"And now, from our home office in Wahoo Nebraska..."
- David Letterman
The Top 10 Signs You Might be a Competitive Mixed Ultimate Player in Ottawa
10. Glenn has yelled at you during a tournament, league game, practice, tossing session, or while walking down the street.
9. You taught yourself how to drive a golf cart during the fulfillment of your volunteer hours.
8. Seeing Gavin naked is amusing, not shocking.
7. Practicing with your comp team is more enjoyable than league games (which are absolute anarchy).
6. Jack has added you as a Facebook friend, and asked you to play with Mule in their next tournament (*Note: This applies equally to women mixed comp players as well).
5. Actual names of team-mates escape you on occasion, but you never forget a nickname.
4. Your in-depth rules knowledge has cost your league team Spirit points *gasp*
3. Whenever the temperature drops below 15 degrees, you wear your team hoodie.
2. KJ’s pre-game and post-game stretching routines are memorized and used every game.
1. You’ve been the subject of at least one rumor relating to hooking up with a member of a comp team.
*Note: With the 50th post coming up, expect something BIG....but beware that I'll have trouble meeting your lofty expectations ;-) Until next time, happy hucking!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
BigFish Mixed Up Recap
"One night, and one more time
Thanks for the memories
Thanks for the memories"
Fall Out Boy - Thanks for the Memories
As Mixed Up was the last tournament of the summer for BigFish (there are a couple in September), the above quote seemed appropriate. The fact that the song was on a mixed CD that G played to pump us up on our way out to UPI today kept it top of mind. Even though I loved playing Regionals with Fish, this tournament was definitely the winningest one for the team, and produced a lot of positive memories. It's at times like this when I'm glad I started this blog, since hopefully it will keep some of the great memories alive. Below is a little summary of our six games.
BigFish 14, Jimi Handdisc 9
Even though they were ranked third in our pool (we were ranked first), Jimi Handdisc gave us the biggest challenge on Saturday, and really pushed us. Despite JH taking the half 8-7, BigFish showed so much character by dominating the second half 7-1. This was a back-and-forth game, until our onfield leaders (Glenn, Tommy, Jules, Jer, and the Greatest Handler Ever) showed us how much they wanted this game, and led us by their stellar example. Props to JH for keeping it close, but "GLUM Ford" would not be denied this win.
BigFish 15, Flying Saucer 6
The first half of this game was much closer than the final score would indicate. Flying Saucer came to Mixed Up with a pretty tiny roster, but had enough speed and huckers to keep things interesting. Personally, I loved the fact that FS had flying cherry pies on their jerseys. I remember Ariel making an absolutely sick catch and then getting squished by FS's biggest player. Luckily, Ariel bounced back to have a huge Sunday. Also of mention in this game, was Stevie and Tanya's spectacular cutting and catching. Their hands should have been checked for glue!
BigFish 15, Arrested Development 2
Honestly, I felt awful for AD during and after this game. The after is easier to explain since the score was reported as 15-1 to UPA, and I hope that gets changed. As for "during"...well...the gap between the two teams was a lot bigger than I would have expected. Gavin talked to us before the game about ignoring personal issues with players on AD, and instead focus on executing our plays, showing them what our co-ed development program is about, and playing with Spirit. Having been on the flip side of lopsided games, I can only hope that AD will take away some lessons and use the experience as motivation in future tournaments. Even though they might have went winless this weekend (not sure about their last game today), I'll predict they have an excellent SPIRIT tourny in September :) If any AD players read this (nasty rumor I heard lol), my little peice of advice would be to huck once in a while, as it will help open up your short game. Personally, after this game, I made a couple of very nasty notes to myself about learning how to read high discs in windy conditions.
BigFish 15, XUM 3000 8
Our captains talked about what a challenging game this would be for us, since XUM was ranked second in our pool, and included a bunch of young, fast, tall, huckers from Kingston. Their were a fair number of Queens University "Mothership" guys on the team, but Tommy's Thursday night workouts seemed to pay dividends in this last game of the day on Saturday. Personally, this was my best ever game with Fish, scoring four points (couldn't match the 5 I had with Mule against 7 Car Pile-up). All credit goes to Tommy, who has me in shape to run hard in the fourth game of the day, when other players are cramping/smoking/looking forward to the party. For my money, the game's MVP was Tanya from BF, who caught a tonne of discs despite very windy conditions. A close second goes to Alex, who had several skying catches over equally tall players.
