Judgment Day

One year ago, I was a returning C teamer discussing with Jack Rabuck the correlation between nerves and how close to the bubble an individual was. My own nerves were threw the roof. I had spent a year at the bottom of the barrel of Illinois Ultimate, and an entire Fall trying to find my way onto the A team. At the end of the day, the nerves did nothing to help me that day. I had put in about 5 months where everyday I played Ultimate consciously thinking. I had already developed the skills necessary. If I had the confidence to just play it would have been better. So in order for me to pass on some confidence, I've jotted down some thoughts that I wish I had been thinking about last year.

Defense is the fastest way to the A team, look at our O line players from last year. They all made the team because they could play defense at first. If you can't play defense you can't be on the field.

Effort is the easiest thing to notice; never give up on a play.

Listen to the experienced players and ask questions. If you are willing to learn it will help your development.

Don't be worried about one throw. One throw is not going to make or break anything.

TALK in every drill, our focus all fall.

Focus, don't just be talking to your friend about the rest of your week. FOCUS on ultimate for the 3 hours you're going to be there.

Stretch every night and morning or as often as you can, it will help.

Never believe that you have arrived.

KB

Hole for new Roles

With the anticipation of tryouts looming, my personal excitement has reached maximal levels. While day dreaming about the tryout process and the formation of the 2011 A-team I started to think about the holes that were left by graduated players. This week I'm taking a good look at last years A-teamers who won't be at tryouts this year.

James Matthew “Kurley” Kurley III:

Kurley came in as a freshman with the 2006-07 rookie class. He used his track/cross country speed to help himself make the A-team as a sophomore. The following year he decided that school prevented him from making the full commitment to the A-team and took his talents to Boomland. He helped the 2008-09 B team become possibly the best in Illinois history. The following year, with school work under control, Kurley was ready to be a big part of the O-line. He held down the fort as the O-line 6, and became famous for utilizing the “grapes” call better than anyone. Kurley made 2 nationals appearances, and won 1 regional title.

Kyle "Prez" McKinley:
Kyle joined Illinois as a sophomore in the 2007-2008 rookie class. He spent his first year with Boomland, and captained boomland his Junior year. As a captain he brought Boomland dangerously close to Regionals. It was the best b-team in recent memory. Without him many current juniors would not be where they are today. During his time as a Boomland captain he had a huge impact on making Illinois become a program. The shear number of current juniors who are ready to contribute are in partly because of him. During his senior year he made the A-team and filled a role as a D-line handler. He spent two years as team treasurer, faithfully fulfilling the duties of the position. He made 1 nationals appearance and has 1 regional championship.

Charlie "Chuck" O'Brien:
Chuck never actually liked being called Chuck. He came in as a Freshman in the 2006-07 rookie class. I believe he was the only Freshman to make the A-team that year. Charlie had really good height, and even better athleticism. The combination made him our best deep threat, and his ability to make catches in traffic helped him to become a game changer. His signature was pointing when he made his deep cuts. It is believed that this point had a sort of mind control over the handlers which made them boost it more often. Charlie made 3 nationals appearances and won 2 regional titles.

Jon “JonO” Ogrodnik:

Jon O came in as a sophomore in the 2006-07 rookie class. He spent his first year on the C-team, a place where champions are forged. After two years with Boomland his effort was rewarded and he made the 2009-10 A-team. Unfortunately Jon O got injured during a Randy Moss drill at Vegas. This prevented him from seeing much time on the field, but his sideline presence and off field support made him an important part of the Team’s identity. Jon O made one Nationals appearance and won one regional title.

Brian "Phenom" Phelan:
Phenom was part of the 2005-06 rookie class. He was one of two freshman that made the A-team that year and by the end of the season he was awarded "Freshman of the Year" honors by the region. I believe Phenom spent some time on D-line before he arrived as a 3/4 cutter on the O-line. His Junior year he and Pat Stephens carried the load. For his senior and fifth year as a grad student, he held down the 3/4 spot with Chris Hidaka. For his last two years Phenom was a captain of Illinois Ultimate, and as captain he led the team to 2 Nationals appearances. His achievements during his time at Illinois include, FOTY, 2nd team all region, 1st team all region, 3 nationals appearances, 2 regional championships and the best long on the team for his last two seasons.

