Two Face

Light side

We played some of our best team ultimate ever. Even better than some of the highlights from New Haven. A lot of people stepped into new roles or refined old ones. A few of our newer players played some of their best ultimate ever (here's looking at you Stiggles, your defensive performance in the first two games was my inspiration to play all day, let alone your sick throws and catches on o). We won three games, we took third place, our best ever tournament finish. We held serve as the third best team in the Hudson Valley.

We played six games in one day, the most we ever have as a team. About half our roster was still playing solid until the last game, and six games in a day is a lot.

Dark side

Are you kidding? Our first game barely even counts. Bard had eight players, and only one of their starters. They were missing V and Will. They had no legs. Anyone who was tired after that game either had to run hard to compensate for weaker defenders, or is not in good enough shape. Marist took half against us 8 - 2. Our defense just could not deal with a team that did not regularly hand us the disc on a silver fucking platter. Our ability to switch from a zone mindset to playing hard nosed man defense was still not enough, despite the multiple points in a row they sent out lines that did not feature their top end studs. (Speaking of their top end studs, we had answers for every one of them except Robbie and yet again he proved to be the difference maker. It is great that we can throw solid defenders to stop Nick, Slip, Pat, Miller, etc etc etc but we need to stop wonderboy if we are ever going to beat them)

We did not push hard on d against Ramapo and we did not grit out the universe win against Marist the second time. Why not? Lack of mental focus in the first half. They were just as tired as us, making just as many mistakes and in the first half we did not bring it. Second half, we very much brought it, despite being much more tired. We can do it.

We don't.

Fuck that.

We went to New Haven

It was aight.

Well actually, it was better than that. In my opinion it was our best tournament as a team ever. We've had a better record, but in terms of team cohesion, team dynamic, overall fun had, and strategic comprehension, we've never done better.

We now have the ability to throw out multiple lines in a row where every player knows their role (more or less, obviously there is always room for improvement said captain obvious) and can all contribute positively on offense or defense.

That said, our offense needs to be able to score. Our defense needs to take the disc.

This past weekend we learned a few things as a team, namely that the O line's job is to put the D line on the field, and how to play junk zone and how ill that is against vertical offense. Our best coed D line could be the skeleton of a competitive club team.

Not much to elaborate on. It was a good first tournament. I nearly spiked the disc on a kid who decided to backpack me after I had already caught the disc. I holstered the spike and helped score a goal instead. Meatballed.

We have a team blog now through the school. That will be the new home of in depth tournament analysis, albeit in a simplistic way that random people who read it will be able to understand and appreciate. Pictures will help. I am thinking the first post will be a rundown of basic ultimate rules followed by a recap of the weekend.

That means that this blag will become a home for more in depth strategic insights and less full tournament recap. That and more senseless egoism. Hooray!

Sleep schedule: destroyed.

Nocturnal Decisions 2010 wreaked havoc in every way. Great weekend. Unfortunately my team did not wreak havoc - we were pretty terrible actually, despite having wonder-boy Robbie who got big with a bevy of inspiring layout d's all over the place. It took us until game four to figure out how to play offense with one another, and by that time no-one wanted to play defense. Funny how that works. I wrote notes about each game but they are, this far removed from the action, either irrelevant or illegible. A few anecdotes:

It was Dan Miller's birthday. I gave him a five hour energy. I guess he is a Hobbit because he gave me a gift as well - a BUDA spirit award disc.

Unlike last year, I only spiked the disc once, after being hit and stepped on by my defender in the end-zone. The opposing team's sideline was not amused - one sitting down player whined "you don't have to do that". Working on "acting like I've been there before" in the endzone but getting my foot stomped on on a late bid made me angry. Suck it other team sideline soft serve punk.

Got some good advice from experienced players. Ted from my team said "put more touch on your throws. If you have to throw it hard to an in cutter they are not really open". Food for thought.

Some big old dude from WUDI advised me, "from one big guy to another", to make deep cuts from the front of the stack. Again, food for thought.

A few of our friends/teammates came down to watch. Though they should all play next year, being able to go chill with them during byes and between games was the best. It was also hilarious as we all slowly descended into complete delirium as the night progressed.

On that note, frisbee: it is my drug of choice. Playing all night caused euphoria, giggling, sleepiness, the munchies, and I felt like shit. Everything that I've ever experienced on real drugs, but good for you! Hooray!

Anyway, great tournament yet again. It definitely seemed more competitive than last year, with deeper teams and more good players from the area.

What I learned: I am in good shape but not good enough, New Paltz would do well to emphasize last back defense, and sometimes eating two slices of pizza before a game is a good idea.

New Haven this weekend. Bam.

Swagger

Or: how I am becoming everything I hated about people in high school.

...

Haha

I was going to do a long write up about RPI but I find myself with nothing to say about it. We went 3 and 3. It was a decent performance, and we seldom do so well at tournaments, but I'd like to aim higher.

Anyway the gist of my thoughts at the time was that mental game and swagger count for a lot but sometimes if you are doing it right and tight you ride the fine line between "confidence" and "unspirited dick". It happens right? I made some friends at RPI and probably also some enemies.

Tell you what, playing with confidence helps.
Just do it.

Form, focus

Throwing

Knees bent, foot firmly planted, focus, breathe, push. Use the hips. Snap.

Boom.

Get some sleep.

Flow and explode from the foot up.

Make it happen.

Buffalo part 1 - monks with blue balls

Six hours is a long drive but I found various ways to make it entertaining. We're staying in a pretty sweet apartment. We had a team meeting and got to bed fairly early, despite going for tacos with Bridget.

We did not manage to get to the fields in time for an inter team scrimmage. However, we were still pretty warmed up for our first game against bad eggs and scum. They were a goofy bunch, and quite skilled. They went up early and we never recovered despite finding some nice flow against their poachy zone.

Unfortunately, we thought that a 15 - 10 loss to the one seed in our pool meant that we would do even better without trying against the other teams. We were not prepared for SUNY Albany and lost in a blowout. The game was very surreal, like a dream I might have about playing ultimate. There were weird large rectangles of long grass on each side of the field. Brown was playing in a large pirate hat. Definitely a little dreamlike. Anyway, they made some savvy defensive decisions that demoralized us early and we never recovered. They took half seven nothing. Terrible. We scored three points all game.

