What is so wrong with flirting? (Not really Ultimate related...)

I like to flirt with women. I do it a LOT. Nearly every single tournament I go to, there will be a women working at the food establishment that I will flirt with. It doesn't have to be at a food establishment, it could just be a random woman that works at Safeway or Longs Drugs or whatnot.

Nearly every time I flirt with a woman, while I have teammates within earshot, my teammates give me shit. The usually do this in front of the woman I'm flirting with too. They make it sound like I've done something wrong. Like I've harmed this poor innocent girl who fears for her life when the customer she's dealing with says out of nowhere that she has beautiful eyes.

99% of the time, I am not pursuing anything other than a smile. I certainly don't hold any illusion that she's going to come back to the hotel with me. I view flirting as fun and I think it makes the woman's day a little better if a stranger compliments her.

So then why is it that my teammates think it strange and even wrong of me to flirt with these women that I will never see again?

Sexism in Ultimate

Is there sexism in Ultimate? If there is, is there enough that it should be addressed as a problem?

I have played Ultimate on multiple levels, but I still think my experience is very limited. In the small domain in which I have played Ultimate, I have experienced sexism coming from both men and women.

I think Ultimate is superior to many sports. The individuals that participate in the sport are generally more accepting than other sports. The crazy clothing styles and hats you see in Ultimate is much more prevalent than in mainstream sports like soccer. And, while some of these players are laughed at, other players that dress or look this way are celebrated (see: Robot).

While Ultimate is more accepting in some areas, I do not feel this excuses players for sexist remarks or acts. Ultimate, a sport I hold in high regard, combines a high level of acceptance alongside a high level of athleticism. I believe there is a high degree of sexism that should be severely reduced.

I see sexism take form in many forms, but I will only list some of the more prevalent ones here.

The first one being that women's Ultimate is not fun to watch. I love watching women's Ultimate myself. Aside from the fact that I get to watch beautiful women getting all hot, sweaty and physical. I also enjoy watching women who (like men) push themselves beyond their normal physical constraints to make spectacular plays. In the same way that men can make some sexy lay out Ds and grabs, women are able to achieve the same. They are both exciting to watch.

The second would be the whole "3 feet of water" thing. Some men (and women) say that watching a woman run in Ultimate is like watching a man run except that he's 3 feet deep in water. This comparison is both insulting to women and completely false. I say it's false because I have seen many a talented woman outrun a man on the field. My 17 year old teammate (18 in 5 days) Lisa regularly outruns and skies half the guys on my old college team at practice.

The last issue I want to bring up (and there are more) is the prevalence of men who do not throw to female teammates. The main reason for this, I believe, is that the guy doesn't trust his female teammate to catch the disc and then to make a complete throw. In doing this, the culprit (the guy) is robbing his female teammate of this valuable learning opportunity. She, like any other person; male or female, needs their teammates to give them plenty of opportunities with the disc in order to grow as a player. If this person is talented enough to make your team. Then this person's gender should not matter. If she/he can with the matchup, then trust them enough to give them the disc.

All in all, I believe there is a strong feeling of sexism that one can feel in the sport. While many will treat the issue lightly, I feel it is important for us to realize that it harms women, men and the sport of Ultimate by not addressing the issue head on. Therefore, I encourage all of you to help police your teammates and Ultimate friends to reduce sexism within our beloved sport. I love inviting women to try out Ultimate. I want them to experience the same joy that I do. I am able to enjoy the game without slurs against my gender. I believe they should have that same liberty.

Polar Bear Core

This post was inspired by Bob's Meet the O-Line post (I would post the link, but Bob's blog is on a temporary hiatus) that was never finished.

While the Polar Bear roster isn't ironed out yet, there are a couple key players that will have no problem making the team. These players will be forming a strong backbone to the fearsome Polar Bear team.

Michael "Bob" Liu
A man who has been a solid handler for years and is now developing into a great in cutter as well. His defense is no longer the laughing matter that is used to be as he has added a strong mark to his repertoire. Bob is a great decision maker and has high quality throws regardless of wind, his level of exhaustion or the mark. Bob is one of the few throwers who rarely meets a mark he can't break. No one should ever cut open side for Bob. The break side is his baby.



Adam "Beanpole" Raty
A solid all around player who aims for big plays. Adam is not afraid to sacrifice his body for the team and will often come up with some huge grabs. Adam will often rip the disc looking for the big plays from his teammates, which sometimes results in more turnovers than scores, but his high quality throws often make up for his questionable decisions. A fearsome opponent and a strong asset to the Polar Bears provided he stays healthy.



