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.
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