We might have been able to convert quicker if I had been less intent on jerking it deep. Unfortunately we got capped, and the final score stood at a disappointing 8 - 3, the game an epic comeback that might have been.
The third game was not to be, as RC hammer dropped out and all the other teams had matches. Dave felt that such a lackluster display of testicular fortitude must be punished, and unleashed a mighty shark attack as a challenge to all enemies of the Gunx. Scranton and the other PA teams in attendance are not going to forget us in a hurry, that's for damn sure.
Various statistics:
Points were caught by Kelsey, John, Nathalie, Charlie and me.
Dave and I had three assists each, the seventh thrown by Charlie.
Dave's landsharking was assisted by John, Doober, Mitch, Charlie, Brendan and probably others as well.
Strategic thoughts and mumbo jumbo:
Zone d: Getting pretty sick. Our cups were forcing turns left and right. Our midfielders need to work on shoring up the holes in the cup, and by bacon I need to get more aggressive as a deep. On the other hand, our communication in the zone is getting stronger, and a lot of players began play their roles very confidently.
Zone o had its ups and downs. When it worked we had flow like the Rhymenocerous, but sometimes the wind was just too much and someone would do something silly like huck a hammer or throw a thirty yard OI flick into the wind. Our offensive problems were twofold: Throwing mechanics and decision making. Too many throws were released high, too many open cutters overlooked. Some players had bright ideas like the afformentioned OI flicks and hammers. I'll take responsibility for most of the hammers, although hammer pulls are good money when the wind is fairly consistent. One problem that can be easily addressed is that the cutters need to move more, and stretch out the zone.
Thoughts on the tournament:
Scranton is one heck of a classy team. They ran a great event and although we only got two real games I do not feel that the weekend was in any way wasted. They put us up and threw a great party, and let us scrimmage with them and their alumni. Definitely a team I'd like to play against and party with in the future. In the long run I feel the weekend will prove beneficial for the team, as it was great for team bonding and dynamic building. It was fun. Fun is cool.
Now we come to what is in all likelihood the last week of practices of the year, and the Gunx host Marist this coming Saturday for our final game of the season. If we don't win I'm not shaving my mustache until 2009. We're going to win.
Friday, November 7, 2008
After midnight
The NCUA website is pretty slick, but I just can't quite see how their grand plans are going to get off the ground. Their ideas are awesome, but they are counting on a lot of teams signing up for what is essentially a large scale experiment. Could be amazing. Could uh....not be amazing.
One thing that seems confusing is that they are basing their D1 and D11 of the NCAA football divisions. That makes sense for most schools, but there are some DI schools with lackluster ultimate programs and vice versa. It's a relevant comparison but not all the time. Obviously in general D1 schools will have more and better athletes available to play ultimate, but what happens with a school with no established program? Are they automatically qualified just based on their school's D1 status?
Attending three tournaments that all count towards the championship and a sanctioned season record would be pretty cool, but its definitely not feasible for the Gunx this year. $125 a head per tournament might seem reasonable to the NCUA, but that completely discounts the fact that we have to drive or fly to every tournament and the only one within a reasonable driving distance is in PA.
I do hope that the NCUA meets with some measure of success, because a three championship weekend in Boston would be amazing. I'd been planning on going to natties regardless but Boston is a bit closer than Colorado...
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Realized today that Fury double peaked. That's damn impressive.
I should pay more attention to the women's division.
Okay peace.
One thing that seems confusing is that they are basing their D1 and D11 of the NCAA football divisions. That makes sense for most schools, but there are some DI schools with lackluster ultimate programs and vice versa. It's a relevant comparison but not all the time. Obviously in general D1 schools will have more and better athletes available to play ultimate, but what happens with a school with no established program? Are they automatically qualified just based on their school's D1 status?
Attending three tournaments that all count towards the championship and a sanctioned season record would be pretty cool, but its definitely not feasible for the Gunx this year. $125 a head per tournament might seem reasonable to the NCUA, but that completely discounts the fact that we have to drive or fly to every tournament and the only one within a reasonable driving distance is in PA.
I do hope that the NCUA meets with some measure of success, because a three championship weekend in Boston would be amazing. I'd been planning on going to natties regardless but Boston is a bit closer than Colorado...
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Realized today that Fury double peaked. That's damn impressive.
I should pay more attention to the women's division.
Okay peace.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Witch's Teat
RPI's home tournament was a great time. It was our first full tournament of the year, and the first ever for our new players. We got to the fields bright and early, well in advance of the captain's meeting this time! Two teams dropped at the last minute and they could only find one replacement, so our pool only had four teams instead of five.
Our first game was against Wesleyan, although not the same Wesleyan squad I faced at club sectionals. I guess this was their A team and seven car faced their b squad, or vice versa. The field was a mud pit, and cutting was very difficult. On the other hand, it was pretty easy to floor defenders - anyone suddenly accelerating to catch a speeding cutter was liable to trip on the awful footing and fall flat. The Gunx came out strong, scoring four unanswered points or so, but could not hold the lead and slowed down to lose half six to eight. Second half, our motivation was critically low and Wesleyan ran away with the lead to win 15 - 9. All in all it was a fun game and Wesleyan was a spirited opponent. The loss was only somewhat bitter because everyone knew we could have won if we had worked to our full potential. For my part, I had two opportunities to make point saving layout d's and just could not get it together to fly. I need to be able to put my body on the line and make plays. It's by far the biggest problem with my defensive game right now.
