Powski said it best...

Re-entry is hard.

A New Year

I think there are tumbleweeds blowing around this blog. It's time that I started writing again because I might have some worthwhile things to say about ultimate.

2011 was a huge year for me, ultimate-wise. I made my first trip to club nationals and played a substantial role on the team. I captained a summer league team to the finals game. I won beach league, my first LA league win. It was a damn good year.

I achieved a lot of the goals that I've been working towards for a very long time. The emotions of qualifying for nationals was overwhelming. It was surreal. My girlfriend told me that it was the happiest she's ever seen me. The tournament itself was incredible, deserving of its own post.

On the other hand, I feel a little different about ultimate now. Going to nationals was, for a very long time, one of my most important goals. Achieving it was great, but...now what?

It's not that I'm done playing ultimate. I still love it, and more importantly, the people that play it. I think I'm going to train even harder in hopes of making it back. It's just that there is not a whole lot higher to climb, and diminishing returns on the effort that I put into it. When you measure your life, how your frisbee team places nationally is not one of the most important criteria.

Anyway, my point is, I'm looking for new motivations and new goals to fill the spot previously held by the idea of going to nationals. I'm not really sure where that will come from yet. I'm in a bit of a purgatory right now, studying for the bar exam but I have a lot of things to think about. I didn't touch a disc for five weeks over break and I was surprisingly ok with it.

Lei Out is this weekend, and I'm super excited to play with all my good friends. It's going to be a great time because it always is, and we're going to have the best players in the world come to us for a change. It's been a very long time since I've played the silly, social, co-ed version of ultimate. I've didn't make it Potlatch this summer, and the hours of exhausting Condors practice have a way of grinding the silliness out of you. I think Lei Out is just what I'm needing right about now.

Anyway, I'm making it my goal to write more in this blog over the coming months. Here are a few topics that might be good to talk about:

• What happened at SW Regionals
• What happened at Nationals
• What club nationals is like
• What playing with Condors was like
• How can I continue to grow as a player
• Off-season training
• Principles of good offense
• Why regionals should never ever be in Colorado

and lots more that I have yet to think of. I'm open to suggestions.

See you at Lei Out.

Sectionals

Sectionals were disappointing. We lost to Renegade on universe point first thing in the morning, then lost to Streetgang 13-8ish a couple rounds later. With that, our sectionals were pretty much over. We finished third and our road at regionals will be tougher.

I'm not feeling terrible about the weekend, though. For whatever reason, we just didn't play well on Saturday. Maybe it was waking up at 5:30 in the morning. Often times, teams walk away after losing a game to a better opponent and think, "Man, we totally should have won that game. We just played badly." In reality, the other teams good defense was the reason that you didn't play well, and there's no way you should have won the game. I don't think that's the case here.

I think we can play much better. Whether we will or not, and what the conditions will be like in Colorado, that we will have to wait and see. But at the moment, I'm not especially broken up or worried about it. Just back to the grindstone for 3 more weeks with a focus on regionals.

Discos Champs!

I haven't felt motivated to write for a while, but winning a tournament has a way of getting you excited about ultimate again.

Until recently, this summer has been a grind. Studying for the bar kind of sucked the life out of me, and Condors have been grinding out long practices without much actual playing yet this summer. I wasn't able to go to the 1 day Scramble, so the last time I played a real game with the Condors was in late May, and it was with a squad of 13.
We knew ahead of time that the level of play at Discos wasn't going to be very high. I pushed hard to go to the tourney, though, because I thought it was important to build chemistry and log more games playing together before the series. I hadn't really played with a lot of my teammates, so I think every game we can get together is beneficial. Also, Chico is really fun.

There were 8 open teams, but only Wolves, Boost and Condors had a real chance of winning it. (Why the change from Wolf? I always liked the lone wolf sound of it.) We started at 1 PM, during the hottest part of the day - probably around 95. We were efficient with putting away the first two teams, Chico and some Cal college guys, many of whom had played 3 games of co-ed right before. Both teams went down 13-2, and we had plenty of time to hydrate and re-apply sunscreen between rounds. The big game of the day was against Boost Mobile, a very athletic squad of Palo Alto/Stanford guys. Their scouting report is in th
eir name. We were pumped up to play them again after receiving a frustrating 15-10 loss at the thrown together Cal States in May. This time, we had a full team and a few months of practice under our belts.

