Chowdafest

Which featured mediocre chowda. Also, a tournament. The following is a recap.

I got screwed on the ride up. My ride supposedly emailed me mere hours before she was to drive us up, and this email (which I never got) explained that she "had a chance to go up early, and took it." In other words, I was chopped liver. Luckily, my lovely lady was shipping up to Boston early Saturday morning, and her parents dropped me off at the fields on the way up. I arrived half an hour before our first game, against the Smartwhores. We came out slow, but reigned it back in to win on universe point. Next up was FNG: another slow start, crawled back to win 12-10. Then we played Grey Till, who was even more tired than we were by this point, and we rolled them--7-1 at half, won 9-2 at the cap. The rounds were very short, and the heat was oppressive. It was humid, and the thick air was exhausting to play through. Your cleats felt on fire after playing a couple points in a row, and we spent our bench time in the shade.

Our next game was against 7Express, and again we played under our level. The girls really had trouble playing savage, and we went down 7-9. The team as a whole had problems with offense--we ran German most of the time, and gave up the disc too close to the endzone. Defense was nominal at best, mostly because of the heat and lack of rest. I do remember throwing one of the prettiest hucks of my life in this game, a flat forehand to two streaking ladies for a goal. Perfectly placed. My handling was comparatively poor on the day, however, and I was frustrated because I basically only got called in for D points. I had not expected to play so much D, and it was dispiriting that we couldn't force a turn, or couldn't put it in once we had. I feel like my mental game was taxed by playing so much D--on offense, I usually know my job and know that I can get it done. On defense, I'm less in control. I have to react more, dictate the pace less. It's also frustrating when the D's O gives it back up.

But I tried to not be such a pussy, and grappled with my being relegated to the D line. Tried to take it as an opportunity to improve that particular part of my game. By the time we played Slow White, our 5th game of the day, I felt a little better. We went up 3 points on them immediately, basically through good D and ridiculous O--one of our girls covered their tall guy, because she knew him and knew that he wouldn't take her deep, so I covered a lady handler. Two of these points came when we forced the turn, I threw a floaty huck to our tall kid from Colt 45, and he pulled it down. The other converted turn I don't remember. At this point, I recommended that we slow the game down and play a possession-based offense until the cap went on, but somebody else called for "one more!" and we promptly forced a turn, gave it back, then gave up the lead. Slow White then threw zone, and we went down 8-13. I turfed a backhand during this game, but also skied a kid in the endzone on defense and did some other good things. Throughout the day, I played very streaky--some points off, with a drop or bad throwing choice, and then some points on with solid O.

The provided dinner was decent. Edible hamburgers, tasty but tough chicken breast, bland hotdogs, iceberg salad, mass-produced fruit mix, delicious watermelon, and mediocre chowda. The red was good, the white was nothing like I hoped it would be. Some intense Uno went on in the hotel room, then we went out to 99 for some food, back to the hotel for a solid night's sleep. We had decided to trade places with 7Express: 4th in the pool instead of 3rd, because we wanted Sunday's first-round bye into the Chumpionship bracket instead of an early-morning two-and-out in the champ bracket. So, we got to sleep in!

Sunday was better weather and better offense. We went down 1-5, then cruised to an easy victory against The Gaspee Affair. We rolled over Porkchop, then won the chumpionship against White Rhino. I played much better today, including tighter D, some skies on both sides of the disc, breaking the mark, completed hucks to girls, and crisper cutting/handling. I feel that the season will enable me to play closer to the top of my game more consistently, so I won't need that much time to get in the groove as I did this weekend.

In closing, some players don't know the rules. Some of these guys are also bitches. At least three people fouled me this weekend, but called foul on me when I just accepted the contact. One big dude on Porkchop backhanded me across the stomache, hard enough to take the wind out of me--I was giving him disc space, he initiated contact, yet he called foul. Some kid on White Rhino tried to get his body in front of my dump cut, I went to run around him, and he threw himself into my path. I powered through him, caught the dump, he yelped "foul!" Are you kidding? Vying for the same unoccupied space is incidental contact. I think it might have been the same guy that got pissed when I ran in front of his in-cut while trying to follow my man out of the lane, as if I had picked the offensive player somehow. In any case, I contested and set up as dump again. Stall comes in at 6, I fake to the same side as before, he jumps over, I hop to the other side and catch the dump from Judith, break backhand for the goal. The next point, I broke him backhand for the goal again. I don't like it when people make bad calls, but it makes it so much sweeter when I roast them afterwards.