Practice 15, BigFish 4 or 5
Ugh, what a crappy way to start off Sunday morning. I take responsibility for this loss. While most of the my team-mates were psyched to play some of our peers from Ottawa, I completely stunk the joint up on defense, getting scored on 5 or 6 six times. How bad was it? After getting scored on for the second time in two shifts, I was hoping Gavin would notice I was having a rotten egg of a game, and bench me. Personally, what made this suckfest even harder to swallow was the fact that the other team was assembled by the guy (Reza) who's Advanced league I'll be trying out for this winter. Damn....what an opportunity blown. To all Fish team-mates who read this, I'm sorry....
BigFish 9, Rockstar 6
This was a great way to end the summer season for BigFish. Rockstar came in tired after losing on universe point against Sabotage. Having never beaten Rockstar before, outlasting them was another testament to the quality of Tommy's workouts. I'll remember several things about this game, but Glenn's layout D was absolutely beautiful, as was a layout catch for a point by Michael. Ariel and Alex played spectacularly, not dropping a disc between them. Despite being under the weather, captain Jules played "shit hot D", and displayed her amazing decision making ability when handling. I also was inspired by Jer's intensity, he clearly wanted this win.
BigFish/XUM 3000 - Did not play 19/20th place game.
Props to Jer for using his negotiating skills to convince the kids from Kingston that catching RedBull Flugtag would be more fun than battling things out in a meaningless game.
Additional notes/memories from Mixed Up
- My predicting ability sucks, since my pick to take it all, BFC went 0-4 on Saturday (granted their were a couple one point losses in their).
- Having caught a bit of Phella's first game on Sunday, I would NOT want to play them....so much talent on one field.
- Props to Zen who managed to successfully dodge BigFish this weekend ;-)
- Chatting it up with Stevie during lunch Saturday was cool. She's a team-mate I didn't really know that well, and it was nice to get to know her better.
- Riding to/from UPI, racing around the fields on a golf-cart doing clean-up on Saturday, and catching Flugtag with G was a blast. You can't help but have fun when you're with G....
- During the Practice game, when I was mentally falling apart, Jer's kind words brought me up.
- The whole "family" aspect of being on BF was re-enforced a couple of times this weekend. Having played more than my share of team sports, I've never had such great team-mates before this summer....
- Julie the TD deserves props. Even though the seats were kind of...debatable, everything else seemed to go off very smoothly.
- Speaking of seatings, BF accomplished our goal by finishing ahead of our 21st seat.
- If I'm going to cut on a competitive team, I need to have the sports hernia surgery. Everything below my waist hurts like a mo-fo today.
- Quebec ulty girls are indeed hotties.
- Some of the UPI fields (like #11) are toast and should be taken offline for the year.
- I'm enjoying the volunteer aspect of competitive ultimate. The free food associated with volunteering is a nice perk.
- Having slept through the party at Berrymore's (sorry, retro 80s isn't my thing), the off-field high-light of the weekend was probably G's roster sheets containing our nicknames. The best nickname by far: Ooops, I'm InJered.
There we have it. BigFish's best tournament of the summer, and except for one game, my best performance with the team. I'll echo Glenn's words and say that we proved with our win over Rockstar that we are competitive ultimate players....and should be proud of ourselves. Until next time, happy hucking!
Thanks for the memories
Thanks for the memories"
Fall Out Boy - Thanks for the Memories
As Mixed Up was the last tournament of the summer for BigFish (there are a couple in September), the above quote seemed appropriate. The fact that the song was on a mixed CD that G played to pump us up on our way out to UPI today kept it top of mind. Even though I loved playing Regionals with Fish, this tournament was definitely the winningest one for the team, and produced a lot of positive memories. It's at times like this when I'm glad I started this blog, since hopefully it will keep some of the great memories alive. Below is a little summary of our six games.