A change of scene was just what we needed. Our next match, against Clarkson High Dive, took place on the adjacent field that was mercifully free of large muddy pits. The Gunx came out ready to rock, with an energetic sideline and strong plays on both sides of the disc. As an aside, I mentioned last post that zone offense would be a focus in the week leading up to RPI. Due to a variety of factors, we never had enough players at practice that week to work on zone at all. Clarkson threw zone and we were able to methodically take it to pieces. I guess the Gunx learned zone o by osmosis, spurred on by our veterans remembering last year, when taking apart zones was our specialty. Clarkson's zone could not keep our d line zone offense at bay, and the Gunx took half eight to two.
Clarkson rallied after half, scoring three unanswered points and then trading to make it a close 11 - 9. Fearing an upset, the Gunx got amped and scored four points running, capitalizing on a dropped pull and the occasional deep look. The Gunx made good use of both the methodical zone offense and the deep shot, although late in the game a few hucks were thrown that allowed Clarkson the easy deep d and the score. But in the end, the Gunx intensity was not to be denied, and we celebrated our first victory at a tournament, made even sweeter by taking out the second seeded team.
Our final game of the day was against the Skidmore wombats. The Gunx had given their all against Clarkson, and it showed. We played a fatigued game against Skidmore, and several marathon length points in the first half did not help. We were only able to score once in the first half, and twice in the second. Not much to say, really. The Gunx folded against the combined factors of Skidmore's considerable skills and our own fatigue. Our sideline intensity remained strong, with cheers and strike calls alike, and the sideline is becoming one of our strongest assets.
The Gunx left the field day one for a sumptuous dinner at Dave's house, and everyone seemed satisfied with our 1 - 2 record. All in all it was a great day, one of our best yet as a team. However, it highlighted our inconsistency. When we play hard, we roll. When we don't, we get rolled. Simple enough, but we need to be able to play that hard every game. We could have beaten Wesleyan. Skidmore, I think, could have outplayed us regardless but we could have at least given them a fight. If anyone is reading this and has any tips for increasing a team's consistency on the field, don't hesitate to comment.
Day two we were excited to find out that our victory over Clarkson had been enough to get us into the championship bracket, albeit seeded at the bottom of the top eight. Our quarterfinals opponent was RPI Y, the number one seed. We did well, considering. The final score was 15 to 7, and we fought hard for those seven points. Covering Steve was a high school flashback, and he skied me now with the same ease he did back then, and threw something like three hucks for scores while I was marking him. Ouch. On the other hand, I did handblock him once. Marking him was some of the best motivation I've had all year. RPI is a pretty classy team, I have to say. I'm fairly happy with how we did. If the Gunx can score that many points on a regionals caliber team now, we are on the right track. Sure it was a split squad, but it appeared to be mostly veterans and we were playing with only half of our players in any case. Good game, good game.
Our next match was against Oneonta, a rematch from Danse I suppose you could say. The field was diagonal, and marked with nearly invisible small cones. Unfortunately, a lot of the Gunx seemed to get psyched out, both by the annoying field configuration and by Oneonta. We played a negative game, and it showed. I and several others implored the team to get the field and the opponent out of our heads and play "our game" (I think I used every ultimate cliché in the book at RPI), and when we were able to play ultimate and have fun we balled. When we got psyched out and negative, we got rolled. Go figure! In any case, the game did see some strong plays. Biggest lesson? Mental game! You get psyched out, you lose. Hopefully that lesson was well learned.
Our final game of the day was against RPI X. They were tired and wanted to watch finals, so they asked for a game to seven. We agreed, which in retrospect was silly. We could have beaten them. The first point was somewhat long, and ended with them scoring by throwing the greatest. Bad omen for us! They took the lead early and we could not catch up, although I am confident we could have in a full game. Oh well, shoulda coulda woulda. My fault for agreeing to play the short game! Final score was seven to four or five, can't remember. I threw two hucks for scores, and a third that would have been a score if I had not been hasty and curved it ob. At one point, Kelsey and Ellen both went deep against their zone. Chetti was in the endzone as deep deep, guarding the middle but perhaps staying closer to Ellen because of her height. I got the disc on a swing near the sideline and hucked it to Kelsey. Chetti made a beautiful bid, sprinting full out and then flying through the air fully horizontal, just short of getting the d. Definitely one of the coolest plays of the weekend.
Wish we could have watched finals, I believe it was RPI Y vs. UAlbany alums, with a fair number of Bashing players on the Albany side. Must have been an exciting game. The tournament trophy was a forty spray painted white and capped with a metal salmon. Classy.
Recap: Great weekend. Gunx need to be more consistent, but should be proud of the intensity we brought. Eighth place finish, our best tournament finish as a program (not for long!). Breaking seed by five points was also pretty neat. Thanks to Lizz and Steve for picking up with us, Danielle for taking amazing photos and to RPI for running a great tournament. Our zone offense was strong all weekend. We can play the short game very well when we are on form and not too impulsive. MVP of the weekend was definitely Kelsey, who caught the most scores by far, some of them truly amazing plays. John played a great defensive game day two, earning at least six d's. Our next adventure will be Scranton in two weeks.