After a long break (as our game with Scam did not last long) we got ready to play Ithaca. We lost to them at sectionals and I really wanted to win today. Apparently so did a lot of other people. We did work and everyone got dirty in a very gritty game that ended in a 15 - 13 in our favor. I could go on about this game but I'd rather take a nap. A lot of good things happened and we gritted it out.

Something to note is that I played savage. Unlike past years where
Dave and I had to play savage to make the offense work, now we are reaching a point where I would not have done that except that we were running with 12. Our team is becoming, slowly, deeper and when we actually get more than 12 at a tournament we'll prove it.

Anyway, our fourth game was against Plattsburg plus some Clarkson bros. We did not really want to play, and a few people dropped out of the rotation, leaving us with two subs or so at any given time. So we lost. Eh.

Something like 13 - 7? I dunno.

Now we're at the apartment. Around me, my teammates are talking about the kind of things that we talk about when the men's team goes places without any girls. Something about safety nets and vaginal muscle exercises. Par for the course.

Draft league summary part 1: finals

As you may or may not be aware, two of the biggest summer tournaments were held this weekend: Emerald City Classic, and of course WUDI 09 draft league finals.

Got to the field early to wait out the first round bye and scope out the competition. Whoo carpooling! The sky was blue and the sun was bright. Our first round opponent turned out to be moss, in my opinion the toughest possible team we could have faced in quarters (and easily a semis team, had they not faced us...). Both teams came out strong and play was quick and brutal. I don't remember who took half but it was 8 - 7. Second half we managed to pull ahead and win the hotly contested matchup. Must have been nice for Billy to knock out Drew's team.

Our second round was against black, a team we had not seen since we trounced them soundly the first game of the summer. I did not know what to expect. They went up on us early and we had to struggle to score two points to their five. They were fired up and using the tried and true "game to three" mental method. At 6 - 4 things were getting out of hand, and then they took half 8 - 5. They scored right out of half to make it 9 - 5, and that's when things got interesting.

We got fired up like crazy and juiced them to tie it at nines. We traded to make it elevens, but the game had changed in that we were dictating the flow of play. We made it 10 -9, they answered, we made it 11 - 10, and they answered. Then the cap went on. In my opinion they had been slowrolling pulls and stoppages in the early game once they were up in hopes of a big cap win. Whether this was a concious strategy or not, they were taking it slooow and once the cap went on they were suddenly rushing everything. Hilarious. Well at that point we were too fired up to lose to such scallywags, and we won 13 - 11 in the grittiest game I can think of. After being down the whole game, gritting it out to win was amazing. Finals baby!

Finals was not suprisingly against white team, who gritted it out to win 14 - 12 against Power Blue despite my predictions to the contrary. Anyway, white scored quickly before we could answer for a 2 - 1 early lead. Eventually white had us at 7 - 4, until we decided that that sucks and scored three in a row for the sevens tie. White took half and and the pressure was on.

Second we got fired up the way we do and evened the score at elevens, then 13 - 11 in our favor. At that point, the game was ours. Or was it? White took our lead personally and decided to tie it at thirteens after some atrocious foul calls (yeah I said it) on Orange d's. White scored again for 14 - 13, and then got a point block and jacked it deep for the 15 - 13 win that left Juice players on the sidelines flabbergasted that the game was over.

Anyway, second place. Not bad. We played hard all day and had arguably the tougher road to finals. That's not an excuse just an opinion. We finish the draft league with a respectable 15 - 5 record, the best of any team despite our finals loss. We jockeyed for first place with white all summer and facing any other team in the finals would have been slightly disapointing. They came out on top, fair enough.

Part II coming soon!

Rec Finals

Rec Finals baby!

Arrived at the fields an hour before the game. By quarter after nine, Blue had a full squad with maybe even subs while most teams had barely mustered enough to throw around. We were ready.

First game against Red. They score some points, we score more, bingo bango, we win. They could not hang with us on defense, and we stopped them a lot.

Second game against Gold. We trade for the first six points, then they pull ahead to take half 8 - 6. We got fired up at halftime and resolve to run harder with the idea of making finals. They score just out of half to make it 9 - 6 on a crazy marathon point that lasted for probably close to ten minutes, and on a hot day playing zone that's saying something. After that point we brought in fresh legs, boom, score, boom break, boom break, boom boom suddenly we're up 11 to 9. Gold managed to tie it at 12 - 12, and then we scored three straight for the crazy win. Everyone played really hard and we really showcased our speed and grit.

Apparently we used it all up though, because we came out flat against Moss in the finals and eventually lost something like 15 - 5. Brutal. Second place ain't so bad though. Moss played a very low error game and we did not run hard. Simple math.

All things considered, we had a great season, with only two losses and a lot of fun had.
I learned a lot playing rec this year and am very glad I signed up. Firstly, playing with my bro is awesome. I'm very proud of him for stepping up and his game has improved a lot this summer.

I learned a lot about being able to switch from a handler mindset to a cutter mindset and back again as many times as neccesary during a game. That transition was something I often mentally had a problem with but now I feel a lot more confident in both positions. Kyle told me after finals I need to high point and box people out even more. That and jumping higher would go a long way, I'll work on it.

The trick for both positions is to never sit idle, really. Cut.

Another thing I learned from Kyle is that you can be quiet and be a good captain, you can be spirited without loud cheering. His captaining style is so different from mine and it was very interesting to watch him work. He is a great captain and worked as hard to teach everyone as much as possible and make sure everyone had fun.

Go Blue Fruit Chew!

Just kidding

Hingham 2009, Flaming Kangaroo style.
We came. We conquered the party. We left with the spirit award.

Day 1:

First game was against some team. They were pretty good and had some fast bros and some bros who could throw deep and beat us pretty easily. Our offense took a while to click. It was basically a warmup game for us. Their captain thinks he is real cool cause he has dreadlocks. That's alright I guess.