BigFish 14, Jimi Handdisc 9
Even though they were ranked third in our pool (we were ranked first), Jimi Handdisc gave us the biggest challenge on Saturday, and really pushed us. Despite JH taking the half 8-7, BigFish showed so much character by dominating the second half 7-1. This was a back-and-forth game, until our onfield leaders (Glenn, Tommy, Jules, Jer, and the Greatest Handler Ever) showed us how much they wanted this game, and led us by their stellar example. Props to JH for keeping it close, but "GLUM Ford" would not be denied this win.
BigFish 15, Flying Saucer 6
The first half of this game was much closer than the final score would indicate. Flying Saucer came to Mixed Up with a pretty tiny roster, but had enough speed and huckers to keep things interesting. Personally, I loved the fact that FS had flying cherry pies on their jerseys. I remember Ariel making an absolutely sick catch and then getting squished by FS's biggest player. Luckily, Ariel bounced back to have a huge Sunday. Also of mention in this game, was Stevie and Tanya's spectacular cutting and catching. Their hands should have been checked for glue!
BigFish 15, Arrested Development 2
Honestly, I felt awful for AD during and after this game. The after is easier to explain since the score was reported as 15-1 to UPA, and I hope that gets changed. As for "during"...well...the gap between the two teams was a lot bigger than I would have expected. Gavin talked to us before the game about ignoring personal issues with players on AD, and instead focus on executing our plays, showing them what our co-ed development program is about, and playing with Spirit. Having been on the flip side of lopsided games, I can only hope that AD will take away some lessons and use the experience as motivation in future tournaments. Even though they might have went winless this weekend (not sure about their last game today), I'll predict they have an excellent SPIRIT tourny in September :) If any AD players read this (nasty rumor I heard lol), my little peice of advice would be to huck once in a while, as it will help open up your short game. Personally, after this game, I made a couple of very nasty notes to myself about learning how to read high discs in windy conditions.
BigFish 15, XUM 3000 8
Our captains talked about what a challenging game this would be for us, since XUM was ranked second in our pool, and included a bunch of young, fast, tall, huckers from Kingston. Their were a fair number of Queens University "Mothership" guys on the team, but Tommy's Thursday night workouts seemed to pay dividends in this last game of the day on Saturday. Personally, this was my best ever game with Fish, scoring four points (couldn't match the 5 I had with Mule against 7 Car Pile-up). All credit goes to Tommy, who has me in shape to run hard in the fourth game of the day, when other players are cramping/smoking/looking forward to the party. For my money, the game's MVP was Tanya from BF, who caught a tonne of discs despite very windy conditions. A close second goes to Alex, who had several skying catches over equally tall players.
Practice 15, BigFish 4 or 5
Ugh, what a crappy way to start off Sunday morning. I take responsibility for this loss. While most of the my team-mates were psyched to play some of our peers from Ottawa, I completely stunk the joint up on defense, getting scored on 5 or 6 six times. How bad was it? After getting scored on for the second time in two shifts, I was hoping Gavin would notice I was having a rotten egg of a game, and bench me. Personally, what made this suckfest even harder to swallow was the fact that the other team was assembled by the guy (Reza) who's Advanced league I'll be trying out for this winter. Damn....what an opportunity blown. To all Fish team-mates who read this, I'm sorry....
BigFish 9, Rockstar 6
This was a great way to end the summer season for BigFish. Rockstar came in tired after losing on universe point against Sabotage. Having never beaten Rockstar before, outlasting them was another testament to the quality of Tommy's workouts. I'll remember several things about this game, but Glenn's layout D was absolutely beautiful, as was a layout catch for a point by Michael. Ariel and Alex played spectacularly, not dropping a disc between them. Despite being under the weather, captain Jules played "shit hot D", and displayed her amazing decision making ability when handling. I also was inspired by Jer's intensity, he clearly wanted this win.
BigFish/XUM 3000 - Did not play 19/20th place game.
Props to Jer for using his negotiating skills to convince the kids from Kingston that catching RedBull Flugtag would be more fun than battling things out in a meaningless game.
Additional notes/memories from Mixed Up
- My predicting ability sucks, since my pick to take it all, BFC went 0-4 on Saturday (granted their were a couple one point losses in their).
- Having caught a bit of Phella's first game on Sunday, I would NOT want to play them....so much talent on one field.
