Tristan: Tryouts Day 2

Hey Guys,

I'll keep this one short. Tryouts went alright. The scrimmage looked awful, not like the ultimate we're used to. I suppose that's what we should expect from all these nubs. Still, I think we should have explained things a bit better. I hope tryouts go better tomorrow. Selections shouldn't be too hard, considering the fact that ALL the nubs (except for Cody and maybe a few others) know nothing about the sport. Athletic ability seems to be the big standout. That kid with the green shorts was SO fast. Dayum. Little Vereb had a nice score off of a huck. There are a few others who showed some promise. That first year Law guy looked, these two juniors (don't know their names and they wore nothing standout-ish), Connecticut Lacrosse/Syracuse shorts kid all looked dece.

I did nothing today, so I have nothing to add on self improvement... except maybe that I'm really good at explaining things to nubs in my opinion... thank you Niji.

Ruv, (I watched Team America like 30 minutes ago)

Tristan

Sunday Morning

So I don't think I'll be able to come up with as much to write as you guys did, but fuck it. I thought I did moderately well today. I had a few layouts, including the layout on mickey. I also thought I covered flemming well on endzone defense. I really wanna lay out through that old scumbag. That being said, there are definitely things that i need to work on. I'm dying when were playing, and i wasnt even hungover so I dont have an excuse. Also, my cutting occasionally works, but i need to work on sprinting 100% and actually getting open. Also, when I do have the frisbee i made a few dumbass throws to people who werent open, so i need to work on patience with that jaun. Nice job on breaking me sean, i owe you a shot to the nuts for that you chode.

see you sloots tomorrow,

Kyle

Sean - Sunday Morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cWzxJvgWc8

WE LOOKED GREAT.

My hucks were a little off today. Too floaty and badly angled.

Revelation: I can break bitches lyk crahzy. But not really. As a team, our marks are terrible. Something to work on.

Putting the disc to where it needs to go w/o the receiver making eye contact/catching him unawares is kewl. Did this w/ Pat today. Even though I put it a little too far it was still my most satisfying throw of the day. To me, throws like this show a high level of field awareness. Oh and my HR BHand to Pat for a score was kinda fun too.

Andrew stated that I made good decisions with the disc today. Huge compliment I think. Woot.

Things to work on:

Handler/Dump Communication
Huck angle
Actually bidding...sigh
Dump Cuts

Can't wait till Tuesday.

Fabio - First Sunday Practice

So considering that I was still drunk until halfway through practice, I think I played pretty well. I had a couple opportunities to bid during the dish and deep drill, but I felt like I probably would've vommed if I landed on my stomach.

My defense is still a tad poachy and I REALLY need to get out of that habit. I fortunately didn't let up any outcut completions and had some solid D's toward the end of our scrimmage. I had one turn during the scrimmage, and it was a high lefty backhand to the dump, but I can't say it was entirely my fault (sorry Sean). I need to make more fakes when I have the disk, but that will come with time. I also need to work on removing the delay in my flick, because it may become blockable against high caliber teams.

I felt that my cutting overall was pretty good but not great...I need to take harder steps in my fakes and need to work on nonverbal communication with the thrower. A couple times during the scrimmage I looked off opportunities for me to continue my cut over to the break side and receive the disk.

Overall, no silly mistakes on O or D, but definitely a lot of room for improvement. The things I need to work on will give me the motivation to work my ass off.

-Fabio

Bobby: Sunday practice

Sweet so first legit practice of the year, as other peoples are saying, I think we looked pretty good, lot less turns and drops. We are obviously all a lil out of shape and the heat and late night activities aren't helping at all. Anyway, its great to be playing with you all again.

First off, I think other than me our cutting was pretty good, sean mentioned making sure that you are moving more before cutting. I realized I was standing flat (tired as balls) then just deciding to run one way or another. Took some advice, manned up and started jogging in the stack and making my fakes a little bit bigger. The result was that I could get open way more easily.

I d'ed up on Aric first couple points, and pretty much shut him down, pretty sure he actually didn't touch the disc, woo, then I got tired. Moral of the story is to stay in way better shape, kinda got lazy over the summer.

Dish and huck drill was fun. Im a little suprised that some guys on the team that might handle a lil really didn't have that great hucks, i guess its early in the year so with practice they'll get better but we might lack a deep game a lil this year, bummer. Btw, niji... sean and I both tried the thing where our throws started off really IO, kinda worked in terms of being more floaty but not really tbh would just stay IO, Im gonna try working on it just throwing around for a lil till i figure it out. If any of you guys want to know what Im talking about either ask niji or sean or me.

I love flick hucks!

Tristan: First Real Sunday Practice (8/29/10)

Yo yo yo,

I'm exhausted. Maybe I'm just out of shape. Maybe I didn't sleep enough last night. Maybe I'm just a big puss. Whatevs. It showed today.

Starting with personal performance. I thought I played terribly. I missed all sorts of catches and my defense was awful. My vertical this afternoon might have been around 2 inches. I was not happy. I need to concentrate and make smarter decisions with and without the disc. Drew got on me for not cutting enough to the brake side, so I'm going to work on that a bit more. I had a few nice flick puts down the line, which was cool. Also, I felt like I was cutting fairly well. I'll add that I'm really afraid of injury. Frat field has a ton of potholes. My knees are scaring me, so I'm going to buy some bands soon. Also, my cleats haven't broken in yet... feelin' those blisters coming.