2nd game was against SUC, which I am assuming stands for Syracuse ultimate club because a few of them were from Syracuse. That might not be right. Maybe they were from Cape Cod. Details hazy. We kept it close but they pulled away at the end to win something like 13 - 9 although that might be totally the wrong score. They were cool. We had a lot of energy and our offense clicked and some cool stuff happened.

We sang Father Abraham for both of the aforementioned teams.

Third game was against some team composed of mostly old people from Boston. We had no energy. Our offense clicked a littled but it was a halfhearted game and a few bad calls left a lot of people unhappy. We did not have much fun.

Before the fourth game I gave a speech (big suprise!) about how the fact that we were not having fun was practically criminal. Some people's eyes lit up and a few smiles were cracked and we got pumped up. We played Wey hi, one of the host teams. They were mostly old dudes from the local towns of Hingham and Wey-something. Weymoth? They were real cool and we goofed around with them a bit. They won something like 13 - 7 in a very tired game between both teams. It was a lot of fun like it should be. Can't remember if we sang Father Abraham to them or not. Everyone was tired.

Did you know that Chili's has two kinds of mashed potatoes you can get as a side order and that most dinners come with two side orders? You can get both. Double mashed baby. Amazing.

We dominated the party even more than last year. Loud songs were sung.
Games were played with Muff and anyone else brave enough to hang with us.
I slept in a folding chair for a while and eventually made it back to the tent.

Day two....

Woke up ready to go. We played the Muff Divers, our bestest friends, while the Wallabies played SUC. Muff prevailed in an entertaining game, good times were had by all and great plays made by both sides.

The Wallabies scored one point against SUC and immediately rushed the cooler for some refreshing beverages. Hilarious.

For our final game both teams had lost players to injuries and heat and thus combined to form the KangaWallabies. We came out strong with a two point huck on the first point. Two more two point hucks and a lot of strong defense later, C Luch threw a blading forehand to me for the second grade KangaWallabie connection and our first and only win of the tournament. Having ended thus on a high note, we collected our spirit award (a bottle of cheap champagne which someone sprayed everywhere), hung out with Muff some more, and departed.

One of the best parts of the weekend was when the TD presented the spirit award to the Kangaroos, Wallabies, and Muff. He said "you guys are my three favorite teams at the tournament, and I play on three others". That goes to show the kind of ruckus that we bring all day and all night.

On KangaWallaMuff.

College Schmollege part II

Woke up, decided not to be responsible (ie leave early to do work). Got to the fields, flag football players everywhere. Some so and so double booked the fields. Sad.

We essentially had a first round bye, which I spent watching RPI vs SUNY genocide (a hodge podge of players from various SUNY schools, including briefly Bridget). It got ridiculous, including a power walking point, the classic upside down point (scoring passes had to be upside down push passes), a jump shot and catch point, and finally a team vs team point with three discs where scoring passes had to be the future throw. It was a fun game to watch and Steve and I heckled Chetti, who listened to us for some reason.

Played Oneonta, exciting game but short. They won. I came within maybe a foot of a layout callahan on the first point. So. Close. Eli Herbst ran hard. Chetti picked up with us. I got footblocked three times by Alphonso, but matched up better with him than in the past all things considered.

That was our only game as the lack of field space meant that only the top eight teams got to play more than one game on day two. Sad. Watched Marist almost beat Oneonta. It was pretty intense. Some random flag football bros were heckling, one in particular. Thought he was a dick but it turned out he was a chill guy who just liked heckling. He'd probably fit into ultimate culture pretty well, but in context he seemed like a dick. If people don't see the joke...well same deal as yesterday really. Ah well.

So that was it and we headed home, stopping at applebees to get apples and bees.
Part III to come?

College Schmollege

Part one?
Hey.

Blogging live from secret fortress X, the ancient lair of D Wood for twenty years to the day unless maybe he moved at some point in his life.

Anyway.

Played some frisbee today. Got to the fields early and ran zone possesions o line vs d line. Great idea, imo. We should do it every tournament. That means getting up earlier, maybe, but it is worth it.

First game vs Albany Scam, the hosts themselves. Eh. Decent game. I thought we played some of our best zone offense of the semester, and said so. Then I remembered LI Classic, but whatever it was still a decent preformance. Mainly I was just happy that we did not come out flat like we often do first game. Breaking that curse baby. Whatup.

Then we played our good buddies the Purchase sub-atomic puppies which meant I got to mark Teddy a lot. Word. Came out strong, they caught up and took the lead, we took it back and traded to take half 8 - 6. Second half we came out fired up, and rode our intense fired up d all the way to the end of the game, not letting up the pressure enough for even a second to let Purchase to score in the second half. 18 - 6. Solid.

Third game was against Ursinus, or something like that. Team from PA. Had a few really fast, really solid handlers. One guy in particular threw some huge ballin' flicks. Sadly he did not like me spiking the disc. Ah well. The problem with acting like a dick as a joke is that if people don't see the joke, you end up just being a dick which is not really that cool. Lesson learned?

Anyway, they took half 8 to 4, and extended their lead to 10 - 4 before we decided to start rolling, bringing the score closer for a 15 - 10 final. At one point we brought it within three points but that was the closest we ever got to a lead. They ran harder. Case closed.

Fourth game we moved field areas to play a lackluster game against RIT, they won, blah blah. We had no mental game. Eli and Rob wanted to win. Not everyone wanted to win. I spent the first half eating cheezits, like the inspiring leader I am. Mitch was ridiculous on d, but they decided to invent foul calls to thwart him. He took it in stride, a gentleman.

So our weekend record stands at 1 - 3. Various thoughts: Marist is looking super solid. They almost beat RPI, who probably was not trying that hard but still. Nice job. The MUFF DIVERS are at this tournament, probably drinking by now. It was nice to see them and I hope we play them tomorrow. Rob showed me how to throw scoobers, by accident. I was throwing like barbecue scoobers or something. Lesson learned. Also I jacked it a lot, maybe too much. I thought the team would hate me but apparently they liked it? The hip and shoulder jerk works. I promise. Big throws. Like backhands but you know, forehands. Learn it.

