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!