The 11th Edition.

Alright, I'll give it to you straight. I love the 11th, because it fixes a lot of faults from the 10th, has fewer inconsistencies, and includes III.G, which is ballin'. XIII.A and XIV.A.2 were clarified, and I like them. XIV.A, actually, was fixed to avoid the controversy and inconsistency of the 10th edition's stall counts, which I guess is a good thing. XV.E and XVI.H.3.a.5 are also important rules. Many happy returns to the SRC.

XIV.B.3 is a problem, though. I feel that this rule is indeed consistent with the general rules of Ultimate, is good for SOTG, and very good for league play. I feel that this rule is crippling to the competitiveness of elite-level Ultimate, and even drags down high school and college competitiveness.

The mark, I was always told, was the biggest change from high school to college, and perhaps even from college to club, other than an obvious improvement of the average player's throws. The mark was touted as the biggest part of team defense, an essential position, not a place to rest. I like the a one-on-one matchup, thrower vs. marker, was the first step of successful defense, and I like that a thrower had to be talented and skilled to throw past his mark, especially so on the break side.

XIV.B.3 takes away from the mark's ability to restrict the thrower. It makes the game less physical, and I like my competition physical. It makes the game less interesting to watch: a close, aggressive mark is interesting, and it separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the ballers from the noobs. I grant that there are problems with aggressive marking, especially in friendly games or league play. I grant that an aggressive mark increases the likelihood that somebody will get hurt. I even grant that, as a thrower, I don't like to be hassled--I call foul when an aggressive mark crosses the line and puts his body in to me. At the same time, I mark aggressively, and sometimes I put my body into the thrower; I feel that physical marking (not hacking, but close and active) is an important component of the mental game.

So I'm going to vote FOR the 11th edition. I'm going to love being on offense if we pass it, but two things will frustrate me in the spring: 1) opposing teams will continue to foul on the mark, and my teammates may not call it. 2) I will follow this rule, and teams who don't will have an advantage over teams who do.

Wrapped Up

The fall season is over. It has left me with a strange mix of feelings, and I'm still not sure what to expect for the spring. I've seen a lot of correlations to HS ultimate, and I suppose that some aspects of our sport are conserved over most of the teams within a particular level. The low percentage of interested players who stay, the inconsistency of committedness, and the limiting factors outside of the team's control are all disappointing, if not entirely expected. Namely, it sucks that the athletic admins sometimes forget to turn on the lights, so we have to cancel practice...or it rains the whole week before a tournament, so we come out cold and unpracticed at Delaware. Unfortunate.

But I believe in the team. I've mostly "bought into" the team strategies, although I do not agree with them 100%. I'm really excited about the strength of our freshman class, and I am secretly plotting to throw a club team together for the summer, in order to get more playing time for rookies and recruits. I think that playing together during the summer will build cohesion, and playing against club teams will make us better players. The question is, can I get enough of us together, scrape enough money together, to get to any club tournaments?

But for now, I've decided to take almost two weeks off for recuperation and time to study for finals. I'm jumping into a winter conditioning regimen that I designed, so we'll see how that goes. I'm going to try and snag a couple of the Watchung Hills players for certain workouts, because I'm hoping to include drills and some ultimate-specific moves in my training. I also plan to do Air Alert III, in an attempt to overcome my average height and substandard hops. My goals for the winter, though some are extremely ambitious, are included here:

Run 6mi in one hour, a sub-14:00 2mi, and a sub-5:45 1mi
Sprint a sub-60 400m, sub-26 200m, sub-12 100m, and sub-4.5 40yd
Increase throwing range: 75yds backhand, 65yds forehand
Improve vertical leap to 28"
12 consecutive pull-ups
Bench-press 135lbs