Welcome to the A team

Welcome

To all the A-Teamers: Congrats. To all the B-Teamers: you guys are going to be good. Seriously, you will be better than the Valpo team that Kurt left behind. Keep coming to practice and there’s a good chance we’ll see each other at Regionals.

If this is your first year on the A-team, you’re here because the captains and Stupca think you’re ready. But I’m gonna tell you that you are not ready (yet). I remember my first year on the A-team. I held my own in practice. Played hard and put forth a lot of effort. I thought I looked pretty good out on the practice field against my fellow A-teamers. Then I stepped on the field at my first tournament against other A-team starters and got lit up. I played maybe three points that entire weekend, because that was about my worth to the team. If you want to gear up for your first tournament, take every opportunity you have to play against our best players. It doesn’t matter if you feel out matched. Looking like a fool in practice for the first month of the season is much better than looking like a fool on the field at nationals.

My fellow returning players, we’ve got a name to live up to. We lost a lot of good players from our quarterfinalist team. Now, we must prove that we’re an established program instead of a just another joker team that gets lucky once every 5 years. These last few practices we’ve looked sloppy. We’re dropping easy catches and turfing simple throws. Crisp passes and catching the disc should be second nature at this level. On the plus side, our decision making looks good. We could always be faster and more proactive, but I think we’re on the right track as far as our ability to mentally play the game.

Keep pushing yourselves to become better athletes and players and don’t slack off during winter break. After we come back to classes, we’ve only got three weeks before we’re boarding a plane for beautiful Las Vegas.

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving break is a chance to get away from school and everything that goes along with it. Most of you will probably welcome a week without crossfits, but completely shirking your workout schedule can spell disaster for the Tuesday that you come back to the Armory.

Now, I’m sure all of you have convinced yourselves that you’re going to do a crossfit everyday, and you’re going to come back and be a god on the indoor track. Yeah, right. We both know that ain’t happening. You don’t want to sit there watching football and eating turkey all week either. So, what’s a good ultimate player to do over Thanksgiving break?

I advise you to focus on flexibility. Flexibility is the most ignored factor of fitness, yet it is a key part of becoming faster, stronger and better. Increasing flexibility increases your range of motion. If you cover more ground with fewer steps, then you are faster (it’s obvious I know). Also, increasing your flexibility increases the number of muscles you work with each exercise. This means that more muscles are getting stronger with each rep, and you will gain more strength versus a person doing the same exercises with less flexibility.

“How do I increase my flexibility?” The obvious answer is stretching, but you need to be stretching correctly. Make sure your muscles are warm before you reach for your toes. Stretching while your muscles are cold increases your risk of pulling a muscle. There’s a good reason why we use a dynamic warm-up instead of standing in lines and stretching. Go for jog. Do some light lifting. And then stretch. Go through our post-practice stretching, except take 30 seconds for each stretch. Anything less only maintains your flexibility, but you want to increase it. Take your time. Listen to music and don’t switch your stretch until a song is over or something like that.

Take this turkey week and stretch out. Your muscles will thank you come Tuesday.

A Break-up is Never Easy

We had a good run. Really, I mean that. You showed me things that I didn’t know were even possible. You allowed me to look into the depths of my soul by opening it up to you. Because of you, I am no longer afraid of who I am. You taught me to see the good in other people. God, you were so good to me. The times we spent together in those first few years were amazing. You knew exactly what I liked. I couldn’t stop thinking how lucky I was.

And then you hurt me. Badly. We didn’t speak for months. Man, I hated you so much. I couldn’t believe you would do that to me. You were the one person I trusted. The one person I cared for. I certainly didn’t expect it to be you. But there I was, hurt and all alone. And it was your fault! We didn’t speak for months. I knew you were sorry. I knew you couldn’t believe it happened either. But I just couldn’t deal with you at that time. You gotta understand. The mere mention of you broke me down. But I eventually realized that part of being together is accepting the other person no matter what. That’s when I decided to forgive you.

Those first few weeks back together were amazing. It was just like before. Everything was great. But things are different now. I’m sure you feel it too, that awkward tension that just won’t go away. We’ve both changed since it happened. It’s no one’s fault; that's just how it is between us now. I don’t think we’re ever going to get past this. I’d like to think that we can still be friends, but we both know that’s not for the best. Who knows though? I just think it’s time we went our separate ways.

Lamp, for the best interests of all involved. You and I should never play against each other again.

How to Make the A-Team

We aren’t looking for all-star players. Sure, if you’re a baller that’s nice and all, but that doesn’t guarantee you a spot. In fact, those skills might get you cut. When evaluating candidates for the A-Team there’s usually two things the captains are looking for. 1) Can you play defense? 2) Do you make good decisions? After that, the captains will think about the value and role you bring to the team.

Defense is essential no matter what position you want to play. Primary cutter or third handler, the pressure is all on you if your man is the iso on the goal line. The keys to good defense are smart positioning and hard running. You’ve got to be going on all cylinders the entire time you’re on defense. At the same time, you’ve got to be able to break down and take care of your responsibilities. Know the force and don’t get broken.

Good decision making is just a nice way of saying, “know your role”. For example, I’m a defensive long. That’s my role. That’s where I add value to the team. No matter how hard I wish for it, I will never be an o-line handler with sick breaks and 70 yard hucks. I detract from the value of the team once I try to do those things. Good decision making for me is laying out for the D, dumping it to my nearest handler and getting my butt down the field for the next continue cut.

Everyone has their own range of acceptable decisions. Knowing this range could be the difference between making the squad or waiting til next year.

