Small grind

Back to it. Spring season started yesterday, for me.

Throwing is okay. Wind is tough, I'll tell you it don't pay to only throw inside for a month.

Form is actually alright, realized that a lot of the throwing problems I'm having are grip related. Focusing on a tight grip and good wrist snap made things a lot easier.

Maybe I should focus on teaching grip and wrist snap over form to newer players. Might make it quicker for them to develop throws they are able to use in game.

I hate being this bad at ultimate. Grind time.

Practice winning everyday.

Lazy vs Sloppy

Brass tacks.

Fall 2011 indoor practices numbers two and three can be thus categorized: Sloppy and Lazy.

At practice number two, I was sloppy, throwing high release passes. At practice three I stopped doing that, but was lazy, throwing from the upper body all stiff like, no form, not enough abs. Both times I neglected to get low enough for all throws.

Not doing new years resolutions this year. Focused goal setting. More on that later.

The Fox the Crow and the Cookie

The last week or two of classes and the transition into finals week is a strange time. Suddenly everyone is serious about their work, faced with deadline imminence. Sooner or later it seems that the strange sleep madness grips the entire college like a surrealist carnival.

In the midst of it all, the last weekend of the semester still to be followed by classes, we managed a fairly decent turnout for our first indoor practice. It was clear that a mixture of two weeks off, lack of crucial members and drinking fatigue slowed the game a bit, not to mention months since indoor strategy was on people's minds. On the other hand, there were some sick plays and quite a few players showcased potential to gain a lot from the indoor format.

Paramount challenges for the team leaders include figuring out how to structure the indoor teams for this year, and clearly showing new and old players alike what they can and should be trying to get out of the indoor playing experience.

I enjoyed playing a lot, despite the hectic day and staying at practice too long to get a seat at the Gnome talk. My team found spaces well and was able to play a fast paced game that relied on effectively breaking the mark for big yards. I got some ideas for indoor strategy, including a sort of side stack for endzone plays that should work well to keep the defenders from clogging the endzone.

Throwing went well, I felt comfortable putting the disc basically anywhere at a breakneck pace when necessary. However, my form needs to be practiced and drilled a lot more so that I can execute fundamentally sound throws at that speed. Throwing practice over winter break will be crucial to allow a smooth transition back into the indoor game.

I'm excited.

Mind Frame

I want to play so bad.

Throwing the Game

After a rough start at Bing, Gunx coed did not lose to a non Marist team for the rest of the fall season. That is one tough monkey.

I'm becoming comfortable with playing a more possession oriented game, and think my decision making has improved drastically. Today I had the thought that many of my turnovers this past fall are attributable not to bad decisions, but throws with bad mechanics.

At Marist for example, I turned over a lot of goal attempts close to the endzone, either overthrows or just plain bad throws. Last spring my endzone game was what I was most proud of, and I was able to basically throw a goal to and from anywhere. I played with that mindset at Marist, and came up short more often than is acceptable.

Why? I did not throw enough in the fall. In the summer I was throwing every day, and even if it was not cleats on intense practice it was SOMEthing - tossing with kids, hucking between periods. In the fall I did not make the time for outside of practice throwing, nor did just about anyone else on the team.

I am starting to throw again, with the goal of throwing everyday of the upcoming spring season. Even if it is only ten or twenty minutes at a time - that might even be better, with less risk of injury. Various skyd articles have discussed that idea recently.

Throwing over thanksgiving break a few times helped with the above realization, and also highlighted some key problems I am having. My backands are often airbouncing, and my forehands often drill into the ground. Every once in a while, I throw with my body out of sync, and something crazy happens. When I focus, I can throw crisp low backhands and good from the core forehands but the inconsistency shows rust and lack of practice, as well as lack of focus.

Also, and this was a problem that plagued my game during the season, I have gotten so comfortable throwing from the core that I don't focus enough on getting low. Gotta bring it all together.

All of these problems can be solved by throwing everyday. With my thesis show looming, time outside of practice for team activities will be limited and must be on point. Short, focused workouts and short, intense throwing sessions need to happen for me to be the player that the team needs me to be, and also for keeping focused on school. Frisbee is no longer detrimental to my school performance, and now is the perfect time to capitalize on the positive effects exercise has on motivation to complete school tasks, let alone just getting out of bed in the morning.

