4 and 3, Way to Be

Sectionals Recap - for posterity. 

Day 1

Game 1 vs Shade

Many multi turnover points. We got a lot of ds, but often gave the disc right back. Their defensive pressure was not taking the disc away, but we had some pretty bad miscues. After trading to take half, we gave up two breaks in the second and ended up losing by 2.

Game 2 vs Army

As always, Army is athletic. Fresh off their run to D3 Nationals, this was by far the best Army team I’ve faced. We were starting to run away with the game before they began running zone and tied it up due to people literally refusing to dump the disc. Eventually we righted the ship, and began shredding their zone. I threw some dang dimeballs in this game. Yes.

Game 3 vs Team Rocket (SUNY Cortland)

After trading to something like 4s, we began to run away with this game. I don’t think they scored more than a point in the second half. Tim K is very very good. His change of direction is insane. He is also my neighbor apparently? Abbott knows him so maybe next year…

Team dinner at buffalo wild wings. We told Abbott to rip it deep more. 

Quarters vs Magma Bears

This game was a blur. I don’t remember too much about it. Very swingy, we’d get a few breaks then they’d get a few to tie. This happened three times, with them eventually catching up to 13s at soft cap and we held (?) for the universe point win. Pretty sure I turned the disc on cap point, blowing our chance to go up 13 -10, but I had some good throws earlier in the game. Isaiah is a monster.

Semis vs Colt (game to go)

Early in the season we talked about the possibility of giving Colt a game at sectionals. We had a really close game with them at fake NY Warmup, and I personally loved the idea of really going for it. However, with 12 players and two more chances to earn a bid, we had no reason to try. Real teams call it “resting their starters” when they tank a game, so let’s go with that. We ran multiple lines with six players on the field because half the team was watching Dredge or something. Somehow still scored a few.

3^rd Place Play In vs Dredge (second game to go)

Since the game with Colt ended in approximately 17 minutes, we had a while to wait. Meanwhile, Dredge was in a barnburner with Army, which they eventually pulled out on universe or similar. They were thus still warmed up and ready to play. We came out a bit sloppy and certainly didn’t play our best offense.  Personally, fatigue had caught up with my throws, and my forehand was not firing like it had been all weekend. This was field vision and mental fatigue more than physical. I did have a great backhand huck to Dasky, full field with no play by the defender (Steve, word).  We had a chance to take half at 8 – 5 but some errors left it at 8 – 7 and the halftime mood was a bit down. However, like last year, we proved immune to the tilt, and everyone buckled down. Tied at 12s (I think), Eric snatched a d and we punched in a fast break.  Next point, Zac snatched a d and we punched in a fast break – he hucked to Nolan! Sick. Final point, Nolan did a great job containing Steve while poaching, and eventually baited a swing pass and got a half layout, half baseball slide block and raced deep for the goal from APinn. Three breaks in a row is a great way to end a relatively ugly game.  

3^rd Place Game vs Shade

With our bid and 4^th place title secure,  we played it fast and loose against Shade. They won by a lot but we didn’t make it easy for them, with a few multiple turnover points. I had a sick forehand blade to Zac but someone cashed it in on the goal line. I think 3 people were playing barefoot. The word around the campfire at pickup is that Shade was impressed with our absurd and monstrous throws.

We hung around to watch Magma and Dredge fight for the final bid, and then dispersed, tired but elated. With such a short roster and no Bland, there was definitely an uncertainty about the scope of the weekend, but we executed very well in most cases. Despite a few miscues and weird throwing choices, as a team we played the best offense Fat and Mediocre has played, imo.

Personally I’m happy to have finished a 2 day tournament without injury for the first time since NY Warmup 2016, jeepers! Another highlight was having one of the high school players I’ve coached tell me he’d watched us play – “all you do is huck to that guy in the trucker hat, and they can’t stop it!” Hilarious.

Can You Hear the Grass?

Fat and Mediocre takes 4^th at Metro New York Sectionals for the third straight year. You can finish ahead of us, or you can finish behind us, but we own 4^th place, 100% of the time and that’s just the deal around here.

We went into the tournament with 23 rostered players. We ended up with 12 each day. Ended the weekend with a 4 – 3 record, winning the ones that counted to take a bid to regionals. First time going two years in a row! Neat.

Some quick hits:

Didn’t horse stomp so much on hucks this season, and I tightened up my pivot to be more consistent and give me better angles of attack. My slightly sore Achilles reveals that I’m still stomping sometimes. I also run on my heels sometimes. Bad. New cleats might help, my good orange boys finally gave up the ghost during a meaningless semis game vs colt and I had to gorilla tape them back together for the rest of the day. In retrospect, playing for 2 years with falling apart cleats probably explains my ankle and Achilles problems as much as the horse stomp does.

Running track prior to the tournament, I tightened up my running form with much more efficient arm movement. It did not really pay off, because I was only able to hit my top speed during our second game of the tournament. Maybe next year!

Bobble drill paid off. I completely missed a goal catch and then saved it on the third bounce. Bobble every day, yall.

That said, while I only had 3 drops I can remember, all were difficult catches that physically I can make with ease, but mental pressure led to the drop. More practice would probably help with this. I didn’t get too many touches towards the end of the season so my disc confidence was lower than I’d like.

Ha-ha, “season”.

During tough moments of the tournament (any time I had to be on the field for more than 2 minutes, am I right?) I thought about something I said to a girl on the high school team I coach (city champs 2017!) back in 2016 when she was having confidence issues on the field: “no matter what else is going on in your life, school, relationships, family problems, etc – you don’t bring that on the field. When you’re on the field, it is your chance to make all of your feelings somebody else’s problem for a while”. It mostly worked. Coaching is awesome. “Advice is a givers’ present” – John Steinbeck

While waiting for my parents to arrive for dinner after day 2, I figured out how to nail delay my sketchbook. I’ve been trying passively to learn to nail delay since I was 14. It’s a lot easier with the sketchbook than an ultra star, but I’ll keep trying. This has nothing to do with F&M besides that it is a mediocre story.

As long as I keep throwing I’ll be fine. See you at regionals.