My favorite play of the day, though, was against Porkchop. Colt 45 kid gets the disc near the endzone, I look to cut to the forehand side and see him cock his wrist to throw. Right as I see him release it, Judith and her defender plow into me--I hadn't seen them clearing out, because I was facing the other direction. Everybody on the field heard a smack as Judith hit me in the face, I felt like a boxer who just caught a right hook. I pushed through and opened my eyes to see the disc falling yards to my left, I chase it down for the goal. Gotta love coed.

5v5

Moving up again, to 5v5 this time, almost a full field. It was a "practice" for the high school kids, but really we just threw around for 10 minutes and then scrimmaged. I felt strong, but my competition was fairly low aside from Lu Wang. Two of the new captains picked teams, and I felt that they were fairly even. They had the height and more individual talent, but I feel like I brought some cohesion to my team. Plus, Andrew was with us, and he's pretty quick and very skilled--glad he's coming to Rutgers.

There wasn't much team defense, and some of the younger kids just don't have the experience to play hard man-to-man. I do think I played excellent D on Lu, though--very physical, I put pressure on him and didn't give much up. I dropped one pass, but otherwise I played good team offense. My goal for the scrimmage was to be a non-leader on the line by making sure the captain told us what to do on O and D each point, and to do exactly what was asked of me strategically. I think I achieved this goal. It feels good to move progressively closer to real Ultimate. I can't wait for Chowdafest this weekend.

60mins yoga

3v3

Again, a rainy day spent playing mini. This time, we had 3v3 with two subs, because nobody plays 4v4. I have no idea why.

It felt good, too. Missed a layout opportunity, but that is not new. I preformed adequately in the air, mostly by using my speed. It's funny how easy, and yet difficult, mini can be. I enjoy it tremendously, more than regular pickup. I think it's because I am (a little) selfish: I want the disc, and I get it a lot when I only have to share with a couple kids. I can impact the game more directly. With six teammates, you have to do a lot of creating space, putting other people in good positions, etc. I enjoy that only when I am playing with a real team and real teammates. Pickup, even pickup tournaments, put me into a more selfish mood. I don't (can't) dominate the game, but I am less interested in letting teammates pick up the disc, make the iso cut, be the dump. It's subtle, though.

Plus, there's so much space with fewer players, and it changes in more predictable ways. You have more control over your defender, because he has to respect all that space. The flip side is that on defense, you have to work hard to take away a specific space and push your matchup into a less-ideal spot. It's good practice for physical defense. Today we played closer to pickup basketball, bumping and bodying without any calls.

2v2

Threw around yesterday for a couple hours with Jon Lin and Lu Wang. Today, in another attempt to prevent skill atrophy, we got together and roped in one of the new co-captains of Watchung to throw with us. After some throwing, we did some jump-ball skying; I was satisfied to sky both Jon (Watchung's historic deep-deep) and Lu (a known deep threat) several times. Really, I was able to get position on them--both are taller, and I'm not known for my hops. I skied the kid, too, but that was less of an accomplishment.

After a while, we played 2v2, make it take it, half stall count, 20x25yd field with 5yd endzones, games to 3. Ridiculously difficult. After two games, you're toast, especially if there are a lot of turnovers. There were a lot of turnovers. Occasionally, a team would score three in a row with only 5 or 6 passes, but it was easy to misjudge the distance to the goal and overthrow your receiver--it makes a case for shortening the endzones in team practices, in order to teach control. The other common turnover was miscommunication with a receiver trying to fake out his defender. The most effective strategy was to make comeback cuts over and over (which the defender will often give up to protect the endzone) until somebody can break free for a floaty pass.

It really makes me reconsider the old give-and-go team strategy. When Watchung ran into trouble, my senior year, Lu and I would often push the stack back and work the disc up ourselves. I've always thought that if you could get a team of guys who were excellent at working the disc 2 or 3 at a time, you could dictate the defense's options. It is very difficult to contain an isolated player who has a competent thrower and tons of space to work with.

