How it feels to get second place

Its been about a month and a half since the college championships were over, but that weekend still lives on. Throughout this summer I've been doing a fair share of television and movie watching which has lead me to reflect over the weekend in which my team placed 2nd at the College Championships. Watching the NBA playoffs with Lebron crying when he didn't get his championship or Chris Webber crying when Michigan failed to win the NCAA basketball tournament for the second year in a row (thanks ESPN'S 30 for 30), it made me realize the opposite feeling I had been overcome with at the end of our game.

At the moment when Finney threw to her teammate in the endzone, I knew my season and college career was unfortunately finally over - but I didn't find myself with sadness. I remember, when UCSB scored the final point, saying in my head, "Okay - that is it... it is over" but not like in the hang-you-head-and-cry type of way. It was more of the OH-MY-GOSH-WE-FINISHED-SECOND-I-CANT-BELIEVE-IT!!!!!!!!! type of way. I was so thrilled and excited that I could not contain smiling and cheering with my teammates. I immediately ran over to them screaming, ''WE GOT SECOND!" and giving high-fives to each of them. I was so incredibly proud of our team that I could not be upset with that loss.

Believe me, I would have loved to win that game and say that we were the champions. But to say we got second place? That is pretty darn sweet sounding. We had beaten two hundred and some odd teams to get to where we were and only one team had gone further than us - only one team. To say that there is only one team better than you, I think, is quite an accomplishment.

When I saw the athletes on TV cry at their loss, I couldn't help but think maybe their attitudes were not in the right place. Yes, I understand that they wanted it more than anything (I did too) and were bummed that they couldn't be first (I was too) but crying over something isn't going to change it. Accepting it and being PROUD to say you got second is a completely different feeling. The only sadness I felt was that 1. I was never going to play with that same group of girls ever again and 2. I was not able to play with them due to a rib injury sustained on Friday. But that sadness was only felt for about 0.2 seconds.

Not everyone can win and you have to accept that both going into a competition and after the final result. When people ask how my team did at Nationals I don't tell them we lost in the finals. Instead I tell them that we got second place!

Getting second place is going to inspire next year's team to go even higher and get first and I wish I could be with them as they start their journey; but, ending my journey at 2nd place really couldn't get much better. I walk away from my college career having attended Nationals every year I played and in my final year having reached the College Championship game. There are not that many people who can say that and I am so proud and fortunate that I was able to experience it.

At the end of the day, I want to remember the weekend as a good thing, not as a "We lost in the finals but we really should have won" thing.

So to those people who cry after they lose in the finals, I know it hurts and you would have preferred to be first. But second place? The feeling is really quite nice.

I can't help but smile any time I say "We got 2nd place!" And that is how my college career ended - with a second place medal, a proud feeling of accomplishment, and an infinite number of smiles whenever I think of Michigan Flywheel.

Absence

Been busy since Regionals getting ready for Natties.

After Natties I went on a roadtrip and am finally back.

I will be posting about some things experienced in the next few days.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Flywheel made it to Nationals! It was not a fluke or one lucky play that got us there. Instead, we proved to everyone that we are a force in Women's Ultimate. No team scored more than 5 points on us (including Northwestern in the finals) the entire weekend. In fact, the final score was 78-21 after all of the games were finished. I've never been so proud of my team during one weekend. The winds were present with 25 mph winds on Saturday and 20 mph winds on Sunday. However, for the most part, we did not let that affect our throws. Its such an amazing feeling knowing that wind technically is supposed to be an equalizer on teams but that it was not the case this weekend. Out team was very excited about the next month ahead of us.

It was the best of times.

Magnum did not make it to Nationals. If we had time after our games, we went over to watch them play and cheer them on. They came over and supported our team when they finished early. However, we won our finals game during the same time that Magnum lost in Semis. Our team celebrated, took pictures, and talked about Nationals after our game, and then we decided to walk over to our guys team. It was silent. It was eerily quiet. Having a housemate, brother, and boyfriend on the team, it really broke my heart to know they didn't make it. This next month is going to be interesting with us practicing and them just chilling.

It was the worst of times.

Regional Preview

Rather than write another preview, I will put up the link of my writeup on USA Ultimate... http://www.usaultimate.org/news/preview-2011-college-womens-regionals-great-lakes/

Regionals - get into it

Our Regionals is this weekend, along with many other teams, and boy I will not be lying when I say I am PUMPED UP! I've always been pumped up to play in this weekend but I don't know what it is about this year - maybe it is because it is my last year playing, maybe it is because I absolutely love this team... not sure. But whatever it is, I get so jacked whenever I think about this weekend.

Getting yourself 'into' this weekend is super important, I feel. I have spent this past week thinking about the teams that are going to be there, who their top players are, what style of offense and defense they run, and when we are going to play them so I can be mentally ready when that team steps onto the line across from us. I have memorized the schedule so I know when and where we are going to be playing. These details are important in focusing for the weekend. Nothing can distract you going into this and knowing all of the details takes away from the distractions.

I've also been visualizing. If I can't fall asleep at night or I can't find anything else to do, I've been visualizing my play at Regionals. I visualize myself getting a hand block, throwing the goal to Pimp, catching the goal from Adrienne, hucking to Bemu, switching on defense with Paula, etc. I also visualize Northwestern's (our biggest competition at Regionals) players and what I'm going to do to stop them. This task I also find extremely important in getting yourself ready for the weekend. If you can see yourself doing these things, you have a lot better shot of actually doing them.

On a related note, I have been visualizing things I have done in games. I'm not visualizing a layout Callahan, a 'greatest', or throwing a full field huck. I wish I could do all of those, but I have not yet done them this season, let alone my college career. I don't find it beneficial to be spending my time visualizing those things when I can visualize things I CAN do. If I happen to get a layout Callahan, I will be extremely happy. But if I can shut down my girl and not let her score a goal while I am throwing our team's goals, I will be more happy.

This isn't the time to be trying ridiculous new things. Your team has gotten to where it has because it has been doing certain things. Keep doing those things. You can always improve on those fundamentals - no team is perfect. But trust in your team and your players and your system. You've been great so far and now its time to be the greatest in the region.

You have many other days to eat a bunch of sweets, drink alcohol, or do other 'harmful' things to your body. This week is not the time. This may be the last weekend your team plays together, and honestly, who wants that? Get yourself mentally and physically prepared.

Go get 'em.

Conferences: Ours plus notes on others

Trying to find something to distract me from studying, I decided to write my recap of our Conferences Championship this weekend. Approaching this tournament is always interesting for Michigan. For the past few years, we have been the clear number one seed at this tournament, and that showed again this year (Michigan with a USA Ultimate score of 1868 and the next highest was ND with 1112). However, it is the post season and anything can happen. The weather in Michigan in April is unpredictable and it gave us a temp of 53 (felt like 37) with 20mph winds and sleet/rain/some snow. Even though we were favored, we couldn't let that get to us and we had to perform. This is not a tournament to sluff off. We had to prove why we were favored.

For the most part, we did. But there were moments of some really bad Ultimate on our part. Overall we scored 59 points on the weekend and had 10 scored on us. Those stats are pretty decent but could have been improved. Some of our games went to cap and that was all our fault. Silly drops, not thinking about the wind when throwing, and a stagnant backfield left us playing longer than we should have. Don't get me wrong, I am not attacking or downgrading our opponents - I just personally think we could have played better than we did.

On the plus side, it is really nice to walk away from a game winning 15-3 having a list of things to improve upon. While that says something about our game (we weren't playing like we should have), it also says that our team has not reached its potential yet. We have a lot to improve on before Regionals in 2 weeks. Being ranked 5th in the nation has put a target on our back, something we haven't had for a few years. We cannot get comfortable with where we are.