Founders Day Bocce Tournament

I need a change. Spending too much time doing irrelevant shit, and giving in to feeling directionless.

Fucking seriously.

No Brian at practice for a few weeks. Have to be a leader.

Not Me

Sweet guy. The senior player who is far and away better than the underclassmen, and either through arrogance or rearranged priorities, stops pushing and coasts on their skill level.

This happens on even the best college teams.

PS. not having done pushups for a while, it was daunting to do a structured pushup workout today. It takes SIX MINUTES for gosh sakes.

MWF abs TR pushups that's the schedule from now on.

Gunx Love, all.

Tonight, a Chair

Doing abs has helped my pull tremendously. They were the best part of my game at practice today, which perhaps does not say much in and of itself. It took a game and a half for me to find my focus. Things to work on include, but are not limited to, improving my field vision to ensure throws to OPEN players (although roughly a third of my throwing errors today were purely execution based)and not falling off track as a leader when I do screw up.

This is the time of year where I have usually already screwed up a class pretty badly, let alone my sleep schedule. Both are actually going pretty well, although I am way behind in one class and awake at 3:15....its close. I can get back on top, and it should not be too difficult. The trick is to not back down, and stop worrying about trivialities. No blood for the haters, no soul for the abyss. Its go time.

Brian called my pulls the greatest weapon our defense has. On that note, while abs have helped tremendously, I nearly threw my arm out on the last pull of practice today, an avoidable avenue of injury. Plus its only 7 months until beach season.

On the Couch Again

Tough call for who is winning club nationals this year. I'm fed up with trying to follow the sport without being able to watch more than highlights and text recaps of games. An ultivillage subscription would help, but in any case, I'd love to see an Ironside v Doublewide final. Ironside should take that but Doublewide will throw down some ill plays.

Who knows, ultimate is crazy.

Practice today after a light week last, let's gooo.

Couch Thoughts

Passing over the part of practice where I played sloppy offense and rushed, unfocused defense.

Okay.

I was having a hard time getting the disc as high and far as I wanted on the pull. Tournament fatigue. Finally, on approaching the line, I concentrated really hard on putting power and snap into the pull, and it worked marvelously, with a back corner beauty just barely out of bounds.

What I'm saying is, mental focus can overcome fatigue. Gotta keep that in mind as a thrower.

Gunx coed 5 - 5 so far.

Tournament blog eventually?

Winning Time

Practice makes everything better.

After sectionals the warm weather of summer's end has quickly subsided in favor of classic Hudson Valley fall chill, and plenty of rain. The end of the club series marks the end of summer for sure, and even the elements are following suit.

Got some pickup in at Marist today, did not adjust enough to the wet weather and ended up throwing really badly. Tilted for a bit but then thought more about form - the wetness leads to less wrists snap, so throwing hard leads to floating high bouncy throws. Making a deliberate effort to keep my grip tight paid off in the end.

I was also throwing without proper lower body form, once I shaped that up things improved.

Always need to throw with form.

Always.

Octopus Pie

Rough beats in the dreamworld.

Lately been learning to throw backhands with more forearm which allows for more precision and power even when getting really low. Has helped throws in general and should allow for filthier breakmark hucks.

Pretty crazy how soon the college season is starting.

On Point Fife?

Hingham was actually ridiculous. It is fair to say that we dominated. Mutant powers.

My college career has been defined by failure to follow through. I'm not going out like that. This year will bring everything together.

All the time Tip.

Fish Tales

Wildwood is physically, fiscally and emotionally draining but it sure is a good party. 3 and 3. Individually and collectively we've sure had a lot of 50/50 split tournaments. A function of our continued growth and years of struggle with consistency I guess. On that note, Doober's thoughts on ow my knee are pretty on point.

Still working on being a real handler. The main struggle at this point is the constant focus it takes. Realizing how much you need to be constantly on point to keep the offense moving. In the microcosm, that means using proper form for every throw, knowing what kind of throw to use, and the field vision to see the entire field to accurately determine which cuts are really open. In the macrocosm, it means constantly providing an option to the offense. Its obvious to anyone who plays with me that I have a hard time focusing as a handler, although by the end of ow my knee I was wandering off deep a lot less. Can't beat tournaments for the learning experience.