We broke them for a score out of the gates and never let them see a lead again for the rest of the game. Our offense moved the ball quickly and we took only smart deep shots when they presented themselves. Our D was on fire this game, including a couple of super impressive layout D's on hucks from Peter Raines. It stayed pretty close til the end when we pulled away from them with another break or two to take the game 13-8.

Sunday had us in quarters against Paradox, a first year team out of Long Beach. They struggled with both our tight man D and our junky zone looks all game, and we took the game quickly 13-0. Semis were against an Oregon team, Darkstar, that drove down to the tourney in the NexGen bus driven by Cody Bjorklund. They played flashy Oregon style offense (which I love) but they didn't quite have the skill to make it effective. We won 13-5.

We went over to see the end of the other semi, Wolves vs Boost, which came down to the wire. Wolves were up a couple (9-7?) when we showed up, but Boost got a break or two back to bring it to universe. Wolves received on offense and dropped a nice medium range huck to take the game.

We were 1-1 versus Wolves this season before the game, beating their tryout team at Cal States, but losing on universe at the Scramble. They had a lot of turnover after last year but, Bay Area ultimate being what it is, they still have a lot of talent. We scored the first point of the game on a quick huck by Ian, and then broke them on a dirty layout D by Curtis the next point. We got another turn the next point, but I over threw a downwind huck to Dirty Dan by a few feet, and they scored to make it 2-1. After that, things took a ba
d turn for us.

Shy and Mateo were abusing us on the break side, dropping dimes on offense. Our O had a bunch of mistakes, bad decisions and tight D by them that had them taking half 7-4. We traded out of half until 10-6, when our D went crazy. I think the heat and fatigue started getting to the Wolves, because their hucks started floating and our D line started getting opportunities for huge blocks. Adam Bolenbaugh in particular went crazy during the second half of this game and got us some huge D's (pictured).

The momentum of the game turned very quickly. Wolves made sure the caps were on, and used some time outs to try to stop swing of the game, but it was too late. We got possession at 11-11 and brought it down to the goal line. The hard cap sounded a few seconds before we connected on a short pass and the game was over. 12-11. I always prefer to just let finals play with no caps, but we had an 8 hours ride home ahead of us, so I wasn't complaining. After a quick dip in the river, the ride home was a much happier one than it would have been otherwise.

This game made me happy that I chose to play with the Condors. I've been on teams in the past that would have folded in the same situation, but instead my teammates got angry and stepped up. We might not be the most experienced team, but we're sure as hell not going to give up.

Next weekend: Chicago Heavyweights. So excited.

Condors 2011

I'm not sure if I've said it on here yet, but I'm going to play Condors this year. It's gonna be a great season. They just announced the roster today:

Condors 2011

Adam Bolenbaugh
Adam Paicely
Alec "Strider" Surmani
Andrew "Pebbles" Pebley
Blake Robillard
Collin Gall
Curtis Worden
Dan Bellinger
Dan "Vector" Oettinger
Ed "Biclops" Melo
Evan Brydon
Ian Meyer
Jason Craig
Jordan "Fawkes" Gatti
Keith Reschke
Ken "Gambit" Soo
Kevin "Nos" Stefaner
Mark "The Arbiter" Elbogen
Michael "The Sultan" Kiyoi
Nate Young
Peter Burke
Peter Raines
Ryan Gallagher
Tyler Bacon

End of Year Thoughts

Smaug had a great regionals. Unfortunately, I had a final first thing Monday morning and couldn't make the trip up to Morgan Hill to help out the team, but I followed the team closely all weekend through score reporter and twitter. My heart was racing and I must have hit the refresh button about 100 times when they went to universe point with Chico on Saturday.

I'm really proud of what the team accomplished this year. We knew that the team was going to be young and that there would be some bumps along the way. However, at the beginning of the year I said that I thought Smaug's program is developed to the point where it doesn't matter who is on the roster - you should expect us to be good every year. The guys proved me right. Smaug finished tied for 5th (you might call it just 5th based on head-to-head with Davis at regionals) in the brutal new Southwest. Along the way, they beat Davis, Long Beach and Arizona, and finished higher than UCSD and UCSB for the first time in recent memory.