---------

On a semi-related related note, I looked at scores from across and the nation and was surprised by a few:
1. Northwestern lost 2 games on Saturday but ended up winning the Conference (I'm guessing the wind helped with those losses)
2. UNC beat UNCW 13-9
3. Stanford crushed Cal 13-5
4. Wisconsin Eau-Claire beat Wisconsin 8-7
5. Iowa State beat Iowa 11-6

Who knows what will happen next week in the last round of Conferences and then again at Regionals in 2 weeks. Interesting interesting things I'm sure. But that is not something I can control. What I can control is how often I get outside to practice throwing, how hard I work at practice, and how I mentally prepare myself for the big weekend.

2 weeks. Get er done.

Missing Graduation

After much debate and discussion, the decision was finally made for me to not attend the University of Michigan graduation in the Big House (our football stadium).

Michigan's graduation each year falls on the same weekend as Regionals. It is up to the Seniors each year to determine if they are going to graduation or Regionals. Whatever is chosen, there are no harsh thoughts or feelings towards those going to graduation. I emailed Jeff Kula and other USA Ultimate people and tried this year to get Regionals on the second available weekend, but there are more schools that graduate then so the weekend of April 30th was chosen. After I heard that, I accepted it with a heavy heart because I knew my parents were going to want me to go to graduation over Regionals. Its something that I accepted and just had to move on from it.

But the other day, I came to a realization that led to an interesting phone call with my parents. At graduation, each Senior is allowed to sit wherever he/she wants - allowing each Graduate to sit among his/her friends. I started to think about who I was going to sit with and it left me stumped. I started to think of my close friends - my house came to my mind first. My house has 5 Ultimate players (out of 6 people total) and only one other is graduating, Becky. Becky and her parents decided for her to skip graduation and attend Regionals. My other close Senior friends are taking a fifth year. My other other close friends have either graduated or are graduating next year. So really, I didn't know who I was going to sit with. Graduation is a time to acknowledge your achievements throughout your college career and to celebrate with your friends the success you've had on the way. If almost all of my close friends were going to be at Regionals, then that is where I wanted to be.

Don't get me wrong - I find the ceremony of Graduation really awesome. But I didn't want to spend the entire time sitting among other random groups of friends thinking about my friends who were going to be playing Ultimate in Rockford, Illinois. These were the people that I spent most of my college career with. I've grown with them, played with them, traveled with them, cried with them, laughed with them, matured with them... Ultimate, and the friends I made within Ultimate, is what defines my college career. THIS is how I wanted to spend my graduation.

To compromise with my parents, I'm attending my department graduation on Friday afternoon. They will still see me graduate, hear my name called (which is actually different than if we went to the one on Saturday), and get to take pictures of me in my cap and gown. But then I will get to go and join my team and play in order to make it to Nationals.

This is how I want my college life to end. I want to be among my team, my friends, and my Flywheel family. Not to mention I want to be with MagnUM guys as well - certain ones in particular being Spencer (my housemate), Jonathan or "JAMP" (my brother), and Jeff (my boyfriend).

I am now SO looking forward to both graduation AND Regionals. I get to graduate, participate in the ceremony, and then play in Regionals as we fight our way to Nationals.

In the end, it all works out.

SOTG

I've gotten into some conversations about SOTG recently and instead of just letting those thoughts stay in my head, I might as well post them in a place where who ever in the world wanted to read them, could.

One of the things I will say from the beginning, and I hope its stressed throughout the post, is that I find SOTG extremely important. Especially in the development of the sport, I think that SOTG is a crucial and critical part of the game. For the most part I think that most people will agree with those statements. However, I think each person has a slightly different view of what SOTG actually is.

I find that too many times, more so in the women's college division, SOTG is a synonym for "being nice". I really don't like that idea. You can still not have the best spirit but be nice about it. Being nice is an added bonus that will add to the overall 'feel' of the game, but it doesn't necessarily constitute spirit. By all means I think being nice is awesome and I love when teams are nice. But being nice doesn't necessarily mean you have great spirit. Last year we played a team at Centex and lost miserably 2-13. Obviously we could not score and we didn't play well against this team. After the game, the team came over and sang us a song with one of the lyrics being "we couldn't stop your hucks, your defense was great". Clearly, those were wrong. They DID stop our hucks and our defense COULDN'T stop them. While this team may have been going for the 'nice' factor, I was not happy with this at all. It was just another way to reopen that wound. I had a bad feeling in my gut after being blown out by a team and when they sang lyrics that were obviously not true, I just honestly wanted to walk away.

Having good spirit is making the right calls. So when a girl travels for the fifth time in a point each time she hucks it, calling that travel each time is correct and spirited. What I don't consider spirited is when you are winning 13-1 against a developing team and you call a travel on a girl who took a TEENY tiny step that gained her no advantage. Instead, I like to go up to her after the point and let her know she was travelling.

Sometimes when a team makes a lot of calls, their opponent will deem them as unspirited. I hate this idea. Making the right calls is spirited (see previous paragraph). It is up to us as players to make calls since we don't have refs that will call fouls and violations. That is what spirit is about. You shouldn't not make a call because "you feel bad" during a competitive game. Make a call and stick to it. SOTG is there to encourage good and fair play.

I would say about 99.99% of this post relates to college women's ultimate. I don't necessarily see that is the college open division or the club women's division.

*One side note. There have been a few girls I've played against who make the right calls but do so in an ugly manner. What I mean by that is snapping at the other team when explaining the rule. You may be right, but there is no reason to do so in a mean or smart-ass tone. Just explain yourself in a respectable voice. That is all I'm asking for.

I've reread this post a few times and I really hope I'm not coming across as an asshole. I like SOTG. I think games should be played in a spirited way. I just really don't like when teams aren't spirited or don't necessarily know what spirit is. You may disagree with my post but each person is entitled to his/her own opinion. And since this is my blog, you are going to be reading my opinion.

Last year my team was ranked last in the spirit rankings at Natties. Since I was a captain, I definitely was a little bummed about it because this was MY team. Who knows exactly why we got that but I really hope it wasn't because of our calls. We have girls who are not afraid to make calls and sometimes (like I said earlier) it is deemed as unspirited. I'm definitely hoping for a better spirit ranking this year if we make it to Natties - although since we were at the bottom, we can only go up...

Final thoughts on Centex

Now that I've had time to clear my mind, take many naps, and rehydrate, I am ready to think about our team this weekend. It was an amazing experience and a great way to end my regular season of the senior year. We only lost one game this weekend - and it was only by one point. One point. One stinking point.

UBC:
Flywheel has not played UBC since my freshman year so going into this game was a mystery. We didn't know really anything about them, who their handlers or cutters were, what type of game they ran, etc etc. But we came out strong and we came out to win - and that is what we did. It was a hard fought game on both sides but in the end, our defense is what won us that game. We had a great D from one of our rookies, Lizzie, in the beginning of the game to set the stage. UBC was an extremely spirited team so it was a lot of fun to play against them. They are definitely a good team - no need to count them out of the NW region

Wisconsin:
In my entire Flywheel career, I have only beaten Wisconsin once - and that was in the fall of my freshman year. Not to mention that our past two losses to them have come on Universe point. I don't know what it is, but Michigan has always had a mental block against this team. Coming off of our win against the #1 seed in the pool, Flywheel was fired up to play Bella Donna again. This game was a combination of us beating them and them beating themselves. They had many uncharacteristic throw-a-ways and they were extremely frustrated. Combine that with us finally playing defense against this team and the final score was 15-5. Finally, Michigan had made an improvement.

