Callahan Campaign

Player Profile

Name: Joel Koehneman

Nickname: Candyman, Seabiscuit

Position: Handler, Hybrid

Experience: 5^th year player

Bio

Joel’s college career began as a defensive specialist on the A-team his freshman year. Did I mention that that team went to nationals? This year marks his third straight year serving as our captain. If it’s double game point for the championship, we want him on the line. It doesn’t matter if he’s played every point of the tournament. We’re looking to him to rock ‘n’ roll.

Every opponent knows of Joel. If they didn’t before the game started, by point three they’ll figure out that he’s “the guy”. Nothing gives me more pleasure than watching their best defender trail Joel all over the field. No one can stop his upline cut, no one. Joel’s superior offense covers less than half his resume. He may start on the O-line, but his roots lie in defense. In my 3 years, I’ve never seen anyone get open on an in-cut when Joel guarded him. That includes practice. His defensive skills aren’t limited to singling out one man. When Joel poaches, he effectively covers all seven guys in the opposite color. It’s beautiful to watch him take over and direct our team’s success in keeping our opponent out of the endzone.

Many of the other Callahan candidates in the nation are quick to hype themselves and quick to make excuses when they don’t live up to their own hype. Joel is human (though it may not seem like it). He makes mistakes. A huck may turn sour or a misread may happen (okay, the latter never happens, but humor me). Joel doesn’t call a close foul. He doesn’t blame his teammates or the weather or his exhaustion, etc. He realizes that none of that will change the past. Instead, he becomes that much more determined to get the disc back and put it in the endzone.

Player Profile

Name: Pat Stephens

Nickname: Pat, Paddy J

Position: Long, O-line

Experience: 5^th year player

Bio

Pat found true love in catching the disc in the endzone and hasn’t cheated on her in 5 years. When he’s on the field, he’s gonna make a sick cut, and he’s gonna get open. If we’re within 10 yards of the endzone, there’s a good chance we’re gonna put him on the iso block and make your best defender look like amateur hour at the Boys and Girls Club.

The team looks to Pat to direct the flow of our offense. Time and time again, he makes the first cut that gets everything rolling. 90% of the time he gets open. The other 10% he clears space for a fellow long to get the disc. Pat’s hucks are crisper than fresh celery, and he’s cooler than the other side of the pillow. He always maintains focus and uses his competitive edge to lead our team. I’ve never seen Pat misread a disc, and I’ve watched him make experienced defenders look like they need a library card. His positioning and ability to box out defenders is the best in the region. While he has been marked as an offensive machine, Pat boasts a defense that outplays most of the starters on the D-line, and he is no pretty boy either. He’ll lay out for anything close when the disc is in our opponent’s hands.

Pat is our leader. We look to him to say the right words. We look to him teach us when we mess up. We look to him when we’re in a tight spot and need someone to step up. Every person on our team has benefited from his personal style of coaching. Even before he was a captain, everyone went to him if they had a question about the game of ultimate. What Pat does on and off the field inspires every teammate to work harder, run faster, jump higher, and get better. Every player on the team wishes they could be like Pat.

The Real Beginning

Our first week of outdoor practices has ended, and Sectionals is giving us the evil eye from two weeks away. Will you be ready?

Thursday gave us a taste of sour weather. The spring season rarely brings all sunshine and rainbows, so it’s good to get some work in cold, wind, and rain. The team seized this fortunate opportunity to work on upwind hucking again. In such conditions, focus becomes the key to success. The cold weather numbs your hands. Just the simple act of switching your grip could cause you to fumble the disc and turn it over. We had the handlers throw first and the longs go second. Completions depended more on luck than anything else. Welcome to the great outdoors.

Being a defensive long, I love bad weather. Why? Zone defense. Indoors, the O line can throw any pass they want. In the still air, these passes are fast and accurate, shredding even the tightest cup. Outdoors, the situation changes drastically. Passes float. Hucks get stalled in the air. And any flutter or tipped disc goes into the ground. This allows the defense that extra second to make sick plays on the disc.

So, despite terrible weather, the team got some solid work done. Both the offense and defense needed work on zone defense. The offense even transitioned into a cup after a turn. Such strategy works effectively to stop upwind breaks, and allow the offense to conserve energy at the same time.

The weather only got worse as practice went on. The b-team left the field around 5:30, and we called it a day about 45 minutes later.

As if to mock us, Friday and Saturday provided perfect conditions. Too bad we weren’t practicing. Stupca scheduled a throwing session on Saturday, but the late notice caused yours truly to miss that one. Then Sunday comes along, and clouds fill the sky with promises of thunderstorms once again. Luckily, the rain never came.

We worked on swings and up line cuts with an aggressive mark on the trap sideline. It’s very easy to panic in this situation and get locked into looking down field. Extra practice is needed by everyone.

Before we started scrimmaging, we got up to full speed with Randy Moss drill. Pat and Joel had some good battles on the backhand side. Phenom took the prize from me more often than I did from him. Cole, on his first day back, did what he could, but Bettsy had the better marms today. I remember seeing B rad sky Zubair.

Some of the matchups got switched up when we went to forehands. I owned Joel.

With a depleted D-line, we scrimmaged with altered scoring rules. The D got a point for every turn over given up by the offense. Games were played to five, and the D-line pulled every point. The D-line started out with zone, and the O-line tore that apart in the first game. We moved to man defense with straight up marks and gave the offense a little trouble, but they still won the second game. Using some of our more strategic defenses, we won the second game. Taste it O-line.