The taste of forbidden fruit

I now have back-to-back losses in a game-to-go in the 2012 fiscal year. Prairie Fire crushed the competish (except Madison Club in pool play) on the way to the backdoor final and a shot at Nastinals. But we would have to upset Madison for the first time in 4 meetings. We went up 2 breaks early, and hip thrusted our way into halftime up one break. Then the offense shat the bed in a similar manner to Illinois 2012, and we lost 15-10. They say that you have to lose in a game-to-go in order to win a game-to-go. In my case, I've won these games when I was just a role player, but I have yet to do so as an impact player and a leader. If you ever think you're a great ultimate player, you best check your ego and measure yourself against this great saying: "Big time players make big time plays in big time games." I'm not there yet. But I guarantee that I will not let GT fall short at the 2013 SE Regionals. I hope the leaders of the new Illinois squad will work to do the same.

Illinois vs. Georgia Tech

I've been at Tech now for over month and I thought I'd shed some light on the similarities and differences between the two programs. -- Practice attendance is an issue at both schools. Just like Illinois, most of the players here are engineers and the busy schedules definitely hurt practice attendance. That doesn't stop us from scrimmaging though (more on that in a moment.) -- The team leadership is much more informal at Tech. Two weeks after Kennedy sent out the email about details for the fall season, I finally got an email from the Tech captains about practice times. Practice location and times vary from week to week, and now that we've moved off campus, there's even more uncertainty. For example, we were practicing at a park in the city and got booted by a fuckin' kickball league, so we had to find another spot to continue practice. Also, practices are run by a rotation of like 4 guys, so it's not just the 2 captains who make all the decisions (not saying that's good or bad, just observing.) -- They have a GroupMe group too. Troll city. -- GT drinks less than Illinois. As in no one goes out during the week basically ever. The physical benefits here will definitely manifest themselves later in the season, when we're all juiced thoroughbreads looking to seabiscuit on some skinny trucker-hat wearing ulti brahs. -- Throwing outside of practice is much more prevalent. There are multiple guys looking to throw after class almost every single day. As you can imagine, I love it. Repetition breeds mastery. It's also extremely convenient that there's a turf field and a grass field right in the middle of campus. -- Lifting on the Tech team is not mandatory or even organized for that matter, but most players seem to do it. -- Cuts are early. We're down to the A team now. That's basically unheard of at Illinois. Having a B team coach makes this a more successful plan. -- Scrimmaging is our primary source of conditioning. The common belief seems to be that the best way to build endurance for ultimate is to play ultimate, and I'm noticing the benefits when I go to tournaments with my club team. Even if we have 15 guys, we scrimmage non-stop. -- The playbook is simpler at GT. I think this is a disadvantage overall. The mentality of how to run an offense seems a little too cookie-cutter and simplistic (and potentially easier to shut down), possibly because of the Lance-dominated system they ran last year. -- There are way fewer injuries at GT. I'll let you know when I figure out why this is, but in the meantime I'll say it's awesome. -- The weather in Atlanta is hard to beat. We got rained out once, and that's the only trouble we've had with the weather. Otherwise, it's like 80 degrees every day. And it's usually not very windy. And we get to practice through the winter, instead of moving indoors from Nov 1st to April 1st. ATL weather >>>> Champaign cold and wind. -- Last similarity: both teams are funny. Although, there's less youtube/meme posting here, and more just making fun of each other. -- ILLINI for life, Jack

We worked hard Bruns

            A few Eastern Illinois guys and I were on our way to Cooler Classic.  We were reminiscing about past games at the tournament site we were going to be playing at.  The guys on Eastern were particularly fond of a universe point game they had against CUT a few years ago.  Simon Montague and Mike Schwenk we’re going at it and a small crowd had formed.

            A few days later ISU emailed Eastern asking the reaper guys, “how does Eastern start a new program and a few years later end up on universe point with CUT?”  Schwenk thought the question was hilarious.  I fell for the bait, I too was befuddled with how Eastern improved so quickly and I asked the Eastern guys what the answer was.  “How does Eastern start a new program and a few years later end up on universe with CUT?”  The answer came quick, loud and with a slight sense of irritation.

           

“We worked hard Bruns.”

            Mike was almost irritated that I would even ask.  ISU and I were looking for some secret.  Some magic path to develop talent and break through whatever walls we perceive around us.  We want someone to say, “do these drills, do more plyos, do these lifts, try these crossfits, try this try that,” but to Mike it wasn’t about doing the right drills or completing certain workouts. It’s about a mentality.  If everyone works hard, then whatever drills you do are going to have some benefit.  If everyone works hard, then any exercise you do will help.  

Looking for a shortcut or a secret devalues what they did, and how hard they worked to get it.  The next time you are chatting with someone who has improved a lot at something, don’t ask them for a magical drill or secret workout, try to gauge how much time and effort they put into getting better and that should help you frame out what you need to do moving forward.

James Roush was the other guy in the car.