For my part, I found myself covering several players who were far and away more athletic and experienced than I am. I could run with them, but I could not shut them down. That needs to change. I need to be motivated to train harder than ever this winter. Gym here I come.
Our first game was against Wesleyan, although not the same Wesleyan squad I faced at club sectionals. I guess this was their A team and seven car faced their b squad, or vice versa. The field was a mud pit, and cutting was very difficult. On the other hand, it was pretty easy to floor defenders - anyone suddenly accelerating to catch a speeding cutter was liable to trip on the awful footing and fall flat. The Gunx came out strong, scoring four unanswered points or so, but could not hold the lead and slowed down to lose half six to eight. Second half, our motivation was critically low and Wesleyan ran away with the lead to win 15 - 9. All in all it was a fun game and Wesleyan was a spirited opponent. The loss was only somewhat bitter because everyone knew we could have won if we had worked to our full potential. For my part, I had two opportunities to make point saving layout d's and just could not get it together to fly. I need to be able to put my body on the line and make plays. It's by far the biggest problem with my defensive game right now.
A change of scene was just what we needed. Our next match, against Clarkson High Dive, took place on the adjacent field that was mercifully free of large muddy pits. The Gunx came out ready to rock, with an energetic sideline and strong plays on both sides of the disc. As an aside, I mentioned last post that zone offense would be a focus in the week leading up to RPI. Due to a variety of factors, we never had enough players at practice that week to work on zone at all. Clarkson threw zone and we were able to methodically take it to pieces. I guess the Gunx learned zone o by osmosis, spurred on by our veterans remembering last year, when taking apart zones was our specialty. Clarkson's zone could not keep our d line zone offense at bay, and the Gunx took half eight to two.
Clarkson rallied after half, scoring three unanswered points and then trading to make it a close 11 - 9. Fearing an upset, the Gunx got amped and scored four points running, capitalizing on a dropped pull and the occasional deep look. The Gunx made good use of both the methodical zone offense and the deep shot, although late in the game a few hucks were thrown that allowed Clarkson the easy deep d and the score. But in the end, the Gunx intensity was not to be denied, and we celebrated our first victory at a tournament, made even sweeter by taking out the second seeded team.
Our final game of the day was against the Skidmore wombats. The Gunx had given their all against Clarkson, and it showed. We played a fatigued game against Skidmore, and several marathon length points in the first half did not help. We were only able to score once in the first half, and twice in the second. Not much to say, really. The Gunx folded against the combined factors of Skidmore's considerable skills and our own fatigue. Our sideline intensity remained strong, with cheers and strike calls alike, and the sideline is becoming one of our strongest assets.
The Gunx left the field day one for a sumptuous dinner at Dave's house, and everyone seemed satisfied with our 1 - 2 record. All in all it was a great day, one of our best yet as a team. However, it highlighted our inconsistency. When we play hard, we roll. When we don't, we get rolled. Simple enough, but we need to be able to play that hard every game. We could have beaten Wesleyan. Skidmore, I think, could have outplayed us regardless but we could have at least given them a fight. If anyone is reading this and has any tips for increasing a team's consistency on the field, don't hesitate to comment.
Day two we were excited to find out that our victory over Clarkson had been enough to get us into the championship bracket, albeit seeded at the bottom of the top eight. Our quarterfinals opponent was RPI Y, the number one seed. We did well, considering. The final score was 15 to 7, and we fought hard for those seven points. Covering Steve was a high school flashback, and he skied me now with the same ease he did back then, and threw something like three hucks for scores while I was marking him. Ouch. On the other hand, I did handblock him once. Marking him was some of the best motivation I've had all year. RPI is a pretty classy team, I have to say. I'm fairly happy with how we did. If the Gunx can score that many points on a regionals caliber team now, we are on the right track. Sure it was a split squad, but it appeared to be mostly veterans and we were playing with only half of our players in any case. Good game, good game.
Our next match was against Oneonta, a rematch from Danse I suppose you could say. The field was diagonal, and marked with nearly invisible small cones. Unfortunately, a lot of the Gunx seemed to get psyched out, both by the annoying field configuration and by Oneonta. We played a negative game, and it showed. I and several others implored the team to get the field and the opponent out of our heads and play "our game" (I think I used every ultimate cliché in the book at RPI), and when we were able to play ultimate and have fun we balled. When we got psyched out and negative, we got rolled. Go figure! In any case, the game did see some strong plays. Biggest lesson? Mental game! You get psyched out, you lose. Hopefully that lesson was well learned.
Our final game of the day was against RPI X. They were tired and wanted to watch finals, so they asked for a game to seven. We agreed, which in retrospect was silly. We could have beaten them. The first point was somewhat long, and ended with them scoring by throwing the greatest. Bad omen for us! They took the lead early and we could not catch up, although I am confident we could have in a full game. Oh well, shoulda coulda woulda. My fault for agreeing to play the short game! Final score was seven to four or five, can't remember. I threw two hucks for scores, and a third that would have been a score if I had not been hasty and curved it ob. At one point, Kelsey and Ellen both went deep against their zone. Chetti was in the endzone as deep deep, guarding the middle but perhaps staying closer to Ellen because of her height. I got the disc on a swing near the sideline and hucked it to Kelsey. Chetti made a beautiful bid, sprinting full out and then flying through the air fully horizontal, just short of getting the d. Definitely one of the coolest plays of the weekend.
