Quarter End Blog

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
George Santayana

Having finally found time to transfer some notes I made in NB to my practice journal, here are a few lessons I learned from my first competitive two-day alternative tournament, that I thought were worth sharing. Some are serious, most aren't, but all are things I'll keep in mind at future tournaments.

- Injuries heal faster by continuing to play, or are at least masked by adrenaline.
- A positive, fearless attitude is essential no matter what just happened on the field.
- The "clap line" is more innocent than the name implies and rivals sliced bread as a great invention.
- Ability to play ulty with little to no sleep is a valuable skill.
- Never leave it up to Gavin to dress you for a 70s party.
- Ensure you're not the only one in the car who's never heard of pedidle.
- If you're the only person in the car who's never heard of pedidle, imitate Matt who's a seasoned veteran.
- Although not a big part of ultimate, nudity is one element of the game.
- Alcohol is everywhere, but no one forces it on you.
- Having a loud sideline helps, although being part of that sideline means increased potential for losing your voice.
- There are plenty of "unique" tourist attractions on the way to North Bay.
- Bathroom breaks mean different things to different people.
- Every competitive team has a few designated pullers.
- Zen from Toronto likes calling their designated puller "Batman" (not "fatman", as I misheard and told the guy he looked fit to me).
- Blackflies bites itch non-stop for about a week.
- Certain stereotypes (both positive and negative) about ulty players are true.
- Bring your own food and snacks; don't rely on field food to get you through.
- My physical endurance is fine (even though I had a lapse during game #6 covering a handler), but my mental endurance needs to improve (I counted stalls on a cutter without the disc in game #7).
- The ratio of female hotties per team (especially on Ottawa teams) is significantly higher than every other sport with the possible exception of beach volleyball.
- When rooming with Gavin, bring extra…everything.
- Sleeping on university dorm single beds without box-springs is damn near impossible compared to my regular Sealy Posturepedic queen sized pillow-top mattress.
-Charlie-horses suck just as much in ultimate as they do in basketball, volleyball, baseball, track, cross-country, and tennis (long racquet-throwing story).
- Knowing handlers' preferences helps when things break down (ty Chris for this tip that proved helpful).

Not sure if I'll get around to an abbreviated update before Regionals or not, but I'm going to tomorrow's optional practice on a high after two of my better league games ever. Not only was last Friday's sprawl game my favourite in the last 2+ years, I helped the B&Es win against an experienced Black Velvet Elvis team tonight. The only bad part of tonight's game was my inability to "turn it down a notch" when it comes to my level of intensity.

Might as well put this down as well: I've decided to play balls to the wall at Regionals, and empty the tank. The way I look at it, we'll have lots of subs, I won't get called on as often as in NB, and this could be my last tournament with the team this summer (not being negative, just realistic with Glenn probably rejoining the team for the remaining tournaments). Assuming I get called on once every three points or less frequently (likely), I'll have plenty of time to recover on the sideline when the point is over. I'm intentionally not researching the teams that will be there, since I have the tendency to overanalyze and worry. Instead, I'll play hard no matter what team is on the opposite side of the field, and focus on helping BF qualify for Nationals. Until next time, happy hucking!