I also want to take the time to give credit to the B-team. Boomland is a good team. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t make the A-team. Very few rookies make the A-team as a freshman, especially when there is a strong class of returners. Being on the A team doesn’t give you any special status. A-teamers don’t treat our B-teamers as second rate (except for Cozza, but that’s for different reasons). You guys work just as hard as the A-team. Ultimate is all about having fun. You will have fun no matter which team you play on in the spring.

Moving Indoors

The time is now upon us. Even though global warming has given us glorious November weather, the physics of the cosmos has stolen our daylight. It is at this time that we move indoors until the sun returns. This period of darkness will test your limits and dedication as an ultimate player, but there is no reason to fear. You will emerge from the darkness reborn as a faster, stronger, more powerful and better looking individual.

Yes, we have the ability to throw inside, but that ability is worthless. The still air allows a disc with no spin to travel 30 yards. That’s not good practice for a windy spring season. Since we can’t effectively practice our throwing, we focus on two things: Conditioning and Strategy.

The crossfit is the trademark of Illinois Ultimate. This form of exercise combines the most grueling aspects of speed, endurance and strength training all into one routine. Sounds great doesn’t it? Now, I’m not gonna be all cliché and say, “Hey, it’s really not that bad,” because it’s pretty bad. However, the beauty of our team philosophy is that we approach conditioning as self-improvement. You work as hard as you are able too. The team will hold you accountable for attendance, but you hold yourself accountable for the effort you put forth to become a better athlete.

I won’t talk strategy specifics here, because I got yelled at by Stupca the last time I did that. Personally I think we’re good enough that we can tell the competition exactly how we’re going to beat them and still plow through them, but I respect coach’s discretion. Suffice to say, we go over certain situations and how to best defend or attack our opponent given a set of conditions.

As mentioned before, your throwing skills may look like they’re improving, but unless you’re throwing outside, your throwing skills are actually deteriorating. It is imperative that you get outside and throw. Even if it’s snowing with a 40 mph wind, you should find a friend and throw (even if that friend is Mickey).

Fall Out Team Z

By: Kurt

Saturday

It was 7:30 on a brisk morning in October as the cars pulled up to the Bill Seeber memorial complex. Out from the steaming vehicles stepped team Z’s seasoned athletes, prepared for whatever was to be thrown at them that day (pun intended). But seriously, it was f’n cold outside.

After a long warm-up, we squared off against our first opponent, Eastern Illinois. Team Z came out fired up and took an early lead with a few breaks. The stillness of the early morning coupled with Eastern’s inexperience allowed for throws through the cup and easy swings around. We took the half 7-2, despite many turnovers and poor defensive positioning. Cold hands and shady clearing made for a lot more turnovers by both teams in the second half. Z was able to take advantage of the sloppy play to win the game 13-4. We walked away from the game with an unfounded confidence and an inflated sense of our ability as a team.

The celebrations came to an abrupt end as our next game against the far better matched Iowa Black began. The Iowa 4-man cup worked like a machine against our offense. We threw into hand blocks and layout D-s like it was their birthday. Z learned that lazy defensive positioning and sluggish movement on the field wouldn’t cut it against the athletic Iowa lines. A complete shutout at halftime, 7-0, left team Z stunned like a deer in the headlights of the Iowa 18 wheeler. The addition of Miles, an experienced popper, in the second half made a slight improvement to our offense, but it would not be enough. We were caught by stupid mistakes and miserable offense time and again. We didn’t swing the disk, but rather held it in the center of the field or on the trap side and attempted to throw through the cup, Zubes. A couple of bombs to Chuck were our only source of points in the second half, final score L 4-13.

Illinois Z was able to take much more then just a painful loss away from the game, however. Iowa Black was like a bright light, exposing every flaw, and allowing us to make some much needed corrections. After some strong words from Chuck and some quick strategizing, team Z came out fired up in our next game against DePaul. We played better defense, keeping position on the quick DePaul cutters, and we were able to convert some of their mistakes into points. Impressive offensive plays by a few rookies together with sick deep D by Chuck lead us to a 7-5 halftime. Z kept up the heat, and despite a minor scare near the end of the game, managed to cap off the victory 13-11.

Our final game of the day against the intense Chicago Y team proved to be a test in endurance for many players. Our less-than-perfect conditioning started to show, as Chicago poked holes in our defensive coverage. Open in-cuts and un-contested deep throws brought Chicago up at halftime, 7-4. Despite a strong second-half rally, including a 4 point run and a few super-sniper-bombs from Zubair, we were not able to keep up with the Chicago team. The game ended in a 10-13 loss.

Sunday

Sunday brought another cold morning, followed by a much windier day of ultimate. Team Z’s first game against Lewis looked to be a shootout, with any team capable of taking the win. A shootout it was! Both teams quick disc movement followed by deep throws worked well. There was a notable improvement in the Z offense, a mixture of having a day experience, and keeping 4 vets in at all times. The game was close at halftime, 7-6 with Z up by 1. The wind started to pick up in the second half, and the game followed suit. Z played tough defense, with Nascar even bringing out his steamroller maneuver, but Lewis matched. The game went into double overtime as Lewis tied it up 12-12. Chuck called in an all-vet line, whispering, “we are NOT losing this game” just before the pull. The magic sauce worked wonders, and team Z took the game 13-12.

The next game was against Illinois-X (black death), who had a first round by because of their ludicrously easy pool. The rookies played the majority of the game, and the wind picked up. The age-old saying rang true once again “Hell hath no fury like the Sunday wind in Rantoul.” Z’s defense fell apart in the semi-serious game against BD. Even when the wind let up a bit, we allowed in-cuts and were caught on the wrong side of our defenders. I don’t even remember what the final score was, but Z lost, and looked awful in the process. We would have to step it up BIG TIME to even have a chance in our next games.