Wish we could have watched finals, I believe it was RPI Y vs. UAlbany alums, with a fair number of Bashing players on the Albany side. Must have been an exciting game. The tournament trophy was a forty spray painted white and capped with a metal salmon. Classy.
Recap: Great weekend. Gunx need to be more consistent, but should be proud of the intensity we brought. Eighth place finish, our best tournament finish as a program (not for long!). Breaking seed by five points was also pretty neat. Thanks to Lizz and Steve for picking up with us, Danielle for taking amazing photos and to RPI for running a great tournament. Our zone offense was strong all weekend. We can play the short game very well when we are on form and not too impulsive. MVP of the weekend was definitely Kelsey, who caught the most scores by far, some of them truly amazing plays. John played a great defensive game day two, earning at least six d's. Our next adventure will be Scranton in two weeks.
For my part, I found myself covering several players who were far and away more athletic and experienced than I am. I could run with them, but I could not shut them down. That needs to change. I need to be motivated to train harder than ever this winter. Gym here I come.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
What motivates you?
To be honest, last weekend was kind of a downer.
It was fun and all, but certain factors made it the kind of weekend that leads me to question the time and effort I put into the sport. Nothing wrong with that, it happens fairly regularly to be honest. But every time it does I need some serious soul searching, or some serious fun.
Fortunately, my friends are awesome. And a lot of my awesome friends are also my teammates.
After a disappointing lift (been too long since I've been to the gym, apparently) I went to hang out with some friends. We watched a movie and then I went to throw with our other D line captain. We went out to the quad and lo and behold, three other Gunx, freshmen on the team, were out there with a disc. It is relevant to note that it was about eleven pm and cold and windy. That's dedication! Always great to see in the team, particularly the new recruits. We threw with them for a while and then went our separate ways.
An hour or so later we met up with the same three freshmen and decided to take a walk around the gunk. Somehow I had the bright idea to attempt a cross-gunk backhand huck, something I've wanted to try for a while. Well, the throw went up and it looked good, real high, great angle, until the wind picked up mid flight and caused it to float gently down into the water. A good distance across I should add. Maybe 2/3? Anyway, we went to look for it and eventually spied it midway across the lake. The wind was intense, and sure enough was blowing the disc to shore, so we waited in the cold for it to reach us. It took what felt like a long time then but was probably only about fifteen minutes.
So now I'm back writing about it, and you may be wondering, why? Well it may sound goofy as hell on paper (er, on the interwebs?) but it was fun. Yes, fun hanging around a lake in the freezing cold with some teammates, cheering as a small circular piece of plastic floated slowly to shore. And you know what? I've found my motivation again.
It was fun and all, but certain factors made it the kind of weekend that leads me to question the time and effort I put into the sport. Nothing wrong with that, it happens fairly regularly to be honest. But every time it does I need some serious soul searching, or some serious fun.
Fortunately, my friends are awesome. And a lot of my awesome friends are also my teammates.
After a disappointing lift (been too long since I've been to the gym, apparently) I went to hang out with some friends. We watched a movie and then I went to throw with our other D line captain. We went out to the quad and lo and behold, three other Gunx, freshmen on the team, were out there with a disc. It is relevant to note that it was about eleven pm and cold and windy. That's dedication! Always great to see in the team, particularly the new recruits. We threw with them for a while and then went our separate ways.
An hour or so later we met up with the same three freshmen and decided to take a walk around the gunk. Somehow I had the bright idea to attempt a cross-gunk backhand huck, something I've wanted to try for a while. Well, the throw went up and it looked good, real high, great angle, until the wind picked up mid flight and caused it to float gently down into the water. A good distance across I should add. Maybe 2/3? Anyway, we went to look for it and eventually spied it midway across the lake. The wind was intense, and sure enough was blowing the disc to shore, so we waited in the cold for it to reach us. It took what felt like a long time then but was probably only about fifteen minutes.
So now I'm back writing about it, and you may be wondering, why? Well it may sound goofy as hell on paper (er, on the interwebs?) but it was fun. Yes, fun hanging around a lake in the freezing cold with some teammates, cheering as a small circular piece of plastic floated slowly to shore. And you know what? I've found my motivation again.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Danse Macabre
Well Danse came and went and it was certainly an interesting time. We all had fun hanging out on Friday, probably too much fun as we stayed up far too late for a tournament night. Poor directions led to us being forty minutes late to the fields on Saturday, missing the captain's meeting and more importantly, breakfast. On the bright side, sort of, a lot of the games were pushed back until around ten anyway so we were somehow still early for our first match. Conditions were rainy and windy, just the way I like it?
