Give up the funk

To me, ultimate is a drug. A drug I enjoy extensively and am quite addicted to. I invest a lot of money into this addiction and I ride the high I get from ultimate as often as I can. But, like any other drug, there is a period of coming down. A period in which you feel like crap, you want to quit, you want to die, you want that wonderful high to come back and grace your life again. I feel like that now.

I had a terrific college season leading up to sectionals and then I crashed. And boy, did I crash hard. At every practice, tryout and tournament thereafter I have played terribly and I see no end in sight.

I think that all ultimate players experience a time when they consider taking time off from ultimate or quitting ultimate entirely. I have considered both, but I never follow through. And then as quickly as it started, it ends; my high returns and I am loving ultimate once again.

I think it is important to remember at times when one is feeling his lowest in ultimate, to remember some of his best times in ultimate. Sure you might remember the time you layout handblocked Mike Grant, the time you scored that callahan on Sockeye, the time you threw that greatest. You might remember some of the best plays you did. I do, but only after I remember the times I was utterly content.

I remember sitting in front of a smoothie shop in Santa Barbara, enjoying a smoothie while listening to Hotel California after a good days worth of ultimate. I remember beating Red Hand on universe point and rushing the field with both my teammates and my opponents to join in one giant group hug. I remember laying on the sand countless times, getting sand all over my face and just loving every second of it.

These are the things that keep me playing ultimate. When the intensity is running a bit too high and the severity of the competition is threatening the actual fun of the game, I remember times like those that I just listed and remember why I love this game.

The come down period is almost over, the high will return soon enough. The everburning flame of desire I have for ultimate will burn strongly once again, as your desire burns for ultimate as our desire burns for more.

The Mark: How to Break One and How to Hold One

My mark has changed drastically over time. Right now, the type of mark I have is an adaptive mark. That is to say, I adapt to the type of thrower. In order for me to have an effective mark, I need to find out everything I can about my thrower as quickly as possible. Over the years of carefully studying different types of break throwing styles, I have found that there are a couple different styles the most people use to break the mark. I have listed each one below with a short description of how that method works and what I try to do to keep my mark vs that type of break.

The Big Step Out
This is the most common type of break throw that I have come across in college ultimate. It is usually used by taller players, but some players of a shorter stature can use this effectively provided they have hips like a velociraptor. The big advantage to this type of break throw is that the mark will have to move farther than normal in order to cover the break throw. Instead of moving one step over like the mark might normally have to, he will have to make a step in a half over or maybe even two steps over. This is usually pretty effective for the first couple throws against an unfamiliar mark. But after a couple throws, an experienced mark should be able to start being able to compensate for the extra distance he must cover.

The disadvantage to this type of break throw is how slow it is. It takes time to pivot all the way out there and it takes even longer to pivot to the other side. If you need to break the mark in a short amount of time, this isn't always the best option. If you're first throw is cut off, you may not have time for the second pivot.

Quick Release
I find this type of break mark is most common amongst shorter handlers, but I will see the occasional taller thrower also use this method. This type of break throw is really good for catching the marker unawares. I find that usually the throwers that utilize this break throw, will only have a quick release throw for one type of throw. So only his flick or only his backhand will be a quick release. This type of break throw is great against zone because it can catch the entire cup off guard. These types of throwers can throw through the center of the cup more easily than most.

The disadvantage to this type of break throw is, like I said earlier, that usually the thrower will only be able to effectively break the mark with one type of throw. Meaning that a good mark can shade slightly towards that side to compensate for the quick release.

Effective Fakes
There are plenty of college guys who rarely will throw an effective fake. These guys will have their arm go through the motion, but because the rest of their body is not selling the fake, it's easy to see that it's just a pump fake. Throwers who effectively fake though, are able to get the mark to shift his weight onto one foot and then break him going the other way. The advantages of breaking the mark using effective fakes, are that the throw is usually pretty quick and it can take quite a while for the mark to figure out which throws are pump fakes and which throws are real.

Like the big step out, this type of break mark can be slow. There are some who can throw effective pump fakes in at a very quick rate and still get the throw off, but nevertheless throwing a fake will shorten that time you have for an open throw. Lastly, I find that even the most effective fakes, will have signs pointing them out to be pump fakes. Sometimes the release point is a little bit lower, sometimes it's just the look in the thrower's eyes or perhaps he always throws a fake right before he throws. Once the mark can figure out these tendencies it can become very difficult for the thrower to break the mark.

Throwing Through the Mark
This is, in my opinion, the most difficult type of break throw to mark up against. There are a couple really good throwers out there (Gabe Saunkeah and Mark Sherwood to name a couple) who use this type of break mark very effectively. What these throwers do, is they throw a backhand (I find that it's always a backhand) and try to induce a foul when they throw. Thus they will always be able to call a foul when they throw. This is a huge advantage. This means that these throwers can often get free throws at will. If it's incomplete, the thrower gets another attempt. If the marker backs up, it just weakens his mark and gives bigger lanes for the thrower.