A lot of the credit goes to Peaches, who did a great job coaching and staying tirelessly energetic and enthusiastic. Even though we implemented a new system this year, it was looking great by the end of the year. New players stepped up and figured out what it takes to win games when teams are fighting tooth and nail. We overcame number of big losses to injury, including Zodiac, Machina, Gambit, Spectre, Scarecrow, and Fawkes for Sunday at regionals. Those guys are all starting players when healthy, so it speaks to the depth of the team that others were able to fill in and still keep rolling. Although the regular season was really inconsistent, the team peaked at the right time and finished as well as anyone could have expected.

The outlook for next year depends entirely on how many returning Smauggies find themselves a serious club team to play with this summer. Smaugs have always come from LA Open and Condors. If the young guys actually take the effort to try out for top teams, Smaug could be very good next year. There are a lot of athletes and a lot of good returning players. Most of the big teams in the Southwest are graduating a lot of their big players. UCSC, SDSU, Cal and Long Beach will be different teams next year, off the top of my head.

This weekend, though, it's time to put the team back in their place at Alumni Day.

What does this say about law students?

From a school-wide email:

International Beverage Tasting Contest!
J.D. Students v. LL.M. Students v. Staff v. Faculty

2010 Champions: J.D. Students
2009 Champions: J.D. Students
2008 Champions: J.D. Students
2007 Champions: J.D. Students
2006 Champions: LL.M. Students

I'm going to Vegas!

I'm going to the last ever(?) Trouble in Vegas this weekend. For my first time ever, it won't be with a college team but with Hammy's team, City Wok.

I fully expect that our team will be ballin this weekend, although the competition will probably be pretty stiff. Check out the roster. There's a bunch of people I haven't played with since Monster '08, and some new people that I've always wanted to have a chance to play with.

Samuel Chen
Peter "Fish" Zao
Ed Melo
Jerry Yang
Jamison Gorin
Scott Roeder
Andrew Ho
Mike Ng
Yama Afshar
Andrew "Box" McRae
Dan Oettinger
Matthew Hennessy
Daniel Smeltzer
Trevor Smith
Andrew Chao
Mark "Arbiter" Elbogen
Joe Forbes
Evan Valdez
Jordan Gatti

It should be a pretty fun. For the first time, I get to treat TiV like what it is: an excuse to have a good time in Vegas without having to pretend like we're there for "serious ultimate." Not that I ever did a very good job of that in the past.

Work on Your Jump Shot

I can't help but think about ultimate whenever I watch any other sports on TV. When I was watching basketball the other day I was thinking about what basketball teams must work on during their practices. I imagine it would be set plays, defensive formations, and maybe some drills. I imagine they don't spend very much of team practice working on their shots, though. That's something that players have to do on their own, spending hours getting the reps in to maintain and improve their fine motor skill.

The same thing applies to ultimate teams. If you're not throwing outside of practice, you're a basketball player that never practices his shot. Just like basketball, being an skilled thrower/shooter can help you overcome superior athleticism. I'm not really thinking so much about mark breaking, which is like creating your own shot, but being able to hit the wide open shot when the opportunity comes.

Kaimana Klassic 24 - Off the Field

I've heard there are 4 fun tournaments that every ultimate player should go to: Potlatch, Kaimana, Poultry Days, and Paganello. (I would put Nationals and Lei Out on my personal list, too)

Kaimana certainly lived up to the billing. The hawaiian ultimate players really do a great job putting it together. I was super impressed with how well prepared and thought out everything was. At 32 teams, they can provide way more for you than at a huge tournament. Your tourney cost gets you camping, breakfast and dinner, and endless beer all day and night for three days. On top of that, you're camping on a picture perfect white sand beach.

Fei agreed to come along and make a week long trip out of it, and I'm really glad she did. We were there from Wednesday night to Thursday afternoon. We stayed in hostel in Waikiki the first night. Fei met some interesting travelers during the day at the hostel and hung out with them until I got in later that night. On Thursday, we started the day off walking around Waikiki and swimming at the beach. Waikiki is kind of crazy. It's a little bit like Third Street in Santa Monica combined with the Vegas Strip. Great people watching. We walked to a traditional Hawaiian lunch place, which was awesome, and followed it up with some shaved ice. This was my first trip to Hawaii so all of it was new to me.