Carleton:
We were the third seed in our pool and Carleton was the fourth seed - but we were both battling to take the pool. The first half was close. They got one break and we got one break to stay on serve at half. However, at halftime we decided to start the game over. We were getting beat up the line by their handlers and playing to their style. After half we came out strong and got a break to further our lead and then we never looked back. Carleton always amazes me at how good of a team they are but extremely spirited and NICE. They play classic ultimate: dump and swing, handlers moving the disc, and cutters looking for it. They don't try anything too fancy but they excel at what they do.

End of the day on Saturday:
We won our pool. It was an extremely amazing feeling. For once, we got to shower and eat dinner before other teams because we had a last round bye. I like that feeling and would love to continue getting byes

Iowa State:
We saw Iowa State at Easterns and we went down 7-1 against them. When we found out that we would be playing them in pre-quarters, we got extremely fired up. We wanted to show them that it was a fluke and we don't normally play that terribly. And that is what happened. We fought and fought until the final score was 14-9 and we were moving on to quarters. They are definitely a strong team and have some very good players. But it was time to focus on Flywheel getting through to the next round.

Iowa:
Again, last time we played them (at Easterns) we went down 5-1 against them. Yikes. We knew what we had to do in order to beat them. But, we let this one slip away. They took half 8-6. We came out strong in the second half with extremely intense defense, but time was the issue. We tied it up at 8s when the hard cap went on. They were on O. It took them forever to score, but they did - ending our hopes of going to semis.

Stanford:
We were not going to let our loss to Iowa ruin the rest of our day. We still had two more games to play and we wanted to get 5th place . First on our list was Stanford. I had to go get my foot taped during the first part of that game and when I came back, Stanford had taken a time out. The reason? We started off on defense, forced a D, and then scored without any turnovers. This happened three times in a row. (Maybe I should leave the game more often...?!) Flywheel showed that we were not going to let one loss hurt us and ended the game 10-5

Washington:
All of the returners were extremely excited to play this game - Washington beat us last year 15-13 in a hard fought game at Natties. We wanted our revenge. The game was up and down. We went on a three point run. They went on a three point run. We traded points until we broke them to take half 8-6. The second half was going to be extremely critical so we needed to excel. And that is what we did. The final score was 13-10 and Flywheel had placed 5th at Centex!
*Side note about this game: I was incredibly incredibly pleased with Element. Not only are they a talented group of ladies but their spirit was unexpected. I will be honest and say that I did not enjoy playing them the past two years - but this year was very different. All of them were extremely nice and made good calls. They played and fought hard the entire game. It was so much fun to play them and I would love to play them again. This was one of the biggest surprises of the weekend for me.

Thoughts about the weekend:
What a great great weekend! Finally, Flywheel was stepping up to be the team that we knew we could be. We still have a LOT of work to do, but it was nice to see the reward for all of the work we've put in so far. Many players stepped it up this weekend and showed that we have an incredibly deep roster. Our offense clicked and our defense looked great. We shredded zones this weekend. Additionally, this was the first time that I finally felt back (well except for the part of playing only 1 point during the Stanford game due to my foot hurting...). I felt quick and sharp, especially on defense and loved that feeling. We only have a month until Regionals which is not that many practice days. Flywheel will be at it looking to improve yet again from this tournament to keep up with the other teams.

Let's do it

Initial Centex Thoughts

Well, I feel that my last post sums up the weekend perfectly. Yes, the #1 seed in the tournament ended up winning everything (UCSB) but other than that all I can say is WOW!

I am not going to do my recap of our games just yet, but I wanted to put some stats out there that just blew my mind.

-Tufts came out of nowhere to take third place. Unbelievable showing from them.
-Oregon, who apparently was missing many people, ended up getting 8th - something that has not been seen in a while
-UNC and UCLA were knocked out the championship bracket on Saturday by Tufts and UPenn respectively
-In pools C and D the third seed went undefeated to easily take the pool (Washington and Michigan)
-UNCW beat UCSB 15-11 on the first day but then UCSB went on to beat them in the finals 15-7
-USC, after tying for 5th at Natties last year, went on to win the D3 championship
-We only lost one game this weekend and it was by only one point to take 5th (and outscored our opponents 89-58 on the way there)

The full recap will come later when I have recovered from physically tough weekend and the great Austin bar scene

Thoughts on Centex

I'm currently in class and Centex is this weekend so that obviously means I'm thinking more about Ultimate than what my professor is saying. This is the last big tournament before the Series begins so the results will really take into account seedings and bid distribution. So far this year, I have not seen one team that is completely dominant. While Iowa won Easterns, UCSB won Stanford Invite, Oregon won Pres Day, and Stanford won the Santa Barbara Invite, I cannot say that one of those teams is clearly better than the others. And then you have the next level of teams: UNC, UBC, Cal, Wisconsin, and UCLA who have all done decently well in the tournaments but have yet to win the whole tourney. Then throw us, Washington, UNCW, Caleton, and Texas into the mix and everything is up in the air. It seems to me that which ever team is playing well on a specific day, that is the team that is going to win. That statement might seem self explanatory, but as compared to years past, teams can no longer get away with playing 'okay'. This year I feel like there is a pretty even playing field. While I divided teams up into three tiers earlier in my post, it does not necessarily mean there are three tiers out there.

Because of this, I feel this weekend will be incredibly exciting. ANY one of the teams can step up and win this. It doesn't have to be one of the four teams that have won a tournament this year - it can be any of the others as well. Teams this weekend are not just fighting for first place at the tournament - they are fighting for bid allocation as well.

At the same time, there is a slight bit of sadness surrounding this weekend. This will be my last big tournament (during the regular season) of my college career. I'm definitely using that (and other factors) to motivate me personally this weekend. Let's get it Flywheel!

Different workouts

As the season progresses, I think it is important to vary your workouts from what you did in the beginning of the year. Doing only one type of workout and focusing on one or two types of skill is not beneficial to your team.

*I went to States for cross country in high school, was an all-state runner in track, placed second in my age division for a half marathon, and have played 4 years of Ultimate. These accomplishments have lead me to believe that I know a thing or two about training for speed. You, of course, can take this however you want

Types of workouts:
1. Long runs: These are good for getting back into the swing of things, aka in Nov or Dec. You can get some endurance back and feel your muscles working. I don't really like these as the season progresses because of the usual slow nature of these runs. If you are going to use long runs as a workout, you must be pushing yourself the entire time and not trying to stay together as a team. Running three 9:00 miles will not do a whole lot for you if you can run three 7:00 miles. Now, you can use these to encourage the teammates who are in the back of the pack to catch up to the leaders, but if they aren't pushing themselves to do so, then... (I don't want to say it is a waste of a workout, so rather I will say there could have been a better choice of workout)
2. Weight lifting: These are good for setting the stage for your muscle growth, aka in Dec-Feb. Having stronger muscles will allow for further development in speed or power because you have the basis of strength. Additionally by weight lifting, you are helping to prevent future injuries
3. Cross Fit: I am a very strong proponent of these workout. We have been doing this the past two years and I love the way it has helped us. Not only is it giving us muscle definition (shout out to the Florida men's team) but it is giving us power for jumps or power for exploding in sprints. Good for Jan-March
4. Track workouts: I don't think you should do these until you have a basis for your muscles (see above^), aka March-May (depending on if you make Natties). Track workouts can cause shin splints, pulled quads, and pulled hamstrings if not done correctly so you neeeeeeeeeed the strength there first. As much as I like 400 or 800 repeats (going back to my track days. Oh nostalgia...) I think it is better to do shorter distances. I think it is good to do this after weight lifting has ended so you can work on quickness and not just power.
5. Agility workouts: Agility can help you on offense and defense meaning I think you should incorporate them starting in at least Feb and continuing until the end of the season. Agility workouts such as speed ladders, quick transition between sprints, karaoke, and shuffling, etc etc

To be an good Ultimate player, you need to have the package of quickness, power, speed, and strength. Varying your workouts, especially through the duration of the season, will help you achieve these abilities. Of course, this is all according to 'Doctor' Amp.