And step it up we did! Our next game was a repeat against Iowa Black. Z was out for blood, and a new zone D was just the weapon we needed. Our zone was able to shut down the Iowa offense multiple times. We also swung the disc across the field more, and took smarter shots up field. With the sweet taste of revenge in our mouths we took half 7-6. The second half was a brutal free-for-all. Miles lead the defensive charge, laying out for everything within 20 feet of him, including discs, stray defenders, birds, scraps of paper, even the occasional rolling garbage can. Many others followed suit, and Z played well in the high winds. Iowa was able to take advantage of a few mistakes and go up 12-10. Illinois Z fought back with more shutdown defense and hard-core marks, bringing the score back to 12-12. Iowa proved to be the better match, ending the game on their O-point, 13-12. The game was a loss by the score, but the improvement from Saturdays game against Iowa was spectacular.

Q: What was my favorite joke of the weekend?

A: Our final game against Wheaton.

Wheaton injured at least half their team during the game, including one back injury that required a homemade stretcher. The poor guy attempted the Nascar Steamroller maneuver against Cozza…and failed. Virtually our only source of offense was Zubair or Kurt throwing 10-yard blades over the cup to Chuck, and then working it from there. We finished the game 5-3 after lowering the score cap twice.

The amount of improvement, especially defensive, that I saw from everyone during this tournament was astounding. Although Saturday’s games were riddled with mistakes and laziness, I saw flashes of brilliance on Sunday. The tournament was a good learning experience, and helped show the new guys the importance of solid throws and good form, because sometimes its windy!

Clearing, the BEST Cut in Ultimate

When an individual gets his or her first taste of ultimate, they usually fall in love with the notion of being the “go-to” guy. They have dreams of cutting up and down the field, shaking defenders out of their cleats and touching the disc every other throw. I know this because I too wanted the glory. In fact, in my one-on-one interview with Pappy at the end of freshman year, I explicitly told him that I wanted to be the next Pat Stephens. Oh, how ignorant I was.

Making the right cut that burns your guy for a score is great, but that opportunity is rare. The opportunity to make an effective clear; however, happens 90% of the time. A good clear helps two ways: one, it opens up the throwing lane for your teammates and two; it often causes a defender to lose superior positioning.

Offensive strategy in ultimate is based off constant movement. Once the offensive longs become stagnant, the defense gains the advantage. Think about it: even if you’re ten times faster than me, I can still guard you if you aren’t moving. The clear cut makes constant cutting possible even if you aren’t open on the initial cut. Also, a good clear provides the opportunity for a break throw and a run down the break side. Make sure you keep your eye on the handlers as you’re clearing. It does the team no good if you’re wide open and aren’t looking for the disc.

The key to good defense is positioning. When the offense continuously moves, it becomes harder for the defense to maintain their positioning. As a defender, I hate it when my long clears hard to the break side. I don’t get to drift in the throwing lane, and I have to chase him around the field instead of getting into a position where I can anticipate his cuts. (don’t get me wrong though, I still know how to maintain my position when a good clear happens. I’m good at this game, I swear)

Making the clear is only the first half. Once you get out of the throwing lane, you should be sprinting to get into a good cutting position. What is a good cutting position? That’s a spot, slightly on the break side from which both a deep and in-cut are viable threats.

So, the next time you’re waiting in the stack and you think your cut will be worthless since your defender has the better of you, remember that a good clear will give you the advantage. And the next time you think you can sit out in that throwing lane and make seven cuts to get open, remember that you’ve just shut down seven continue cuts that would have been open behind you if you had only cleared.

How to look like a veteran player, even when you’re not

At practice last week, I kept noticing one thing: most of our rookies are really athletic. Then I noticed another thing: these athletic rookies don’t know how to fully use their athletic ability. These observations led me to think back on my own experience as a rookie, and I realized how similar my situation was. I came from a football background, and playing outside linebacker, I had grown accustomed to certain movements and thinking. I was fast and could tear up the field with my cuts, but I was dumber than the piece of plastic being thrown around.

Like other sports, Ultimate has its own nuanced techniques and strategies that make a team more effective on the field. These techniques and strategies are not complicated; they’re just different from what most people are used to coming from a “normal” sports background. For example, a good end zone play in football is throwing the ball into the back corner. That doesn’t work as well in ultimate.

Gaining “ultimate smarts” usually comes from experience, but there are ways to learn faster. The first step is forgetting all your instincts. Moves that work in soccer or football or other sports don’t work here. Forget them. The sooner you leave your old mind set, the sooner you can accept a new and better one (in the context of playing ultimate). My main example here stems from a rookie’s tendency to make multiple cuts in the throwing lane. The offensive flow works best in ultimate when each long makes only one cut and then clears. I don’t care if you can beat your guy if you make a few extra moves. The time you spend dancing in the lane disrupts the other cutters (not to mention your chances of getting in a better position after clearing) and there’s a good chance the handler has swung the disc anyway.

After you’ve forgotten everything you’ve ever been taught, you need to relearn these better instincts. Doing that means asking a lot of questions. Now, a lot of the vets will take the initiative to tell you what you did wrong. They get a power trip from it, and it makes them feel better when they cry at night (if you look closely, you can see the tear streaks in Denis’ beard). But we can’t see everything and we have no idea what you’re thinking if you don’t ask questions.

You aren’t going to become an all-star in one day. Even as a senior, I’m still learning better ways to play this game.

No Wisconsequences Recap

Seeing as I was unable to attend, I asked a very special person to write a recap for me. He has some experience, since he recently retired from running the Boomland Blog. Yes, I'm talking about Brian McLain. Since disaffiliating from the Boomland's Travels, he's embarked on his career as a freelance blogger. He doesn't get paid for this, and I'm not exactly sure why he said yes. But he has a big heart, and now he can put freelance journalist on his application to law school.