What surprised me about Hawaii is how different it is from the rest of the US. It's thousands of miles away out in the middle of the huge pacific ocean, and it really has a unique feel. The weather is the first thing that you notice. It's pretty humid and it rained a little bit almost every day, but it never bothered me because it was always pleasantly warm. The next thing I noticed was how Asian it is. Asian is the largest ethnicity by good amount, followed by white and native hawaiian, and there are tons of asian restaurants and foods. The culture is a little bit different too. Between the hawaiian language everywhere and assorted oddities it just feels different. It really made me feel I had gone somewhere far away from home, which I liked.

We then took the bus over to Pearl Harbor to take some tours. Unfortunately, the last boat to the Arizona Memorial was booked, but we took the submarine tour and checked out the museums. It was cool, but definitely a long bus ride from Waikiki. That night, we got together for pre-tourney team dinner at SOUL, an upscale Hawaiian/Soul food place where Dukes' girlfriend works. Afterwards we went to the "pre-tourney party," which was really just all of the UCLA teams at a hot, sweaty bar. A solid first day, if not a little hectic.

Friday morning we walked a couple miles to meet up with everyone for a group breakfast and game plan. We decided to catch the bus to the fields early to make camp instead of doing more touristy things around the city. I was ready to get out of the Waikiki and relax, which is exactly what we did. We had almost entire the Stanford men's team on our bus to the fields, and their rowdiness definitely upset some of the old ladies who were riding the bus. Other people were very friendly, tho, and helped us find the right stop for the campsite. I was blown away by how awesome the field/campsite location is. There are huge, jagged Jurassic Park looking mountains on one side, and the tents go right up to the sand on the beach. We basically had the whole place to ourselves. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, swimming, and playing double disc until dinner time and the first night of partying. There was a live band with kind of a ho-down, flddle-y sound. More and more people came in as the night went on, and every was really excited to get playing the next morning.

Because so much happened, I'm going to omit the tournament part of the write up and save it for the next post. Instead, I'll skip to Tuesday morning when we bused back to Honolulu and picked up our rental car for the next couple of days. The only thing that's important about the tournament time is that I sprained my foot on Sunday morning so walking was a little difficult for the rest of the week. I wasn't able to really go on any hikes because of it. Anyway, we ran into a Balls and Kate, Hennessy's friend from Alaska, who were left at the campsite with no real plans, so we invited them along for the trip. It helped that we got upgraded from an economy car to a full size car. Sweet! Not sweet - everyone in O'ahu drives 25 miles an hour everywhere. Getting around the island takes forever.

We met up with Fei's friend from St. Louis and he brought us to his favorite beach in Kailua, where we did some snorkeling and hanging out. At late afternoon, we dropped off the girls at peoples' houses and headed up to the North Shore where 15-20 UCLAers and friends had rented a big beach house with a private beach. We basically filled every available space in the house with people, and it still wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. There was a hot tub right next to the beach where we hung out, and Jamie and the Sultan cooked up a ridiculous 4 course meal for everyone.

On Wednesday, we set out with the intention of finding sea turtles, but it turns out that Turtle Bay isn't very accurately named. There was some pretty good snorkeling, though, and we spent some quality time at the beach there. We stopped the much hyped Giovanni's Shrimp truck for lunch, which was really tasty. I got garlic/olive oil/lemon and Fei got the spicy shrimp, and we split them up. While I'm mentioning seafood, one of my favorite things about the island was the omnipresence of Poke, raw tuna salad, which you can get everywhere from gas stations to liquor stores, and is usually pretty good.

After lunch we headed further north to check out the famous surf spots, Sunset Beach, Pipeline and Waimea Bay. The surf wasn't very big, but it still looked pretty impressive and there were big crowds watching the surfers in some places. Waimea Bay much smaller than I expected. I think you could run along the entire beach in a minute or two. It was so nice there, though, that we spent the rest of the afternoon playing volleyball and trying to bodysurf and getting smashed into the sand. A storm was rolling in, so we headed back to the house for some barbecuing and games while an incredible lightning storm happened all around us. We sat out on the back deck and watched it until some rain drove us inside.