The only disadvantage to this type of break mark that I have encountered, is that it can create a strained relationship between the thrower and marker. Tempers flare when this guy keeps on calling fouls on you, fouls that you feel he's inducing.


Obviously, it would be best if you were able to break the mark in more than one way. If you could break the mark by stepping out or with a quick release then the mark would have that much more to worry about. After all, how is a mark going to adapt to an ever changing thrower?

Stanford Invite: What We Must Do to Win

I must admit, it bother me a little to use that title. It's the sort of title that will appear on countless other blogs. Ah well, at least it's descriptive.

LPC's schedule is as follows:

Sat Rd 1 (8:30) - UC-Davis

Rd 2 (10:25) - Cal Poly SLP

Rd 3 (12:20) - Carleton

Rd 4 (2:15) - BYE

Rd 5 (4:10) - San Diego State

Sun Rd 1 (8:00) - British Columbia

Rd 2 (9:55) - BYE

Rd 3 (11:50) - UCLA


Before looking at any of the individual teams, I think it is important to note that we can't consider any game an "easy win." Every game will require us to put out considerable effort. I see our schedule as a sort of wave where our competitors' skill levels rise and fall with each game like the waves of the ocean. With that in mind, we can't let our game play emulate those waves. Start strong, finish stronger. That's the way to approach the weekend.

Game 1 - UC Davis
We are undefeated against Davis this year. But, they have given us a real close game every time we play them. I love the fact that we are playing Davis first at Stanford. Each time we have played Davis this year, we have been pumped to play them. Our top tier guys, our middle tier guys and our bottom tier guys all put out maximum effort. It is awesome to see. I think the same could be said about Davis (except for one game). They are pumped to beat us. They really want to beat us. They will fight for every inch. We need to come out strong for this tournament. And I think Davis is perfect for that. I am looking forward to that fight. I wish I could guard Robert every point. I guess I'll settle for Taylor or Ashlin.

Game 2 - Cal Poly SLP
This is a very crucial game. Typical LPC style would have LPC coming off strong against Davis (with either a win or a loss) and then have us losing all our momentum against a weaker team. If we lose our momentum at the beginning of the game, it is very important for us to regain it in time for Carleton. The 2nd half of this game may well determine how we do against Carleton. Keeping this team fired up for this game, especially during the 2nd half will be huge for us against Carleton. Keep that energy high. We need to be excited and ready to layout D that Carleton player come the first point.

Game 3 - Carleton
They are #1 in the UPA rankings right now. In the last 5 years, we have a 1-0 record against them. They will want to pay us back for that. Plus they received a little shit-talking from a couple of our players at Vegas (myself included). They are the second toughest opponent of the weekend. We can't let our guard down

BYE
Once again, no matter what happens with the previous games, we need to use this time to prepare for the next game. We should be ready both mentally and physically. We can't come off a great game and suddenly become lazy.

Game 4 - SD State
They are not as good as they were last year, but they can still make us work hard. That being said, few things would be worse than beating Carleton and losing to SD State.

I'll have to get to Sunday at another time.

This One is for the Ladies

High school ultimate. That was a joyous time. During that time, my team would travel to many tournaments with no more than 12-14 bodies. We would often have a good number of guys, but our ladies would always struggle in numbers. Since high school ultimate is coed, finding and keeping ladies for out team became a crucial task.

I found out during this time, just how important our ladies were to our team. There was much more to it than just having numbers. A good lady could, in many ways be more useful to our team than another good guy. I still to this day, when playing coed ultimate, value talented ladies over talented men by a wide margin (though not to the extent where Bob can give me a team with 9 male scrubs and 3 good ladies and expect me to compete on the same level).

Our college does not have a women's ultimate team (at the moment). But we still have some talented female ultimate players who take part in our practices and join us at our tournaments. While they may not be doing the same thing as the high school ladies, who I found to be so important, our ladies carry an importance of their own that I have truly grown to respect.

I'm not talking about the fact that they take stats for our team, or take pictures or film the games. All these things are great, yes, but I find that they help out our team in another aspect that helps us out so much more.

Our team's biggest weakness, is our number of players. Each year we have several players on the cusp of staying with the team and each year they kill us. We go to 3 day tournaments with 16 players on the roster and only 12 of them are able to play by the last game. All the while, the few subs that we get to enjoy leave us gasping for water and trying to ready ourselves for the next point. It's a struggle for us to take on the role of the good sideline player when we are so exhausted.

Our ladies, ever resilient, are always there. Always offering the encouraging remark. Always reminding us, that we have people there for us, backing us up. I am regularly impressed with Sara and Alma's sideline voices. Their encouragement always makes me want to push myself. To spring down on that pull. Faster. Faster still.