- Props to Zen who managed to successfully dodge BigFish this weekend ;-)
- Chatting it up with Stevie during lunch Saturday was cool. She's a team-mate I didn't really know that well, and it was nice to get to know her better.
- Riding to/from UPI, racing around the fields on a golf-cart doing clean-up on Saturday, and catching Flugtag with G was a blast. You can't help but have fun when you're with G....
- During the Practice game, when I was mentally falling apart, Jer's kind words brought me up.
- The whole "family" aspect of being on BF was re-enforced a couple of times this weekend. Having played more than my share of team sports, I've never had such great team-mates before this summer....
- Julie the TD deserves props. Even though the seats were kind of...debatable, everything else seemed to go off very smoothly.
- Speaking of seatings, BF accomplished our goal by finishing ahead of our 21st seat.
- If I'm going to cut on a competitive team, I need to have the sports hernia surgery. Everything below my waist hurts like a mo-fo today.
- Quebec ulty girls are indeed hotties.
- Some of the UPI fields (like #11) are toast and should be taken offline for the year.
- I'm enjoying the volunteer aspect of competitive ultimate. The free food associated with volunteering is a nice perk.
- Having slept through the party at Berrymore's (sorry, retro 80s isn't my thing), the off-field high-light of the weekend was probably G's roster sheets containing our nicknames. The best nickname by far: Ooops, I'm InJered.
There we have it. BigFish's best tournament of the summer, and except for one game, my best performance with the team. I'll echo Glenn's words and say that we proved with our win over Rockstar that we are competitive ultimate players....and should be proud of ourselves. Until next time, happy hucking!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Mixed Up in Manotick
"Used, abused without clues
I refused to blow a fuse
They even had it on the news
Don't believe the hype..."
Public Enemy - Don't believe the hype
With the draft schedule up, and my one league game of the week out of the way (Poach won!), I thought it was time to hype BigFish's last tournament of the summer: Mixed Up. Although I'm not sure why I get to play (maybe Glenn is taking the tournament off?), I'm still looking forward to it. Of course, if you want a better analysis of the pools, please see the Steve's superior ulty blog.
Pool A has two teams I'm familiar with (BFC and Tundra), and three teams I've never heard of (including Gecko who are the overall #1 seed). At times like these when uncertainty abounds, I'm going to be a homer and pick BFC to come out on top on Saturday. You might think this is a shameless act to suck up to Ottawa's A-team, and you wouldn't be entirely wrong. However, I'll provide a bit of a scoop that BFC has made a few AWESOME pick-ups in the last two weeks while they prepare for nationals.
Pool B has three teams I kinda know (Monster, Phella, and Liquid), and some ONYX team (who are seeded #2 overall) that Steve raves about. Having played Monster and Liquid, I'll continue my highly suspect prognostication method of picking the local team Phella to go undefeated on Saturday. Phella consists of some local open players (Phoenix) and local women comp players (Stella), who will magically combine forces to rule the school.
I love the fact Steve calls Pool C "filler". Knowing Practice (Spence's band of locals), Zen, and Rockstar, and thinking Les Chiefs and Polatouches are from la bella provence, I'll predict Rockstar will sing the most creative songs and finish middle of the pack. Semi-seriously, I predict Practice takes the pool, and then slags the TD for not seeding them higher :P Good luck to Zen, who will no doubt be crunching numbers most of Saturday in an effort to avoid BigFish on Sunday ;-)
Pool D will be where the real action (i.e. high-jinx, high-lights, and nudity) takes place. Personally, I can't freaking wait for another shot at The Company...anticipation that is shared by at least two other "women scorn" on BF. Our teams match up so closely, so let's hope it's a replay of the first game at Regionals, with the same outcome (Gavin's Callaghan on universe point). I'm also really looking forward to playing local team Solid, in no small part due to a number of hotties who play for them. Tabasco and Sabotage, a word of advice, beware of the Fish!