Used to think the game will evolve past the need for handlers. Have a lot of thoughts about that but to be honest I'd rather eat a pbj and fall asleep.

Game to Three

Had our first full team game of the season in a couple of scrimmages with Albany Destructors. Both teams struggled on offense with multi turnover points being the theme of the early game. We traded momentum for the first half and ended up with a final score of 15 - 13, maybe. Have it written down somewhere.

We came out swinging in the second game but some offensive miscues buried us for a final score of 9 - 6 in the short game. All in all, I think we put better defensive pressure across the board, but they got their offense cycling better than we did 60% of the time and that made the difference. We also had a few instances where the mark would get broken over and over in the same point leading to easy goals, and while we gave as good as we got that is inexcusable. Don't get broken! We all did, at one point or another.

The team is looking strong especially considering we have not played full team ultimate until today. Ow My Knee will be our first big test - today we achieved our goals of subbing deeply and not tilting, and everyone should have a good idea of what position they will be playing. We need to carry those themes into a weekend long tournament and magic will get made.

Been thinking a lot about the concept of playing within oneself. We struggled today when people tried to force throws and make plays beyond their ability. A big goal for us will be (as Doober said) transitioning a bunch of selfish college all stars into (as Chetti said) the kind of machine - like consistent offense necessary to succeed at the club level.

On a personal note, I played pretty okay defense and only got beat deep a few times, after getting taken to the cleaners and losing 50/50 balls last practice. Something clicked. On the other hand, there were a few points, particularly going up wind against the zone, where I either did not provide a consistent dump option or just ran around senselessly.

Gotta work on setting the dump early and often (always) and making purposeful concise moves.

Also, fitness.

And I want to know my fate if I keep up this way

Certainly burning the candle at both ends at camp this year. It has been incredibly rewarding so far, but the nature of the beast is that my time is limited and art is on the back burner, although thesis ideas are springing up as I'd hoped they would.

On that note, I have not figured out how to juggle camp work, the camp social scene and working out, so that will be the project for the coming week. More sleep is needed, or maybe better sleep?

Pushups are going well, sprint work is needed. Also probably just running in general.

The camp team is disinterested and summer league is a distant memory. Fortunately, we are about to hit the meat of the club season. Unfortunately, I'm not ready yet. Wake up call, brrrrinnng bring.

Gotta get sparks flying at the scrimmage this weekend. Excited.

Better be a monster.

OH ALSO

What I meant to say about camp is that coaching is the best. I've been working on breaking the game down into the bare bones essentials, both in training the camp team and teaching kids to play. It is paying off for us and should pay dividends during the fall season. Teaching throwing has never been easier.

I want to coach youth ultimate.

Postscript

Two things to possibly expand into posts later:
Embracing the handler position,
and what John said about how the other team played with their backs against the wall while we were complacent.

Walk like

Last game of wudi I'll be able to make for a while. We kind of got rolled, yet again fell short against zone. Had some really good moments too. Some really great work. But in the end we didn't ball hard enough.

I dunno.
At one point, I called violation on a handler putting the disc in play a foot to the left of the front endzone cone after the disc was D'd out of bounds on the sideline. When told what the call was, a player who I think was their captain said, spitefully, "yeah well you're wearing the wrong color jersey". I was wearing black. My charcoal jersey was in the wash. What I'm saying is, the other team was kind of keyed up and mean.

I hate losing but did really enjoy playing today. Gonna miss this team and it has been really fantastic reconnecting with my old high school crew. See ya'll at finals if not sooner.

Really starting to like playing as a handler. What the heck. Why not.
Going on 30 hours of sleep deprivation.
Goodnight.

Damn

There are a lot of exciting things going on in club ultimate this summer.

White gold

Tried subbing more at league yesterday. It worked, I ran harder every time I was on. Missed some aggressive D opportunities due to lack of confidence at attacking the disc physically. Weak.

Starting to really like playing as the dump handler.

Tried out Brodie Smith's backhand grip, it worked really well for pulls. It seems to allow for more wrist snap and more utility in low release throws. However, it changes the flight dynamics of curved throws so that will need some adjusting.

