Skylands

Game 2.5 vs Purple.

Caitlin loses us the flip, we receive with the wind at our backs, but it's almost a crosswind. Somebody else mucks the pull play up, and we get scored on. Caitlin throws me a sweet upline 30yd forehand and I give an easy flick to Jayson for 1-1. We trade, give up a score and break, 2-4. Trade to 3-5. Ominous clouds, a short pull, they come zone. Dump to me, I see Growney and I jack it. It floats, he comes down big over another tall dude and we punch it in for 4-5, pulling into the wind, which at this point has become a serious factor. With difficulty, I keep the pull in-bounds and we get the D, score the break for 5-5. We get the D and Jesse throws to Growney for the 6-5 downwind break. They score downwind, 6-6. We get to the endzone, turn it, get it back. I pick up and throw it away when the wind pushes my backhand out the side of the endzone. We get it back again, Jesse calls time-out as the sky goes dark and we see flashes in our peripheral. We decide to iso Judith, but there are poaches--I get the dump, and break the mark to Sachin (?) for the 7-6 win. Game called due to lightning. We rush to the sideline to grab our stuff as the rain starts pouring down.

I hear the other game waited the lightning out and then played in the rain. I'm glad I got out of there, had a nice evening and skipped another workout. I guess we'll make up the rest of that game later.

Blah

Not really worth a post, but I had another summer league game tonight, vs an undermanned Red team. They had three dudes and a chick, plus one tall novice who had not been assigned to any team. Three of our players agreed to reinforce Red, and we played a savage game. We won half 8-2, won the game 15-10. The difference between the first and second half was that they were able to convert on some of our mental errors. I played fine, with only a few mistakes--hucks to barely open receivers who got D'ed up, hesitation in throwing swings, and getting skied once in the endzone. In all fairness, though, the throw was extremely well placed to Lu Wang, who is extremely good in the air. I look forward to working more with Jayson and Dave on the field, in summer league and (especially) in the fall with Machine.

Skylands record: um...that was a scrimmage. Still 1-1.

Skylands Game 2

vs Blue team. A couple more players came tonight, including three of the other 6 Rutgers guys, but a couple also could not make it out. Still, we had good flow on O and we matched up well on D. We took half 8-5 and won the game 15-10 (I think). Personally, I had two throwaways (one terrible turfed throw to an open cutter), but otherwise I threw some nice hucks, ran my cuts hard, moved the disc well, had some good connections with Dave Hsiung, and played decent defense--I even got a couple blocks. I also made some shadow D's by sprinting at deep cutter trying to pull down blady hucks. During the warmup, I got two footblocks in thrower-marker drill. Oh, and my Dad and grandmother got to watch me play for the first time, that was pretty cool.

Summer League Record: 1-1 (31-27)

Air Unalert

I've decided to drop Air Alert in the second week for the second time. I've reassessed my fitness goals and decided that, during the summer, I will primarily focus on general conditioning. I hope to follow a more gradual progression through the next year, in order to peak around Regionals in the spring. Having already done some base 2-3mi runs, I'll start my track workouts very soon, incorporate some skills and drills when I can get running partners, and prepare the rest of my body for more intense workouts in the fall. As previously mentioned, I'm trying to slowly build strength and muscular endurance in my upper body. Once I get back to Rutgers, I'll be able to begin a more dedicated lifting program.

It wasn't that Air Alert was too intense, because certainly the first weeks are not bad. I'll admit to being worried about my joints, even though I've never had knee or ankle problems, but really it's that the "vertical jump bible" convinced me that a certain level of strength is required before advanced plyometrics will provide their optimum benefit. So, after some fall strength training in the Rutgers weight room, I'll be able to do plyometric exercises in the winter. I'll probably not use Air Alert, but rather come up with my own program, drawing from the "bible" and other sources, as well as sprint and hill workouts. With the spring, I'd like to move into interval training--both in the weight room and in sprint workouts. Tabata intervals, in particular, sound beastly effective.