Pool E seems to be the recreational pool. Only being familiar with Arrested Development, and having some vague recollection of Mars Meets Venus from Northern Flights (BF might have beat them on day 2?), this is the hardest pool for me to predict. I'll go with Jimi Handdisc over XUM 3000, mainly because I like their name the best. Might as well put this out there - I really hope Arrested Development picks up their first tournament win of the season. They've worked so hard, and deserve the boost/validation/respect that the win will provide :)
Pool F features five junoir teams, and will be henceforth be called the "Run Your Buns Off" (RYBO) pool. Of course I like Obviously Juiced, whoops, I mean the Ottawa Junoirs to take it all. I think Dirt out of Toronto will give pool E teams fits on Sunday in the cross-over. My favourite junoir team name is a toss-up between PUF (the magic dragon? or could this be a creative MJ reference?) and O2 (Ottawa's B-team).
Since only teams in Pool A & B have a chance to win it all, I'll predict a BFC/Phella final. I'll prognosticate that BigFish will accomplish our objective of beating our seat this weekend (despite me being uber distracted when we play Solid).
In terms of prop bets, I'll go under 5 games before Gavin gets naked. I'll also go on the record as saying that Zen WILL NOT "spank" BigFish, but will cower in fear of playing us instead. Rockstar will win the spirit award and possibly the party. Gold hotpants will be spotted at Barrymore's (hopefully not on Glenn *shivers*). Arrested Development will win at least 2 games. The pool F teams will make four players from pool E teams puke after chasing them on Sunday. Lastly, I'll predict that after the tournament there will be at least seven complaints on the OCUA forums bitching about seedings, food, parking, and other trivial shit.
With the hype entry coming to a close, I'd like to remind you of Public Enemy's views on such hype. Games are played on the field, and whoever brings it both days will come out on top. A quick reminder to thank Vanessa and her band of volunteers this weekend any time you have a chance, since they will be working their buns off to enjoy you have an enjoyable experience. Until next time, happy hucking!
I refused to blow a fuse
They even had it on the news
Don't believe the hype..."
Public Enemy - Don't believe the hype
With the draft schedule up, and my one league game of the week out of the way (Poach won!), I thought it was time to hype BigFish's last tournament of the summer: Mixed Up. Although I'm not sure why I get to play (maybe Glenn is taking the tournament off?), I'm still looking forward to it. Of course, if you want a better analysis of the pools, please see the Steve's superior ulty blog.
Pool A has two teams I'm familiar with (BFC and Tundra), and three teams I've never heard of (including Gecko who are the overall #1 seed). At times like these when uncertainty abounds, I'm going to be a homer and pick BFC to come out on top on Saturday. You might think this is a shameless act to suck up to Ottawa's A-team, and you wouldn't be entirely wrong. However, I'll provide a bit of a scoop that BFC has made a few AWESOME pick-ups in the last two weeks while they prepare for nationals.
Pool B has three teams I kinda know (Monster, Phella, and Liquid), and some ONYX team (who are seeded #2 overall) that Steve raves about. Having played Monster and Liquid, I'll continue my highly suspect prognostication method of picking the local team Phella to go undefeated on Saturday. Phella consists of some local open players (Phoenix) and local women comp players (Stella), who will magically combine forces to rule the school.
I love the fact Steve calls Pool C "filler". Knowing Practice (Spence's band of locals), Zen, and Rockstar, and thinking Les Chiefs and Polatouches are from la bella provence, I'll predict Rockstar will sing the most creative songs and finish middle of the pack. Semi-seriously, I predict Practice takes the pool, and then slags the TD for not seeding them higher :P Good luck to Zen, who will no doubt be crunching numbers most of Saturday in an effort to avoid BigFish on Sunday ;-)
Pool D will be where the real action (i.e. high-jinx, high-lights, and nudity) takes place. Personally, I can't freaking wait for another shot at The Company...anticipation that is shared by at least two other "women scorn" on BF. Our teams match up so closely, so let's hope it's a replay of the first game at Regionals, with the same outcome (Gavin's Callaghan on universe point). I'm also really looking forward to playing local team Solid, in no small part due to a number of hotties who play for them. Tabasco and Sabotage, a word of advice, beware of the Fish!
