Pike Tryouts

Two days watching from the sidelines. I tried to warm up on Saturday, but couldn't get through even that. Couldn't change directions because twisting the joint was too painful, especially unilaterally. Couldn't use the full range of motion in my knee. Frustrating, but I tried to help where I could--from the sidelines, feeding in drills, etc. Lots of strong players, lots of hungry players, both ups and downs for some of the new guys. You can tell who already knows what it's like to play at club speed, but hopefully the focus and intensity get better and better as we move through the season.

Saturday night was delicious, Sanborn's mom made us chicken and cookies, then I had a cider and watched the Magic put down the Cavs to win the conference finals. Actually wanted the Cavs to win, just so there would be another game in the series, but they didn't deserve it with the way they were shooting.

Sunday was scrimmages and I didn't really stick to just one team, tended to talk for whoever was on defense. Didn't cleat up, but worked a lot with the 4lb and 8.8lb medicine balls on the sidelines, doing slams and tosses. Got sunburned. Got hungry. Never enough. Team First.

Draft Game 3

vs 16, which was I guess a kind of light grey. We took control right away and kept it, taking half 8-3 and winning 15-7 or so. Our offense was working well, moving the disc laterally well enough to find open in-cuts, and they pretty much gave us the disc. Our girls played really well, getting some blocks and catching a bunch of goals. Our zone O was fairly unflappable. I felt pretty good until I collided with a girl trying to poach-D my upline dump cut, and her kneecap cracked me in the side of my knee. I went down in a lot of pain and it still hurts pretty bad, can't really walk on it or move it much, so I'm doing the whole ice/ibuprofen thing. Hopefully it'll be good to go by Saturday 9am...

Lift, Draft Game 2

10 pullups, 8 pullups

Deadlift: 10 at 135, 8 at 185, 6 at 205, 8 at 185lb

10 front squats at 45lb, 10 overhead squats at 45lb

10 rotations at 45 degrees, 10 more with 8lb med ball

15 medicine ball lunges with twist

10 barbell rows 45lb, 10 high pulls 65lb

10 curls 45lb, 4 curls 65lb

10 medicine ball seated twists

10 pistols squats each leg on bosu ball

Draft in the rain vs Green, Bo Li's team. Too many errors--drops, throwaways, one turfed backhand, dumb shit like that. Got some D's and threw some goals, but the ratio was not good. Finished the game with six 40yd accelerators and six 40yd sprints.

Oh, and Darwin asked for a shout-out. Here you go, buddy.

Surprise!

Spent my Memorial Day hiking the trails around Surprise Lake. I went with my parents, Sophie (the dog) and Caitlin (the girlfriend (mine, not the dog's)). It was a solid 3.5mi up and down the mountain, fairly steep at times and very rocky in places. We went slow and took a lot of breaks (Caitlin had a cold), but it was still a pretty good off-day workout. I just have to get back to having more on-days because compared to the last couple days, this off-day was an on-day. On the plus side, I got a taste of the Appalachian Trail. Good stuff.

Glenn = Weaksauce

but he's chipping away at Ronnie's lead..

Bench press: 10 at 120, 7 at 140, 3 at 145, 3 at 140, 2x6 at 120

He doubled my every set, but couldn't triple up this time. Both of us are excited to watch the bracket play out at the NJHSU State Championships tomorrow. Warrior Ultimate, baby.

I really need

new running shoes. Shin splints and sore calves suck.

3mi loop in 23:42

20 pushups at +25lb

15 pushups with brother's legs on back

13 pushups with brother's legs on back (+2 without)

25 decline pushups

10 decline pushups, 15 pushups

A-League Game 1

vs Mudsharks. Sort of like yesterday's game in that we started out trading, going down by a few (4-7?) and then running off four straight to take half. In the second half of the game we pretty much rolled on defense...then gave up a few points near the end before winning 15 to ~12. The mostly played zone D, so I got some handling in and threw a couple sweet hucks (including the game-winner!) plus one bad one, but I also got downfield a good deal. Getting downfield is one of the main reasons I decided to play for the Illuminati this summer, so that made me happy and I hope I can continue to get reps cutting. The other big reason is I wanted to step up my defensive game, and I felt pretty good today...got several deep D's, put decent pressure on cutters...a good start.

After the game, I did a deck of cards with Frenchy. Pushups, squats, squat-thrust-jumps, and full-body crunches. Finished in 10:24, but we had another guy flipping cards for us so that helped cut time out. I also went for speed, which is why I replaced burpees with squat-thrust-jumps. I also went fast on the pushups--the grass was long, so my range of motion was somewhat less than full, but I figure this workout is more about busting out the reps anyway.