Kurt "Kurtesy" Zoellick:
Kurt was our fearless spirit captain of 2010. He came to Illinois Ultimate as a grad student with 3 years of eligibility remaining. His Ultimate roots stem back to Valparaiso University, where he captained an upstart program. During his Illinois rookie season of 2008-09 he made the A-team as a reserve. After a year of really hard work he established himself as one of the best D-line handlers in the program. Throughout 2010 Kurt provided the A-team plenty of laughs, an obscene amount of layouts, plenty of scores, and above all several new pregame cheers that got the team through some long weekends. Kurt made 2 nationals appearances and won 2 regional titles.

I’ve been asked to not include Walden Nelson, because he will be coaching the A-team for 2010-11 and is still active in the program.

The write up on Chris “Halvies” Hidaka is pending/postponed.

Moving Indoor/Tryouts

11-15-10

Now that MLC is done and the FAR/PAR fields are officially closed, we are forced to get our Ultimate fix indoors. The Armory is great for us because it gives us the opportunity to work really hard all winter and to keep us mentally strong. Every other team that is working with a goal of getting to nationals will also be hitting it this winter. As a rookie I remember feeling as if the time indoors was when I improved the most as an ultimate player. I found myself getting faster and more fit. The game itself also started to make more sense to me, and I slowly found myself grasping what it means and takes to be a player in this program that contributes on and off the field.

Unfortunately for us, the Armory has one huge and fundamental flaw. There is no wind. This absolutely stinks. Great teams like Florida and Texas don't have this problem because they can practice outdoors all year. For us northerners that know what snow looks like it is unrealistic for us to have practices outside. Just because we hold our practices indoors does not mean that throwing outdoors should be completely ignored. I know that many of us belief that throwing on the quad is a great way to get in some extra throwing practice, but I encourage everyone in this program to find time to go outside, CLEAT UP and really FOCUS on your throws with a partner. If there is snow on the ground, grab a shovel and clear out some room for you to throw, if it's really cold think about how being able to throw when it is cold will make you a better warm weather thrower. It's pretty obvious after MLC that we can all dramatically improve our throws. Working on stretching out your release point on both backhand and forehand is something everyone can do without wasting their time. During practice watch the teams best throwers, see their form and what kind of fakes work really well for them and then go outside and experiment or work on replicating what you saw.

When I was a freshman a wise man named Jasper Chu pointed something out to me that I still believe is very true. While watching the A team be awesome I asked him what the difference between the A and B team was. His response to me was that anyone on the A team could be the best or one of the best handlers on the B team. This does not mean that A teamers should be comfortable with their throws either. Reflect on all the teams that have abused our poor marking this season and last season, and imagine how good we would be if everyone on the team could break their mark. This ability to be a threat with a disc takes time to develop and the winter is a great time to start throwing with the intent of becoming the best thrower on the team.

TRYOUTS

I know I just gushed about how important it is to be a reliable thrower, but the reality is that being an intense and hard working defender is the easiest way to be useful to the A team. For everyone trying to make the A team throws need to be something that you work on everyday. Defense however is a mentality thing that needs to register and become a switch that you can throw on and leave on for extended periods of time. Last year Kennedy shared some knowledge about shuffling your feet and trying to not commit to a cut until the last possible moment. I encourage all of you to look again at what he wrote. I want to add and highlight just a few things:

1. Do not commit until the last possible moment, shuffle with your guy until they are busting either deep or in so hard that you have to throw your hips to defend it.

2. Stay on the balls of your feet and try really hard to be light footed, heavy steps are never good.

3. Never turn your back to your cutter nor the disk. See the disk and your guy as much as possible.

4. I'm pretty sure no one will frown upon a little physicality. If guarding a handler who wants to get upline, don't hesitate to give them a little body. Try not to use your arms like a blocker, instead just use your chest and core to hold your ground.

