lately

This past week has been good for ultimate, and also partying on rooftops. Excellent.

Wednesday draft league the JUICE won by default due to our opponent only mustering a four person squad (clearly not enough to compete with the 12 or 13 that we had). Thursday was my first rec game, and our team looks fiiiiine. We lost, by one, because in the second half we hucked it way to much. It was not me hucking it. Irony!

Oh and we only had one woman so we had to play 6 0n 7 all game. Yeah. We can keep up with a team and lose on universe with one less person. We're gonna do fine. I only had one turnover, on a very stupid throw, but I thought my throws in general were good. Eli had a few touches on the disc and played a turnover free game, which is awesome. He also played decent zone d despite never having had it explained to him (my bad).

Yesterday was our first real Magic Roll practice. We had a nice large turnout. We started out with a basic dump drill similar to the upline cutting drill we run at New Paltz. Then we played a game to seven which my team won pretty handily thanks to our wiley 3 -2 -2 offense. Definately easier to teach brand new players than vertical stack, for whatever reason. Maybe because the clearing out is more intuitive. Anyway, then we ran a basic vertical stack cutting drill with offense and defense which was pretty solid. Some people need to learn to cut. Our second scrimmage devolved into nonsense after about 10 points but since we had already been playing frisbee for over three hours I was fine with that.

I don't honestly know where the team is going competitively this summer. We have a handful of solid players who have played together for years. We have a handful of players who have barely played competitively and would not know a stack from a three pointer. We have a handful of random bros who can't make it to practice due to the distance but will probably pick up with us at tournaments if I invite them. How does one form a team out of that?

The answer is, creatively. I think. We need to settle on one or more offensive sets that are strong enough to beat experienced teams, and intuitive and modular enough to incorporate both new players and tournament pickups. I want to run vertical stack and 3 - 2 - 2. We'll see how it plays out but I like how the 3 - 2 - 2 is shaping up. It leaves a huge cutting lane open in the center of the field, and makes continuation deep cuts fairly easy. Also it is harder to poach d than vertical stack because if someone poaches into the center lane, the wings can cut straight in like in a horizontal stack. Hmmm.

Anyway, its looking like a good summer.
Peace.