First match was against Ramapo. Their costume was Mexicans? Sombreros, maracas, sharpie mustaches. That sort of thing. First half was terrible. I think we scored three points. Second half we brought GAME and proceeded to score something like seven points in a row, at one point. Unfortunately, since games had already started late we ended up getting hard capped at 12 - 14. I'm fairly confident we could have pulled a win together if we had not gotten capped. They scored the last point but with the cap on they knew they had already won so that probably subconsciously affected our motivation. Also, our defense was bringing it hard so three points in a row would not have been too difficult. Anyway, lesson learned. From now on we will have clear directions for every tournament so we can bloody well get there on time.
Second game was against Hamilton, in Celtic garb a la kilts and woad paint. Mitch is far more Celtic than any of them, but they will never know as he was dressed in a business suit for the game. Anyway, they ran a pretty smooth offense and were consistently able to get open. Their defense was sort of lackluster (good cup but the rest of the zone was higgledy piggledy) but fortunately for them the lack of breakfast had completely sapped the morale of the Gunx and we folded easily. It was sort of depressing but we can learn from our mistakes. I don't meant to imply that we would have necessarily beaten them otherwise, they were a solid team, but we certainly could match them man to man and we would have liked to give them a fight at least.
Fortunately we had a bye after Hamilton so the team could eat. Most everyone went to get "real" food. I had bagels, and stayed at the fields to hang out and watch games, a dubious decision as it was cold and I was soaked. Oh well, it was fun anyway. Watched Ramapo beat RIT b and heckled both sides with constant calls to "huck it huck it lololol". The team got back and sat in our cars as we waited to hear if games would be cancelled due to the fields being torn apart. The other coed pool's games did get cancelled as their fields had been reduced to muddy pits. TD Creepy had to break the news of the cancellation to them, and the U of Rochester alums took it so hard that they tabletopped him into the mud.
Glorious.
In the end, our games were on and we got amped to face Oneonta. As for that game, what can I say? Both teams played hard but Oneonta's height and experience predictably won out. However, the game was much closer than the score (6 - 15 or something like that) would suggest. We fought hard for every point and our defense was on fire. When our offense did convert it looked amazing and when they did not our d still made Oneonta take three or four possessions per point to score. We were supposed to play RIT b as our final game but they went home because of the wet and cold, even though by that point in the day it was far less cold and the rain had mostly stopped. Personally, I like playing on rainy days as long as it is not too cold or windy.
Day two games were cancelled except for quarterfinals and up, so we did not get to play, going home with a 0 - 3 record and a disappointing lack of games.
Looking back, Danse was good for the team socially. Everyone seemed to bond a lot hanging out at Bridget's house, at the fields, in the car and at the Saturday night party and ihop trip. On the field we saw our strengths and weaknesses highlighted clearly. Decision making will come with experience, and the sloppy throwing was largely due to the wet disc. Our zone offense is good while we are swinging the disc between handlers but a lot of our new players do not yet understand how to get open downfield. Zone offense will be a focus this week so that we will be ready for RPI, and we will be practicing rain or shine.
On the positive side, our defense was pretty furious most of the time, and our conditioning definitely came in to play. Everyone ran hard day one and yet I did not hear anyone complaining about soreness or excessive fatigue. We were certainly tired but noone was wiped out, and we would have been ready to run our asses off, had Sunday games not been cancelled. The irony is that last year our zone offense was our greatest strength, while our defense lacked intensity. It is evident that we have changed our focus from offense to defense this year to a large extent.
Thus far, our man defense is strong. Our zone defense is good sometimes but not consistent. We need to work on communication, and certain lanky fellows who blog too much need to get more aggressive in the deep position. Our offense in general needs a spark to get it going. Sometimes we roll through any defense and sometimes we turn it on a swing ten yards out of our own endzone. I don't think our offense can be solved with a quick fix strategy wise, so we will have to practice our asses off as we have been doing all season. Soon the winter will drive us inside. Winter conditioning will shore up our man defense even more, but methinks a lot of offense technique and zone strategy will have to wait until spring. Oh well, at least we'll be in great shape.
On a personal note, as much as I am ashamed to say it, a lot of what went wrong for the team this past weekend comes down to poor leadership. There is no excuse for us not getting the team breakfast before the games, or for not having adequate directions to the fields. Although things worked out in the end, it reflects poorly on me and I absolutely resolve to do better in the future. Enough said. Sometime I am going to write a piece about my thoughts the difficulty of balancing practicing as a player with being a team leader, but that is something for another day.
So our fall season record is now 1 - 5 with two tournaments to go. All in all, things are going well. I am very excited about the team and the progress we have made. By the time the series rolls around, we are going to be one hell of a team. Our team identity and friendship is growing by the day, and the players who are working hard are seeing a real payoff. RPI this weekend. Amped.
First match was against Ramapo. Their costume was Mexicans? Sombreros, maracas, sharpie mustaches. That sort of thing. First half was terrible. I think we scored three points. Second half we brought GAME and proceeded to score something like seven points in a row, at one point. Unfortunately, since games had already started late we ended up getting hard capped at 12 - 14. I'm fairly confident we could have pulled a win together if we had not gotten capped. They scored the last point but with the cap on they knew they had already won so that probably subconsciously affected our motivation. Also, our defense was bringing it hard so three points in a row would not have been too difficult. Anyway, lesson learned. From now on we will have clear directions for every tournament so we can bloody well get there on time.