Pool E seems to be the recreational pool. Only being familiar with Arrested Development, and having some vague recollection of Mars Meets Venus from Northern Flights (BF might have beat them on day 2?), this is the hardest pool for me to predict. I'll go with Jimi Handdisc over XUM 3000, mainly because I like their name the best. Might as well put this out there - I really hope Arrested Development picks up their first tournament win of the season. They've worked so hard, and deserve the boost/validation/respect that the win will provide :)
Pool F features five junoir teams, and will be henceforth be called the "Run Your Buns Off" (RYBO) pool. Of course I like Obviously Juiced, whoops, I mean the Ottawa Junoirs to take it all. I think Dirt out of Toronto will give pool E teams fits on Sunday in the cross-over. My favourite junoir team name is a toss-up between PUF (the magic dragon? or could this be a creative MJ reference?) and O2 (Ottawa's B-team).
Since only teams in Pool A & B have a chance to win it all, I'll predict a BFC/Phella final. I'll prognosticate that BigFish will accomplish our objective of beating our seat this weekend (despite me being uber distracted when we play Solid).
In terms of prop bets, I'll go under 5 games before Gavin gets naked. I'll also go on the record as saying that Zen WILL NOT "spank" BigFish, but will cower in fear of playing us instead. Rockstar will win the spirit award and possibly the party. Gold hotpants will be spotted at Barrymore's (hopefully not on Glenn *shivers*). Arrested Development will win at least 2 games. The pool F teams will make four players from pool E teams puke after chasing them on Sunday. Lastly, I'll predict that after the tournament there will be at least seven complaints on the OCUA forums bitching about seedings, food, parking, and other trivial shit.
With the hype entry coming to a close, I'd like to remind you of Public Enemy's views on such hype. Games are played on the field, and whoever brings it both days will come out on top. A quick reminder to thank Vanessa and her band of volunteers this weekend any time you have a chance, since they will be working their buns off to enjoy you have an enjoyable experience. Until next time, happy hucking!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Homework
"Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals."
- Aristotle
Everyone on BigFish was given some homework at the end of our practice last Tuesday. Since BF isn't heading to nationals, and because the goal of our team is player devolpment, we were to think of goals to work on during the remainder of the season. Tanya, a fellow practice roster player who has studied sports psychology gave us examples of short-term and long-term objectives, and how they should be linked, measurable, and acheivable. Even though I've been taking it easy on vacation for the past couple of weeks, I took the assignment seriously and thought I'd share the results with you.
Long-term goal: Make the BF roster next year.
Rationale: I'll level with you, even thought I didn't expect to make the team, getting cut hurt. More importantly, I got hooked on competitive ultimate at Regionals this year. I want to make the roster so that I'll have the opportunity to play every tournament with the team next summer (especially Regionals where we will totally dismantle Zen and Tundra and earn a trip to Winnipeg).
Short-term goal #1 (Defense): Do not allow any easy throws to my man.
Rationale: Even though my man-to-man defense has improved, I still get lazy sometimes and allow in-cuts, or dare the handler to throw deep on me. This isn't acceptable on a competitive team. All throws to my man will be discouraged and challenged.
Short-term goal #2 (Offense - cutter): Catch every catchable disc thrown to me.
Rationale: If I can get a hand on it, I should catch every disc thrown in my direction. I've proved to myself that I can string together no-drop games, now it's just taking it to the next level. A big part of acheiving this goal will be improving at reading high hucks. Reading the disc wasn't something I had worked on during the last year, mainly cause I've spent so much time handling.
Short-term goal #3 (Offense - handler): Only attempt 100% throws in games.
Rationale: In order to minimize turn-overs, I'm comitting to only trying throws that I know I have the ability to complete. No more hammers, push-passes, and difficult break-force throws until I can make them consistently in practice/warm-up.
Short-term goal #4 (Fitness): Be in better shape next year at tryouts.
Rationale: My hips, quads, and hamstrings were killing me this year during tryouts. After being injured the majority of last winter, I have to work hard doing preventative exercises, stretches, and cardio to keep healthy.
Short-term goal #5 (Fun): Have fun.
Rationale: This isn't a super serious sport. I need to keep things light in order to maximize my enjoyment, and that of my team-mates.
C'est toute mes amis. Of course time and circumstances might adjust the above goals, but I think they'll provide me with a good road-map over the next nine months. If I have time later this week, I'd like to post a little pre-Mixed-Up entry. For whatever reason, I'll be playing with BigFish during our last tournament of the summer, and am definitely looking forward to kicking some ass, and beating our seed. Until next time, happy hucking!