Thanks Brian!

No Wisconsequences

by: Brian McLain

I was helping out Boomland during Illinois’ first game against Kansas Y. So here is what I gathered from Somerslam and Halvsies. Illinois did not come out ready for what Kansas was dishing. After settling down and digging deep, Illinois pulled out the victory 15-13

After a second round bye, Illinois was once again ready to show the Ultimate community and the world at large what they had to offer. Mama Bird, a Natties regular, looked to give our boys a tough game as they were seeded #1 in the pool. Looks can be deceiving as Illinois came out with a 3 -0 lead and then took half 8-5. Colorado, never a team to back down, forged a comeback around deep hucks and brought the gap to 14-14. In an effort to create some synergies, Denis gave a rousing speech in the huddle and Illinois was able to come away with the win, 15-14.

Highlights:

- Phelan got a Callahan

- Pavan was in the air longer than on the ground

After winning both pool games, Illinois had their crossover game against the Grey Duck. This game had no bearing on how the team would start the day on Sunday. Once again defense was Illinois’ weakness as great plays individually made on both offense and defense was not enough to cover the missing defense consistency. Minnesota won the game 15-10

Sunday brought a welcomed challenge in North Park. Last year Illinois had an emotional victory over the Lost Boys at Sectionals and knew that they would be gunning for them every chance they got. Due to the extra sleep granted from a first round bye Illinois came ready to play with fresh minds and bodies. Illinois played hard and won 12-9.

Highlights:- were down 8-5 and broke them 3 times to take the lead.

Coming off of a meaningful win over North Park, Illinois was posed to face the perennial powerhouse, Carleton. With the weather turning colder and windy offense stalled at some points during the game. Caleton took the lead and did not let go of it as the claimed victory 15-7

After discussion with Colorado over what to play to, the 3rd place game would be played to 9. Plagued by injuries, the Illinois sideline seemed to lack the spark of intensity that they had enjoyed throughout the day. The game ended with Illinois taking 4th place in an 8-10 loss to Colorado.

Fun Squad Highlights:- very comfortable accommodations

- House on Haunted Hill was found out to be a better comedy than honor movie

- Ryan Smith got verbally owned by Sheeny from the women’s team. It went a little like this: Sheeny stands up and proclaims to a room full of guys, “I/m glad you’re not a douche bag anymore. I mean all you used to do was talk about how good you were at Ultimate and show us pictures of your high school team. I used to call you Cocky McCock Face.” At which point the room erupted with laughter.

- I lost credit card roulette (Editors note: you mean “won”)

- Sprite (Lil’ Kevin) got cut off by the Bed Bull Girls - Pat Stephens made a delightful appearance

- Somerslam played sleeveless

C1, Breakfast of Champions

Cultimate, the premier, for-profit ultimate Frisbee organization, decided to upend the ultimate world by unveiling Conference 1. Cultimate has asked 25 teams around the nation to compete in their new league instead of the UPA series. Besides promising elite status and competition, Cultimate has also offered to subsidize all tournament fees and jerseys. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal. The only catch is that none of these teams could ever win the UPA series.

Cultimate has published very little details. They’ve posted an overview of what they want to achieve with this league and the teams they are inviting. You should visit this link for those details: http://cultimate.com/conference1/.

Of course, the ultimate community has mixed reactions. Some say Cultimate is helping the sport. Some say Cultimate is destroying the sport. There really isn’t a good way of determining what the majority of ultimate players think. The posters on RSD and the bloggers across the country don’t speak for everyone. Besides, everyone is going to have their own bias, including this blogger (Full Disclosure: Cultimate has invited Illinois to join C1).

My thoughts

This can only be good for the sport. Now, I do have a few reservations about the specifics of Conference 1, but I agree with the over arching principle: increase the level of competition and the product will only get better.

Now, many who oppose Cultimate argue that their conference locks out hundreds of teams. Cultimate is actually decreasing competition by limiting the number of players. Without an objective set of standards for who can play C1 disc, I agree with the opposition. Cultimate should create a set of standards much like the NCAA has for who can play Div I sports. Anyone who meets these standards can then play C1 disc. This would ensure that C1 teams are truly elite and not just favored by some subjective reasoning of a for-profit organization. Then again, Cultimate is doing all the work and all of the financing, so who am I to tell them what to do? I also doubt that Cultimate could afford to pay the tournament fees and jerseys of 100 teams. So the question still remains, “Is Cultimate helping the sport or only itself? Can it do both?”

The UPA has made promises of a revolution since I joined three years ago, and I haven’t seen them do anything revolutionary. Cultimate is starting the revolution. Having a premier ultimate league could be the answer to the one problem that has held this sport back: legitimacy. Society at large could care less about ultimate. Creating a unified league that showcases ultimate will turn some heads. I’m not saying ultimate will start generating ticket revenues, fortune 500 sponsorships and primetime television slots. But it is a step in the right direction. A very big step.

Some other questions that I have:

Can our B-team still play in the UPA series?

Can our A-teamers still play in Club UPA tournaments in the summer and fall?

If C1 teams aren’t paying tournament fees, how is Cultimate paying for these tournaments? (You would think I wouldn’t care about the answer to this question, since I’m one of the teams getting free stuff, but it’s a question of sustainability. If Cultimate doesn’t have solid cash flows to fund this endeavor into the future, then an even heavier burden will fall on the C1 players.)