The next morning was a little sad as everyone said good bye and went their separate ways. We picked up Arby, Biclops and Knuckles for the ride back to Honolulu, and we made them come on a short hike through forest since we had spent all our time on the beach and hadn't actually seen anything inland up until that point. We returned the car a couple hours late (which they didn't charge us for - score!) and caught the bus to the airport.

And then it was all over and I'm back to my regular life, which isn't nearly as fun or exciting.

I wish we had stayed for a day or two longer. I didn't get to hike up to any good views or go snorkeling at Haunauma Bay, which is supposed to be really great. I would love to go back. It would also be great to check out some of the other islands, like the Big Island or Kauai. Maybe next year...

Lei Out, and Life After College Ultimate

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on here. I guess I could blame it on not having a college season to play in, or focusing a lot more on school, but really I've just been lazy and have gotten out of the habit. I'm going to try to update here more regularly because it helps me sort things out in my head and keeps me motivated.

Lei Out was pretty awesome. Whiskey Business came together to be a super fun team, and I think we played some pretty good ultimate. We ended up playing 2 of the semi-finalists in the in our pool and then drawing a third semi-finalist in our first bracket game on Sunday morning, and we played both of the teams that ended up making finals. Our tough draw had us feeling a little inadequate, but after our first loss on Sunday we won our way up the A2 bracket and blew a late lead to Davis and lost our chance to play Sham-wow for a bottle of Grey Goose. Oh well.

The parties Friday and Saturday night were a blast and our team was super fun to play with. Next time I put together a team, I'm going to be sure to have fewer guys on it, but I was glad to play with everyone. The weather was insanely perfect. I wish Lei Out could come more than once a year.

I've been helping out with Smaug by running with the team at practice and helping Peaches plan things out. It's really cool seeing the 2011 team taking shape and developing it's personality, but I still can't help but look ahead to the next time I actually get to the take the field. I'm trying not to feel like I'm just passing time until Kaimana rolls around, but it's hard. I'm starting to get back into shape between Winter League and running conditioning drills at practice, but it's time that I get back into the gym and start lifting seriously again.

I was feeling kind of bummed about not getting to play very much lately, but now that I think about it, there's a pretty good string of tournaments lined up heading into the summer.

Kaimana Feb. 19-21

Club Trouble in Vegas March 5-6

St. Pat's Hat March 25-26

DUI April 2-3

Fools West April 9-10

PAGANELLO?? Late April

Cal States - Early March

That's a pretty solid line-up.

But about Paga...

Thoughts on Nationals

I decided not to go to club nationals to spectate this year, although I'm sure it would have been a blast. It was partly because of the money, but mostly because I felt like I wanted to earn a trip instead of being a hanger-on for some other team.

I followed the weekend pretty closely on twitter and the inconsistent coverage from USAU, although I missed the finals live stream on Sunday because of beach league. The most exciting result of the weekend for me was Polar Bears winning the national championship. Amazing. Their average age is probably 24 and I don't think they have more than 2 guys over six feet tall.

When I heard they were planning on taking their Lei-Out team that went to finals to the Series, the idea of them winning nationals never even came close to entering my mind. Going into nationals, I thought they would do well, quarters or maybe even semis, but I figured they would fall to one of the traditional co-ed franchises just because they're a young first year team.

I think they brought a combination of things that other co-ed teams couldn't match. They were deeper in athleticism and disc skills and had younger legs than almost every other co-ed team, so they could outrun most teams on defense. They had a great collection of throwers and team chemistry from their core playing together for years. As a group, they were probably the closest and most dedicated group of any of teams at nationals.

I'm really, really impressed by their performance this weekend, and I'm super happy for my friends on the team.

As for Open, it looked all weekend like Revolver and Ironside were destined to meet in the semis. I'm glad that the young guys on Revolver finally got to see their young team make it all the way. They're the most talented team in the world, and they deserve the win. I hope that we see parity among the top teams continue to grow, though, and we don't see them go on to win the next bunch of nationals. (ie. Fury).