Easterns

Wow - what a weekend.

On the plus side, we learned a lot this weekend. We learned what we cannot have happen and what we need to improve on. Additionally, I felt our play improved in certain areas from Pres Day. I feel that as long as we can walk away knowing those things it was, in short, a successful weekend.

On the other side, we have a LOT to improve on.

Harvard and NC State:
Our first two games were against Quesar and Jaga. In general we came out a little weak, probably after the long drive from Michigan. But we were able to turn things out. Nothing was too noteworthy of the games. Harvard is a different team than their Nationals team last year - I'm guessing a lot of it having to do with Jenny (#2) graduating. NC State has some throwers and some cutters, but Flywheel was able to shut them down.

Iowa:
In my four years, we have never played Iowa so we were excited about playing this team. Additionally, they had just come off a win at Midwest Throwdown so they were surging. Looking back on this game, I really don't know what happened in the beginning. They came down in a zone, we made poor decisions, they transitioned to offense really quickly, and before we knew it we were down 5-0. We were making simple mistakes so we knew if we fixed those up we would be able to hang with this team. After a time out and a half, we changed our mentality and came out strong. Unfortunately, we had dug ourselves into too big of a hole in the beginning. Plus side: we won the second half with a score of 8-6. On the other hand, we lost the game 13-10. Iowa has some quick cutters that transition to offense in a split second. I feel like this was one of the biggest factors into us losing the game.

UPenn:
Our lovely grad student Pimp went to UPenn for undergrad so she/we were excited to play her old team. Final score was 13-7. Smart match-ups and constant attacking won us this game. Southern BBQ plus paper plate awards followed leading to a fun and relaxing evening.

Sunday:
I might compare our Sunday to this. Our skill, our mental game, and our final scores all go along with this ride

Wisconsin:
Our game against Wisconsin was, in the end, a heart breaker. All of us were fired up to play them and it showed. We started on O and traded points until it was 2-2. Our defense clicked, we had switches, we had smart matchups, and our O delivered bringing the score 5-3. However, Bella battled back making it 5-5 and then eventually taking half 7-6. After what seemed to be the longest point, Flywheel tied it up at 7s but soft cap went on. Then it was at 8s - bringing it to universe point. Bella started on O and never turned it. We had them at stall 8 or 9 three times that point and their score was a high lofty pass to the sideline in the endzone for a really nice grab. We were knocked out. For some reason, this loss hurt tremendously. I've been knocked out the championship bracket at Nationals the past two years and this loss ranks up there with those. Luckily I have a boyfriend who plays ultimate and understands this all to call during moments like these. After some personal regrouping I was ready to discuss what happened with the leaders of our team. We decided on a few things, mainly that we do deserve to win games against good teams and we need to improve our defense, and got ready for our next game.

Texas:
This game was great. Amy K is a friend to a few of us so we were looking forward to playing them. They came out strong and scored the first point, but we knew we could do better. We broke their zone and played confidently the entire time. Texas is a team that has players very comparable to us which made the matchups fun. At one point, Amy threw a long disc that was going out of the endzone. I slowed down because it was going OB. However, one of the girls caught it OB, threw it back in, and my girl caught it for the Greatest. I was speechless. For one, I've never been in a game when a Greatest has been scored. Two, it was my girl who scored that. There was nothing I could do except applaud their effort and be happy for them. It was wicked cool. Final score was 11-6. Cool cool

Iowa State:
Oh my. Yikes on all accord. Apparently we were tired and played that way. Pretty soon we found the score to be 7-1. We were playing terribly. We weren't communicating in the backfield, we were being lazy on D, we were forcing things on O, and we were moving at 1/4 speed. After some uncharacteristic Amp yelling and Julia drawing out basic cuts, Flywheel decided to we are going to win this game somehow. Bemu hucking to Pimp for the score. One point. Paula's around backhand to Kim for the score. One point. Amp striking in the endzone. One point. Pimp cleaning up a mistimed jump/catch. One point. Pimp doing that again. One point. Pretty soon, Flywheel was making this a game. And here comes the "highlight" from that game. We started on D, Bemu pulled it out of bounds and Iowa State was setting up their O. We then realized that we only had 6 players on the field! Since the pull had already gone off, we could not put another player out there. It was going to be 6 vs. 7. We threw a poachy type zone to throw them off. Turn. We worked it down the field but then we threw an uncharacteristic hammer. Turn. They worked it down the field but threw it out of the endzone. Turn. Finally, we worked it down and Pimp caught the score! Somehow, Flywheel had managed to score with one less person on the field. We couldn't score during the first half with seven players but could during the second half with six. Maybe next time we go down we should play with fewer players... Ehh - probs not. But still - it was amazing. It definitely fueled us but, unfortunately due to cap, the score ended with them winning 10-11. We were SO close to coming back but damn the time limits!

During out debriefing we focused on the same thing from Pres Day - what is important is improving, not necessarily winning. I would rather not win a tournament during the regular season, but keep improving each time, and then perform exceptionally well at Nationals. The good part is we know where we need to improve. And also on the plus side was that our zone O looked good! This was the first time that I was confident during the entire weekend we could break throw any team's zone. And thank goodness! I was starting to get annoyed with losing to zones.

We now have two weeks until Centex to go over a few things at practices. Here we come Flywheel!

Game time. Fun time. Win time.

We started this mantra when we played Sonoma State at Pres Day. Unfortunately, it did not pan out the way we wanted to. But after a great Monday at PD and then some awesome scrimmages last weekend (Georgia, Georgia Tech, Emory, and Florida), Flywheel is ready to apply that saying again.

I am definitely interested in seeing how the tournament pans out. UNC is looking very strong after Pres Day but they still lost to UNCW at QCTU. Wisconsin had a decent showing at PD but lost to Iowa this past weekend. In my time at Flywheel, I've never played Iowa so I am looking forward to seeing a new team with familiar players. Harvard lost #2 Jenny from their roster who was their go-to player from last year and I am unfamiliar with NC State this year. Who knows how our pool will turn out except you can expect some good battles.

This is not that in depth of a post. I had a 10 minute break before class and I realized I haven't posted in a while. Maybe I'll post something later

Easterns - let's go

Pres Day Recap

UCSD:
UCSD was a fun team to play against. They had some good players and some newer players, but they were very spirited throughout the game. THey mostly played a vert stack with looks to their two best cutters, #4 and #17. We played a poachy defense on their vert stack but they learned how to throw over and around our poaches. Their two handlers were also very good and relentless, always looking to get the disc back after a cutter got it. We didn't look too strong in this game, so I'm glad it was our first. We were able ot get our drops and bad throws/decisions out of the way so we could focus on our next games. We had a three hour bye at the end of the game due to being at the backup fields. So we went to Panera, had a study part/nap sesh, and headed back to the fields a few hours later

WESTERN WASHINGTON:
We Were able to see a little of the UCLA?Western Washington game and noticed that #12 on Chaos was involved in many of the plays. We looked to do a special zone focused on her but she was only played D points and then stopped playing for the rest of the game. We traded a few in the beginning but then were able to pull it out. Tee wind got quite strong during this game but we were able to work it upwind a few times for the breaks. Again, it was a pleasant game to play except for the cold rain that was beginning to form.