Is Cultimate planning to create a similar C1 for Club teams? (I am graduating in May after all)

If this league turns out to be quite profitable, what kind of positions and salaries are available at Cultimate? (I am graduating in May after all)

What Illinois is Going to Do

We had a team meeting about the invitation to join C1. The team is excited about it, but we’re waiting to hear what the other invitees say. Yes, Florida has already joined, and from online reports, it looks like Texas will also join in the near future. But three teams hardly make a competitive league. The Illini are heading up to No Wiconsequences this weekend (preview coming soon), where we’ll get the chance to have face-to-face meetings with other teams that have to make the same decision.

A Few Exciting Events

The rookies got their first taste of tournament action this weekend as they went to Western Classic in Macomb with a few veterans serving as captains. Team Y took 5^th and Team X took 9^th. Good work boys. The rookies are good. It seems that each year, you guys improve faster than we did. Don’t get too cocky though. You’ve still got a long way to go, but you’re on the right path. Don’t get down if vets and captains start pointing out more of your mistakes. This is a good sign. It means we see how good you can become, and that you’re ready to start learning more advanced concepts.

Now for some more updates on my health. I actually participated in a drill today. Granted it was a light marking drill with minimal running and cutting, but it was still a drill. I’m still planning on waiting until Vegas beofre I play in a tournament. I see no sense in rushing things too much. Right Denis?

Normally I reserve this blog for Ultimate related material. Even the content that slants towards the personal side still has an ultimate theme. Today however, I have some great news that I want to share here. This past weekend my girlfriend and I got engaged!

Rip's Tips

Way back when I was freshman, I asked the captains at the time to make a pamphlet that listed the top ten rules a player should know before playing in their first tournament. The captains summarily laughed in my face. It is true that the best way to learn the rules is to read them, but that book is long and much less fun than playing the game. About 95 percent of college players have never read the rules all the way through. Luckily for you guys, I had a really boring job two summers ago, so I’ve read the rules. What follows are a few basic principles that should be able to guide your decisions on the field.

Foul

Any bodily contact that interferes with an opponent’s play on the disc is a foul. There is no such thing as incidental contact. Unless the disc was uncatchable, it’s a foul. When a player calls a foul (games are self-officiated, I really hope you knew that, but I just wanted to make sure), the opposing player has the right to contest or not contest the foul. If the foul is contested, the disc is returned to the last person who had the disc, and the play is “done over”. If there is no contest (because you have honor), then play continues as if the player had caught the disc.

Fouling on the mark just sends the stall count back to zero. There’s really no point in contesting these fouls. You just look like a tool if you keep calling or contesting this one.

Pick

If you are on defense and you are within 10 feet of the man you are actively guarding and you either run into another player on the field or have to run around another player on the field, then you should call a pick. When a pick is called, play stops. If the disc is in the air, and you’re on offense, catch it. It’s a turn if it hits the ground. The player that was picked gets to catch up to the player he was defending. Play then resumes. Disc remains with who caught it unless that person is the man of the defender who was picked.

Those are the two main things you need to know. A few other things to keep in mind though. Don’t make calls from the sideline. Ask a vet if you’re confused about what happened on the field. This tournament is meant to teach you. Don’t be afraid to ask vets on the other team as well. Fall tournaments are all about learning. Take advantage of this opportunity.

Leg Update

So I went to the doctor this past weekend. Turns out the bone in my leg has decided to heal. Hopefully I can get a picture up here in the next couple of days. This is exciting news, and I’m pretty stoked about it.

I’m dedicating the rest of my semester to getting strong enough to play again. I won’t be practice ready til we move indoors, but don’t you think I’ll be taking it easy. Lamp and I will still dominate all of the crossfits.

Get excited. February and Las Vegas are closer than you think.

The Basics

Every player in this sport always strives to make him or herself a better player. So, how does a player become better? The greatest players in our sport aren’t known for having trick throws, a signature move or some other unnatural characteristic that sets them apart. They’re known for doing the basics better than everybody else. So, what are the basics?

I like to break it down into offensive skills and defensive skills. Don’t focus on just one skill set. You need both to become a great player. If all you do is catch goals, what happens when your team turns the disc? Offensive skills include forehand and backhand throws, sharp cuts, catching and good decision making. Defensive skills include marking, positioning, acceleration and reaction time. That’s only eight things to focus on.

Think about that. You only need to get good at eight things in order to become a great ultimate player.

Offense

You don’t need fancy throws and amazingly long hucks in order to become a solid thrower. When I think about the best throwers on our team, I think of the people who will throw an incut or an upline pass and complete it every time in stride. I don’t think of the people that put it deep every time just because they can. Work on consistency and accuracy. Start slow. Get your completion rate at ten yards to be 95%. Then work on twenty yards. Then thirty yards. Having a 95% completion rate at thirty yards should be the goal for anyone who wants to step on the field as an A team player.

Now that you have the throws down, you need the other half of playing offense: becoming someone who gets the disc thrown to them. Sharp cutting is the first step. How do I get open? By staying one step ahead of my defender. How do I stay one step ahead of my defender? By changing direction faster than he can? How do I do that? By being more efficient in my footwork. As an offensive player, you have an advantage. You know where you’re going. You get to be proactive. Don’t waste this advantage. Always take the shortest path from where you begin your cut and where you want to catch the disc. Rounding your cut elongates that distance. Taking three steps to make a cut instead of one elongates that distance. You don’t need more speed than your opponent to be a down field threat. You just need more efficient footwork.

Catching the disc involves more than just getting your hands around the disc. Two hands are always better than one, but that won’t make you the best receiver. Accelerating through the disc on an incut, reading a disc and catching the disc at your highest point on a huck separate mediocre players from great players. These skills mostly come from experience. It also comes from watching experienced players. Seek to identify and imitate the veterans on our team that come down with the disc more often than not.

