I certainly do.
I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time,
Feel free.
Throw it down (the caution blocks you from the wind),
Hold it up (to the rays),
You wait and see when the smoke clears.
You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn
You bleed, you learn
You scream, you learn”
Alanis Morissette – You Learn
Alanis Morissette – You Learn
How can I call myself “emo” without once referencing the top selling emo record of all time? ;-) Clearly, I learned a lot both on and off the field this season in Wednesday night intermediate. Since only iid-iots repeat their mistakes, feel free to avoid my bounty of blunders by incorporating some of the lessons learned below.
1. Tryouts – Play to your strengths
The feedback “ou should have cut more” bothered me since it was obvious. Even though it was apparent to an evaluator who barely knew my game, it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. One of the big differences between good comp players, and good league players, are that the former are specialists, while the latter are generalists. I’d argue that the same distinction applies to advanced and intermediate players. Advanced is a ‘do’ league, while intermediate is a ‘try’ league. If there’s a next time, I’ll remember not to focus on making my “competition” look good.
2. Don’t worry, be happy
I played the first five or so games with this huge chip on my shoulder that I was too good for IID. After a disastrous game against the Corny Kiddies, I snapped to the realization that there were players on every team who were “too good" for IID. Every game after that, I made sure to match up against those standout players, to try my best to stop them. Oddly, when I gave up on IAD, I started having a lot more fun…
3. Have fun!
This is as controversial as I’ll get in this post: IID is more fun than IAD. Given my decision making with the disc, there was no chance I would have got to handle all year on the flip side of the iron curtain. Similarly, I can’t imagine my “Nurplettes” would have supported me in the big league, nor would my team had purple night. The fact that Marko’s sole shot at me was the quality of my parody songs…is nothing compared to some of the shots he took at friends and aquaintenances in advanced. Even when I was sick or having a bad game, the smiles of my team-mates and opponents always brought me up. The fact that my favorite picture from the season (below), doesn’t contain a single frisbee, speaks to the importance of keeping things light.
4. I’m still a huck-star ;-)
Much of the ‘offline’ feedback I get about my blog is that I’m too hard on myself. To those individuals – here’s the paragraph you’ve been waiting for. When my team was clicking this winter, and we were pretty fucking dominant for a large stretch of the season, I was a big part of it. Don’t get me wrong, Giddy-up and DGo were the main reasons we went undefeated in the second half of the regular season, but my contributions were substantial. Those of you who know me are aware I mentally keep track of stats. There were nights I’d play a direct role in over 50% of my team’s goals. However, we seemed to do better when that figure was around 33%…so I point-shaved accordingly (just kidding) :P Speaking of stats, there was one night in particular where I got around 10 Ds…
5. Pick your area to improve…then do it!
I considered defense my biggest weakness heading into this winter. As indicated above, I tried to pick challenging match-ups for myself each point. Getting burnt a few times early in the season gave me all the motivation I needed to try harder to improve. Between KJ’s workouts, Michelle’s classes, and the tips I picked up at the Stella/Phoenix clinic in the winter, I’ve found my defense is much stronger and more consistent.
6. Never take it for granted.
I played all 20 games of IID this year. That’s double the number I did last year. I’m thankful my body held up (with the exception of game 20…which was rough given a flu). There’s this great guy on my Friday team who tried out for IID this year, but didn’t make it. He would have benefited more in terms of development than I did. Even though I bitched and moaned about not getting picked for the “old boys club”, I was lucky to have a spot in a great league. Especially since it most likely won’t be around in FCS again next year *sigh*
There you have my re-cap of my second winter of IID. There’s a summer team-mate of mine who said after four winters of the league, there’s nothing more they could learn. Given their game (which is awesome), I wouldn't argue with them. However, I’m under no delusions that another winter wouldn’t benefit me. I’m going into comp tryouts much more confident in my handling ability (thank-you IID), in much better shape (thank you IID, KJ and workout partners), and with no glaring weaknesses (thank you IID)…rather than my host of mental issues ;-) Bring on winter #3 of IID! Until next time, happy hucking!
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