Feeling Better

2mi in 13:55 (7:10, 6:45)
60 mins yoga
2mi in 14:08 (7:08, 7:00)

On the way back, I ran on the train tracks for about 0.8mi. The tracks were much more level than the route I usually take, which rolls over steep hills, but the tracks were not a sure surface for running. Wooden slats, strewn with rocks--I'll probably not run along them again, although the flat ground was pretty nice. The last 0.1mi, however, is again a steep incline. The only way to get to my house that does not involve going uphill would instead take me well out of my way.

This workout was somewhat encouraging. Perhaps I am merely finding my moderate pace again, but either way I am more confident about the shape in which I will enter the fall season. Within a week, we will be planning with much more detail our practice schedule, the home tournament, the high school tournament we plan to host, and our tryout plans. It is a very exciting time.

What do you expect?

Quads were sore this morning, near the knee. Decided to go to the lifting/yoga class. I did a brief series of lifts, hitting some of the major muscle groups. Afterwards, I thought to take it easy and jog a mile back, then walk the rest of the way. I was too sore to do much else, and didn't want to injure myself. With the squats, I was mostly focused on getting the correct form--as I get more comfortable with my form, I'll move up to more weight.

16x40lb incline bench press
48 lunges with twists
24 medicine ball situps
16x20lb military press
16x40lb deadlift
16x40lb incline bench press
16 squats
24 medicine ball situps
12x10lb shoulder raises, 8x10lb military press
16x40lb romanian deadlift
16x40lb incline bench press
16 front squats @ 12lb
20mins yoga
1mi in 8:29

Back from Florida

I did no workouts in Florida. I did exert myself briefly while helping clean my father's cabinet shop and home, but otherwise I enjoyed fast food, my grandmother's cooking, and plenty of ice cream.

Having had little sleep and a plane ride back (4 hours of sitting...), I decided to take a jaunt.

3mi in 21:48 (14:20 for the first 2mi, 7:26 for the last)

which translates to a 7:16 pace...ugly. I'll back off a bit, miles and two miles, then maybe a couple more threes and possibly a five before taking a break. Body weight exercises? Some. I don't want to be grossly unprepared for the fall, but I don't intend to overwork myself--especially since I plan on playing in the club series.

Assessment

I believe the two most-recent tournaments I have played in, Philly Sportsfest and Nucci's Cup, have given me a fairly good impression of where I stand in club Ultimate. I'd like to take a post to reflect on what I've learned this summer, because I'll be leaving for Florida in less than 6 hours and it will give me a platform from which I can project and plan for the upcoming season. As I have often mentioned, I use a lot of my free time thinking about my game, my involvement, and where I'd like to take both.

At Philly Sportsfest, playing mixed, I found myself starting on both O and D. I can only speculate as to why--I was definitely not the strongest player on the team, but we had few male subs and I was willing to work. I was called as a primary handler, I pulled more often than not, and I was familiar with the strategies we were trying to use. I played O and D about evenly, and usually took myself out after a couple points--it was hot and I was running hard. As mentioned previously, this tournament made me the most sore I had ever been after only one day, and I was cramping up during points for the first time in my life (though I never cramped to the point where I had to stop playing, only felt the muscle twitch and then release). My warmup before games was marginal. I felt in the zone for the first game and played smart offense for most of the tournament, but found myself making more throwing errors later in the day.

At Nucci's Cup, we had a help-yourself rotation for PT. I favored offense, but again played both about evenly. I was simply more inclined to stay on for an O point, sometimes because I wanted to redeem myself and often because I felt better about offense, like I could do my job well on O. Again, I was a primary handler, picking up the disc more than anybody else by the end of the first day and through the second. I only pulled when Brian Jin was not on the field, because his pulls were superior. I threw most of the hucks, and my completion percentage was somewhat satisfactory for the competitiveness of the MBASNY. I found it more difficult to break the mark, mostly because the guys who were guarding me were usually taller than I am. I tended to not guard the other team's best player, which is something I have tried to do at summer league, simply because I was not the strongest defender on Metro.