UCLA:
Two years ago, UCLA broke our hearts at Nationals. The few of us still on the team from that year remember that loss adn have always wanted to beat them since then. Additionally, one of our handlers, Finn, played there while doing undergrad so she especially wanted ot beat them. Flywheel came out strong and showed them that we were not going to be easily beaten. #23 is a great player. Not only does she have great throws and catching abilities, but she never let emotion get in the way. She was modest and friedly yet fierce and intense when she played. IT was a lot of fun to mark up against her. Additionally, #7 is a strong cutter and will draw the foul when looking to break the mark. Off a stopped disc they liked to get it to the breakside and off to a huck. They knew how to break a poachy zone against their vert stack so we stuck to man and threw a few various zones to mix things up. At the end of the game is whe the rain and hail started hardcore, making us very cold and uncomfortable.

WISCONSIN:
THe whole day we were really looking forward to play Wisconsin. We didn't play them at all last year and wanted a chance to play against a fellow Midwest team. Wisconsin had a bye before our game so while they had to warm up in the rain, they had not played for a while in the rain - which proved to be an advantage because they scored the first three. Flywheel was cold and wet and Wisconsin took advantage but Flywheel was not going to allow that to continue throughout the rest of the game. We fought back and traded points for a while. Towards the end of the game, the rain and wind had stopped but everyone was still really cold. The score was 5-7 when the soft camp went on making it a game to 9. We knew we had to fight and dig deep to win the game. After an extremely long point with great D's and fortunate drops by Wisco, we were able to pull out a point. Then hard cap went on making it a 6-7 game. Flywheel had to score the next point in order to force a universe point. However, Wisconsin was able to put it away. For the most part Wisco was looking to get it on the open side. A few times they went for the I/O or the around break, but really they were looking to the open side. Of course they hucked it deep a few times but did not always connect on them. They tried to poach off our handlers when we were on offense, but we were able to use that to our advantage. It was a sad loss but we were happy to get in the warm car and drive all the way back to San Diego - 2 hours away.

UNC:
After the pool play games on Saturday, we were seeded into a power pool with UNC, Wisco, adn UCSB. Our first game was against UNC who we had beaten at CCC in the fall by 3 points. We were excited to play them again because we knew what they liked to do on offense and defense and knew the matchups to take. However, UNC came out rolling and scored three quick points off of hucks, mostly from Leila. Then they came down in a zone that Flywheel had never really seen before. Mentally, we had dug ourselves into too big of a hole and played like we gave up. We started to get some offensive flow when we started opening the lines up more (definitely a learning point from this weekend). UNC's handlers loved to fake the forehand and then whip out a nice backhand huck. For the most part they played ho-stack looking to get it deep off of the hucks. Additionally they knew how to use the rules which definitely affected our team. We were bullied into a few calls and it got into our heads. Final score was 3-13. Handler Leila and cutter Britt were the two that played the best in that game against us. My freshman year we lost to them in Feb and beat them at Nationals. My sophomore year we lost to them in March and beat them at Nationals. I'm seeing a trend?

UCSB:
We were definitely excited to play Santa Barbara but our energy was a little low from the previous loss. Personally I've always enjoyed playing this team - they are spriited, run hard, fight hard, and work hard. We traded points in the beginning (5-7 at half) but the Skirts ran away with it 8-13. I sat out for that half due to my foot and quad hurting and tired to take note of that game. We played pretty good defense but could not capitalize on our chances. Our offense had hit a stall and plays weren't being run effectively, throws weren't being executed, and everyone looked a little sloppy. I was surprised to see Madaras (#14) handling for most of the game. I remember her being a dominant cutting force last year at Naitonals so we were prepared for that. She is s till a good player, but definitely more effective downfield. The game finally ended - blah.

SONOMA STATE:
The team had a motto going into this game: "Game time. Fun time. Win time" and I would like to say that it worked - but then I would be lying. We came out strong against Sonoma scoring the first few but their team kept fighting back. Brinn (#13) and Maggie (#4) definitely ran the show. Sometimes Brinn would handle and other times she would cut. They got it deep on us a few (too many) times to keep the score close. Additionally our defense was almost non-existent at times. There were many mis-ommunications that lead to easy scores for them, which is definitely not acceptable. We were ahead adn couldn't pull out the W. We lost on universe and boy did that hurt. We didn't allow for ourselves to be sorry for too long so we quickly decided on a taco place to eat, cheered for RIGOBERTO (the name of the taco shop), and drove off. The night ended in Flywheel bonding over M&Ms and lots of Flylove being shared.

ARIZONA:
Turning to the next day, we wanted our team to be happy about spending the money on plane flights. That meant we had to play well and (hopefully) win. I sat out all of Monday due to pain in my foot so I got to witness Flywheel's transformation. We played Arizona and won 14-12. Prelsnik (#%) is their main handler. She has great throws and pretty hucks. Their handlers looked to get it on the give-go and then to the huck. We opened up our lines completely because our starting seven just weren't getting it done the previous days. Our rookies played amazing and it was great to see that! Even though the score was close, Flywheel always felt in control and there was no "bad nervous" energy out there.

CARLETON:
This was, by far, Michigan's best game of the weekend. Flywheel came out strong and never looked back. We stifled them on offense with great handler D. This caused them to put up throws high in the stall count, but our positioning was just right in order to D them. They tried to throw a zone on us (something that destroyed us last year at Centex) but our handlers broke through it with ease. The team really came together during this game - the sidelines, the coaches/captains, the offense, and the defense. Final score was 13-5. It was a great end to the weekend - something that is going to propel us into Spring Break and then Easterns.

CONCLUSIONS AT THE END OF THE WEEKEND:
1. Our rookies are awesome. We didn't open up lines as much as we wanted to the first two days and that was our mistake. They proved themselves and I can't wait to see what happens at our next few tournaments.
2. For the most part, our zone offense was great. The past few years, Flywheel has not been able to break though zones. But this year - that is definitely different. The only team that caused us trouble was UNC. We figured out how to break their zone towards the end but it was too little, too late.
3. All of the teams we lost to were/are beatable. We weren't blown away by one team in particular. I can't wait to face them again after Flywheel has had some time to practice outdoors.
4. Our team is basically awesome. I was disappointed and upset after our loss on universe in pre-quarters but my team did not allow anyone to be sad or upset. We turned it around and had a great night. Additionally we had to play in the rain and hail and wind but no one really complained. FlyLove was all around.

Watch out Women's Ultimate - Flywheel is getting strong and ready for our tournaments and new opponents.

Time Spent On Ultimate

Whenever I talk to my dad on the phone, I am always telling him of new developments on my team, details on the tournament I'm about to attend, or a recap of the tournament weekend. He always manages to ask, "Do you still have enough time for school and studying?" I, of course, always reply yes whether that is 100% the truth or not (*Most of the time it is. I am not saying that I purposely lie to my dad all the time).

It got me thinking about how much time do I ACTUALLY spend on Ultimate or Ultimate related things. So this past week I decided to write down everything I do throughout the day and how long each activity lasts.

The results were, at first, surprising, but then when I actually looked at it - they weren't that surprising.