Second game was against Hamilton, in Celtic garb a la kilts and woad paint. Mitch is far more Celtic than any of them, but they will never know as he was dressed in a business suit for the game. Anyway, they ran a pretty smooth offense and were consistently able to get open. Their defense was sort of lackluster (good cup but the rest of the zone was higgledy piggledy) but fortunately for them the lack of breakfast had completely sapped the morale of the Gunx and we folded easily. It was sort of depressing but we can learn from our mistakes. I don't meant to imply that we would have necessarily beaten them otherwise, they were a solid team, but we certainly could match them man to man and we would have liked to give them a fight at least.
Fortunately we had a bye after Hamilton so the team could eat. Most everyone went to get "real" food. I had bagels, and stayed at the fields to hang out and watch games, a dubious decision as it was cold and I was soaked. Oh well, it was fun anyway. Watched Ramapo beat RIT b and heckled both sides with constant calls to "huck it huck it lololol". The team got back and sat in our cars as we waited to hear if games would be cancelled due to the fields being torn apart. The other coed pool's games did get cancelled as their fields had been reduced to muddy pits. TD Creepy had to break the news of the cancellation to them, and the U of Rochester alums took it so hard that they tabletopped him into the mud.
Glorious.
In the end, our games were on and we got amped to face Oneonta. As for that game, what can I say? Both teams played hard but Oneonta's height and experience predictably won out. However, the game was much closer than the score (6 - 15 or something like that) would suggest. We fought hard for every point and our defense was on fire. When our offense did convert it looked amazing and when they did not our d still made Oneonta take three or four possessions per point to score. We were supposed to play RIT b as our final game but they went home because of the wet and cold, even though by that point in the day it was far less cold and the rain had mostly stopped. Personally, I like playing on rainy days as long as it is not too cold or windy.
Day two games were cancelled except for quarterfinals and up, so we did not get to play, going home with a 0 - 3 record and a disappointing lack of games.
Looking back, Danse was good for the team socially. Everyone seemed to bond a lot hanging out at Bridget's house, at the fields, in the car and at the Saturday night party and ihop trip. On the field we saw our strengths and weaknesses highlighted clearly. Decision making will come with experience, and the sloppy throwing was largely due to the wet disc. Our zone offense is good while we are swinging the disc between handlers but a lot of our new players do not yet understand how to get open downfield. Zone offense will be a focus this week so that we will be ready for RPI, and we will be practicing rain or shine.
On the positive side, our defense was pretty furious most of the time, and our conditioning definitely came in to play. Everyone ran hard day one and yet I did not hear anyone complaining about soreness or excessive fatigue. We were certainly tired but noone was wiped out, and we would have been ready to run our asses off, had Sunday games not been cancelled. The irony is that last year our zone offense was our greatest strength, while our defense lacked intensity. It is evident that we have changed our focus from offense to defense this year to a large extent.
Thus far, our man defense is strong. Our zone defense is good sometimes but not consistent. We need to work on communication, and certain lanky fellows who blog too much need to get more aggressive in the deep position. Our offense in general needs a spark to get it going. Sometimes we roll through any defense and sometimes we turn it on a swing ten yards out of our own endzone. I don't think our offense can be solved with a quick fix strategy wise, so we will have to practice our asses off as we have been doing all season. Soon the winter will drive us inside. Winter conditioning will shore up our man defense even more, but methinks a lot of offense technique and zone strategy will have to wait until spring. Oh well, at least we'll be in great shape.
On a personal note, as much as I am ashamed to say it, a lot of what went wrong for the team this past weekend comes down to poor leadership. There is no excuse for us not getting the team breakfast before the games, or for not having adequate directions to the fields. Although things worked out in the end, it reflects poorly on me and I absolutely resolve to do better in the future. Enough said. Sometime I am going to write a piece about my thoughts the difficulty of balancing practicing as a player with being a team leader, but that is something for another day.
So our fall season record is now 1 - 5 with two tournaments to go. All in all, things are going well. I am very excited about the team and the progress we have made. By the time the series rolls around, we are going to be one hell of a team. Our team identity and friendship is growing by the day, and the players who are working hard are seeing a real payoff. RPI this weekend. Amped.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Danse preview
This weekend the Gunx will be playing at RIT for their annual Halloween tournament the Danse Macabre. Pool play is in costume. Danse should be a great first tournament for our freshmen - it is a big tournament with a competitive field, but it is also going to be goofy and fun. A lot of the team went to get our costumes today. Let's just say we are going to look snazzy.
I've wanted to go to Danse since my friends in college went as freshmen when I was a junior in high school, so it's fairly exciting for me to finally be going. It's going to be Bridget's tournament to celebrate her 21st birthday. I guarantee fun times will be afoot.
I've wanted to go to Danse since my friends in college went as freshmen when I was a junior in high school, so it's fairly exciting for me to finally be going. It's going to be Bridget's tournament to celebrate her 21st birthday. I guarantee fun times will be afoot.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Conference 1 thoughts and opinions
Having had a little time to digest the idea of conference 1, I am still falling short of completely understanding its implications. I've realized that my perspective is that of an outsider, as my team does not compete at a high enough level to be effected (yet....). We would not be playing any conference 1 teams at sectionals anyway, and if we make regionals I personally will be happy enough about that to not fuss about whether or not we get a shot at taking down "team X". Our goal is to take our section. Scoring a massive upset against a top 25 team would be pretty cool, but that's not our primary goal by any means.