What it seems to come down to is what you might expect. I can contribute significantly to a mid-tier club team, but I'm not ready to step into elite club. In order to be a competitor, I would need to improve my athleticism--something I am gearing up for after my last injury (my wrist still bruises easily, btw). This would also help the second obstacle I face: throwing choices. I can play conservative and I can play risky, but I haven't found a definite niche yet that balances risk with reward. I feel my decisions on the field are undermined when I play too many points in a row, so sprint-recover endurance will help, but I still need experience against tough opponents. I definitely need to improve the consistency of my hucks, and I'd also like to develop their range; I feel like I can put it mostly where I want it, but need to cover a greater distance and do it at will if I want to be a threat in the club scene. On defense, I need to keep challenging myself to take harder matchups.

Soon, I'll be back at school and practicing with Machine. I'll be playing in the club series, hopefully at open sectionals and mixed regionals. I believe that club experience is integral to my ultimate goal, so I feel that overall, this summer has been fairly successful for me. I have maintained a generic conditioning base, though it has been uncoordinated and lackadaisical at times, and I have sought out higher competition. Within the next few weeks, I'm going to draw the lines a little more clearer for the path I intend to follow to College Nationals.

Nucci's Cup

...was this weekend. I picked up with the "Metro Boston All-Stars of New York". That makes me an honorary member of two self-proclaimed all-star teams, which feels pretty good. I rode down to the Mercer fields early with Brian and Alex, Alex's girlfriend driving. I wandered around for a while and eventually found the motley collection of kids that comprised MBASNY--mainly Harvard grads, plus alums from Tufts, UPenn, William and Mary, Bucknell, etc. We told each other our names, then ran through some discouraging reps of an away-cut drill and brought it in for some basic strategy talk. The plan was vert stack, man flick...about as basic as you can get. First game was against New Noise, the top seed of our pool, and we promptly went up 4-1, then 5-2, and took half 8-6. We were holding our own against a competitive, practicing club team and even taking break points. It felt pretty good, but I was worried about how much longer we could keep it up. With a roster of only 14 against the army of tall athletes on New Noise, I feared that we would run out of steam by the end of the game. In reality, we started to make poor decisions after half once they started playing some junk zone. Handler errors, mostly, and New Noise clawed back and handed us a 12-14 loss at hard cap.

I chilled in the shade during the next round, a bye for us and Garden State, and nibbled on banana and bagel. The third round, our second game, was against the 2nd seed of our pool, Medicine Men. This game was about the same as our game against New Noise, except with more handler mistakes and dump miscommunication. We took half 8-6 and lost 13-15. Next us was Pennsbury HS, and we had them pretty well covered individually. They didn't put up much of a fight defensively, so we rolled to a 15-6 win. Our final game was against AC/DC, which looked like a bunch of JMU guys. At this point, we had really run out of gas--we didn't have enough to even run an efficient offense, much less break theirs. They drubbed us, 5-15. I went home and slept, tired as hell.

I woke up at a too-early 6am for Sunday, rode to the fields and slept in the car for half an hour before our play-in game. I threw around with Coach Mio, cleated up, and met up with the rest of Metro fifteen minutes prior to the game. We were up against DC Funk, a team of mostly older dudes who broke our marks exceptionally well. That really was what killed us, and we had a lot of trouble stopping their offense because of their break throws. We lost half, but fought back to win at double-game-point, 13-12. I caught the game-winning goal on a deep cut, outrunning my matchup while Caitlin watched from the sidelines, so that felt pretty good--she had arrived during the second half, and got to watch our comeback win.

Then, we played HOV in the quarters, and we were clearly feeling beat up. We had fewer players than we did on Saturday, and I know I was pretty sore from running with all kinds of guys--I knew club open would be harder than Mixed, but I didn't know it would leave me in that much pain. We lost 9-15, and I don't know if it was even that close. I was pretty well done by the end of this tournament...I don't think I'm that out of shape, but it took a lot out of me. It is strange to think that the most tired I have ever felt from a tournament was after the Saturday of Philly Sportsfest a few weeks ago, but this tournament was right behind it.

Yoga

60min yoga, in preparation for Nucci Cup this weekend.

Yesterday, we played 4v4 on a short field, upside-down pulls. We lost on universe point.