5. If guarding a long named Dan McDonald, he will try to spin move and go deep. Making Dan go in makes him very sad.

6. Trust your sidelines, and return the favor when you are on the sideline.

KB

MLC Wrap Up

11-14-10

Sunday morning brought sunshine and warmer weather, and along with that a much more focused Illinois team that was ready to put together a positive day.

It was almost impossible to not wake up for a round one game against Kansas. Being the last team we faced at Nationals 2010 and a program that we share a colorful history with, Kansas brought out some intensity in the returners which trickled down through the new guys. 2 early breaks put the Illini up 4-2, maintaining that momentum we turned it into 6-2 lead. Kansas is not a team that just gives up, and they showed their grit as they fought to earn 2 breaks back before Illinois took half at 7-5. The second half Illinois was determined to not lose focus. A back and forth second eventually brought the game to 11-11. The next O point was all business for the Illini, and then the D line came out with a very solid break to put end the game 13-11

Round 2 began the tour of regional rivals. The Wisconsin Hodags and Illinois matched up in the quarterfinals. After being a terribly focused team on Saturday, we saw this as a great opportunity to test ourselves against one of the best mentally conditioned teams in the country. A strong start put Illinois up 4-1, but in classic Wisconsin style they came storming back to take the lead 5-4. Wisco would take half 7-5, but despite being down no one on the Illini side doubted that they could still take this game. Fighting with Wisconsin every single point found the Illini losing 10-8 and running out of time before cap went on. A couple monster hucks from each side brought it to 11-9. The Illini hung in this game the whole time but in the end lost 13-10 to our new regional rival.

MagnUM round 3, was the 3rd round game. For the third time in one month Illinois and Michigan would clash. Unfortunately Michigan came into this game frustrated and had struggled the weekend to get to their normal high intensity. Illinois took care of business against this downtrodden Michigan, going up big taking half 7-1. Michigan would try to fight back and got as close as the final score 11-6. I believe everyone on the Illinois side recognizes that the next time we face Michigan they will not roll over as easily.

Final round of 2010 was against Wisconsin Whitewater. The Captains of each team had agreed to play wide open lines and really give the younger guys opportunities. Illinois got out to 4-2, when a marathon point ensued. Thanks to our fearless captain Kennedy for about 6 turnovers on this point as well as a few ridiculous D's by both teams, the point lasted around 20 minutes. I don't believe Illinois won this point but we bounced back to take half at 7-3. From here the game really seemed to crawl until it was 10-4. I kindly informed the K-Train that I was very cold and wanted this game to be put out of its misery. Conveniently getting an early D on the point, Andy "K-Train" Kilinski boosted it for a quick score and quick point. The last 3 points of the game moved at a much better pace and Illinois hit up Wendy's after a 13-5 win.

Fifth place at MLC...acceptable, but not good.

Mid MLC thoughts

11-13-10

Illinois Ultimate took a strong team to MLC this weekend. Saturday morning we opened up with a good win against Iowa. After losing to Iowa at Nationals it was nice to be able to give them something to worry about early in their season. The final score was 11-5.

Round 2 we gave D-mac a chance to take down his old team for the second time this fall. After getting off to an extremely strong start to the game, which included a Kennedy callahan created by lock down D on the longs, Illinois closed the first half 6-1. However, a scenario which is becoming far too familiar to Illinois Ultimate ensued. GoP went on a run to close the gap to 9-8 Illinois. Soft cap was on making it a game to 10. Fortunately Illinois pulled this one out, but the fact that we needed to pull it out should not be ignored.

Round three against Colorado brought the first beating of Illinois' young season. Going down 7-1 and eventually losing 11-3. This smack down showed us what it will take if we want to get to the highest level that we can. Emotionally out gunned and a serious lack of focus separated Illinois from the perenial power.

The final game of the day against Minnesota brought a similar scenario. Going down 6-3 at half and losing 11-6. Maybe Illinois wasn't able to bounce back from the tough Colorado game, maybe we Minnesota was just better than us, or maybe we just need to work harder in practice.

Tomorrow morning Illinois will play Kansas, the last team Illinois played at Nationals and the game that got us off the schnide.