Bats Bats Bats

Went to Empire tryouts on Sunday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - fifty, with barely a flicker of breeze. However, the turf was covered in about an inch of snow that was both icy and slushy - painful to layout on, slippery to cut on.

The tryout was huge - someone said a hundred people, something in that ballpark. After a warmup and quick introduction from the owner and coaches, tryouts were split into four groups rotating through four stations - mini, agility and sprinting, and two drills. My group started out with a pretty standard cutting drill - cut for an under, throw it deep, cut deep for the next guy, then get in line to throw to the unders, repeat. The repeat part was tough, had a bit of asthma trouble but I did okay. The snow made this drill tricky. 

Next we went to mini, three on three on an absolutely tiny field. No margin for error, five second stalls. My team managed to win all of our games by virtue of always having a reset - other groups tried more elaborate cutting, and tended to get stuck and have to force something. We cut one at a time, it worked. A little bit of instant chemistry. This was the strongest point of the tryout for me. Only had one turnover, a handblock that I avenged later in the game. 

Our third station was sprinting and agility, where we were timed running forties and doing a basic agility drill. They did not give us our times, but I know I am faster than last season, which is encouraging. Squats are starting to pay off, need to do more. 

Due to time constraints, we did not get to do the fourth station, which is a shame as it looked like a pretty fun drill and I would have liked another shot in a drill situation after the inhaler kicked in and I could actually breathe. Should have puffed before the game. Thanks to Abe for lending me a puff during the first drill. It was great seeing you buddy, not sure if you read this.

To end the tryout, we scrimmaged full field in the snow (one endzone was shoveled before the idea of shoveling the entire field was abandoned). The scrimmage was games to three, with your tryout group being your team. There were a bunch of good players in my group, but we had no chemistry. The snow did not help, no team looked great, exactly. A couple people made big plays. I don't envy the job of cutting down the group for the next tournament after those conditions, although from what I hear it will be harder for the Rumble, who had tryouts the day before in 35 mph winds. 

I have no idea if I'll get a callback to the next round, but it was good to get out there. Gorgeous weather, and good motivation for the club season. Still getting the hang of throwing with friction gloves, but certain positives are emerging. Last night at winter league, I realized that with the increased grip it is easy to throw huge outside in backhands with perfect touch, great for just giving defenders absolutely no chance to make a play. Same goes for slightly outside in backhand breaks, my new favorite. Had more trouble with forehand hucks, which I am releasing way too high. In general, my forehand form is kinda rough right now, need to practice a lot so I always get low in the game. We played last night in a pretty consistent upwind downwind, and my upwind flicks were ugly.  

It was nice to play ultimate twice in one week. Been a while. Really missing club and excited for the upcoming season. Wore my Stonefish jersey to league and it felt real good.

UPDATE got a callback to the first invite only tryout. Needless to say, I am very excited.
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