Making a sweet cut, catching the disc and having the throw to put it where ever you want means nothing if you make the wrong throw. Good decision making is key to becoming a great player. Throwing the dump instead of the sweet huck or invert may seem to be a waste of your talent, but turning over the disc is worse. Vets tend to be over confident, especially if they come from a mediocre team where their decisions were never questioned. Rookies tend to make hurried decisions and hold the disc too long. The best way to make better decisions is to learn from your poor ones. Ask a vet what you should have done after you make a mistake. Even I still ask other vets to correct my mistakes. (Example: “Hey Lamp, how could I have avoided getting my leg broken?”)

Defense

I love defense, and I have an inherent bias towards defensive players over offensive players. Our team has a motto: Murder, Bury, Desecrate. Defense murders. Becoming an excellent defender puts you on the fast track for making the A team. Defense means a lot of running, so a team naturally has more spots reserved for defenders on its depth chart.

The most fundamental part of defense is having a good mark. Letting off break throw after break throw gets you sidelined faster than any other mistake you could possibly make. Make sure you know the force first. That’s key. Second, use your feet not your arms. Leaning to get the hand block will put you out of position every time. Keep your knees bent and your weight over the balls of your feet. A good mark doesn’t get the hand block every time. A good mark stops the invert and the break throw.

Being faster and more athletic than your opponent means nothing if you are 10 yards out of position. I’ve written a post about defense and positioning before. Look this post up for a pretty detailed description of different situations and the positioning that works best for each one. I will also say that field awareness naturally enhances your positioning ability. We play defense as a team. Know where your help is. Know where your threats are.

Acceleration and change of direction go along with becoming a good cutter in the offensive skill set. The only difference is that you are now reactive instead of proactive. The key here is keeping yourself in a position that allows you to go any direction. Keep your hips square to your opponent as long as possible. Committing to one direction before your opponent allows your opponent to get open while you have to change direction. Once again, efficient footwork is key. If you take one step, while he takes three, then you can make up the distance a lot faster even though you started your cut a half second later.

Greatness

Each one of these skills takes time to development. You don’t need to become a great player tomorrow in order to be good at ultimate. This sport is fun. Always keep that thought in the front of your mind. Coming to practices regularly will make you good at the skills I’ve outlined above. The purpose of this post is to get your mindset geared towards improving these skills at practice.

For those that want to do more than what we do at practice (if you have time), I suggest doing sprint workouts. Usually one or two vets show up about an hour before practice to do some speed and foot work drills. Also, you get plenty of endurance work at practice, but getting stronger tends to fall to the wayside. Find a partner and get in the weight room. Even if you’re by yourself and you can only go once a week, do it. Your improvement will rise exponentially.

As I’ve said before, Ultimate is all about having fun. The better you get, the more fun it is.

Top Ten Reasons I Play Ultimate

10. The Crowds. Notice how this is number ten.

9. Cause I’m good at it.

8. Rookies. Everyone needs an ego boost now and then. Seeing a rookie’s forehand (read as shitty throw) boosts my ego.

7. Competition. Yes, I find it ironic that we have a Spirit of the Game clause, and yet, we’re some of the most competitive people on the planet. By the way, joining an ultimate team will make you good at everything. Seriously, it’s your UPA membership contract.

6. Exercise. Yeah, I’m a health nut.

5. Road Trips. I get a warm, fuzzy feeling every time I get to say, “I’ve been to Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Austin,…”

4. Nicknames. Sometimes, even a real name can become a nickname. Example: b rad.

3. Sweat Bands. I don’t care what other people say; sweat bands are badass.

2. Mohawk.

1. Laying out past chumps.

Rip's Rookie Survival Guide, Autumn Edition

Being a freshman is tough. Add to that the pressure of being a rookie on one of the premiere ultimate teams in the country, and your first month here can easily be overwhelming. Hence, I give to you, “Rip’s Autumn Installment of Rip’s Rookie Survival Guide”. I should charge money for this, but I don’t.

Who We Are

We tend to come across as young adults who don’t wanna grow up and are obsessed with a silly game. This stems from our competitive nature and fun loving spirit. To us, Ultimate is fun, and we make it more fun by being good at it. We also want others to have fun and be good at it too. This is where you come in.

Who You Are

As a rookie, you’re in one of three categories: high school athlete, frolfer, or an upperclassman looking to join an organization. If you think you fit into a different category, you don’t and I don’t care. No matter what category you’re in, you can become a really good ultimate player.

High school athletes have the easiest transition. You probably either played soccer or you ran cross country and track. If you were lucky, you played on a UPA youth team, but if you did, then this guide isn’t for you. Yours truly played football in high school. Your athleticism and history of team sports gives you an advantage over the other two categories, but your lack of skills can make you look foolish on the field. You’re good, but not that good. You have one job in these first few weeks: develop a forehand.

Frolfing is not ultimate. I’ve had to explain that to a lot of people, and half of them still think I play disc golf. I will play disc golf when I retire from ultimate, and I won’t before then. Frolfers, ultimate might seem like a lot of work to you. The running will be your biggest obstacle. Do not let this dishearten you. You have superior throwing skills that we need and will use in important games. That’s the beauty of ultimate, you don’t have to be overly athletic in order to be good.

Upperclassman, you guys usually come in one of two categories: dedicated or not. We have no hope for the nots. They usually quit after a month, and we are better off without them. The dedicated know what it means to be part of an organization in college. They manage their time well. They work hard. They really don’t need my guide, but they’ll read it anyway. Their biggest obstacle is dealing with the people who are younger then them giving them advice. Getting past the seniority complex will definitely make your life and ours easier.