Workout: 3x(16 shoulder raises forward 5lb, 16 shoulder raises lateral 5lb, 16 military press 15lb, 16 shoulder shrug 15lb)

Roles

Reading one of Ryan's most recent posts got me thinking about what my role has been on the teams I've played on throughout my Ultimate career. Maybe this is blatant post plagarism, but almost nobody reads this thing anyway, so here are my thoughts.My role on a team has never been well-defined. I've had 4 coaches in 5 years of playing, and most were coaching for the first time, so I haven't had the benefit of an established program with an experienced coach. Now, the coaches were very experienced in terms of playing the game, and at least two of them had an incredible sense of not only how to play the sport, but how to teach it as well. Nevertheless, my specific role was never broken down for me until College Sectionals this year, so I've had to basically figure it out myself.

In high school, I basically chose to be a handler. I wanted to touch the disc and make the throws. I like how Ryan described it, because I feel the same way: I want the disc in my hands. I was neither tall nor naturally athletic, so I did two things that I saw as being the quickest path to being important enough to warrant possession: I worked my ass off in conditioning, and I learned to throw. Sophomore year, I was starting O-line as a secondary handler, and by junior year I was one of the primary offensive handlers for both man and zone. I lost my starting spot on defense, and for some reason accepted that as a matter of course--I was a little resentful, but believed that I was more of an offensive player anyway. Senior year, I took over. Though I wasn't that exceptional, and certainly not the best player on the team, I was the most consistent thrower. I picked up, anchored the zone offense, hucked in the pull play, and made almost every assist throughout the season. I feel like we were a second-tier team on the cusp of jumping into the first tier--the clearest example, for me, was 10-13 and 12-15 against CHS. I wasn't able to attend our game against Pennsbury, but my experiences at NUTC and JEM gave me a good idea of how I matched up against the best junior players in the country. I could carry an offense, break marks regularly, get open against good defenders, and play tight D against the ballers. I couldn't shut them down, but they couldn't shut me down either. I had trouble coming down with floaty shit, but I could still take dudes deep.

Going to Rutgers, I believed I was heading into another second-tier program. 5th, 5th, and 9th at Regionals, and a state school that had the potential to be big in the Ultimate world. I think we fell to the third tier this year, a rebuilding year, and yet I was not able to cement my place on the team as well as I would have liked. I got random playing time in the fall and early spring, on both O and D. I never picked up, was in the pull play only rarely, and played a wing in the zone O. I handled occasionally, but only in the ace position until Sectionals. I was frustrated by the lack of communication about my playing time, and to compensate I often tried to stay on for too many points in a row. Really, what bothered me is that I knew how to regulate my mental game, and nobody else did--I couldn't have expected them to, and it probably wasn't that important, but it still bothered me at times. I often felt jumbled, especially after having regulated my own playing time for more than a year, understanding when I needed to take myself out, and when I needed to get back in and use the previous point as fuel. Not only that, but I was completely out of my element--used to being a primary handler, I wasn't as prepared to step into a new role as I thought I would be. Consciously, I knew I would be in a new situation, a sub who doesn't yet have a niche on the field, but I don't think I really knew how much it would affect me.

But it's a new season. At Sectionals, Coach Mio told me what he expected of me on the field, and that did wonders for my mental game--I finally felt like my role was defined in such a way that I knew what to expect of my playing time. This year, now that I have experience with the team, and especially since I'm an officer, I feel like I will be able to define my role much more clearly. I'm hoping that this will prepare me for the challenge of bringing this team to Nationals.

Summer League

First game of Skylands Summer League tonight.

I had hoped to get a bunch of the Rutgers guys together, but it looks like only four or five of us will do it. Of course, none of them could make it tonight, so it was me and 7 other Watchung kids, plus one other dude. We were all pretty solid players, with either athleticism or experience. The other team, Orange, consisted of two ballers, a crazy-tall receiver, and several other solid, experienced players. They had a couple subs that didn't match up well against our guys, but overall the other team was deeper.

The first half was gross. We had no offense--lots of throwaways and bad decisions. We were down 4-8 at half, but it wasn't even that close. During the second half, we found our offense and matched up a bit smarter on D, started generating some turns and found ways to put it in. I had some nice break throws, some 30yd+ completions, and a couple really nice hucks, at least one of which was caught. I didn't see the dishy enough, but overall the flow was much better and some of the questionable decisions came up our way. The other team made some bad errors that cost them, but they were still able to move the disc through their better players without us touching them. We caught up. 7-9, 7-10, 9-10, 11-11, traded to 14-13, 14-15, traded to lose 16-17. One of our goals was taken back because of confusion over the pick rule. I threw a huge backhand huck for a goal, and a defender unrelated to the deep throw called pick on an in-cut, where he was picked by "the guys running deep" (our guy who caught the score and his defender). Granted, they ran through the stack, but this dude has nothing to do with the deep cup or its outcome. Made it 14-15 instead of 15-14.