- Aristotle
Everyone on BigFish was given some homework at the end of our practice last Tuesday. Since BF isn't heading to nationals, and because the goal of our team is player devolpment, we were to think of goals to work on during the remainder of the season. Tanya, a fellow practice roster player who has studied sports psychology gave us examples of short-term and long-term objectives, and how they should be linked, measurable, and acheivable. Even though I've been taking it easy on vacation for the past couple of weeks, I took the assignment seriously and thought I'd share the results with you.
Long-term goal: Make the BF roster next year.
Rationale: I'll level with you, even thought I didn't expect to make the team, getting cut hurt. More importantly, I got hooked on competitive ultimate at Regionals this year. I want to make the roster so that I'll have the opportunity to play every tournament with the team next summer (especially Regionals where we will totally dismantle Zen and Tundra and earn a trip to Winnipeg).
Short-term goal #1 (Defense): Do not allow any easy throws to my man.
Rationale: Even though my man-to-man defense has improved, I still get lazy sometimes and allow in-cuts, or dare the handler to throw deep on me. This isn't acceptable on a competitive team. All throws to my man will be discouraged and challenged.
Short-term goal #2 (Offense - cutter): Catch every catchable disc thrown to me.
Rationale: If I can get a hand on it, I should catch every disc thrown in my direction. I've proved to myself that I can string together no-drop games, now it's just taking it to the next level. A big part of acheiving this goal will be improving at reading high hucks. Reading the disc wasn't something I had worked on during the last year, mainly cause I've spent so much time handling.
Short-term goal #3 (Offense - handler): Only attempt 100% throws in games.
Rationale: In order to minimize turn-overs, I'm comitting to only trying throws that I know I have the ability to complete. No more hammers, push-passes, and difficult break-force throws until I can make them consistently in practice/warm-up.
Short-term goal #4 (Fitness): Be in better shape next year at tryouts.
Rationale: My hips, quads, and hamstrings were killing me this year during tryouts. After being injured the majority of last winter, I have to work hard doing preventative exercises, stretches, and cardio to keep healthy.
Short-term goal #5 (Fun): Have fun.
Rationale: This isn't a super serious sport. I need to keep things light in order to maximize my enjoyment, and that of my team-mates.
C'est toute mes amis. Of course time and circumstances might adjust the above goals, but I think they'll provide me with a good road-map over the next nine months. If I have time later this week, I'd like to post a little pre-Mixed-Up entry. For whatever reason, I'll be playing with BigFish during our last tournament of the summer, and am definitely looking forward to kicking some ass, and beating our seed. Until next time, happy hucking!
Monday, July 21, 2008
No Borders 2008 - A Mule's Perspective
"Jack strikes long and scores once a year....usually at this tournament"
- Dave Brown (after Jack Webb turned on the afterburners to catch a beautiful huck for a point against Demon in our last game)
Playing in the 24th annual No Borders tournament for Mule was an awesome experience. Not only was it lots of fun to play with talented veterans, but getting a taste for the Open game through Ottawa's premier tournament felt like a right a passage as an ultimate player. Below are some brief notes about Mule's six games last weekend.
Double Dragon 13, Mule 6
Double Dragon was a young, fast team from the States (NY or Vermont I think?) that played the theme song from the Double Dragon arcade game on a continuous loop on a ghetto blaster all weekend long. Better yet, they all had two dragon tattoos on their arm (temporary one hopes), and some of the guys even had bands tied around their biceps. For me, this game was about getting to know my team-mates preferences, and figuring out my role on the team (mid-cut or striker). Although I got burned by the young kiddies a couple of times on D, I scored my first competitive Open point on a nice throw from Buckshot.
Roy 13, Mule 3
After jumping out to a 2 - 0 lead, Mule succumbed to the boundless energy and speed of Roy. Roy plays a very disciplined, quick disc movement style, that worked well against a generally older Mule team. Plus, the Ottawa Junoirs from OJ that Jack managed to procure for the prior game mysteriously disappeared before the Roy tilt. Even though I caught another point, I made a note in my little black book that reads "Shitty D". Enough said.
