Regionals Recap

"Just let it happen."
- J. Lester (multiple times both on and off the field at Regionals)

Below is a semi-brief recap of the Ontario mixed Regionals for 2008.

- No matter what you read, BigFish finished 8th (not 9th). We beat the 9th place team (The Company) to get into the game to qualify to battle for 6th (there were six spots for Ontario teams at Nationals), and proceeded to give Zen (Toronto) all they could handle in a very close 15-12 loss. We had Zen on the ropes, and just didn't have the killer instinct to put them away. Next year, and even later this season, it'll be a different story. As a consolation, Zen was absolutely drained after the game, and last time I checked the score, they were getting killed by Tundra in the 6th place game 12-3.
- After losing to Zen, a lot of my BF team-mates were sore or injured, but The Company really wanted a rematch after sticking around for over two hours. Being a great ultimate ambassador, and possibly since he wanted to try for his third Callahan in consecutive games, Gavin granted them a rematch. Sadly, I can't remember too many high-lights, but the caking incident after the game was hilarious.
- BFC finished a very strong 3rd. They might not be as dominant as they were last year when they finished 2nd in Canada, but they did a fantastic job representing Ottawa ultimate. Kudos to their captain Geofford for getting so much out of his team.
- I know Tournament Directors have very hard jobs, and politics are alive and well in ultimate, but making lower seeded teams (i.e. BigFish) play three or four games in a row without a break is ridiculous when higher seeds always seem to get a well-placed break between games.
- The emails that the veterans sent out explaining how Regionals were different than other tournaments were absolutely true. When I used to day-dream about "competitive ultimate" last summer, it was a situation like Regionals that I thought about. Every team is strong, every player deserves to be there, and it's all business on and off the field.
- Personally, I've never felt more apart of BigFish than at Regionals. There's a tremendous bond that develops when you see all your team-mates giving 100%, and how much support there is on and off the field. Rushing the field after every score was awesome....and BigFish had the loudest sideline at the tournament.
- I'll openly admit to being surprised with the amount of field time I got on Sunday. I know there were some injuries and other issues, but it felt awesome to have the captains show so much confidence in me to leave me on the field at key times in important games.

Now for a couple of random tidbits.
- Every game we played was winnable. There were no truly dominant teams, just experienced ones who used their strengths well.
- It was fun to get to know Alex and Laura a little better. Turns out Alex and I have very similar taste in music. Laura is extremely modest about her on field accomplishments, and taught Matt and I a fun game to play on two-lane highways. As a bonus, turns out I'm better than both Alex and Laura at pediddle!
- It was weird to see two familiar faces from the Ottawa ultimate scene show up and play for Big Hammers. I'll never understand the politics of competitive ultimate.
- I had a bit of an awkward moment after our last game Sunday when I overheard a tad too much of a conversation. It didn't dampen an overall good day though.
- The "G" in "G-star" could very well stand for "Golf".
- Favourite quote of the weekend was captain Julie saying "Flick attack mother fuckers!".
- The quote that makes me wonder if the apocolypse is upon us "James, that was some shit hot D". I'll withold the name of the quoter in an effort to keep them out of the Royal Ottawa.
- BF's loud sideline not only helped our team, but it helped BFC pull off a come from behind win on Saturday.
- Mr. Callahan is by far the best mini-golfer on the team.
- It was great to see Ariel bounce back from a tough Saturday with a spectacular Sunday.
- Watching Jordan handle is fascinating. He has these crazy fakes that markers tend to bite on. Reminds me of the O-P-dope in basketball.
- Jer is such a defensive machine. I love the way he D's discs at the last possible second. He's got very deceptive speed.
- This is a good spot in the post to hide one of my favourite moments of the weekend. I put a tonne of sunscreen on over the weekend, but left a gob on my neck prior to a game on Sunday. While we were circling up to cheer, one of my hottie team-mates noticed my clumsy sunscreen skills, and rubbed the gob in Lol. I know, I know....corny....but it was sweet of her.
- The one thing I have to work on most in league over the next few weeks is going up and challenging for high discs. Although I can generally get away with out jumping league players, I need to work on establishing superior positioning, and timing my jump to catch the disc at my zenith. Jer gave me some great tips on how to attack high discs.
- In my mind, the two players that stepped up the most were Michael and Laura. Laura seemed to catch half our points, and Michael was everywhere on offense and defense. He puts so much effort into the game, and makes remarkable catches seem routine.
- At the risk of having him link through FB and read this, I really want to play more like Alstair as I mature. He makes smart decisions everytime he has the disc, and knows how to play within himself. He's also very willing to pull people aside and teach them at any point in the game.
- I'm officially envious of D's beautiful backhand pulls.
- Speaking of D, I need to find a new home for BF mascot Stewie (who was stuffed in my travel bag). This might be tough given I'm not gauaranteed to be on the roster for any future tournaments.....but I'll try my best.

I went to bed happy last night knowing I left it all on the field. Tonight's league game with Poached was uber tough, cause I'm still physically and emotionally drained. That's ok though, since I gave it my all when it counted....and will work harder than ever to get back to the show next year with BigFish. That hard work started last night with a 20 minute run, continued today with 30 minutes lifting, and included hauling my tired ass to a Poached game tonight. It'll continue for the next 364 days....promise.

My big lesson learned from Regionals was that just because you fall short of your goals, doesn't mean you failed. My offensive goal was not to drop a catchable disc all weekend. Impressively, I managed to get through four games on Saturday without a drop. However, I dropped a catchable disc in our first game Sunday, and then didn't challenge for a few high discs as well as I should have. Luckily, I didn't get down on myself, and instead took Glenn's advice and worked extra hard to try to get the disc back on defense. Drops happen, even to good people (Stevie and Ariel come to mind), but it's how you bounce back that counts. Not acheiving my goal was a tad disappointing, but staying positive, and giving everything I had on each point made me feel good about my overall effort. Stretch goals are meant to be challenging, and I'm always up for a good challenge :) Until next time, happy hucking!