Draft Game 1

vs 7 (blue). But we're dark blue, and I think there's another light blue team...interesting. The first half was very close. First point, disc is centered to me and the disc left my hand without my intending it to, so...handblocked on the defending goal line. Then I got broken (inside-out forehand) for the goal. Ouch. After that we traded, went up two breaks and took half with the other team right on our heels. The second half went much smoother for us--despite some execution errors (perhaps none so egregious as mine in the first point), we were able to win going away, 15-9 or so. I remember seeing a lot of good disc movement--when things stagnated, we often got a dump to a swing and then a yardage-gain. Defense was pretty good, although they gave us the disc more often than we got blocks. I got skied twice on bad bailout throws (the dude was much taller than me). I got a nice D on the second pass of their possession, a run-through block near the goal line. I threw some goals, but overthrew one of our girls at least three times on wide open deep looks. Figured it out by the end of the game, but damn. I need to dial it in.

Overall a fun game, and I think the team will be competitive.

A League tomorrow!

p.s. ~45 minutes of throwing with Porter before leaving for MCUDL. Was supposed to be a Watchung JV practice, but apparently they all had better things to do. I can't imagine what.

Can I

earn it?

on turf football field, running endzone to endzone, in cleats:

warmup

10x100yd on 0:30

~5 minutes rest

8x200yd on 1:00

~6 minutes rest

400yd

~5 minutes rest

10x100yd on 0:30

total: 2.5mi

With Ronnie (whose numbers are much higher than mine...)

Bench press: 10 at 120, 7 at 140, 2 at 150lb

10 pushups at +50lb

If

the team is smaller, and the rotation is smaller, then my role is necessarily different from last year--on the surface. As an "O player" I could start with the disc, and do whatever it was that I could do to get that disc in the endzone. But all too often, we gave that disc to the other team, and had to get it back. All too often, we didn't. So really, my "role" last year was a sham--a superficial category applied to my name on the roster, which I welcomed as an opportunity to remain more often within my comfort zone, and used both productively--we're the "O line" and we should not give up the disc--and non-productively. All too often, I worked hard to not look silly--the pansy approach to Ultimate. Don't look bad, you might not get as much playing time. You're not the D superstar, so your job is to contain your man as best you can if we've given the disc up. Make the play if you can, and try not to resent your teammates when they can't, when they've made the error in judgment or execution that made it so you have to play defense, so you're forced outside of your comfort zone. Why couldn't they just throw and catch? They're the veterans/ballers/tallers, don't they know that I'm new here?

Well now I know (for now). If I have the disc, I move it to a more advantageous position. If my teammate has the disc, I create an opportunity to move it to a more advantageous position. If an opponent has the disc, I take it away, or don't let my man get it. At the very least, I make him get it in a less advantageous position, make him uncomfortable.

Being better conditioned is basic to all of these things. I can't rely on my teammates to push me. Walk, not talk.

Here we go.

Practice, Bell Crack

8am in Philly. Warmup, drills, scrimmages. Few to no subs. Hard.

Not in shape. Out of touch with ho-stack offense. Hard.

Doubt. Frustration.

Noon in Kennett Square. Warmup, game, rest, game. Subs. Easier.

Picked up with Full Service. Beat Levitation Holmes 15-3.

Beat Aunt-Flow All-Stars 10-9 after being up 6-2, then down 6-8. Fun.

Fun, yes. Pike, yesser. Nationals with Pike, yessest. Let's go.

Hmm...

Trying to get rid of this lower back pain.

15 pushups

15 pushups on bosu

14 pushups at +45lb

6 per leg DB lunge and press, 25lb

3x10 DB curl and press, 20lb

3x10 DB bench press (30, 35, 40lb)

15 medicine ball twists, close

15 medicine ball twists, wide

15 med ball squats

15 med ball overhead squats

15 med ball wood chops

15 back extensions on exercise ball

15 leg lifts, 15 45degree extensions

15 rotations at 45degrees

Running in the rain

isn't fun.

8x(hard 80yd, easy 100yd)

rest

10x(easy 100yd, hard 80yd)

Workout, Alumni Game

10 of each: SL step-ups, SL step-ups with twist, SL calf raises,

SL quarter squats, lunges onto platform, med ball twists, dips

6x(3 pushups, 1 pushup with L hand on med ball,

1 pushup with both hands on med ball, 1 pushup with R hand on med ball)

50 situps with medicine ball pass

10 crunches with medicine ball pass

Game to 21 against the alumni, stretching back to the original founders. Four decades of Rutgers players on the same field, it felt awesome. I threw more than my fair share of hammer turnovers, but had tons of fun. We didn't keep close track of the score, because that wasn't what it was about. Afterwards, bolis and beers with everybody and now pre-Bash and, later tonight, Stache Bash. Grow it long or draw it on, baby.