Fun things that happened: a combo of Purchase and Albany attempting to pants our entire team huddle, and some bro from Oneonta pantsing himself and running around yelling "they got me they got me!". Playing purchase, always good. Getting a free handle. Word. Fun.

MVP of the day: Eleazer. He is getting so good. He was running hard long after nearly everyone else had given up. Ellen had a good deep game. Bridget played a great game against ursinus, anchoring our o line for quite a few points. D Wood, as always, a standout. Danielle and Tricia had a great tournament debut. Honestly though everyone played really hard, other than like, the game against RIT and the first half against Ursinus. We had some really good things happening. We. Need. To. Learn. To. Play. Hard. All the time.

Yes.

Anyway. Today was fun. Peace.

Post-Bard

Beautiful weather.

First game against East Strousberg. Came out flat. We need to end this first game problem we have before people make it a mentally acceptable behavior. "Oh no problem, we lost but it was the first game of the day, no wonder". Forget that. Not much to say about this game. They outran us and hucked it a lot.

Second game vs Hamilton. First time we have seen them since Danse, and they were far less intimidating without their Celtic warrior garb and woad paint. Even so, they started strong and took half 7 - 4. Second half we got fired up, but did not hit our stride in time and lost 12 - 9 despite some fiery performances.

Third match vs Bard Renegades, who we thought was Bard's b team. As it turns out they are actually another team at Bard, but they do not practice competitively or something like that. Some sort of rivalry I would guess, between the "serious" players and they people who just want to play for fun but still have a team. Eh. In any case we were tired and they were lucky that was the case. We kept it close but were never able to take the lead, losing 13 - 10.

By that point we were down to nine players, so everyone was understandably tired. We were short staffed all day which was frustrating at times but it also allowed for a few people to really step up, including Eleazer who dropped a lot of passes but always got open. His biggest problem as I see it is confidence and when he becomes confident in his catching ability, he will make the catches he is missing. Captain Dave played savage, which added up to a total of 61 points if my mental addition is solid. For my part I subbed out for four points and was more tired than I usually am after a day of play, which makes sense because I was mostly cutting instead of handling. We had nice flow going on the handle with sweet upline passes and huge hucks alike. I'd say I had about a 50/50 huck completion rate, which is alright. Forehand form definitely getting there. Shoulder jerk is getting powerful. Stepping helps so much. Doober claims I played a better defensive game than offense, which might be a first. Regardless I gave people a hard time on the mark, and snagged a few D's.

Final analysis: Nice job Bard, well run tournament with plenty of legit amenities. We had roughly half of our roster, and we had two close games with teams that would have beaten our entire roster soundly last semester. We're getting better.

Baby steps.

Ah spring, when a young man's fancy....

This is my 50th post on this blog. I will have a cookie to celebrate.

So anyway, today was sectionals. The format was changed last minute from pool play to bracket play. I'm not entirely sure why but it was interesting. We needed to come out strong against SUNY Buffalo and unfortunately we did not manage that. We played very tentatively and did not display our usual aptitude for zone offense. Buffalo won by a decent amount and I am hoping they qualify for regionals.

Our second game was against Geneseo Snail. Eh. I did not play very well offensively but I shut my guy down on defense most of the time. Jacked a full field flick to BJC and got a handblock. Me me me. Right, anyway, maybe I'll refelct on this game at a later date when I remeber the details.

Since we lost our first two games we got to move fields for our third game. The second field site was right on the lake and incredibly windy. The wind forced us to really focus on fundamental zone offense which is definately a good thing. Third game was against SUNY Potsdam, sans my Magic Roll crew sadly. We had a very close game. They were up in the first half initially, but we took the lead and took half 8 - 5. Second half they caught up, although I think we got the score wrong but since noone wrote it down (my fault) we'll never know. The game got hardcapped at 12 - 11 us, and eventually we won 13 - 12 in a very tight game.

After playing incredibly hard in our third game against Perfect Storm, our sideline and many of our subs dispersed and hid in their cars to avoid the wind. We started out against Ithaca with two subs and little enough energy. They took half by a large margin, maybe 8 to 2. Eventually we found some flow and energy and made it a closer game, with a final score of 15 - 10 Ithaca. They were a cool team despite one terrible call (although I doubt the player in question would agree with my assesment of the situation).

A lot of our players really stepped up this weekend, freshmen in particular. Eli and Steve both had plenty of D's each. Our zone offense got a lot better over the weekend, as well as our zone d. We will need to work on both at practice. 2x4 got really got at stopping cup crashes, frustrating Potsdam and Ithaca's poppers all day and all night.

So sectionals, for us, is over, after one epic day. I am hoping that the weekend will motivate our players to work hard and commit the neccesary time to the team so that we can keep improving and work towards the goal of winning our section and qualifying for regionals.

This weekend is certainly food for thought. Further posts forthcoming.
Campus disc golf pays off. I threw arguably my best ever in game huck and also one of my best ever pullls.
But I still need to figure out how to hole in one the sculpture.

Anyway yeah.
Happy Easter.
Peace.

LI Classic Day 2

Game 1 vs. SUNY Buffalo
We resolved to get fired up from the first point, unlike our lackluster first game of Saturday against Ramapo. We came out focused, going up 4 - 0 very quickly. We traded to make it 6 - 2, but could not take half before Buffalo had scored 4 more points. The first half was some of our best ultimate as a team, and if we could always maintain that level of focus and energy we would be amazing. Second half our offense looked a little sloppy, and despite fired up defense Buffalo got the best of us and the final score stood in their favor, 13 - 9.

Game 2 vs. Ramapo
Our second match was back on field five and we were set to face Ramapo again, or rather Ramapo X as they had so many pickup players. We came out flat and played with little energy, not helped by some foul arguments that occurred. The game did not really look like a game at all, and Ramapo X won 13 - 3. By the end of the game they were running wacky zones and acting silly, which should have been our chance to start playing intense and force them to take the game seriously. However the wind was picking up and our offense was getting frustrated. We did not want to play and it showed. As an aside, Ramapo X would go undefeated at the tournament, but not be allowed to advance past pre-quarters because of how many pickup players they had. Strange.

