Abbreviated Recap

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
- Steve Prefontaine

Since I'm looking forward to recapping my first tournament in a future post, this weekly recap is a bit of ahead of schedule. The quote above is one of my favourites, and I decided to use it to motivate myself to give it my everything this weekend in North Bay.

- As mentioned in a previous post, I played hookie on Poach Motel this Monday to play for the Berts & Ernies instead. I was actually going to play in both games, but since Poach's 7:30 start got moved up to 6:30, I couldn't be in two places at once. Poach might have missed me as they lost 15-8 to a slightly lower rated opponent.
- The B&Es lost their first game of the season to Disc in a Box (great name btw). It was a close 16-14 match, which could have gone either way, especially if the B&Es had more of their regulars at the game.
- Here's two quick things I've noticed about playing low/mid-tier ultimate after Monday's game. 1. Nobody knows the rules. It was crazy that I made every call (three in total) during the game. I called a disc space violation (the guy was bear hugging me), called a disc down after I clearly got out the "t" in "ten" counting stalls (he contested, he was wrong, but whatever), and explained how some girl had to play the disc since she picked it up in her team's endzone. I felt like a rules nazi, but, c'est la vie!
2. Once my team-mate from IID Aaron showed up (they led us 6-3), we could have won the game just by doing give-a-goes. Aaron's ridiculously fast, but luckily for the other team, he felt like spreading the disc around. Having said that, I'm having a hard time remembering points of the B&Es that weren't scored by one of us (via a pass from the other one of us).
- As mentioned in my previous post, I played like a bungling idiot at Tuesday's practice. Even during the drills I was catching discs one-handed (not recommended), throwing blading flicks, and misjudging targets during a slant-to-huck drill. More importantly, I was a total non-factor in the scrimmage. That had to be my worst practice with the team.
- I was able to get some confidence back at Thursday's practice. The fitness wasn't intense as normal (ty Tom), and the drills were cool. The slant-to-huck is quickly becoming my favourite drill. Having said that, I really have to concentrate on completing my hucks, as opposed to throwing it out of the back of the endzone.
- I don't get why people aren't listening when people explain things at practice. We're all there to learn, and listening is a big part of learning.
- Captain Sandra was nice enough to give me a packing checklist for North Bay. For a notorious last minute packer (haven't started yet at 10pm), that's a great tool.
- I feel guilty for helping Urban Sprawl to a 3-1 record (it should be 4-1, but I digress), and then leaving them to handle Jolly Rogers on Friday night. On the bright side, three of Jolly Rogers' best players will be on BF in North Bay, sprawl shouldn't get killed too badly.

On that note, I'm going to force myself to pack for North Bay now. The retro costume is looking promising (pictures to follow, I promise), and I'm looking forward to experiencing my first two day tournament. After thinking about this for a while, I'm mentally granting myself a "bye" no matter what happens on the field Saturday and Sunday since this will be a new experience, and I want to enjoy it. Until next time, happy hucking!