I was pretty disappointed with the Southwest's showing. For the first time that I can remember, we had no one in quarters in any division (Masters doesn't count). I was a little surprised Bravo didn't come through, disappointed for Metro's pre-quarters loss, and bummed out about Streetgang fizzling out. I really thought Metro had a chance to go on a run after their strong showing at regionals.

So that's how 2010 club season comes to a close. Next year Co-ed and Open will both get 2 bids, barring some sort of shake up. I'm left with just Lei Out, Kaimana, and lurking around Smaug to get me through the long offseason.

Recovering

1. Metro*
2. Barrio*
3. 7 Figures
4. BCBC

I'm having some serious post-tournament blues today. Everyday life is seems boring compared to the series. My body is sore like I haven't been sore in a long time.

I'm really happy for Metro taking the region in our own backyard. It's good to see all their hard work paying off in the end. I actually didn't get to see them play at all this weekend, but from far away I could see their big receivers making some huge grabs.

I'm having mixed feelings about the results of our season. I feel like we probably did about as well as we should have, all things considered. On the other hand, things could have been different if we had not had some key injuries and if we had put our team together with a little more organization. That's kind of the nature of the beast, though.

A pretty good measure of an ultimate player is how fun a he or she is to play with. Players that flow well, make big plays, and make you look good are awesome teammates. By that measure, BCBC has some of my favorite teammates that I've ever played with. I would be very tempted to come back to the team just to play with some teammates that are crazy ballers. I doubt that any team (that cared about winning) had as much fun off the field as we did this year, too.

I had a great time during my very short club season and I'm pretty bummed that it's over. BCBC was basically what I wanted out of this summer. We had copious amounts of fun and played some good ultimate, too. In the end, the wins and losses will be buried in score reporter, but my friends and memories will stay with me.

Still, another regionals has gone by and I'm again on the outside looking in.

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.

Chico Recap

Chico proved to be as good of a time as I could have hoped for. I think the trick to making the most of Discos Calientes is to not take it things too seriously. It's going to be ridiculously hot, the schedule will be weird, it will take 9 hours to get there, and the level of competition probably won't be the highest. If you can get over the shortcomings of the tourney and focus on the good, you can have a great time there. I probably enjoyed this years tourney more than the other three DIscos that I've been.

It definitely helped that we were staying with a completely awesome family that took our entire team into their home. Saturday night, I got to take part in the epic rematch of 8 BCBCers vs. the Sir Bjorn, his daughter, and his best apprentice. It ended very much like the battle last year, (with all of us getting our asses handed to us.) Sir Bjorn explained to us that medieval martial arts happens at tournaments around the country, with a small but avid following and rules predicated on chivalry towards your opponent. Hmm... sound like any other sport you know of? No wonder we get along so well.

The mixed division on Saturday started late, at about 2:30. It was nice to have a leisurely breakfast and relax in the shade at the fields before we had to cleat up, although we did start in the worst heat of the day. The temperatures were not nearly as bad as they could have been, though, probably in the low to mid 90s. It didn't end up being a big issue for us because of massive roster that we brought.

Saturday didn't bring too much in the way of competition. Our closest game was against the first team of the day, Sesame Street out of Davis, which was probably about 13-7. We also played Butter and TFT in pool play. We played a pre-quarters game under the lights at the end of the day against some young Humboldt players, but this game was more silly than anything else.


Quarter Finals:

Sunday started bright and early at 8 AM. We had American BBQ as our match-up, who had several recent UCLA grads, including Diesel, DaVinci, Kobe, and Artoo. They had lost only to Death Star, the number 1 overall seed at the tourney, and I was expecting them to be sharp. We started sleepily, getting broken again and again until they took half 7-3. This was really the turning point of the tournament for us. Instead of rolling over, we poured on the defensive pressure and stared running a triangle junk D which gave their offense lots of trouble. Whitey, in particular, got about 3 incredible layout D's in big moments, and we managed to claw our way back into the game and then into the lead. I think we finished up about 11-9 at the hard cap, saving our weekend. American BBQ has some seriously good players, and this was their first time playing together as a team. They were impressive, but it's not a game that a team that considers itself a nationals contender should lose.