Mule 13, Magma 7
Jack managed to motivate the troops prior to this contest against Montreal's "C-team" by explaining it would be the last game of the day if we won, but we'd have to play another game if we lost. On a totally related note, Jack volunteered to do a beer run, further adding fuel to the team's fire. We managed to pick up a couple of experienced, Mule subs (Jake...and some guy who smokes before/after games and yet manages to outrun almost everyone) that greatly helped out. Despite the presence of the subs, I made a note saying I was on the field for five points in a row. How did that happen? On the bright side, this was probably my most balanced game of the tournament, throwing three scores and catching two. What can I say...I really didn't feel like playing a fourth game on Saturday :P
Outsiders 15, Mule 8
The Outsiders were a mix of Toronto's mixed Zen and Tundra teams, that proved to be far too quick for a group of late rising Mules on a Sunday morning. I'll take responsibility for this loss, as I misread 3 discs that would have been points had I caught them in the early stages of this game. Later in the game, I semi-redeemed myself by catching a pair of points, and throwing one to Pete. It was fun to guard Frogger, who seemed intent on throwing swill to his team-mates once the game was well in hand. It was during this game that I realized that Dave Brown loves to throw breakforce hucks, and took advantage of that knowledge the rest of the tournament. Props to Shawn/Batman from TO if he is who I think he is, as he had a rock solid game on both sides of the disc.
7 Car Pile-Up 14, Mule 13
This loss hurt since it was on universe point, in a game that could have easily went the other way. 7 Car Pile-up had numerous Ottawa pick-ups (including BF team-mate Ahmad who played spectacular as a handler), and a very strong core group of players from upstate NY (I beleive). Mule had picked up some Arrested Development players (including my former coach Gord) and had a pretty big roster including some OJs. It was probably the big roster, and lack of chemistry that held us back a bit. Offensively, this was definitely my best game catching five scores. On D, I had trouble with a big blonde guy, giving him in cuts since he was faster/taller/more talented than me. Anyway, it was a fun game, just wish the score would have been reversed.
Demon 15, Mule 6
Demon is a freakishly fast and tall team out of Montreal. They also play the Open style of quick disc movement, with lots of fast pop passes and give-and-go's. Personally, I was exhausted during this game, but still managed to catch a pair of scores. However, the two high-lights clearly belonged to Jack, who threw a beautiful huck to an Arrested Development player (those OJs bugged off again before this game), and then struck deep and caught a long pass from one of the many talented Mule Handlers. This was a fun last game, and we ended up beating our initial 26th seed, finishing 24th (I beleive?). The obligatory team-picture taken after this game is included below for your viewing pleasure (Who's that dashingly handsome guy standing second from the right?). Andrew Leach, a Mule regular, and talented photographer managed to capture some amazing shots (including a few of me *gasp*) during the tournament. The links are on the OCUA forums, and I have a few in a Facebook album for any of you who are deranged enough to want to see more of me ;-)
Volunteering on Saturday and Sunday with field clean-up, and tear-down was eye-opening. I had no idea how much work goes into such a huge tournament (26 Open teams, 16 Women's teams). Steve (he of the superior blog) did an excellent job as a tournament director, Vanessa filled all the volunteer spots, and then BF captain Sandra worked sooooo hard coordinating all the volunteers on site. As always, there were some minor complaints about things, but these three individuals deserve HUGE props for almost pleasing everyone.
The other high-light of the weekend was watching the Open championship game between Phoenix and Torontula. A 15-14, universe point, thriller of a game, that had all the drama, athleticism, and mind-blowing plays that one expects between two Elite teams (even though Torontula was more or less a pick-up team). The only drawback to the memorable affair was two completely unnecessary fouls between a pair of players on either team. Intensity is one thing, but unnecessary and dangerous plays shouldn't be the result in a sport that depends on 'Spirit of the Game'.
All in all, I loved No Borders, and hope to play it again next year. Rather than finding out how much goes into organizing such a production, I think my biggest personal lesson learned was that I have enough speed to play against Open players (huge surprise for me), but lack the endurance (an equally huge surprise). Physically, I was much more tired than I was after playing more games at Regionals. Maybe it was all the cutting/striking, and guarding faster Open players, but I need to up the running to better prepare for this tourny next year.
Now back to my vacationing. Until next time, happy hucking!
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