Winter Break

At this point you may be wondering...What now?

We took the entire Fall to develop as a program, to work as individuals and to lay a foundation that the Spring can build upon. After dedicating 2-5 days a week to Illinois Ultimate for the past three months, we now find ourselves in the strange position of being home. Playing time is limited, and probably not anywhere close to a level that could promote improvement, our teammates are no longer with us to push us further and harder, yet the expectation that we improve or at least maintain what we have earned during the fall stands. For most people this is a daunting task. Trying to improve alone is the most difficult and essential part of being an ultimate player.
This time comes twice a year, during winter and summer break. Personally I like to use these breaks as a measuring device. Make a count of the positives and negatives from the past semester and use those as things to either develop or fix for the next semester. Making changes begins now. Now we have the free time to reflect and get excited for the future and an opportunity to mentally prepare ourselves to make even greater strides than we even imagined possible.


Fall 2010 Reflections

The Good:

1. We still have 33 people competing for spots on the ~27 man A team roster.
2. Winning Whitesmoke, maintaining seed at Rivalry reheat and breaking seed (I think) at MLC.
3. The number of people ready to step up and help is larger than in any recent years.

The Bad:

1. An unhealthy number of injuries in the fall, usually a precursor to an injury happy spring.
2. Last place at Glory Days
3. Poor attendance due to poor weather. Mother Nature hates Ultimate...GET USED TO IT!
4. We never brought a full team to an A team tournament. Due to individual conflicts.

The Ugly:

1. ATTENDANCE. Days where we play 5v5 because only 12 people show up is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD. There was a couple week stretch there where I was ready to call it quits on this program...Why you ask? Because you can't win anything with 10 people.
2. Adam Wright's ACL
3.We have yet to play a tournament with all three of our captains active.