Anyway, we won 15 - 13 after going down 8 -7 at half. Chetti got flying tackled. It was crazy.

Yoda didn't play ultimate

Oh facebook, you constant distraction. Ran across our team photo from club sectionals last year. I think it was from day two.

We had 12 dudes and 5 women.

This year we should hit the roster limit. We have upwards of 25 potential dudes and I'm sure that women exist somewhere.

That is an exciting thought. We will have a deep team where everyone can ball. No weak links and many practices before sectionals to build chemistry.

Gonna get that gold brick, that youtube money.

http://mittechultimate.blogspot.com/2010/11/small-rosters.html

White kids love the Wu

Charcoal went up big against the cream team but could not hold the lead after they began throwing zone. Our zone offense needs work but there were a few really good points (three?).

I got a lot better at playing as the center zone handler, realized how aggressively you have to position yourself for the dump, sometimes at the cost of ten yards. There were a couple of zone points where we threw around 50 or 60 passes before we gained any significant yardage or even moved the disc through the cup. Need to develop that kind of patience.

That's all really. Excited for next week.

In the meantime, we're talking about practice.

Thinkin'

Watching the Pitt - Colorado quarterfinal. What a brutal draw.

Getting a tmf for profanity is bullshit.

Apparently saying "boost it!" is the new thing.

Both sides putting up some ugly throws with the difference being Mamabird is playing incredible defense. Great bids.

This easily could have been the finals match up if things had gone Pitt's way in pool play. Rough day for Mamabird, having to play Pitt and the Hodags on the same day. Jeez.

It was all a dream

Good game at league last night, unfortunately we could not pull it together to win but we improved on defense across the board and our second half offense improved drastically on the first. In the end it came down to our first half offensive mistakes, but it was as solid showing against one of the best teams in the league.

Only had a couple of turnovers but my handler cuts and spacing were off. Need to be more aware, and as a team we need a system for where our handlers will set up in the ho. A flat handler stack is not doing it, I'm not convinced that's a good setup for any team. I've fallen in love with a starting set of one middle handler, one dump and one breakside handler, which gives the force side cutters a lot of room that doubles as space for the dump to come up the line.

Another team-wide adjustment is that a lot of the time we will have a wide open in cut and it will get looked off for seemingly no reason. We hold the disc too long, and I'm not sure if that reflects lack of trust in our cutters or lack of throwing ability against a physical mark. Not sure how to address this issue.

The weather was perfect for throwing. Consequentially, dropped some forehand bombs full field. Had one bad throwaway to Chetti but other than that flicks were on. Backhands were a little wobbly. Gotta calm down.

Despite the loss, it was the kind of game that summer league should be. A gritty close contest between comparably strong teams with good spirit. I had fun.

PS handblocked a highschooler

Butane

Had a super fun birthday. Club ultimate underway.

Played mediocre at summer league. Throws were off - backhand hucks lasered too much, forehands were not flat enough and thus hooked oi, leading to at least one missed goal and a ridiculous Chetti grab to save a misread.

Key points: focus more on throwing form when tired, and condition my upper body. And more throwing practice.

We got better as a team on offense, and kind of on defense. Honestly though, this team is going to live or die by our top end players getting ridiculous and that just didn't happen today.

I hate having an off game.
On to the next one.

Strawberries

Good to be back at wudi I guess. Its summer? Wow.
First game went well, we squandered a 6 - 0 lead to take half 8 - 5, but despite a good second half effort by black we won 15 -11 (they said 12, incorrect).

I played decent offense and lazy defense. Hucks were on, threw 7 assists I can remember and caught a goal. Defense was just - well, complacent. Got scored on a couple times. Lame.

We'll have to bring it against the stacked hyped teams in the open league. I'm tired of the status quo and am afraid of neither old people nor SOFA.

Shout out to Jay Walker if you still read this. We're gonna do work this summer.
Char - coal char - coal char - coal BARBECUE

Back to basics

So I guess its time to commit to an 11 month frisbee season.

I look up to the sky, I know the world is mine

Brodie Smith's first throwing tutorial video is super dope. It is going to make teaching people to throw next year so much easier, and has also given me some insight into possible ways to run the team in the fall. Really get down to basics right away.