Game 3 vs. Hofstra B
After that I walked over to the RPI Oneonta game and it was hot. Oneonta tied it up and then scored to make it 9 - 8, game to 13. There were some close plays and Oneonta was fired up, rushing the field after every point and cheering like crazy. RPI's sideline was crowded with other teams come to watch, most of whom were cheering for them. The cap horn went off with Oneonta up 10 -9, and RPI scored to tie it and pull on universe point. The last point was intense, and in the end RPI's tight d and methodical offense got the better of Oneonta's energy. Both teams were running hard and laying out and the game was really fun to watch.

By the end of the RPI Oneonta game New Paltz's next game had started, and Rob and I had to jog back to the fields to get in on the action. We were playing Hofstra b again, and our freshmen were holding court, going up 3 - 0 very quickly with a sick grab from B Dools and other good plays. First half was a lot of trading. Can't remember who took half but it was close. If we had won we would have got to play Purchase again, which would have been awesome, but alas it was not to be. Hofstra's coaches were playing this game and their methodical handling frustrated our defense, leading their team to a 13 - 8 victory.

I was amped because I hucked a giant forehand to Benjy for our last point of the game. After that we looked fired up to win, but going against the wind just did not happen despite a ridiculous d from Benjy that stopped their first goal attempt.

That was the tournament and we got ready to head home, stopping to snag pbj bagels first. Despite going winless on day two, the GUNX played our best tournament ever and many players really stepped up this weekend to fill the wholes left by absent players Dave Doober and BJC. Mitch played out of his mind defense, and a lot of our freshmen took command on the field and looked great.

Sub calling - it works. Despite a few hitches that can be worked out before sectionals, it worked very well. I set a bad example for the team by arguing with the sub caller maybe three times. Ick.

Sectionals is in three weeks and we are going to be practicing hard. I already hit the gym this week and I'm feeling good.

Bing.

LI Classic Day 1

We arrived at the Hofstra fields just in time for the captain's meeting, truly a fortunate turn of events. Beggining our first game it turned out that Kerry mananged to get us all our games on one field for the entire day, which was pretty darn cool.
First game was against Ramapo, and we came out a little flat. D was fairly intense but our offense just did not click. There were a lot of dropped passes, which could be attributed to our lack of outdoor practices up until this point. We lost by six. Fun game. We need to work on being ready to play our first game. Starting slow does not help us. I am confident that we can beat Ramapo if we play as well as we can. No excuses.

Ramapo tried to huck it to Benjy five times in one point. Nah. That dude is like a brick house.

Our second match was against Hofstra B, and they were enthusiastic and inexperienced. Our defense was out of control and we stopped what seemed like every other throw they made. Our offense started to click but the stack was setting up too far away from the handlers and people were not clearing quite fast enough. Hofstra B set up their stacks even farther out, and often had to cut thirty yards under to catch a pass from a handler forty yards away from the back of their stack, and against an offense like that our hungry defense could not help but make plays all day.
We won by a lot. If you are interested in seeing the scores from any of our games they are already up on the UPA teams list.

After Hofstra B was the Merchant Marine Academy (at Steven's Point I think but don't quote me on that). They were, not suprisingly, very fast. If they got a d they would immediately start cutting, hard. I made an error in judgement as defensive coordinator by not setting zone at all in the first half. They had very few really solid throwers but they were very fast. One of their players said it is their first year, and after a year or so when they have all learned to throw they will be a team to watch out for.

In the meantime they were a good team for us to play, driving home the lesson that you have to go to the disc every throw. If any of our cutters slowed down even a tiny bit, they would d the throw. Second half we brought out a sick o line, scored our first point and then ran zone for the next three points, scoring them all before finally being broken to make the game 6 - 4 in their favor. Alas, that was as close as we got, and the Marines took the game back. We need to become more conistant. Running zone all game would have helped, but after our four point run we did not make much noise. But let me tell you those four points were sick nasty.

Fourth game against Adelphi, we started strong on d and did not relent. Not much to say. We beat them with our legs, mostly. They could not handle our defensive pressure that started the first point and continued all the way through. I think we played mini tanks after. Quality.

Our final match of the day was with SUNY Purchase, in the much anticipated battle of the artsy SUNY schools. We came out strong and frustrated their defense, taking half 6 to 2. They have some solid players but by the end of the day some of their studs seemed a little tired, and our players were not playing tired at all. Our offense really started to click and our vert stack looked reall tasty, probably the best it has ever been. As a team our fundamentals have come a very long way in the past two years. We obviously have a lot to improve on, but we are really starting to play like a TEAM and that is great. Purchase was a really fun team and the players on our respective squads really hit it off. Instant chemistry you might say. I'd love to play them again.

All in all it was a great day for the GUNX. Our defense was out of control and our offense is really starting to click. Unfortunately we did not get to play any teams from our section today (except possibly the Marinese?). Tomorrow we face Buffalo in pre-quarters, Stony Brook in quarters and in all likelihood Hofstra in semis, should we play like ferocious tigers and make it that far. Here's to hoping.

Selfish

Yep that's me.

Anyway, been a while. Yep.
It would seem I have some catching up to do.

So Nocturnal Decisions eh? Well it happened and it was a wild time. My team had a solid collection of skilled players. Everybody had solid fundamentals and the only problem was that some players did not know when to sub out. It seemed that all the teams had a lot of talented players and that the good teams were not those with the superstars but rather those that just clicked. Any of the teams we faced could conceivably have won the championship.

As it happened, Cap'n Dave's team went on to win it all. He is truly a source of pride for the GUNX and I spend most of practice these days heckling him about how he is a tournament champion. My squad finished 6th, going three and five overall. Our point differential helped us out, we played close games and did not get blown out by any team. The tournament itself was very well run and we will definately be back next year. Mad props to Sussman and the WUDI crew for putting on such a fine event.