Tiered competition has to be the future of the sport. As it is, it's pretty cool that everyone has a shot at the title, but realistically a lot of teams don't and its fairly easy to understand why elite teams do not favor having to play against easy opponents. On the other hand, it's understandable that the other however many hundreds of teams not invited to conference one have some legitimate reasons to be upset. For my part, I'm sort of looking forward to conference 1 because as a fan of the game it will be pretty exciting and easy to be able to keep track of the conference 1 series tournaments and keep abreast of the college competition. Making the game easier to follow is somewhat essential to developing a base of people who enjoy following the sport as well as playing it.
Most ultimate players I know have little sense of the competitive aspect of the game and are more interested in playing. I'm far more interested in playing as well, but look at it this way - following the game and watching high level games is a great way to learn, to improve.
Many RSD posters are talking about how cultimate is usurping the UPA college series by attempting to run their own show. To a certain extent that could be true, it depends on how they decide to cooperate - or not cooperate. I can't help but think that a competitive fall series might be a better idea. With more competitive fall tournaments the competition of the spring series would increase as well as teams would be playing and training harder. Sure there are many competitive fall tournaments but It would be pretty cool to have a separate fall championship. A fall conference would also build excitement for nationals as teams would be eager to avenge losses in the fall and come out fighting in the spring.
Also, a fall series would avoid the hypothetical dilution of the talent that would occur if only half of the 'top 25' move to cultimate and half stay with the UPA series. The conference 1 teams would still get their free uniforms and travel money for the fall, and with the increased legitimacy that should result from having such a conference they could probably persuade their respective universities to give them a larger budget for tournaments in the spring.
Anyway, whatever happens in the end, the next few weeks are going to be sweet as all of this gets figured out by the powers that be and thoroughly discussed by the players that be. These are exciting times for the sport and I'd like to think that we will all profit from them.
Tiered competition has to be the future of the sport. As it is, it's pretty cool that everyone has a shot at the title, but realistically a lot of teams don't and its fairly easy to understand why elite teams do not favor having to play against easy opponents. On the other hand, it's understandable that the other however many hundreds of teams not invited to conference one have some legitimate reasons to be upset. For my part, I'm sort of looking forward to conference 1 because as a fan of the game it will be pretty exciting and easy to be able to keep track of the conference 1 series tournaments and keep abreast of the college competition. Making the game easier to follow is somewhat essential to developing a base of people who enjoy following the sport as well as playing it.
Most ultimate players I know have little sense of the competitive aspect of the game and are more interested in playing. I'm far more interested in playing as well, but look at it this way - following the game and watching high level games is a great way to learn, to improve.
Many RSD posters are talking about how cultimate is usurping the UPA college series by attempting to run their own show. To a certain extent that could be true, it depends on how they decide to cooperate - or not cooperate. I can't help but think that a competitive fall series might be a better idea. With more competitive fall tournaments the competition of the spring series would increase as well as teams would be playing and training harder. Sure there are many competitive fall tournaments but It would be pretty cool to have a separate fall championship. A fall conference would also build excitement for nationals as teams would be eager to avenge losses in the fall and come out fighting in the spring.
Also, a fall series would avoid the hypothetical dilution of the talent that would occur if only half of the 'top 25' move to cultimate and half stay with the UPA series. The conference 1 teams would still get their free uniforms and travel money for the fall, and with the increased legitimacy that should result from having such a conference they could probably persuade their respective universities to give them a larger budget for tournaments in the spring.
Anyway, whatever happens in the end, the next few weeks are going to be sweet as all of this gets figured out by the powers that be and thoroughly discussed by the players that be. These are exciting times for the sport and I'd like to think that we will all profit from them.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Wowie Zowie
Just read the Huddle's issue on cultimate's plan for a men's college conference. I have to admit, the prospect of a longer competitive season is intriguing. Lots of thoughts are swirling around my brain but I am too fatigued to digest and regurgitate them into something coherent.
Most likely that will happen tomorrow.
In any case, it is exciting to witness the active evolution of the sport "before our very eyes" as it were. What form will ultimate take tomorrow?
As long as it is as fun as it is today, I'm down.
Most likely that will happen tomorrow.
In any case, it is exciting to witness the active evolution of the sport "before our very eyes" as it were. What form will ultimate take tomorrow?
As long as it is as fun as it is today, I'm down.
Monday, October 6, 2008
And now that I have posted this, back to work
Just voted in the UPA board of directors election.
That is all.
That is all.
Not egoism, I hope
My voice is hoarse today. Yesterday Bard came to scrimmage the Gunx and some Magic Rollers stopped by to hang out. The Gunx started slow with mistakes by both offense and defense lines, but pulled it together a little; at halftime the score stood eight to seven in Bard's favor after a four point streak by the Gunx to tie the game at sevens. Bard came out strong after half, bringing the game to 12 - 8. New Paltz struck back to make it a close game at 12 10. After a few traded points and a few unanswered scores by Bard, the score stood at 14 - something in Bard's favor at game point. Knowing we needed to score, the Gunx got amped up and brought it to 14s. Bard scored again, leading me to think the game was over. The sideline reminded that it was win-by-two and I was astounded, not realizing that we had tied the score.