This week of practices has been very intense so far with good energy and people getting gritty. Things we have to work on as a team: making space for each other as cutters and handlers. Focusing on marks has helped us teamwide on the defensive side and we will certainly continue to focus on that up until sectionals. It will pay dividends.

Brian coming today was clutch. Like last year before sectionals, he came on a day where a lot of players were not there for one reason or another. Unlike last year, he got to see a good practice anyway. He gave us some good advice and will hopefully be able to make it out some more to help. His coaching would pay off big time.

Personally, I need to work on swinging the disc and working better with the other handlers to open up more space. Also to not crowd when going for the dump throw. Evaluating field vision and decision making would not hurt either. At this point there is no excuse for ever turning the disc over - if a cutter is open anywhere, be it deep or underneath, I can put it there. Therefore I need to work on taking what the defense gives up rather than forcing things.

Also defense.
Also pushups.

Also fucking sleeping at night instead of the day.

Gunx love.

To score a ten would be just fine but I'd rather be dressed to the nines

Looking at pictures from the Bard scrimmage two ideas present themselves. Firstly, teams with weak marks, even one weak marker, are easy to beat on offense. Emphasizing team-wide tight mark defense for the rest of the semester will pay dividends.
Second, if you are close to the end zone line or another position when a short throw is the only option, if you don't have an easy to execute low release throw its probably a good idea to swing the disc. That's more of a personal issue, I don't swing it to the other handlers enough.

Also more often than not, a hammer should not be used as a high count bailout close to the endzone. That's something a lot of people find counterintuitive - since a hammer is nearly impossible to block and flies over the defenders, it is often used to get out of a tight spot at a high stall count. But at that point, if the swing is not open, either a flat low release throw under or through the defense, or a high flat throw are better.

Why? A hammer is a precision throw. If you put it up and the receiver is out of position, they have a very small margin for error. Meanwhile, a flat throw will float and give the receiver a chance to make up lost ground if they make a bad play or the throw itself is off target. In a high stall count situation the throw is more likely to be rushed, so a throw that provides a greater margin for error is a better choice.

The above is a direct result of looking at pictures of the blading hammer I threw to Tom. While it was on target, it made for a challenging reception and looking at the pictures I could have gone low release.

Why ever not go low release on the short throw?

Falling off the wagon never felt so good

As my brother in arms would say, "sprring breeeeaaaak!" Indeed, this past week has been my real spring break, whatever the calendars say. It is the first time in a while I've eased up on the work and just had some fun for fun's sake.

Being social is weird.

Anyway, we've now played on windy days two weekends in a row and I could hardly be happier with how we are playing wind game offence. However, both days I've come in flat with catching, leading to some drops and near drops from not attacking the disc confidently. More touches during warmup might help but it seems largely mental as well.

The Gunx are on a roll, confidence is rising an many people are getting touches on the disc. We have a lot of work to do but everyone can see how much we've improved, for all the trouble we've had with practice time we have hit the ground running much harder than a lot of our traditional rivals.

We'll aim higher, we'll keep working.

Now its back to the grind. Too much partying will not help right now. No dancing, no hugging, no complacency. Partying with the Gunx again after achieving my spring season goals is going to feel so sweet, but that's a while yet.

Week ten

Another goal for this weekend: team play, team communication. On a personal level, that comes down to learning to play deep in the zone, particularly in terms of communication with the midfield and wing defenders.

Hey also, put your body behind the disc when you catch it whenever possible. Be solid.

Why the fuck would I want that

Cause Doober said so? Eye contact that is. "One of the most important aspects of public speaking is eye contact" - Captain Doobs.

We were talking about keeping huddle talks concise. Doober brought up the fact that apparently I look at the ground during huddle talks. Not something I ever would have thought of, the huddle is such an intense time for me that I have a hard time even thinking about it.

So things to focus on this week and weekend: scanning the huddle while speaking, making quick eye contact with every player to help hold their focus and bring things together.

Also, positivity, intensity, Gunx Love.