Semis

We drew Kamanawanaleaa (or something like that) while 7 Figures and Death Star matched up in the other semis. I don't really know where they were from, although they had ex-BCBCer Tyler Bacon playing with them. By this point in the day, we had gotten over our early morning hiccups and rolled through the game without too much drama. I think we won around 13-8. I was really happy after this game because I felt like was finally getting into a rhythm and had found my stroke.

Finals

7 Figures came into the game with intensity, warming up with focus while we sat in the shade before the game. Our relaxed attitude carried into the game and we quickly went down a bunch of breaks. 7 Figures was by far the best team we had faced up until that point in the weekend, and we weren't ready for the step up in quality of play. In the semis, we had gotten away with a few marathon points where neither team could run an effective offense. That was not the case in the finals, were 7 Figs quickly took advantage of our turns with quick deep strikes. 7 Figs were clearly the better team on Sunday, and easily took the game 13-4.

We've seen this year, with the Polar Bears, the success an experienced Open team can have by connecting with some good women and moving into Mixed. The 7 Figs guys have played together for years, and also picked up some nice players such as Joe Forbes, Milhouse and Chucktown to round out their men (I'm not commenting on their women mostly because I don't really know them, other than Minh and Tai, who are ballers).

I don't think the difference in the score of finals is too huge of a worry in terms of how we will match up in the series. BCBC is a younger team and has a lot more growing left to do this year (not to mention that we have yet to even finalize the roster - can we get on that please?). However, the finals score does show that we will need to bring a different mentality to Labor Day if we want to play with the big kids.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm left with the feeling that I somehow didn't get enough ultimate. I can't wait for our retreat up to SLO.

At least tomorrow is the LA Summer League tournament and party, one of my favorite events of the year. I'm picking up with the Black team in Co-ed, the last place finishers this year. Hopefully Knuckles will come down and Bakersfield and we can surprise some people tomorrow.

Easing into the Season

I finished my first full track workout of the summer today. I've been working extra hard to try to catch up my fitness with the rest of my team, and it's been rough. My body isn't ready to perform the same way that it used to. Lifting has really helped start to regain the leg muscle that I've lost. I won't really be able to tell where I'm at until I give it a go this weekend.

I did a little bit of offensive handling at the BCBC retreat last weekend, but it was a little uncomfortable when we turned it and I had to play D on a cutter. Luckily, though, I'm still seeing big gains in my ability every week. I imagine it will plateau into a very slow return to 100%, and my doctor says that it could take up to a year to feel completely normal again.

It feels amazing to play again, though. BCBC is full of awesome people, and I'm really excited for all of our upcoming events. It was hard to gauge where we're at from last weekend both because we were missing a bunch of people and because I was a little too focused on my own playing and health. Also, I haven't played high level coed in years, so i don't really have a barometer for what is really good.

Chico is almost always 90-100 degrees, but it has some redeeming factors that make it worthwhile: Sierra Nevada, the river, the party, and the Castle. I'm really excited about staying in the medieval themed house that BCBC traditionally stays at in Chico. Actually, I think the Castle is a good part of why we're going to Chico instead of ECC. I can't say that I complained too much.

We're leaving on Thursday to head up to Sac and do a river float down the Sacramento River on Friday. An extra full day in the sun couldn't hurt, right?

SW Open Club Outlook

The club season is underway, even though I have yet to join in.

I'm not sure how interesting the Open category will be this year, as Johnny Bravo and Streetgang are the clear frontrunners for the (two?) bids out of the SW.

Johnny Bravo - Boulder, CO

Bravo lost some big players last year, but they have a constant pipeline of top quality players from the colleges in the area and I think they'll have another very successful year this year. Until Streetgang shows they can beat them, they're considered the top team in the SW. However, they're also not the juggernaut Bravo of a few years ago. Look to see how CO and SD stack up nationally at Colorado Cup this weekend.

Streetgang - San Diego

Look out for a very talented club team in its second year together. The first year always has some hiccups, and San Diego's second year together should see them reaching national prominence. They picked up some good Squids guys that didn't play last year, as well as Allen Lai, Evan Valdez and Matt Welsh from LA and SB. This should help them run deeper into their roster than last year. Talent-wise, their roster stacks up well with nearly any club team in the country, and the sky's the limit in terms of potential for them.