Personal highlights and lowlights: When I handled, I played the possession game and did not turn it much even later in the night when I got tired. Had a few bad hucks but also a few good ones. Heckled Chetti on camera, quality to be sure. Handblock and layout d combo. One game in the second pool I went on a seven point run where I scored six points and only let my man touch the disc once. Hucked some big hucks, spiked the disc and got yelled at for it by Taylor. Got skied by Joe Smash like twenty times and Taylor layout D’d me a fair bit as well. Blab blah blah me me me!

An observation: You can't have timed games with pulls without an outside arbiter of some sort to enforce quick pulls, or else some joker is going to slowroll the walk back to the line and kill time. ND had a good solution. Instead of make it take it, when you scored you dropped the disc and possession went to the other team. Subbing on the fly was also very cool once I figured it out. I think it is a great way to play indoor.

~~~

Indoor this past Tuesday went well. After spending half of the night digesting tacos, the GUNX went on to straight up dominate, earning several awards in recognition of our mad pickup skills. Charlie received the Nobel Prize for greatest contrast of excellent throwing form with poor decision making in an upset victory over yours truly. Having won that award for the past twenty months straight I can only stop to reflect on my recent desire to play the possession game with horror and grim resignation.

TDs are real nice. First indoor with them I did not play that well due to fatigue from ND (although still much better than the previous week. That week was bloody awful) but the TDs were nice and now they are broken in. They also work really well in the mud.

OMIGOSH SEGUE
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Outdoor practice has again started for the GUNX (!!!!!!!) and our first tournament of the spring season is this upcoming weekend. We will be seeing a lot of teams from our section and fine-tuning our game. We have three weeks of practice between LI Classic and sectionals and we are going to make the most of them. Yeah. The GUNX looked solid at our first outdoor practice despite weeks of not playing outdoors, and stoic at our second despite the massive amounts of mud. Looking at the team you can tell who worked hard over the winter. Some people are going to absolutely explode this spring and that will be exciting for the team.

Hey you know what sounds nice? Sleeping. Fear not gentle reader, I will blag again before the end of SPRING BREAK 09 BABY.

ZRink and sick flicks

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.

Tales from the Electric City

The time and place: Friday, Wendy's, Scranton PA. The Gunx had just arrived and were preparing to eat when Bridget broke the news that day one was cancelled due to the weather forecast. Ouch. No Saturday games. The team was understandably upset about this turn of events, but the mood lightened when we arrived at the appartment we'd be staying at. It was sick, and we partied with Scranton long into the night.

Saturday we were able to play two short scrimmages vs. Scranton and the Scranton alumni. We started strong with a three point run against Scranton but ended up losing 5 - 3. Scranton Alumni rolled for four points straight, before we picked up the slack and scored a few to make it 5 -2 or maybe 5 - 3 (?). Sideline hilarity ensued. People were table-topped, including yours truly. The weather was fairly epic. The mistake that probably cost us the game against Scranton was not setting zones on the turn. Our zone d was looking strong and if we had ran it throughout we probably could have done some more damage.

Sunday: The fields were sort of rolling hills, like a rippling wave. Or something. Anyway, it was kind of neat. In any case it made far less of a difference in the games than the wind did. Wind was something like 20 or 30 mph I'd guess (although honestly I have no clue. It was strong. Yeah.). Obviously, we saw a lot of zone. First game of the day was against Bloomsburg A, and they ran a Florida style four man cup. The Scranton alums also ran a four man, and it left me wondering whether this is directly due to UFUCT's influence or if its just a coincidence. I'm willing to bet its trickle down strategy, but whatever. In any case we got rolled in the first half. Only scored one point, on a crazy OI flick huck that Charlie threw. It dropped way short but was somehow caught just inches above the ground, leaving defense and offense alike flabbergasted.
Second half we rallied, and also began setting zones on the turn instead of man defense, which improved our game a lot. Our zone d was pretty fine, and it allowed us to score three more times in the second half before the hard cap. Final score 12 - 4 Bloomsburg.

Our second match was against Kudztown. They had a dude on their team that looked like BJC and it turned out they actually know each other. Small ultimate world. Gunx came out strong with a two point lead but failed to score again until the second half. By this point we were playing zone every defensive point, and in the strong wind we were able to consistently generate turns. The offense could not convert, but we played some strong offensive points. Doober had a couple of possession saving layout grabs that were pretty sweet. Kudztown had a couple of strong throwers that were able to score despite the wind and our persistent zone, and perhaps also the Gunx got complacent after taking an early lead.

In the second half we went 1 and 1, and the game definitely seemed in reach. Sure we were down five but our zone had rallied and the final point of the game was a series of big offensive plays followed by shut down d before we converted on the third attempt. We might have been able to convert quicker if I had been less intent on jerking it deep. Unfortunately we got capped, and the final score stood at a disappointing 8 - 3, the game an epic comeback that might have been.

The third game was not to be, as RC hammer dropped out and all the other teams had matches. Dave felt that such a lackluster display of testicular fortitude must be punished, and unleashed a mighty shark attack as a challenge to all enemies of the Gunx. Scranton and the other PA teams in attendance are not going to forget us in a hurry, that's for damn sure.

Various statistics:
Points were caught by Kelsey, John, Nathalie, Charlie and me.
Dave and I had three assists each, the seventh thrown by Charlie.
Dave's landsharking was assisted by John, Doober, Mitch, Charlie, Brendan and probably others as well.

Strategic thoughts and mumbo jumbo:
Zone d: Getting pretty sick. Our cups were forcing turns left and right. Our midfielders need to work on shoring up the holes in the cup, and by bacon I need to get more aggressive as a deep. On the other hand, our communication in the zone is getting stronger, and a lot of players began play their roles very confidently.

Zone o had its ups and downs. When it worked we had flow like the Rhymenocerous, but sometimes the wind was just too much and someone would do something silly like huck a hammer or throw a thirty yard OI flick into the wind. Our offensive problems were twofold: Throwing mechanics and decision making. Too many throws were released high, too many open cutters overlooked. Some players had bright ideas like the afformentioned OI flicks and hammers. I'll take responsibility for most of the hammers, although hammer pulls are good money when the wind is fairly consistent. One problem that can be easily addressed is that the cutters need to move more, and stretch out the zone.