After writing down everything I broke it down into 5 categories:
1. Ultimate: Practice, throwing outside of practice, debriefing about practice with my roommate Bemu, planning practices, answering emails, reading Ultimate sites (RSD or Sky'd for example), scouting other teams for our upcoming tournament, etc
2. Homework/Study: Self-explanatory. This is how much time I am physically doing homework or studying for an exam/presentation/class
3. Work: I work in the Natural History Museum on UMich's campus and this is just the time I spend there per week. Granted, this number changes depending on the number of tours per week but I think it is about the same per week
4. Physical Therapy: I was tempted to include this in my 'Ultimate' category. But I did not get surgery because of Ultimate so I figured I have to include it in its own category.
5. Other: Hanging out with the roomies, playing Jeopardy with the roomies, watching TV, doing nothing, taking naps. (Note that this does NOT include actual sleep. The graph is just for my time spent when I am awake)


So, in conclusion, I do not spend most of my time doing Ultimate related things. However, when it is broken down into specifics, Ultimate definitely takes up the most amount of time. But honestly, I am okay with that. This is my life. I love the sport, the culture, the people, the teams. I would be a little nervous if my "Homework/Study" category was a significantly lower percentage. But I am doing just fine in school so it does not matter that I am spending more time with Ultimate. At the end of the day, this semester has been awesome and I'm extremely happy. And that can only mean that the amount of time I spend doing certain activities is, at the least, alright

How do you compare?

Ask yourself "Why?"

I'm sitting in lecture of one of my favorite classes right now. It is a class about WW2 in the Pacific and our professor mentioned the analytical approach of Japan's strategy in the years leading up to Pearl Harbor. This made me start thinking about Ultimate, obviously. To really make yourself a better Ultimate player or Ultimate leader, you really need to analyze situations carefully and not just look at them. The big question you need to ask yourself is, “Why?”

We’ve all had the experience of seeing someone play on the field and think, “I wish I could play Ultimate like that!” You notice either the throws, the defense, the skies, or any combination of those or other skills. You then decide it is going to be your goal for the next few weeks, or the rest of the year, to be able to throw like _____, play defense like ____, or sky like _____.

However, you will not make a lot of progress unless you ask yourself “Why?”. Why are those players good? What are they doing that allows them to excel on their team or against other opponents? And the answer isn’t simple like “He/She breaks the mark”. You really have to look at the player’s fakes, the body motion, the vision of that player, and the actual mechanics of the throw. Do not just look at the skill but how and why the player is good at that skill. Analyzing the situation can only make you better. It is only after this when you can start to improve your game.

The same question applies when discussing strategies for your opponents. Your opponents huck a lot. Okay noted. But why? Is it that the throwers are relentless and going to huck no matter what? Do the throwers get the disc and huck it before the mark is put on? Are the cutters always going deep on a turn? Analyzing the smaller tendencies of a team will only help your strategy. Another situation: Our opponents keep beating us up the line – we need to stop that. Okay noted. But why? Are the opponents faking going for the dump? Are we, as defenders, on our heels and not expecting it? Are we in bad positions or not keeping enough cushion to defend the up the line?

As a Ultimate player looking to improve your skills or a captain/coach looking to beat an opponent, you cannot just look at the big picture. Nor can you just look at a smaller picture. You need to look at the SMALLEST picture, and analyze the situations at hand, in order to fully succeed.

When injured...

Back story:
Its been 5 1/2 weeks since we started practice for the winter season and unfortunately I feel like I've only been practicing for 1 week. August 2nd I got reconstructive foot surgery (bunionectomy plus a double osteo-something or other) on my right foot. My foot looked somewhat like this and I was fed up of having pain in my foot, shoes not fitting right, and a resulting knee pain from compensating. This was discovered my junior year of high school but I kept putting it off until this year. I wanted my senior season to be incredible and by fixing my foot, I felt like I could be a better athlete. The date Aug 2 was decided upon. 2-3 weeks in crutches, 1-2 weeks in a boot, 1-2 weeks recovering and BOOM - I'm good to go on Sept 20.

However, complications occurred.

To make a long story short and spare you from all of the yummy details about my tendons and bones, crutches and the boot were finally removed 18 weeks after surgery on Nov 24 but I was only allowed to start running on my foot Dec 22. Even now, 7.5 weeks after that occurred, I still cannot bend my big toe all the way which makes running and jumping extremely difficult.

I want so badly to play at 100% with my teammates but I cannot yet. Little movements like marking and sprinting are incredibly hard to do which makes playing Ultimate not the easiest task. I didn't think my senior season was going to be spent on the sidelines. Granted, there is still a long time before the Series and I have time to recover - but it is still annoying.

I've definitely had times of being a Negative Nancy where I've thought I will never be able to bend my big toe again, not being able to run as fast, or start to digress and become a terrible Ultimate player. Surprisingly though, I have found some positives amidst the standing on the sidelines. If you are injured, I encourage you to take part in the following activities:

1. Watch the field. Many times on the sideline I have just watched the movement of the disc. But you need to do more than just that. You need to watch how players are setting up their cuts, how they are moving down the field, and how the defense is responding. Understanding patterns and timing can only help improve your game. All of this time on the sideline has really helped me evaluate my game in comparison to what I am seeing - which is extremely helpful, especially for when I eventually get back out there at full force.
2. Cheer your heart out. You have no excuse not to cheer for your team when injured (of course if you have gone mute, I will give you a pass). If you are remaining positive and encouraging your teammates when they are playing, it will only help them. Many times in the fall, either at Fall Brawl or CCC, I found myself out of breath. Not because of running up and down the sidelines (crutches make that kind of difficult...) but because I was cheering my teammates on. Everyone appreciates it and it is something anyone can do, regardless of skill, talent, or athleticism. Just bring a loud voice!
3. Talk to your players. While you may not be able to make a great catch or throw to impact the game, you can definitely change the outcome from the sidelines. Assign yourself to talk each point to someone (I require that everyone on my team do so regardless of injury status - but especially do so if you are injured) and let them know what is going on. On the mark let them know if it is an inside throw or an around throw. In the backfield, let them know if there is a threat deep or in. Call "UP!" or "Strike!" or other informative things. If you can successfully talk to your girl, and she responds, you can really change the outcome of a game
4. Take care of yourself. There have been so many times where I have wanted to play or push myself a little more but really I shouldn't. I would rather be 100% for the Series because I was careful during the season than be 70% at Natties because I tried to help my team win a few games at Pres Day, Easterns, or Centex. This is WAY easier to say than do because I've already violated it during our Michigan Indoor. I really should not have played one point but all I wanted to do was get out there and play for the first time since College Nationals. Since then, I have tried to be really good at this and have limited the amount I play and what I do. Pres Day is coming up and I should really read this post 88395285 times before then and 2989374982 during the weekend
5. Work out in a way that is beneficial. If you cannot run, try biking or swimming. If you cannot move your shoulders, try squats or lunges. Working on your core is really easy to do since there are so many different exercises. Do things to keep you somewhat in shape - it will only make your return that much easier.

I'm sure there are more things to do when injured, but I need to stop procrastinating. Studying about Malaria and Small Pox is calling my name. Lucky me

Winning badly vs. Losing greatly

If it is a close game, you want your best players on the field. However, what happens if they are not playing up to standard? What if they are throwing the disc away many times on errant hucks but you know they can throw that I/O off a stopped disc to get it immediately to the break side? Or what if they are forcing bad decisions and causing confusion in the backfield but yet they can sky any girl out there? It is my personal opinion that if a player is not playing up to the team's standards, that player sits. I would rather lose the game 13-9 playing our best Ultimate than win 13-12 with us somehow scoring amidst all of the trash on the field. (Now, that might change if we were in the finals of the College Championships. I would like to say it wouldn't but honestly, who knows - I've never been there). It is a really tough call and I've found myself on both ends of the dilemma. I've been the player that sees all of the things going wrong on the field but still found myself sitting on the sidelines. But I've also been the player that when the game is tied and about to go into cap and I am not leaving the field.