The team, though short in numbers, played really well. The intensity was certainly high. Everyone can feel the excitement for the upcoming seasons. The team has a hunger that I hope will be satiated with championships. I want to beat JMU so badly. I saw some sweet bids (something I'd like to keep working on) from Kyle and Drew in particular. Sean had some sick brakes. Also Bobby (WTF?) broke Aric the Red with a flick huck up the line force side. It made no sense, but at the same time, it was REALLY dirty. Damnit, Bobby. Why didn't you just throw it backhand? Anyway, it was sweet. Also, I covered Pat today. Pat, you never stop running. I'm sooo tired. Overall, nice work guys.

Caf time. I dig the Gatorade dispensers. Also, chocky milk (chocolate milk) is delicious.

I love Spangler?

Peace, love, and harmony BRAH

Tristan

Quick Review of First Day of Tryouts

I feel like I still need to get out of the mindset of Summer League (no stupid throws, look dump earlier, stop playing poached D) and return to tight D and conservative offense. Not only will I make less mistakes but I will also feel more satisfied with my playing.

I had no turns today during the scrimmage or the pickup game, but there were some missed opportunities for me to get the disk on offense, a missed opportunity to bid on a break throw to the ace (front of the stack, for those of you who don't know) on defense, and a bad beat deep that luckily resulted in a turn. I didn't have any opportunities to make any medium to long distance throws today, but I really hope to improve on not only hucks, but those accurate, high-percentage medium distance throws.

There are a handful of nubs that have played competitively in high school who already have decent throws and show good athleticism, which will make it difficult for those who have had little to no experience. I think some of the A-team players are already making unofficial decisions on who will make the team based on one day of tryouts, however, and I am not a fan of making these considerations. I think the pickup game we had was a good way to see some of the nubs play with A-team players, but we can't forget about players that show great potential who didn't play in the pickup game. We need to consider the players' tryout process in its entirety before assessing their overall ability.

-Fabio

Tryouts, things Tristan needs to work on

Hey Guys,

Okay, so I guess I'm going to attempt to briefly assess my play for today.

My flicks hucks were particularly weak today as well as my mark. Fickley took me aside and showed me how he wants me to mark. I bite too much on the mark, and I need to allow certain throws (force side), so I don't give up other, more dangerous, throws. On a more positive note, I thought my cutting was good. I think I've developed a knack for getting open. My awareness is improving.

Things I would like to improve on over the year:

-Throws in general:

-Flick dumps, I'd like to make them smoother

-Hucks

-Low releases (breaks as well, IO's)

-Defensive layouts

-I find it much harder to layout defensively.

-Handling

-Over lunch or something, will someone please explain to me positioning while handling? I feel like I don't have it completely mastered.

-The playbook, I need to memorize this. I think I lost my last copy.

-Oh! I also think the team needs to review different poach D's as well as different zones.

Peace Sopht Core,

Tristan

Sean: Writing a Post

This is to everyone writing on the blog. Write as much as you want, and how you want. This is for our own self-improvement.

Put your name in front of every post title, as I did above. And make sure you put some labels on your post. It's at the bottom of the typing box. These are ideas from doing Offhanded Scoober with Bobby and Niji over the summer. Makes it easier to keep crap in order.

Sean: Tryouts, Day 1

Little field space. Scrimmages on a narrow field. A bunch of people who don't know how to run a stack. A beautiful recipe for disaster.

Freshmen that stuck out, but mainly the only names i remember lol.

Sean: From Washington, the geographic heart of Ultimate at the moment. Sean has played since 5TH GRADE! That means he has a lot of experience, and potentially a lot of bad habits to rework. I am afraid he won't be able to take on advice well or adjust to our system as quickly as we would like him to, if we took him. For now, he is tighter than me on a few levels because he can bid better than I can haha.

John: He played the pickup after the tryout ended. Athletic/fast as fuck, very open to direction. Nice dude.

Cody: Played in high school. Solid throws, great knowledge of the game. I would like to how fast he can sprint.

Tommy: Vereb's little bro. His grin creeped the fuck out of me hahaha, looked just like Mike's. Looked very athletic and intelligent. Open to direction.

Kevin: Minner's little bro. Didn't look to great to be honest. That's due to unreasonable expectations, thinking him a third coming of Minner before he has had time to learn and earn it. As a team I think we need to look at his skills w/o any expectations. Oh and we need to stop inviting him to parties for the time being. No coddling. He doesn't even drink lol.

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As for my play, I did ok. Eh.

Cons:

- Bad flick huck to Andy. Way too OI.
- My pulls. Started to overthink it. Le sigh.
- Got beat deep by Tristan. Rookie mistake on my part. Didn't keep the force.
- Need to pull out the poach. Bobby took an extended trip to poach town for some reason.

Pros:

- Good handler movement.
- Decent cuts.
- Stayed on my man for the most part. My new cleats feel LIKE BUTTAH (butter). Able to change direction efficiently.

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As for our class, didn't see us play enough as to allow a judgement or critique. If I was forced to stay something I would talk about improving our throws. Making them more orthodox in technique is what we should have in mind.

Holler Holler Holler

Totally Worth It

Trashed my Janoskis (see below). Totally worth it. Good year to come I think. Good year to come.

About the Blog

This blog will be a great way for our class to express our ideas, suggestions, and perhaps frustrations with the game that we play in the years to come, as we strive to improve ourselves and others on the team.