The O line stuffed it in to tie the game at 15s. D line took the field, and got fired up. The pull went up and we sprinted all out to set up d on the end line by the time Bard had picked up the disc. Unfortunately, Meghan injured her knee running down the pull. Play stopped for a while as campus police and an ambulance were called. When play resumed we elected to restart the point, still fired up and inspired by Meghan's positive attitude despite her injury. D line ran down the pull and scored, and then repeated the feat to end the game 17 to 15, giving the Gunx our first win of the year.
After a short break, Magic Roll took the field against Bard for our first game together since Ow My Knee and summer pickup. It is relevant to note that we have not practiced since school started and were playing fielding a nine player roster missing a good deal of players. Also, four of us had played on the Gunx in the previous scrimmage. Bard being likewise fatigued from the grueling long points and respectable length of the scrimmage, we agreed on a short scrimmage to seven. We had a quick pre game amp session complete with a cheer, during which I may or may not have accidentally implied that Leah was a guy. Our starting lineup was strong, but unable to score the first point against tired Bard. The first point was a marathon, and after Magic answered right back.
We traded again to make it twos, and then landed the pull deep in Bard's end zone. We ran it down, and I caught my first ever Callahan off a two foot dump pass. At that point, Magic got even more amped (or at least I did) and Bard seemed to lose their moral, ceding the game with no further scores, 7- 2 in Magic's favor. Magic won the game in no small part thanks to our ability to adapt our offense.
Like John McCain, we played a maverick game and Bard could not anticipate who would throw the disc and who would catch it. Cutters became handlers, handlers became deeps, and every point the offense changed.
Surely our style is a reflection of our roots as a pickup group where wacky plays were the norm and no one really knew about how a competitive game works. Although we are all (well mostly) now playing in college and everyone is well versed in basic strategy, we have maintained a pick-up aesthetic that I think will serve us well as long as we ground it with fundamental strategy and skill. Some highlights: we ran battalion successfully for one point, forcing a turnover fairly early on despite some good cup crashes by Bard cutters. Steve had huge d's all over the field, and Charlie earned his spot on the team by playing hard on both sides of the disc. On a personal note, I had a few poach d's in addition to the Callahan, and not all of my hucks were terrible.
Also, I bellowed myself hoarse cheering from the sideline and on the field. Everyone had fun, and Bard proved to be a spirited opponent as well as a chill bunch of folks. The Gunx will be seeing more of them in the future for sure.
Shout outs to all the Rollers who could not be there. A certain Hooligan should be proud to know that we did the civic cheer with great success.
The O line stuffed it in to tie the game at 15s. D line took the field, and got fired up. The pull went up and we sprinted all out to set up d on the end line by the time Bard had picked up the disc. Unfortunately, Meghan injured her knee running down the pull. Play stopped for a while as campus police and an ambulance were called. When play resumed we elected to restart the point, still fired up and inspired by Meghan's positive attitude despite her injury. D line ran down the pull and scored, and then repeated the feat to end the game 17 to 15, giving the Gunx our first win of the year.
After a short break, Magic Roll took the field against Bard for our first game together since Ow My Knee and summer pickup. It is relevant to note that we have not practiced since school started and were playing fielding a nine player roster missing a good deal of players. Also, four of us had played on the Gunx in the previous scrimmage. Bard being likewise fatigued from the grueling long points and respectable length of the scrimmage, we agreed on a short scrimmage to seven. We had a quick pre game amp session complete with a cheer, during which I may or may not have accidentally implied that Leah was a guy. Our starting lineup was strong, but unable to score the first point against tired Bard. The first point was a marathon, and after Magic answered right back.
We traded again to make it twos, and then landed the pull deep in Bard's end zone. We ran it down, and I caught my first ever Callahan off a two foot dump pass. At that point, Magic got even more amped (or at least I did) and Bard seemed to lose their moral, ceding the game with no further scores, 7- 2 in Magic's favor. Magic won the game in no small part thanks to our ability to adapt our offense.
Like John McCain, we played a maverick game and Bard could not anticipate who would throw the disc and who would catch it. Cutters became handlers, handlers became deeps, and every point the offense changed.
Surely our style is a reflection of our roots as a pickup group where wacky plays were the norm and no one really knew about how a competitive game works. Although we are all (well mostly) now playing in college and everyone is well versed in basic strategy, we have maintained a pick-up aesthetic that I think will serve us well as long as we ground it with fundamental strategy and skill. Some highlights: we ran battalion successfully for one point, forcing a turnover fairly early on despite some good cup crashes by Bard cutters. Steve had huge d's all over the field, and Charlie earned his spot on the team by playing hard on both sides of the disc. On a personal note, I had a few poach d's in addition to the Callahan, and not all of my hucks were terrible.
Also, I bellowed myself hoarse cheering from the sideline and on the field. Everyone had fun, and Bard proved to be a spirited opponent as well as a chill bunch of folks. The Gunx will be seeing more of them in the future for sure.
Shout outs to all the Rollers who could not be there. A certain Hooligan should be proud to know that we did the civic cheer with great success.
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