Sectionals Recap

Sectionals played out just about how they were supposed to. 7 Figures, Metro, BCBC. There weren't any real surprises in open, either.

Saturday we played some games that were tighter than they should have been, and all the injuries to our men really started catching up to us. We went into our game against Metro, the third game of the day, with only 8 guys. Calle, Fever, Tom Hall, Whitey, and Mike Nowak were all unable to play, and we definitely missed having the depth as the game dragged on. They went up 7-3 to start the game after we dropped the disc all over the field. We started playing some serious defense and shifted the momentum of the game to bring it back to 7-7, but then they toughed out a series of progressively longer points to end the game 11-7 at soft cap. The last point lasted around 20 minutes, and I had to come off near the end because my calves started cramping.

I had to take off after this game, missing our last game and leaving us with only 7 guys. We won something like 13-3, but I still felt guilty about putting the extra strain on everyone else. Fei bought me a ticket to see Grizzly Bear and Phoenix at the Hollywood Bowl, which was an awesome show. The tourney schedule changed at the last minute because we unexpectedly lost a field. Oh well.

Semis against 7 Figures was a tough match up. We definitely earned our D's against them, but our offense wasn't nearly as efficient as theirs. They're really good about taking smart deep shots and they use the open space on the field much better than other co-ed teams. The game was pretty heated, but it was never really close. The Lunch Money 3/4 game was much tighter than it should have been. It was a classic letdown game combined with us seriously underestimating them. The 7Figs vs. Metro final was tight until about 5's, when 7 Figures turned on the jets and left Metro in the dust.

Looking back on my weekend, I accomplished about half of my goals. I only turned the disc on about 8% of the points I played, which I think is pretty good considering how much I was touching the disc. I played hard and enjoyed playing a lot more points than I have so far. On the other hand, I didn't get many D's. I think it's a combination of still being a step or two slower than pre-injury and still being a little hesitant to make full speed cuts on my ankle.

I went to the the first Smaug vet practice of the year tonight, and I realized by comparison to my match-ups that I'm nowhere near in the shape that I was in last year. Some of that effect might be from the slower speed and sloppiness of playing mixed. Some of it also might be fatigue from lots of lifting and workouts. I think it's time to start tapering down and letting my body recover for the next week.

Playing with Smaug today gave me some very mixed feelings. I haven't played with those guys since Prez Day, so I was super happy to be on the field with them again. A lot of people have really improved over the summer, and there are some really good transfers and rookies that are showing some promise, so I'm really excited for the team this year. At the same time, I won't be on the field with them, which is tough after losing basically all of last year. For that reason, I'm not looking forward to the end of the club series. I won't have a team anymore.

Look for a write up on Regionals and BCBC in general in the next week or two.

Sectionals Preview

The major players are 7 Figures, Metro and BCBC. 7 Figures has come on strong late in the season and clearly established themselves as the team to beat. Metro and BCBC are both coming off disappointing showings at Labor Day and are going to have something to prove.

I really enjoy Saturday of sectionals. There are lots of people you know, but it still has a special occasion feel to it. I enjoy the ego boost of beating up on teams in pool play, and I'm looking forward to spectating during our bye. Our bye should be especially sweet because it will have the match-up between Condors and The 405, as well as Recess (UCLA) versus USC. Should be good times.

Obviously, the most important game of the day is B1 v. B2, Metro BCBC. It's happening late in the day, so there's a good chance that the wind will have picked up by then. One of the strange things about Mixed is that teams throw zones in good weather as well as in the wind, but if it's windy it might push our game more towards zone and tedium. Winner will play 7 Figures in the finals. Loser will play 7 Figs in the semis.

I think our teams are actually pretty evenly matched this year, so the mental and strategic aspect of the game will be especially important. I think the best way we can approach it is to not treat it differently than any other game and simply go about our business doing what we do. We shouldn't get too worked up about who's on the other line.

I'm going to be playing mostly D line this weekend, which I'm pretty cool with. I haven't played much D in the past few years, but D-line is where the glory is.

My personal goals for the weekend:

a. Value every point that I play equally, with as much intensity as I can bring.

b. Don't force things. Go with the flow.

c. Sky/layout D some fools. I haven't been doing all this work for nothing.

I guess this isn't much of a preview, but Hammie already did a much better preview of both pools and all the teams anyway.

I have a really good feeling about sectionals. My body felt great tonight at our track workout. My throws have been crisp all week. The last time I played at Sectionals in Long Beach, we won it.

There's not too much to be said really. It's time to play things out and we'll go from there.

Labor Day Wrap-Up

This was my first Mixed Labor Day, and I had a great time hanging out in San Francisco rather than Santa Cruz. Some of my teammates put up the whole team in a really fun area with lots of good restaurants around. Usually, when I travel for ultimate, I feel like I don't really get to experience much of the city that we've traveled to, but not so for this weekend.

I also enjoyed the turf fields. I really like the flatness and reliability of it. I know that some people really disliked it (and we lost some people to ankle and knee injuries over the weekend) but I think I'm pretty used to it after playing on turf at SC for years. Just be sure to cover any skin that might be sliding on rubber pellets and you will come out much happier.

We started Saturday off strong win over AIR, a team that we've struggled with this year. We jumped out to an early lead and held on to it to finish 11-9ish. Next we faced Barrio, last years SW regional champions. We took half on them 8-6, but they picked up their defensive intensity and stopped throwing unforced turnovers. They came back to win by a couple. Our last pool play game was against CTR, another good Bay Area team. It's silly how much talent there is in the Bay Area, by the way. Mischief, Polar Bears, AIR, CTR, FUNK, American BBQ, and Death Star are all very talented club teams, not to mention Revolver, Wolf, Fury, etc.

CTR came with a field change and a change in the weather. It became pretty windy, and our games were pretty strongly upwind-downwind. It wasn't strong enough that there wasn't a good deal of upwind scoring, but punt and zone was a pretty legitimate option. We toughed out this game to take 2nd in our pool and played Death Star in pre-quarters. The Death Star game was similarly zoney and windy, but they were either slightly better or we played slightly worse and we lost by a couple to end the day.

We played Metro in beer-bracket quarters and lost by a couple. Neither team looked particularly good, but I think we were really showed the signs of partying away our sorrows the night before. Metro didn't have Barrs, (The Uncoverable) Jeff Chai, or Yugo playing, so our next match up at sectionals should be somewhat different. Anyway, this game was ugly for us as a team and for me as a player. Calle also tore his ACL in this game, which really put a damper on our spirits.

In our last two consolation games of the day, we beat Killjoy and then instead of playing AIR or CTR again, we played Operation Kapow, another regional rival. I don't think Kapow was very excited about playing this game, which was again windy and zoney, because they folded and we didn't even finish the game because we up so much.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty strong about our performance, even though we didn't finish particularly highly in the tourney. We got some quality wins, some excellent experience playing together in the wind, and we renewed our confidence that our team can ball when we want to.

This was my first "high level" tourney back from my injury, and my body felt really good afterwards. I played just below 50 points, a relatively light load compared to what I've done with other teams, which makes it easy to perform physically but more difficult mentally. The weekend was full of lots of highs and lows for me. I lead the team in turnovers, but also was near the top in D's and Assists. This says to me that I'm trying a little too hard and that I need to relax and trust in my teammates and the system. It also shows that I'm getting to where I want to be physically, and it makes me want to work even harder.