Once I was elected captain, I read the book Bo's Lasting Lessons to get some leadership advice. It is a book written by one of the best, if not the best, Michigan Football coaches Bo Schembechler. In his writings he talked about this dilemma and how to choose between winning badly or losing greatly. I adopted his thinking after reading his book and I stand by that feeling. It does no good for your team if you can only win by having your best players out there forcing bad throws or decisions. It makes your practice time worthless. During practice you have a certain agenda and certain goals that you want your team to accomplish. You draw out a game plan and adopt a certain identity throughout the year. The people who deserve play time are the players that implement that into games. Your star players do not deserve to be on the field just because they can run faster, jump higher, or throw farther than other players. In fact, they do not deserve ANYTHING unless they earn it - just like anyone on your team.

I think it is essential for your program and its future if captains/coaches implement this. You have to follow by your words and encourage your rookies to try really hard at practice so they can get the valuable playing time. Like I've stated in my previous post, captains and other star players can be wrong. Just because you have been elected to a position or have been named All-Region does not mean anything if you can't play FOR YOUR TEAM. By playing for your team you are acknowledging when your star players aren't playing well or when your rookies actually are playing to your system. And it isn't just acknowledging, it is acting upon it as well. It is really easy to get in the mindset of "Well, I know we aren't dumping and swinging and we are making terrible decisions with the disc but ____ can throw better than almost any other player on the opposite team so we are just going to let her work out her kinks on the field" - or something of the like. Players can work out their kinks on the sideline after you talk to them about what they are doing wrong. Additionally by doing this, you are putting trust in your other players to make the plays as stated in game plans or practices. Putting trust in EVERYONE on your team is essential for a championship caliber team. And really, it is essential for a successful team whether you make it to Natties or not.

So I challenge all the teams out there to implement this. (Of course, that is if you agree with this post. If you do not, well - you are entitled to your own opinion.) It will help the development of your team throughout the season as well as in the next year as well. You need to put trust in your rookies and you need to not let your star players run all over the place. Keep your team balanced and shoot to be a better team, not just to win.

When you are wrong

Congratulations - you were just elected to a leadership role. Your teammates believe in you and trust you to lead a their team into its next season. You feel pretty good about yourself knowing you having this trust and confidence working for you.

But hey, guess what? You can be wrong. About a lot of things.

Just because you are in a leadership position does not make you infallible. I feel too often leaders do not realize this and walk around on a high horse. You were elected to a certain position because of your capabilities and your teammates' trust you can get things done, but you have to realize when you are wrong.

This can be done in a variety of ways but it needs to be done. You need to have your coach (or fellow captain, experienced player) tell you when you are not performing on the field. Last weekend at our Indoor Tournament, I realized I was telling the team not to get beat up-line or protect the around, etc but I was not following through in my words. I told our sub caller to not put me in for a little (also because my foot was in throbbing pain) as a short of self-check. One person is not the best at everything and each person needs to realize that. If you play thinking you are the best, you will not be able to take criticism and consequently you will never improve your game.

Part of being a good leader is acknowledging when you are wrong and fixing that. Using the phrases, "I'm sorry","my bad", or something of the like goes a long way. It shows your team that you do care about them and it isn't just about you.

This doesn't just go to elected leadership. This goes to all of the players on your teams. You may have a stud on your team who for whatever reason wasn't elected to the position you hold, but he/she can still be wrong too. I feel it is more than okay to pull your star player if he/she is not playing to the team's style. EVEN IF HE/SHE IS SCORING ALL OF THE GOALS. I will definitely write on this point at a later date because I feel strongly about that topic - but right now, just realize your star players can be wrong as well.

I'm not quite sure if what I'm writing is self-explanatory or not. I'm in the middle of reading 287 pages about pirates in the Atlantic waters in the 1700s and needed a break and a reminder that I'm in the 21st century.

Michigan Indoor Tournament Recap

As I'm laying on my bed icing my foot and feeling like poop, I realized it would be a great opportunity to write about this past weekend - our Michigan Indoor Tournament held at our own indoor facility. We had six total teams in attendance: Michigan, Michigan B, Northwestern, Indiana, Northwestern, and Michigan State. Basically, this was a tournament with most of the teams from the Great Lakes Region who will be vying for a spot at Nationals at Regionals.

Indiana:
Flywheel's first game was against Indiana. I felt really bad because they got lost on the way and there was a basketball game AND a hockey game so parking in Ann Arbor was atrocious. They got to the fields with 20 minutes before game so they had a very short warm up. However, they came out firing and scored the first point. Flywheel was not going to let them happen again and came back to tie it up and to then take a lead and never look back. The final score was 13-3 in Flywheel's favor. Indiana shows a lot of promise. #1 is a left-handed handler who has great awareness for the game of Ultimate. She can put up some nice hucks and is not afraid to break the mark. #99 is one of their go-to receivers. She is tall, can catch, and put up decent throws. Overall they were a decent team. I feel with development they can be a big competitor in the region. This is not trying to diss on them of course, but rather to just explain our game against them. They will put up hucks, and while they may not be textbook throws, they can come down with the catches that matter.

Michigan State:
We then turned to Michigan State for our next game. The final score was 13-3 but it felt a lot closer than that. Flywheel was playing in the Infamous way which is more frantic and hectic. This caused our offense to act like they were on speed and make bad decisions and throw many things away. Additionally, Infamous brought a big sideline to cheer their girls on, while definitely throwing in some heckling, however appreciated that can be... Our rookies were able to learn about certain foul calls during this game which added to the learning experience of the whole weekend. After addressing a few issues, we finally settled down and got into our rhythm. Notable players on their team include Scheidt (#6), Kotsiris (#8), and one more of their handlers. I can't quite remember her number but she had dark blonde hair and could break the mark nicely. But next time, lets keep the game a little more spirited, eh?

Notre Dame:
(*I was just informed that this was the Notre Dame X squad - they still haven't decided on a roster yet)
Moving on to day 2, we faced the Womb of Notre Dame. Last year we lost to them at Regionals on Universe point because we lost the flip in an extreme upwind/downwind game. This year, we were not going to let them beat us with zero wind. The first half took an hour to play (7-3 Flywheel at half). Again, Flywheel lost its identity and played according to Notre Dame's style. They had one handler (shorter with long brown hair) who had forehand hucks that reminded me of butter - so smooth! Additionally they had a commanding presence in one of their backfielders (name of either Katie, Kathryn, Megan, or Molly - helpful I know...). For those people facing Notre Dame - she has longish blonde hair and every time I've seen her, she has been wearing shorter running shorts. Flywheel was inconsistent and not holstering. We have throwers who can huck it and we were forcing many throws that weren't there. After half, Flywheel finished the game in 15 minutes. A one hour half vs. a fifteen minute half... Obviously Flywheel figured out what to do and played our game.

Michigan B:
This game is always interesting. We love our B team and we want to keep the friendships there. However, they are just another opponent to us and we looked to beat them. The final score was 13-0. The spirit was maintained throughout and we had two rookie lines in which they each scored! Chelsea LeBlanc is an amazing handler on B team. Unfortunately she couldn't commit to A team because of time issues but boy would we love her! Her pulls are better than some of ours and she hucks it without fear. She is definitely their strongest player and hopefully she will be making big plays all year round.

