Pre Tryout Jitters

A warning that this will be one of those self-centered, "me, me, me" type entries. Furthermore, with competitive mixed tryouts a few hours away, the quality of my writing (below average on a good day) will inevitably suffer due to nerves.

After going through the open pre-tryout tryouts, talking to some experienced ultimate players, and swapping emails with one of tonight's evaluators, I have a good idea of what to expect. I think that fitness and drills will be the focus of tonight. Assuming this is true, it actually works to my advantage since I'm in decent shape and know most of the drills. In terms of talking with experienced players, one of the things that has me worried is my Coached League coach from last winter apparently got cut in 2007. Gord is an awesome player, and given some of the BigFish players I've played with and against this past winter, I thought he'd have been a shoe in to make the team.

Yesterday was super windy, which made me worry since wind wreaks havoc on forehand throws (one of my strengths). Today is slightly less windy, but it's rainy. Rain makes the disc slippery to catch, and hard to huck. Then again, anything that discourages me from hucking is a blessing. Having said that, I'd love it if the rain took a break between 9pm and 11pm. If the rain persists, I might have to break out the Nike football receiver gloves for the first time since late last fall.

Didn't sleep too well last night, but it wasn't ultimate related, just one of those nights. I've already taken two extra-strength Aspirins today, since I felt a headache coming on. Ah well, there's lots of time for a short nap after work. On the bright side, neither my sports hernia nor heal injury are bothering me at all today.

In terms of preparation, I'm basically just going through my normal daily routine with a few small additions. Since the tryouts run a little late for my liking, if I don't take a nap, I'll probably eat some dark chocolate to help keep me alert. The plan is to have chicken and rice for supper, which is a good pre-game meal. I've also re-read the Zip Tips today on the bus and at lunch. Re-reading the tips helped me get in the right frame of mind for my IID tryout last fall.

The IID tryouts are the only ultimate experience I can draw on in terms of tryouts. For me, the open pre-tryouts were only about learning the drills and making sure I was in shape. In retrospect, I kind of overshot the IID tryouts last fall, and ended up dominating in the two scrimmages. I'm not expecting to dominate anything tonight, and am just hoping I can "play within myself" and showcase my strengths enough to make it to the weekend tryouts. Even if I get cut tonight, I still have the tryout for the intermediate development team on Wednesday. If I got cut from that, the captain of my Tuesday team really wants me back and I'd be playing with an IID coach (Chris Rootham) on a talented team with a bevy of tall, athletic, attractive beauties. So there shouldn't be pressure on me, but still…

One of the last Zip Tips I re-read over lunch was that champions never give in, they attack. Hopefully I can channel my inner Zip tonight and attack with ferocity. I'll make sure to let you know how it goes either way. Until next time, happy hucking!