Gear You Should Get

Cleats. Cleats. Cleats. If you are going to make one purchase all semester, then buy cleats. Everyone’s foot is different, but soccer and football cleats tend to work the best. Look for ones that are lightweight. I own a pair of adidas soccer cleats. Next, buy a disc. We sell ‘em for 10 bucks. If don’t want to buy them from us cause you think it’s a rip off, then buy from somewhere else. You should find that our price is good. We also offer deals for multiple disc purchases (if you buy more than one at a time, we give you a deal on every disc after the first one). Discs will break and get lost. I’d buy three, but maybe you’re better at not destroying things. If you buy a disc from somewhere else, make sure it’s a disc craft brand (Wham-O sells Frisbees, not discs. Don’t buy Frisbees.).

Then there’s the stuff that may or may not help but looks cool (sometimes). Trucker hats seem to be all the rage in the ultimate community. They’re light and block out the sun. Sweatbands also give you a look and can be useful. Football receiving gloves have been known to help some players, especially in chilly weather, but wearing them on warm days just looks stupid. Sunglasses are pretty much a no unless you complete 100% of your throws 100% of the time.

We do have some team gear: sweat pants, hoodies, track jackets, and polos. These do cost money, but as young freshmen, most of you can still get money from your parents for “books”.

Practice

Some college ultimate teams cut people who don’t demonstrate superb skill in the first few weeks. Illinois is not one of those schools. We prefer to teach and cultivate talent. We can make you a baller if you’re willing to learn.

Do not be upset if you can’t learn throw a forehand in one day, or even one month. If you’re new to the game, your forehand will be embarrassing. Trust me. I lived in “noforehandville” for a semester. I have a museum named after me. You should check it out while your there. Other sites of interest include Mickey’s Hall of Shame, Mickey’s Library of Bad Jokes, Mickey’s House of Talking too Much. Don’t forget to check out the statue of Chuck and Troy in the town center. They were the only two residents of noforehandville to play on the A-team while still living in noforehandville. I digress. My point is: your forehand will suck. It will only not suck if you keep practicing it. Don’t let the embarrassment stop you from throwing it. Us vets see the effort you’re making. We like to see effort. Don’t be afraid to ask veterans for help. It makes us feel important when we help out rookies.

Besides learning how to throw effectively, you’ll be taught our offense and rudimentary fundamentals of the game. We will throw a lot of information at you. Don’t be concerned with memorizing everything on the first try. We go over things a lot. Some of the vets still don’t know our plays. (Hey lefty, alpha six means you don’t throw deep, but thanks for the broken leg anyway. Really, I appreciate it.) Just do your best to learn the overall principals of good cutting, positioning, and defense. The rest of the game will flow from that.

For our practices, you’ll want to bring a water bottle (medium to big, I like gallon size: 69¢ at Wal-Mart), a white t-shirt, and a dark t-shirt. Grey is neither white nor dark. Do not wear grey. Camouflage isn’t a good idea either since we won’t be able to see you (that’s a joke, but seriously, don’t wear camo).

It’s a good idea to get to practice about half and hour early. Now, we understand if you have conflicts, especially if those conflicts are classes. Just make it to as much of practice as you can. The more time you spend with us, the better you’ll get.

Extra Stuff You Can Do

We like to work on stuff outside of practice as well. This usually means tossing a disc out on the quad on nice (or not so nice days). One of us will often send a email out to the listserv (need to sign up for the listserv? pripsky@gmail.com) stating a time and place. Show up, make a new friend, and learn how to throw a disc. Also, don’t be shy. Email the list yourself. Coming out to these throwing sessions is good for two reasons: better throws, girls tanning (yeah, I said it.)

Other Activities

Ultimate is not the only thing we do. Occasionally we’ll party, and by occasionally, I mean at least 3 times a week. Not everyone goes to everything, but someone is usually doing something that involves drinking and other teammates. We also tend to make this competitive as well. Hang with us and you will get good at drinking games. You won’t beat us, but you’ll amaze (or dominate) your non-ultimate friends.

When you come to these events, bring a garbage bag with you. This is what’s known as the Chuck Rule. Chuck, as a young, arrogant youth, drank more than he could handle and ended up ruining the entire wall of a teammate’s apartment.

Tournaments

You’ve already signed up for classes, but if you can still change your schedule, I recommend having no classes or early classes on Friday. The sooner you can leave on Friday, the more sleep you’ll get the night before a tournament. Also, having late classes on Monday is highly recommended. Always check the weather for the weekend. It really sucks when it’s raining and you have nothing but shorts and a t-shirt. Sunscreen and lip balm are also essential.

The First Days

We’ve had two practices, and I already like what I’m seeing. I would like to take this opportunity to say “hi” to all the rookies. Feel free to look around the blog. Our team is good, one of the top 8 in the country. Our team will also make you good. Whether you come to our practices so you can learn to dominate pick-up games on the quad or you want to play against some of the top ultimate players in the nation, I encourage you to keep coming to practice. We don’t make cuts. If you keep coming to practice, then you still have a spot on the team. We do have an A and B team, but those decisions don’t get made til later in the fall. This sport is fun. There’s a reason why it’s called ultimate.

Now, a lot of our new recruits show a lot of promise. In particular, I like Kurt (cause he’s already read my blog) and Squeaks (more on that nick name in a later post). I also came across some rookies who played in the YCC. Nice. What I’m really excited about is the enthusiasm our rookies possess. I saw a lot of lay outs in the scrimmages. Also, a lot of your throws look better than mine did on day 1.

Freshman Open Preview

Normally, I give previews and recaps of every tournament we go to. The rookie open tourney is no exception. Unfortunately, I know nothing about the teams, so a preview seems impossible. Here are my thoughts. A good team needs 2 people that can huck the disc and 2 people that can run down those hucks. After that, it’s mainly luck and the enthusiasm of the veteran captains. (enthusiasm should be read as trash talk). In fact, I would say that trash talk is the biggest factor of success.