Northwestern:
Flywheel was especially excited for Northwestern. We had been looking forward to this game for a while and got to our facility extra early to go over strategy for this game. We beat them last year at Regionals in Semis and wanted to keep our win streak over them. Flywheel and NW traded points all half but Gungho's break allowed them to take half 7-5. At half time we tried to figure out what was going wrong: our backfield defense was allowing too many in cuts and our handler defense was allowing too many strikes. We told the team at the beginning of the game that was their MO but yet they still beat us to it. Personally as a captain it was incredibly frustrating. I wanted to keep telling them not to get beaten in or up the line, but I was guilty of those things - as well as many of our other experienced players. We took a big breath at half and really analyzed their offense vs. our defense. We switched things up and took everyone's blinders off. Our team suddenly had field awareness and understood some key aspects about defense. We scored 8 unanswered points to finish the game 13-7. While I am super happy we won, I feel that Northwestern lost to us rather than us beating them. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I feel that we almost got a little lucky. That will not do at our next tourney - Pres Day. Notable players obviously have to include #77 Sara Miller, #4 Lien Hoffman, and #8 Sarah Hong. Miller is a quick handler who has very good throws: both IO forehands and deep hucks. She is constantly involved in every play and is always looking for the disc. Hoffman is a great cutter who reads the disc expertly and catches very well, not to mention her great defense. Last year she was a cutter but today she handled for a few. I don't know if that was because they were short of handlers or because that is her new role. In any case, she definitely stood out. Hong is another solid cutter with amazing hands, snagging loopy discs from the air.

So to recap our weekend, Flywheel went 5-0. We feel confident going into practice knowing what we have to work on and what works well for us. We have three short weeks before Pres Day and will be busting everyone's butts in order to make an impact in the Cali tournament.

Stressin'

I would like to say that I lead a pretty exciting, or at least busy, life. Granted many times at night or on the weekend you can find me lounging in my sweatpants watching football or just sprawled out on the couch discussing extremely mundane things with my five other housemates. But in general, I would say that I am a pretty busy person.

Last year was the first time when I REALLY became busy. I was elected captain last year and took it upon myself to do everything possible. While that was a good goal to do, that was completely unrealistic. I wound myself extremely thin trying to accomplish everything by myself without asking anyone on my team, let alone my other captain, to help me with things. My relationships suffered and in the end, I was not completely happy with everything. When elected captain again this year, I decided to not do that again.

Yesterday, I found myself stressing out to the max. I realized I was stressing when my roommate for three years came into the kitchen and I found myself extremely annoyed for no reason. Or when I was walking in the house and tripped over our living room rug and got mad at my other housemates. Or when I was getting peeved at KRAFT for making their boxed macaroni and cheese in not a good way. Obviously something else was the matter and it wasn't all of those crazy, ridiculous things.

It was then when I looked at my list of things to do and realized I had too much on there. I was trying to coordinate our Indoor Tournament, find a place to stay for Spring Break, search for plane flights, answer all of my team's emails, brainstorm different fundraisers, and figure out our team budget all while trying to read 123 pages about shipbuilding in the colonies in the 17th century and retain every bit of detail about it. Turns out we have a treasurer to figure out the budget, a fundraising chair to come up with details, my other captain to help with emails, and other members of the team that can look up SB destinations.

I would like to say that I grow as a person each year, especially between last year and this year. No one really wants to say they digressed between two years or stayed the same, so I'm going to say that yes, indeed, I did grow. Last year I would have continued to get mad at my roommate, pissed at my housemates, and might have even written to KRAFT making them aware of my annoyances with them. I would have done all of those while still keeping my task level the same.

This year, however, I am doing things differently. Instead of keeping everything to myself, I delegated tasks among the leadership of the team as well as our rookies as well. After doing so, I found myself a lot less stressed and lot more happy (I mean a decent amount of that could have something to do with my boyfriend getting back from class and making some oh so delicious potatoes... but also from delegating). So I encourage anyone in a leadership position to do just that: DELEGATE. For one, you will learn about your teammates and their strengths and weaknesses. But additionally, you will be putting trust in your teammates which can only make your team stronger. And finally, you will find yourself a lot less stressed so you can deal with things you are supposed to and focus your times to being the leader you were elected to be.

I'm not going to say you will never be stressed - because it WILL happen. You will have delegated every possible task and have aced your last exam, but you will still find yourself wanting to rip your hair out. But no worries. Take a deep breath and relax. This time will pass and when your tasks are accomplished, you will feel great.

(I should try to reread this post about 50 times this season...)

Goal Setting

Last night we had our first team meeting where we laid out our goals for the season. I find this to be extremely crucial for every team to do but I found myself asking why? I've done this every year I've been on the team and people tell me its something good to do - but really why is that? I ventured into the inner depths of my mind to come up with some answers to that question.

Without realizing it sometimes, setting goals allows you to assess the personnel you have on your team. Your goal cannot be to win Nationals realistically if you have an extremely inexperienced team with not the largest skill set. While you should always try to reach for the highest possible outcome, there is something to be said about being realistic while doing so. Flycc (our coaches and captains) came up with the goal to make it at least to semis of Nationals. We were able to even come up with this goal because we realized who we have on our team and potential we possess. Last year, in contrast, our goal was to just MAKE it to Nationals. We had only 6 returners on our team (and as much as I loved everyone on the team, none of them were self-proclaimed stars) and only 7 rookies by the beginning of April to round out our roster to 13. Unfortunately during sectionals, Tots tore her ACL dropping our roster to 12. When discussing our team goals we realized we were full of potential but realistically could not make it extremely far at Nationals because of the team strength/size. While I was definitely hoping to prove that wrong, we did have to be honest with ourselves. We ended up tying for 11th place and boy, that was an accomplishment! So long story short - creating a final team goal helps you analyze the players you have while allowing you to create a plan in order to achieve that goal. Also, make sure your goal is measurable. "My goal is to have our team do well". While yes, I would like that, it is not an effective goal at all. Instead change it to something like, "My goal is to have our team place first at Regionals so we get a bid to Nationals". Make sure its measurable

At the end of the day, you are either going to achieve your goal or not achieve it - in layman's terms: Fail or Win. I always get nervous when setting goals, especially team goals, because what would happen if we fail? If we don't make it to semis at Nationals, does that mean our season was a fail? Obviously the answer is no, but that is a common thought that goes through most people's mind (Well, I'm assuming here that people think a certain way. Of course, I could be extremely wrong and instead of making an ASS out of U and ME, I would only be making an ASS out of myself). But would does happen if you don't reach the goal? Throughout the whole season your team is working towards a certain level. Even if you never reach that, at least you tried - and got better on the way there.

Goals hold you and your teammates accountable for something. You can have many many goals throughout the season such as: Our goal is to make sure the girls understand ho stack at the end of this practice, OR Our goal is to kick everyone's butts showing them how out of shape they are, etc etc. It is important to have a lot of goals to keep everyone (especially the team leadership) on the same page and focused on a specific outcome.

At the end of the meeting, I asked all of the girls to write down four goals - two for offense and two for defense, one tangible and one intangible thing. These are not necessarily meant to be shared with everyone but I extremely like it. For one, like I said previously, it holds me accountable. If I am not working hard at achieving my goals, I am letting down my teammates. Additionally it allows me to track my progress throughout the season. If my tangible goal were to get better at low release I/O flicks and I saw myself throwing them in games (and completing them!!) then I would know I have been doing a good job at it. And then obviously if I'm not throwing them in games then I know I still have to work at that, etc.

So moral of the post is to create goals with your team and by yourself. They are good. They will bring good things. Your team, as a result, will do good things. You will feel good.

Good. Good.