Personally, I made tons of errors throughout the game, but mostly in the first half. I turfed two throws, hucked it to a poor matchup twice, and threw into a poach once (didn't even see the defender). On the other hand, I had some nice break throws, a couple good hucks, and I played tight defense on some of the better opposing players--Barker, Timmy Chang, Keith, and the really tall kid. I had some assists, maybe even a couple D's.

Summer League Record: 0-1 (16-17)

Alumni Game

The Watchung Hills Warrior Ultimate Alumni Game. We had a great turnout from the alumni, including all the primary seniors from my freshman year. Some notable alums were missing, but we had 12, and that was plenty. The '06-'07 team was missing one starter and another strong senior defender, but I doubt it would have made much difference. The alums rolled to a 7-1 lead, then took half 8-3. We won 15-6 I think. The outcome was never really in doubt, although there was some seriously bad Ultimate played at the end of the first half. I put up a lot of shit, throwing deep basically whenever anybody ran in that direction. Some were complete, some were to open receivers whose defenders caught up and made the D on the older, slower alum, and one or two were just shitty throws. Several times, I put up a nice throw to space and the alum cutter just didn't run it down.

I played good defense, but make a lot of poor decisions on offense for the sake of having fun and seeing what would happen. Once the other alums yelled at me for that, I played slightly more conservative and looked off some open cutters, wanting to make sure I didn't turn it over on short passes. Overall, I didn't play well, but I had fun. At the end of the game, I felt kind of let down. It was good to see the guys, but I don't know how many of them actually consider me a friend. They're cool guys though, much love and respect for them. I still can't wait to play real Ultimate, though. I feel like toning myself down, becoming a role player. I need to stop talking on the field, stop talking smack, stop being a jerk. I'd like to let my game speak for itself for a while.

Workout: 1 game of Ultimate (played 15 points?)
10 reps bench 90lbs, 4.5 reps bench 110lbs

Pickup

I went to the the last day of pickup prior to the summer league season tonight. Pickup sucks. I mean, it was fun to run around a little bit, catch some, throw some, get a couple D's. Even though it wasn't scrubby pickup, though, it didn't have the quality feel of pickup between players on the same team. Plus, there was a jerk or two on the field. Personally, I made a few drops and maybe one (catachable) bad throw. Definitely rusty, my hands just didn't feel ready for the disc. I threw a couple medium forehands, one medium backhand...several times my man cut deep, I closed the gap to within a yard, and just couldn't get my hand on the disc.

I've determined that it's not that I dislike playing defense, I just don't like playing defense by myself. I love team defense, I can get into the right mindset--especially on D points. But in pickup, there's no drive. I also sometimes didn't know how to assert myself on offense, just because there wasn't any strategy or organization. I'll be happy once our actual games start.

Alumni game tomorrow. That's why I went to shake the rust off today.

Workout: 2.5 hours pickup

Meeting of the Minds

We had tonight the first officers' meeting for the '07-'08 Machine season. There was much to talk about: concerns, hopes, expectations, etc. Of notable significance was the prospect of fielding separate A and B teams, and everything that entails: tryouts, cuts, organization for practices and separate tournaments. We also discussed the field situation, the possibility of finding a bubble for winter practices, recruitment/retention strategies, fundraising ideas, and whether Mio will be able to coach us next year--and what to do if he can't. We're taking steps toward building the program, and it's very exciting. There's much to do.

Yesterday: 2x24 shoulder raises 5lb, 2x8 curl/press 5lb, 2x8ea single-leg RDL 5lb
Tonight: 3mi in 21:48 (skipped the Air Alert workout, will make it up tomorrow. Sore from yesterday's hamstring work)

Air Alert

Warnings be damned, I'm going for it.

My vertical and deep game have never been impressive. I'm hoping that both of those change this summer.

My chest and triceps have always been fairly weak, and breaking my wrist probably deteriorated the muscles even further. I've decided to start building them back up slowly.