Thoughts on the tournament:
Scranton is one heck of a classy team. They ran a great event and although we only got two real games I do not feel that the weekend was in any way wasted. They put us up and threw a great party, and let us scrimmage with them and their alumni. Definitely a team I'd like to play against and party with in the future. In the long run I feel the weekend will prove beneficial for the team, as it was great for team bonding and dynamic building. It was fun. Fun is cool.

Now we come to what is in all likelihood the last week of practices of the year, and the Gunx host Marist this coming Saturday for our final game of the season. If we don't win I'm not shaving my mustache until 2009. We're going to win.

Witch's Teat

RPI's home tournament was a great time. It was our first full tournament of the year, and the first ever for our new players. We got to the fields bright and early, well in advance of the captain's meeting this time! Two teams dropped at the last minute and they could only find one replacement, so our pool only had four teams instead of five.

Our first game was against Wesleyan, although not the same Wesleyan squad I faced at club sectionals. I guess this was their A team and seven car faced their b squad, or vice versa. The field was a mud pit, and cutting was very difficult. On the other hand, it was pretty easy to floor defenders - anyone suddenly accelerating to catch a speeding cutter was liable to trip on the awful footing and fall flat. The Gunx came out strong, scoring four unanswered points or so, but could not hold the lead and slowed down to lose half six to eight. Second half, our motivation was critically low and Wesleyan ran away with the lead to win 15 - 9. All in all it was a fun game and Wesleyan was a spirited opponent. The loss was only somewhat bitter because everyone knew we could have won if we had worked to our full potential. For my part, I had two opportunities to make point saving layout d's and just could not get it together to fly. I need to be able to put my body on the line and make plays. It's by far the biggest problem with my defensive game right now.

A change of scene was just what we needed. Our next match, against Clarkson High Dive, took place on the adjacent field that was mercifully free of large muddy pits. The Gunx came out ready to rock, with an energetic sideline and strong plays on both sides of the disc. As an aside, I mentioned last post that zone offense would be a focus in the week leading up to RPI. Due to a variety of factors, we never had enough players at practice that week to work on zone at all. Clarkson threw zone and we were able to methodically take it to pieces. I guess the Gunx learned zone o by osmosis, spurred on by our veterans remembering last year, when taking apart zones was our specialty. Clarkson's zone could not keep our d line zone offense at bay, and the Gunx took half eight to two.

Clarkson rallied after half, scoring three unanswered points and then trading to make it a close 11 - 9. Fearing an upset, the Gunx got amped and scored four points running, capitalizing on a dropped pull and the occasional deep look. The Gunx made good use of both the methodical zone offense and the deep shot, although late in the game a few hucks were thrown that allowed Clarkson the easy deep d and the score. But in the end, the Gunx intensity was not to be denied, and we celebrated our first victory at a tournament, made even sweeter by taking out the second seeded team.

Our final game of the day was against the Skidmore wombats. The Gunx had given their all against Clarkson, and it showed. We played a fatigued game against Skidmore, and several marathon length points in the first half did not help. We were only able to score once in the first half, and twice in the second. Not much to say, really. The Gunx folded against the combined factors of Skidmore's considerable skills and our own fatigue. Our sideline intensity remained strong, with cheers and strike calls alike, and the sideline is becoming one of our strongest assets.

The Gunx left the field day one for a sumptuous dinner at Dave's house, and everyone seemed satisfied with our 1 - 2 record. All in all it was a great day, one of our best yet as a team. However, it highlighted our inconsistency. When we play hard, we roll. When we don't, we get rolled. Simple enough, but we need to be able to play that hard every game. We could have beaten Wesleyan. Skidmore, I think, could have outplayed us regardless but we could have at least given them a fight. If anyone is reading this and has any tips for increasing a team's consistency on the field, don't hesitate to comment.

Day two we were excited to find out that our victory over Clarkson had been enough to get us into the championship bracket, albeit seeded at the bottom of the top eight. Our quarterfinals opponent was RPI Y, the number one seed. We did well, considering. The final score was 15 to 7, and we fought hard for those seven points. Covering Steve was a high school flashback, and he skied me now with the same ease he did back then, and threw something like three hucks for scores while I was marking him. Ouch. On the other hand, I did handblock him once. Marking him was some of the best motivation I've had all year. RPI is a pretty classy team, I have to say. I'm fairly happy with how we did. If the Gunx can score that many points on a regionals caliber team now, we are on the right track. Sure it was a split squad, but it appeared to be mostly veterans and we were playing with only half of our players in any case. Good game, good game.

Our next match was against Oneonta, a rematch from Danse I suppose you could say. The field was diagonal, and marked with nearly invisible small cones. Unfortunately, a lot of the Gunx seemed to get psyched out, both by the annoying field configuration and by Oneonta. We played a negative game, and it showed. I and several others implored the team to get the field and the opponent out of our heads and play "our game" (I think I used every ultimate cliché in the book at RPI), and when we were able to play ultimate and have fun we balled. When we got psyched out and negative, we got rolled. Go figure! In any case, the game did see some strong plays. Biggest lesson? Mental game! You get psyched out, you lose. Hopefully that lesson was well learned.

Our final game of the day was against RPI X. They were tired and wanted to watch finals, so they asked for a game to seven. We agreed, which in retrospect was silly. We could have beaten them. The first point was somewhat long, and ended with them scoring by throwing the greatest. Bad omen for us! They took the lead early and we could not catch up, although I am confident we could have in a full game. Oh well, shoulda coulda woulda. My fault for agreeing to play the short game! Final score was seven to four or five, can't remember. I threw two hucks for scores, and a third that would have been a score if I had not been hasty and curved it ob. At one point, Kelsey and Ellen both went deep against their zone. Chetti was in the endzone as deep deep, guarding the middle but perhaps staying closer to Ellen because of her height. I got the disc on a swing near the sideline and hucked it to Kelsey. Chetti made a beautiful bid, sprinting full out and then flying through the air fully horizontal, just short of getting the d. Definitely one of the coolest plays of the weekend.

Wish we could have watched finals, I believe it was RPI Y vs. UAlbany alums, with a fair number of Bashing players on the Albany side. Must have been an exciting game. The tournament trophy was a forty spray painted white and capped with a metal salmon. Classy.