Heckling is an art form. When done well, it is a truly beautiful experience. Basic phrases include, “Hammer!” “Huck it!” or “Jack it!” These are to be said in a repeated fashion towards a person holding the disc for an extended period of time. More advanced phrases include “not a thrower” “not a catcher” and “not a puller”, usually said after a poor play by a good player. The best heckles include a personal touch. For example, when Lamp drops the disc, I will say, “You would have caught that if you had broken that kid’s leg!”

So come out tomorrow night. Play hard and you may just win the esteem of your peers. I’m pretty sure there’s also free discs involved.

Are referees needed in ultimate?

It’s a good question, and it continuously pops up on RSD. The talk on this question varies widely from getting rid of the observers, to giving them more power, to dressing them in black and white and giving them sole power to make every call.

From what I’ve seen (full disclosure: I’m only a fourth year player), cheating rarely happens. Most players possess a reasonable amount of respect for their opponents and the sport itself. Sure, there tends to be “that guy” on “that team” that makes a lot of questionable calls. Those calls are annoying, but I don’t believe you could call that cheating. Cheating occurs when a team loses a game they should have won based on the fraudulent activities of the other team. The current rule system we have in place does a really good job of protecting against blatantly wrong calls.

“The disc never lies.”

Contesting a bad call is one form of this “insurance against cheating”. You can contest bad calls. When play resumes, the better team will eventually come through. Adding our current observers to this mix further protects against cheating since they can make rulings when asked. However, some cheating will still occur, but is it anymore than what would happen if we had referees?

If you take the calls away from the players, certain individuals may take advantage of situations where the ref’s back is turned. They can’t watch every player all the time. I guess you could design a system to have seven refs for every game, but that’s very impractical. The players naturally have the best perspective of anybody. They also have a responsibility to know the rules (this doesn’t always happen. How many of you have the rules memorized?).

Let’s abandon my half-thought for now and take a look at the flip side of my argument. I have a business background, so I’m going to use a business analogy. In our capitalistic system, unbiased third parties provide and invaluable asset to our economy: unbiased reporting. Without them, companies could tell you whatever they wanted you to believe, and you would invest your money in all the wrong places. Eventually, you’d lose a lot of money. You’d trust no one, and never invest your money again. Real companies would suffer just as much as fraudulent ones. Eventually everything would break down because no one would trust anyone. You’d lose your job and have no place would exist where you could buy anything. We’d all be sent back to subsistence living and a barter economy.

As ultimate becomes more and more competitive, how can we trust its players to make the right calls? Right now, the honor system seems to work really well. But then again, what’s at stake? If you make the right call, you may lose the game, but you maintain your reputation as an honest player. Since Ultimate is just your hobby, albeit a hobby you take very seriously, you can live with that loss.

Now let’s say you are a professional Ultimate player. If you win that game, you get a pretty handsome bonus according to your contract. You cause a do-over by making a close call that you probably would have let go in any other situation. You then get the D and win a game you would have lost if you played fairly.

If the goal of the UPA is to create a professional league, refs will be a necessary addition. The alternative is to have a “Spirit Clause” in every player’s contract. A spirit panel would review all cases in which alleged un-sportsmanship occurred. If the panel finds that such a player violated the “Spirit Clause”, the contract would be terminated, the player would receive zero compensation, the player would also be fined and banned from ultimate forever (much like betting in baseball).

You might say that a panel could be bribed. We also have definitive proof from other professional sports that refs have taken bribes (thank you NBA). Obviously a system would need to set up with a commissioner that appoints the panel and changes panel members every two years in some fashion with term limits and staggered appointments so that at least one board member changes every year.

Sounds Complicated, but maybe not. How complicated would a system of refs be? Should we use the format that soccer uses? That football uses? That’s a lot of refs that have to be paid. A panel would most likely have five members. The panel is less costly. A ref would simply blow his whistle. There’s no real penalty for constantly committing fouls. You may foul out, but you’ll be back next game. A panel bans you forever, and you don’t get paid. Which do you think would be more effective?

Ultimate players have strong ties to the roots of their game. SotG is a big deal. Self-officiating is a big deal. Getting rid of it is completely out of the question. Just look up refs on RSD. There is way too much support for keeping the game as is. No matter how right or wrong that is; we just have to accept it.

So, for that glorious day when I’m getting paid to lay out for a piece of plastic, I vote we compromise. Things will get done that much sooner and smoother. Then again, it might just cause a whole heap of problems that I’m not seeing.

The (Unofficial) Start to the Year

College Ultimate is a year round sport, and as such, we really don’t have the luxury of an off season, unless you get injured. Officially, the UPA starts the college season with college sectionals, but we play in more than the 3 tournaments of the college series. So, when does our season actually start?

I like analogies, so I’m going to use football. When school starts, it’s just like reporting to camp. We get to see who all is returning and who all is getting their first taste of Ultimate. The fall tournaments are like pre-season games. We get to test our mettle against other teams and get a good picture of where the team stands in comparison to the league. The spring tournies up to sectionals constitute our regular season. These games definitely count and could have a bearing on the post season: sectionals, regionals, and nationals.

So, with camp starting in a few days, I decided to make a list of the things that I look forward to the most during this time of year.

1. Club Drinktionals. With a last minute trade, Cole and I nearly had it won last year. Since I can’t play in tournaments this semester, this is the only chance at glory that I’ll have. You guys may be practicing ultimate, but I’ll be incorporating beer pong and flip cup into my physical therapy.

2. Rookies coming to an ultimate party for the first time. There’s nothing like the sweet smell of five beers poured into one disc.

3. Sending our new treasurer to that blasted, mandatory RSO meeting instead of going myself. Have fun Kyle.