I've been thinking about playing club this summer, and have even gone to several mixed tournaments and had a lot of fun. The point was to get experience playing against opponents of a higher level, to learn from the challenge and improve my skills and knowledge of the game. I've done a little bit of that, but now that I have the opportunity to play open, I don't think I want to make the committment. Some new open team has started up, realistically hopes to place well at Regionals, wants consistent attendance at practices. The Real World is settling in on me, though. I dropped some dough on the last two tournaments (Bell Crack and Mixed Easterns) and Tuition looms on the horizon. I'm working, but sort of part-time, albeit with a good hourly rate. I want a car, need to start saving, and playing Ultimate is a serious financial committment. I don't really want to say no, and I don't really want to say "hey! look at me! I'm more of an adult now, and can make adult decisions!". But it looks like this is the way it has to be right now.

I still look forward to Skylands. I really want to play with my teammates again, so hopefully I'll be able to snag them in the draft or through trades. At this point, I'm not sure how good the team will be, compared to all the other teams. I'm also not sure that I care. Is it a great idea to play with your teammates in summer league, rather than spreading out to draw experience and information from the rest of the community? I don't know. Part of me believes that that cohesion is important to develop now, though, because it was definitely something Rutgers lacked all year.

Workout: Air Alert, week 1
2x(8 pushups, 8 dips, 8 dumbbell press 15lb, 16 fly 5lb)

Mixed Easterns

NYNJA went to the tournament with 4 girls and 11 guys, but only 3 and 10 played. Having savage girls made for a difficult tournament, but I think we played about as well as one could expect, save for the game against Slow White X. That game featured a lot of poor decisions on offense, mostly throws that were rushed or thrown to covered receivers. It was an ugly game, made more so for me because I felt that the Slow White players were, well...cheating. They played a very physical game--I remember one player using his arms to prevent me from cutting. I called foul, he contested. Somebody called travel on me on a goal-line throw for a score, and it was the worst call I've seen in a long time. I had cut laterally toward the thrower, caught the disc with my left foot planted, took one step with my right foot, and released the disc without moving my left foot at all. Score. "Travel." My left cleat didn't even slide, it was just a terrible call.

I was astonished at how many times opponents called travel on me this weekend--at least 8 times, and I actually travelled on maybe two of them. For most of these, I caught the disc with momentum and released it before my third ground contact. One lady argued that I slid my foot, but does that matter if I am not establishing a pivot? I don't think so. Three times, I caught the disc and stopped as soon as I reasonably could, perhaps four ground contacts. They called travel when I hadn't even looked up to throw. It was an in-cut...what possible advantage could I have gained when I was losing yards? I felt it was ticky-tack, so after the first couple times I didn't even say anything, just took the disc back. I did get upset, though, when my mark delayed after calling travel--he took a good 15 seconds to rest before tapping it in.

The other thing I hate is when, as a handler behind a zone, I cut into the cup to receive a short pass, looking to then break through the cup. The defenders, wanting to discourage this practice, decided to rush at me as I cut toward them. One time, a huge dude--6'2", 180lbs?--ran into me and knocked me over. I called foul, and the lady in the cup called travel. She was serious. Here's the problem: the rules state, XVI.H.3.c.2 "A player may not take a position that is unavoidable by a moving opponent when time, distance, and line of sight are considered." Meaning, if I am cutting into a space between stationary opponents, and then they start rushing in to that space to prevent me from getting there, any contact is a blocking foul. I initiated momentum, giving me a kind of right-of-way to that spot. Demolishing me is not cool. Also, note XVI.H.4 and what it says about reckless disregard and dangerously aggressive behavior.

Another time, I was guarding my man, he ran me into a pick, and the picking player was another giant, who brought his arms in front of himself--to "protect" himself--and thereby body-checked me to the ground. Notice that he did not even stumble backwards. I guess his arms must have done a good job protecting him. I called injury, but stayed on the field. Some Canadian stomped on my toes to initiate his cut, that sucked. I also got demolished in the endzone, spun around and knocked flat on my back, but held onto the disc for the goal. I'm starting to think that I need to build some muscle before playing club open.

Tonight's workout: 2mi in 14:13, 4x40yds, 200m in 30.8, ab circuit.