Recap: Great weekend. Gunx need to be more consistent, but should be proud of the intensity we brought. Eighth place finish, our best tournament finish as a program (not for long!). Breaking seed by five points was also pretty neat. Thanks to Lizz and Steve for picking up with us, Danielle for taking amazing photos and to RPI for running a great tournament. Our zone offense was strong all weekend. We can play the short game very well when we are on form and not too impulsive. MVP of the weekend was definitely Kelsey, who caught the most scores by far, some of them truly amazing plays. John played a great defensive game day two, earning at least six d's. Our next adventure will be Scranton in two weeks.

For my part, I found myself covering several players who were far and away more athletic and experienced than I am. I could run with them, but I could not shut them down. That needs to change. I need to be motivated to train harder than ever this winter. Gym here I come.

Danse Macabre

Well Danse came and went and it was certainly an interesting time. We all had fun hanging out on Friday, probably too much fun as we stayed up far too late for a tournament night. Poor directions led to us being forty minutes late to the fields on Saturday, missing the captain's meeting and more importantly, breakfast. On the bright side, sort of, a lot of the games were pushed back until around ten anyway so we were somehow still early for our first match. Conditions were rainy and windy, just the way I like it?

First match was against Ramapo. Their costume was Mexicans? Sombreros, maracas, sharpie mustaches. That sort of thing. First half was terrible. I think we scored three points. Second half we brought GAME and proceeded to score something like seven points in a row, at one point. Unfortunately, since games had already started late we ended up getting hard capped at 12 - 14. I'm fairly confident we could have pulled a win together if we had not gotten capped. They scored the last point but with the cap on they knew they had already won so that probably subconsciously affected our motivation. Also, our defense was bringing it hard so three points in a row would not have been too difficult. Anyway, lesson learned. From now on we will have clear directions for every tournament so we can bloody well get there on time.

Second game was against Hamilton, in Celtic garb a la kilts and woad paint. Mitch is far more Celtic than any of them, but they will never know as he was dressed in a business suit for the game. Anyway, they ran a pretty smooth offense and were consistently able to get open. Their defense was sort of lackluster (good cup but the rest of the zone was higgledy piggledy) but fortunately for them the lack of breakfast had completely sapped the morale of the Gunx and we folded easily. It was sort of depressing but we can learn from our mistakes. I don't meant to imply that we would have necessarily beaten them otherwise, they were a solid team, but we certainly could match them man to man and we would have liked to give them a fight at least.

Fortunately we had a bye after Hamilton so the team could eat. Most everyone went to get "real" food. I had bagels, and stayed at the fields to hang out and watch games, a dubious decision as it was cold and I was soaked. Oh well, it was fun anyway. Watched Ramapo beat RIT b and heckled both sides with constant calls to "huck it huck it lololol". The team got back and sat in our cars as we waited to hear if games would be cancelled due to the fields being torn apart. The other coed pool's games did get cancelled as their fields had been reduced to muddy pits. TD Creepy had to break the news of the cancellation to them, and the U of Rochester alums took it so hard that they tabletopped him into the mud.

Glorious.

In the end, our games were on and we got amped to face Oneonta. As for that game, what can I say? Both teams played hard but Oneonta's height and experience predictably won out. However, the game was much closer than the score (6 - 15 or something like that) would suggest. We fought hard for every point and our defense was on fire. When our offense did convert it looked amazing and when they did not our d still made Oneonta take three or four possessions per point to score. We were supposed to play RIT b as our final game but they went home because of the wet and cold, even though by that point in the day it was far less cold and the rain had mostly stopped. Personally, I like playing on rainy days as long as it is not too cold or windy.

Day two games were cancelled except for quarterfinals and up, so we did not get to play, going home with a 0 - 3 record and a disappointing lack of games.
Looking back, Danse was good for the team socially. Everyone seemed to bond a lot hanging out at Bridget's house, at the fields, in the car and at the Saturday night party and ihop trip. On the field we saw our strengths and weaknesses highlighted clearly. Decision making will come with experience, and the sloppy throwing was largely due to the wet disc. Our zone offense is good while we are swinging the disc between handlers but a lot of our new players do not yet understand how to get open downfield. Zone offense will be a focus this week so that we will be ready for RPI, and we will be practicing rain or shine.

On the positive side, our defense was pretty furious most of the time, and our conditioning definitely came in to play. Everyone ran hard day one and yet I did not hear anyone complaining about soreness or excessive fatigue. We were certainly tired but noone was wiped out, and we would have been ready to run our asses off, had Sunday games not been cancelled. The irony is that last year our zone offense was our greatest strength, while our defense lacked intensity. It is evident that we have changed our focus from offense to defense this year to a large extent.

Thus far, our man defense is strong. Our zone defense is good sometimes but not consistent. We need to work on communication, and certain lanky fellows who blog too much need to get more aggressive in the deep position. Our offense in general needs a spark to get it going. Sometimes we roll through any defense and sometimes we turn it on a swing ten yards out of our own endzone. I don't think our offense can be solved with a quick fix strategy wise, so we will have to practice our asses off as we have been doing all season. Soon the winter will drive us inside. Winter conditioning will shore up our man defense even more, but methinks a lot of offense technique and zone strategy will have to wait until spring. Oh well, at least we'll be in great shape.

On a personal note, as much as I am ashamed to say it, a lot of what went wrong for the team this past weekend comes down to poor leadership. There is no excuse for us not getting the team breakfast before the games, or for not having adequate directions to the fields. Although things worked out in the end, it reflects poorly on me and I absolutely resolve to do better in the future. Enough said. Sometime I am going to write a piece about my thoughts the difficulty of balancing practicing as a player with being a team leader, but that is something for another day.

So our fall season record is now 1 - 5 with two tournaments to go. All in all, things are going well. I am very excited about the team and the progress we have made. By the time the series rolls around, we are going to be one hell of a team. Our team identity and friendship is growing by the day, and the players who are working hard are seeing a real payoff. RPI this weekend. Amped.