Second Semester

Final cuts for Illinois were made January 16th. The cuts followed the annual "Week Back" for the top 33 players in the program. Nine practices in five days gave the captains a solid grasp on who was prepared for the a long spring season with the A-team. This was the latest that Illinois had ever made cuts before, and that was directly due to how competitive cuts were and the depth of our top 35 players.

The nine practices over the week back included about half strategy and half conditioning. Beyond just ultimate the week back is great in terms of team bonding. A pasta party, Super Smash Bros tournament, trip to Buffalo Wild Wings and a game of Jeopardy about ourselves brought us together and laid the foundation for what should be a very tight group.

A week later school started and we began to hit the armory and Irwin with a fervor. January 22nd was the official start to Illinois Boomland's season. Rob Dreier and Joe "Conair" Conerty were elected captains. Rob and Joe were both cut before the week back but both attended and made every practice during the week. They have showed the initiative and desire to lead the B team and I feel very confident that this years Boomland is in great hands.

On the 24th we held a program wide meeting to discuss an issue that is very prevalent to the program this year. We have like $0 right now, and we discussed different ways to get short term and long term money. A lot of good ideas were thrown around including a hat tournament that will be open to the public after spring break.