Condors - Santa Barbara

Last year, the Condors chose to go young and rebuild with local talent. Predictably, they had a tough year, although they made the most out of what they had. This year should be a much stronger year for them. They picked up a pair of dominant receivers in Jake Juszak and Jake Baumer. They also strengthened their roster with some quality Long Beach guys as well as Fawkes from UCLA. They had an impressive win over Wolf at Cal States, but it looks like they're not going to get much of an opportunity to see what they can do during the regular season because they're having trouble getting accepted at the top level tournaments. Breaking into top level tournaments can be a bit of a catch-22: You have to have an impressive resume to get accepted to the tournament, but you have to be at the top tournaments to face the top teams.

I wouldn't expect the Condors to upset either of the top two teams to earn a spot to nationals this year, but I wouldn't be shocked if they did, either. SB brings a lot of mental toughness and fundamental soundness that could be too much for one of the top teams given the right scenario/conditions. They're a solid number three out in the SW.

Beyond the top three teams, it's kind of a crap-shoot for how things will play out.

Entourage - LA

I'm pulling for Entourage because I think we need a young, committed ultimate team based in LA. They should be the best club team in LA, but they haven't played a tourney yet so it's too soon to say where they fit in.

Sweet Roll - Albuquerque, NM

They played Strike-Slip tough in the desert heat last year at regionals. They would probably be my choice for 4th this year, but who knows what kind of roster they will return from last year.

Sprawl - Arizona

Another decent desert team. Where do all the best U of A players end up? Barrio?

Recess - LA

A bunch of UCLA have been putting together a more chill club team to enter the series.

This year, most of the depth of talent in the LA area has gone to the co-ed division, leaving the SW one of the weaker regions in the country in terms of depth. I know I'll be watching the Santa Barbara/San Diego final at sectionals if I am able.

Home Again

I've been all over the place these last few weeks. The trip up to Seattle was awesome. I drove up with Jaws and Balls the entire way up, and Jolie and Scout for portions of the trip. Oh, and Whiskey, Balls' puppy made the entire trip with us, too. I always think of San Francisco as being far north in CA, but the drive from there to the Oregon border is endless. It took us over 12 hours to make it to Scout's ranch, although some of that was thanks to our leisurely food stops and subsequent getting lost in the middle of nowhere in the dark near Bend.

Our day at the ranch was relaxing and awesome. It's about an hour from the nearest town, 45 minutes of which are on a dirt road. The cabin is right next to a cold river with good trout fishing. It's been in his family for a long, long time. We spent the day playing horseshoes, swimming, skeet shooting, fishing, and drinking beer on the porch. Needless to say, it was a good time.

Friday we drove up to Seattle, which should have been a short 3 hour drive, but instead turned into a day long ordeal. First, Scout's volvo completely lost its tire outside of Portland. Then, pulling into Seattle, we found out that Whiskey had Giardia and had to go to the Vet to get special medicine before she could be checked into her kennel for the weekend. So, after a long day, we finally pulled into the fields right before dark and Potlatch ensued. It was a great roadtrip, but I'm glad that I flew home and didn't have to make the ride down.

Following that, I had the Oettinger reunion in Thousand Oaks. 44 Oettingers from across the country flew in for an intense long weekend of huge amounts of eating and socializing. Then, the next weekend, I flew to Boston for a family reunion for my mom's side of the family.

I really enjoyed the change of scenery in New England, and the week was generally more relaxing than the Oettinger reunion because we weren't hosting people, there were fewer people and more time to enjoy things. On Saturday, my uncle got us tickets to go to Fenway and see the Rangers play. It was fun to see the scene around the ballpark, and even though our tickets kind of sucked, it was awesome to stand 2 feet behind Cliff Lee and watch him warm up before the game in the bullpen.

The next day, we drove up to Maine for a week in a lake house. Every day I went swimming, ran, played badminton, and played pool. We did lots of cooking every night and went on day trips to interesting local places. It was a really nice time, and all the activity was really good for my ankle. I ate lots of lobster and clams while we were there, and I was a little bit bummed to be back in the "real world" of LA when we got back Sunday night.

Now I'm just waiting on an appointment with my PT to see where my ankle is at. The time until I can play again is shrinking pretty quickly.