Dan "Robot" Naruo
More machine than man... twisted and evil. Robot is arguably the best player on our team. I don't know anyone who works as hard as him to improve his game. He is always throwing, always sprinting always working to become a better ultimate player. Just like the god damn energizer bunny, Robot's batteries never run out. One of the best offensive cutters in open in the game (in my oh-so-humble opinion) he is truly a threat to deal with on offense. Robot is the one person on this team that I avoid guarding. He's the one player with whom I have to change my entire style of defense in order to accommodate his style of cutting.




Greg "Captain Sunshine" Marliave
The captain of the team and one of the main driving forces of our defense. The thing I like (especially as a D player) about Greg's D game, is that he doesn't need to get D's to be a good D player. Don't get me wrong, he gets D's and some very sexy ones at that, but Greg effectively shuts down a lot of cutters so that they will rarely even touch the disc. When players huck the disc to the guy Greg is guarding, it always looks like a bad decision. Greg's already in the right spot with the better position. Greg's awareness on defense is phenomenal. With athletic talent and aggressiveness to match it, it's a tough thing to get open on Greg



Anchi Tsou
When my younger sister still played ultimate, I would point out talented female ultimate players and say "Someday I want you to be able to play like her." Anchi is a perfect example of that. The other captain of the team and a woman who is not afraid to kick you in the head. Many women lack the aggressiveness of men in ultimate. It's a rare thing to find that woman who is unafraid to run full speed knowing you are heading into a collision in order to get the D. If Anchi is afraid, then she hides it well, because she is a fearsome defensive player. Anchi is a woman I trust to guard the opponent's star player. I don't think Anchi is afraid of anyone. She is a player I both respect and look up to.



Lisa Pitcaithley
17 years old for another 23 days and incredibly talented. Lisa is in incredible shape (rawr) and can run forever. She has the ability to sky men and women deep, beats her mark under and is incredibly smart with the disc. Lisa has the ability to make great snags catching blades and crazy fast throws without any hesitation. While Lisa rarely rips the disc deep, she is a solid all around player who can get that lay out D, cut both under and deep, break the mark effectively and run her opponents into the ground. Lisa is another great asset to the team.

Well, we'll stop there for now. After the roster is finalized I might do a little opinion column for some of the other Polar Bear Studs as well.

All pictures are courtesy of Christine over at http://christinelaszlo.zenfolio.com/

From Open to Coed

What happens when a bunch of guys who play open get together, recruit some talented women and start playing mixed?

The Polar Bears have just started to come together. We are the budding form of a soon to be proud and beautiful angiosperm. Our roster is not set (I may still be cut as Robot likes to remind me), but we have a strong core of players who are ready to push themselves to the limit for each other.

I love all forms of Ultimate. Open, Mixed, Women's and youth each have a certain knack about them that draws me to watch and/or to participate. I do love mixed Ultimate though. Open Ultimate carries a strong, intense competitive drive to it that can dull that euphoric feeling that comes with playing Ultimate. But combining the sexes onto one team... for some reason, really keeps that euphoria alive.

Here's to the upcoming season of mixed ultimate.

Lay Out on your Chest

I've always had difficulty learning to lay out properly. I still to this day often bid incorrectly. I'll dive in a "rainbow-esque" fashion as my teammates tell me. I manage to gather a good deal of power in my legs when bidding, but I will often waste that power by diving at to high of an upward angle and creating that big looping arc instead of creating a more horizontal bid.

Some people bid by, more of less, falling over while running at full speed. While others, like myself, create that big rainbow bid. Whatever way you bid, it is important to lay out on your chest.

I broke my collarbone a couple months ago by attempting a lay out greatest. I swiped at the disc with my left hand (i'm left handed) and tried to twist my body to attempt a flick. I landed on my shoulder and snapped my collarbone. It hurt.

The other day when I bid for a lay out D, I swiped at the disc with my left hand. The momentum created by this swiping motion caused me to twist my body a little and land on my shoulder. I did not put nearly enough pressure on my shoulder as the previous time, so I don't think I fully snapped my collarbone. It is most likely a hairline fracture.

After using some google-fu I was able to find that hairline fractures take 4 to 6 weeks to heal. Lei Out is 2 weeks away. I am 90% certain at this point that I will still be going to lei out. I will now start downing calcium tablets every day in hope that I will be able to throw and bid when I walk upon that warm, soft, Santa Monica Sand.

Lay out on your chest. Or else you too might experience sharp pain whenever you sleep, shower, type or wipe your butt.

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?