Then comes the point where I finally take a sub and my male teammates who are on the sideline are talking to the mark, or instructing teammates in the zone. The ladies are still shouting encouragement. I struggle to find somebody's water to drink and I hear one of our other ladies telling me that I'm playing well. She tells me to get her a D. It brings a smile to my face. I'm playing like crap. I could be playing better. But the compliment helps. I want to play better. And I don't have time to feel down about my level of playing. Thanks for the compliment. It's time for me to get excited.

The game will end. Saturday will end and we will gather together as a team and think about what we did well and what we need to improve on tomorrow. I'm tired, hungry, thirsty and stressed out. I know I could've played better. We all could have.

I don't want to talk much on the car ride but the ladies have already started bumping the music. Ami and Natasha are choosing the next song. Sara's in the back busting out another dance move. I must admit, it is hard to stay stressed out when you have a car full of beautiful women dancing to club music. My stress wears off, I lose myself in the music and forget about all the throwaways I had, all the drops I had, all the layout D's I failed to lay out for.

The night is great, I have a ball. I go to sleep with more than a little liquor in me, but I go to sleep with a smile on my face. My body may not be in prime condition for tomorrow. But at this moment, I am ready. I am ready to dream about ultimate.

Come tomorrow, I am going to struggle waking up. I might have a hangover. I'll be dehydrated. But the ladies will come to the field with their lattes in hand and be ready to continue cheering us on. They're not giving up on me, there's no way I'm going to give up on them.

Thank you ladies.

Quality over Quantity

I've always liked the idea of quality over quantity. I feel that a small group of very talented players should nearly always beat a larger group of semi-talented players.

This seems to be the reality that LPC tries to achieve. The past couple years, this team has had a real strong core of players and a relatively inexperienced secondary string. We tend to enter each tournament with a tiny roster and then go up against teams like Stanford and Cal who both have rosters with 25+ guys who know how to throw and cut. How do you beat that? How do you beat that when you only have 12 guys?

One word:

Effort.

Bob says it very nicely. We are in a race. We race against teams like Cal and Stanford. We race against all the other teams in the nation. Regionals is not that far away. How quickly are they going to improve? The only way we can beat them, is to beat them in that race.

We don't have 25 guys to work with. We can't cut anyone from out team. We've got to work with what we've got to the best of our ability. The fruits of our labors show though. Teammates who would've never gotten a chance on other A teams now dominate on our team. I'm proud to have them as teammates.

Stanford, Cal and Santa Cruz might have us beat on the quantity, looks like we'll have to beat them with quality. Our top guys have to be better than their top guys. And have to last longer. Our middle tier guys have to be better than their middle tier guys. And have to run for days. Our bottom tier guys have to get better. If they don't everyone else has to get better to compensate.

As fun as it is to play 90% of all the points played for your team in a tournament, it sucks to never be full of energy past the first two games. It sucks to hear the coach of Cal tell my defender that he's guarding a guy with nothing left in his tank. That just makes me want to run him into the ground. Then I score and I wonder again if I'll have anything for the next point. Barely enough energy to trash talk the coach too.

We're going into Vegas in a couple weeks with maybe as many as 16 guys. That's assuming the two teammates on crutches right now will be fully healed in two weeks. Three days of hard ultimate with fourteen to sixteen guys? Looks like we might have to save a couple roster spots for some of our ladies.

Dispelling the Illusion

I had somewhat of an epiphany the other day while driving home. I was talking with Davin about my life and future and ended up talking about the future of some of my teammates. It suddenly hit me during out conversation. It hit me and it hurt. Exactly, how many of my teammates will graduate college? With more than an associates degree? Ouch.

It might be due to the fact that so many of my teammates work. I am curious how many people on Cal's A team have part time jobs. How many of those people (with part time jobs) work more than 10 hours a week. Just off the top of my head the following people on LPC have part time jobs: Ernst, Zip, Charlie, Josh, Bob, Travis, Sticks, Geoff, Harry and Tim. That's more than 50% of our total roster. Ouch.

It might be because of ultimate (the thought makes me cringe). I sacrifice a lot for ultimate as do many of my teammates. It would not surprise me if all of our grades suffer due to ultimate. I probably won't be in tip-top studying shape after santa barbara this weekend. I imagine returning to the bay area sick, hungover and exhausted. Prime studying conditions indeed.

I'm not saying that all LPC players are doomed to never attain a bachelor's degree or higher (that is, in something more useful that a degree in World Religion). But I find it interesting and somewhat depressing that so many LPC players are struggling to do in their 5th year, what many other college students did in their 2nd.

I am in my 5th year of eligibility. And I am still at a community college. I am not the only one. I often wonder, what career will I hold? What career will half my teammates hold? I have heard that Alex Nord works at a Costco so that he might be able to more fully play ultimate. An interesting concept. Sacrificing more pay, more financial stability in order to play a game you love. But his story is different (assuming it's true), he chooses to sacrifice the higher paying job for a job that allows him to compete. I wonder how many of my teammates will have that luxury. Will I?