Another thing

One strength of our offense yesterday was our cutting core's ability to go to the disc despite physical defensive pressure. There were many passes to cutters with barely a step or two on a tough Marist defender. In the past, we've had problems with cutters slowing down and getting layout D'd, which has never been good for our collective confidence when playing Marist or other strong teams. Yesterday, our cutters went to the disc hard and were able to pull down some sweet grabs against tough physical plays. This had an added benefit in that oftentimes the Marist defender's layout attempt would allow for a few seconds of unmarked throwing and easy continuation throws.

Going to the disc. It works.

I just had, the craziest week

Been a pretty busy couple of weeks actually. Nocturnal decisions came and went, yet again one of the craziest nights of ultimate of the year. Between getting to play with some good friends and meeting some of my personal ultimate heroes, it was the best year yet by fair.

For added fun, it was the most competitive year thus far, every team we played was very solid across the board. I played for the Mannequins and we were a fun intense team that did not quite have the depth to hang with the very best but ended up with a solid 5 -3 finish, somewhere between 5th and 8th in the final placement. It was a neat chance to connect with some players on other area college teams as well as play with some of my good friends.

Great times and playing the tournament revealed many weaknesses of my game that need to be dealt with. My cutting was not exactly on point and that was definitely apparent scrimmaging Marist today. The Gunx have certainly made the most of our indoor practices but my outdoor cutting is rusty to the point of hilarity. Throws obviously also an issue but not as bad as I feared.

I had more to write about nocturnal but the time elapsed between then and now and the weight of events that have transpired since have driven most of it from my mind. Rather than search for my notes I'll leave it it, I learned a lot, it was a blast. As for today, what can I say? Gunx beat Marist, one out of three scrimmages. Gunx came very close to winning two out of three but could not quite go for the throat at the crucial time. Gunx beat Marist for the first time in three years and it would be remiss not to mention how large of weight that is off my back.

We have a long way to go but if today was any indication we can fly as high as we want to this season. Our offense was the best it has ever been, even missing some key players. We have the capacity to be very great, if people put the time in this will be an incredible season, enough said.

Indoor practice is always tricky but this year it taught me to be a better handler. while my cutting was mediocre at best, I think I did well as a reset handler and have never been so patient with the disc. Plenty of work to do but dang. It was a good day.

Gunx Love.

Self Discipline

Notably absent for the better part of the weekend.


Man up.

All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day

I'ma make this quick, but hey. Let's talk mental game. It is tricky and as much as I'd consider myself a mentally strong player, I have a few glaring weaknesses that have been highlighted of late. Obviously there's the contact issue but beyond that people have been taking issue with my call game, not necessarily the calls themselves but my delivery. And all this time I thought hubris and egotism was appealing!

Joking aside, I need to work on being calmer during game situations and also not acting like I am always right, bad habit. My spirit has often been a consequence of my increase in competitive drive and it should not have to be that way. I have a lot to think about and I will do my best to be more of a gentleman on the field.

More later. Sleep now, one hopes.

Post workout thought process

So here's some stuff to work on:

Backhand form - not turning head around with throwing motion, keeping target in sight, full body motion.

Forehand - make sure not to fall in love with air bounce releases that kill indoors but won't fly outside.

Time to get things rolling for sectionals! Roster status asap.

I really need to work on not flipping out when I take a hit during a game, it is a weakness and leads to some awkward situations to boot.

Air alert fixes everything.

It is my decision to get clean, I'm doing it for me.

Wake up call

Ring a ding ding

C'mon.

This is for you, the future

We are now two practices into the season. So far, great.

Listen, me. Favor? Remember how good it feels to play your best at practice*, work out hard and get up for class in time to eat breakfast. To stay sober on a party night so muscles can grow. To feel on top of your life, and at practice to get up on top of the world.

Don't fuck this up, Ben. We're going places.

















*I never feel that I've played my best and I think that is important. But you know what I mean.

So this is the new year

I feel quite different, to be honest.

Heading back to New Paltz very soon. With the launch of the Gunx website and a month of air alert complete, I am feeling very good about the spring season. A few details need to be worked out and we have to hit the ground running.

I'm ready.
Get pumped ya'll.

Wore purple by accident

Gogol Bordello was a great air alert off day workout.
Pretty excellent way to welcome the new year, too.