Thoughts.

For those of you who are international or not on the UPA’s mailing list, there’s been a massive rebranding and website redesign; check out USA Ultimate (formerly the Ultimate Player’s Association)’s new site.

It’s a long-overdue change; clearly new CEO Tom Crawford and his recent hires are intending to really propel the program and sport forward in a big way.

The trend I’m most curious to follow: will their new forums supplant RSD? (They’re looking for moderators, if you’re eager to have a hand in it).  There remain kinks to be worked out (for one, the lack of e-mail address privacy/username use is a little upsetting), but it’s great to see the UPA-er, USAU–making efforts to create a more interactive and informative site for its members.

I’ve yet to play around with all the features, but I’m definitely eager to see USA Ultimate’s continued outreach.  How do you feel about the whole shebang?

Partially sunburnt: nose, ears, back of neck, potentially forearms & cheeks

Layout D’s made: 1

Times point blocked: 1 (This is why I should never make IO huck attempts)

Days of ultimate: 3

Total Games Played: 6
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1. Renew your UPA membership.  With electonic waivers, you can do it all now and forget about last-minute scrambles come series time, plus you’re a member in time to get all the copies of USA Ultimate.  Apologies to international readers who aren’t beholden to the UPA.
2. Get your fitness in gear.  The Huddle has a nice piece by Xi Xia talking about Crossfit; longtime readers will know that I’m a huge proponent of Crossfit, and I highly recommend that you look to get into it if you want a comprhensive general physical preparedness routine for your off-season training.If you’re in season (ie college), you can definitely benefit from incorporating some strength work to your practice and other training routine.  A while back I posted the routine we used at Dartmouth several years ago; it’s a solid place to start from if you’ve never lifted before, or are otherwise looking to ease into in-season training.
3. Play ultimate.  Hopefully this is the easy one!  I’ve got coaching at Vegas and dominating in Hawaii to help me get my fix this winter (and a bit of training motivation for #2).  Hope you’re finding satisfying pursuits, too!

It always bears repeating that good goal-setting practices, keeping the process in mind as well as the end result, will help you achieve the ends you desire, ultimate or otherwise.  Best of luck with keeping your resolutions!

Lots of words devoted to open previews; haven’t seen as much on the other divisions (feel free to chime in in the comments if you’ve found other material). Check:

UCatch (Open)
Pool A
Pool B
Pool C
Pool D
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Continuing from the last post:

Enough Monkeys (4): Story of the tournament (or at least, my favorite story of the tournament). Hailing from Hanover, my second home, the Monkeys are probably the chillest team in ultimate. On the strength of their practice style–no drills, just scrimmage–and their strategy–zone, zone, and, if that doesn’t work, more zone (but sometimes man)–they are perhaps one of the best examples of chemistry over ability. Not to say that they’re incapable in the slightest, as they have a number of very talented players, but more emphasis is placed on team function than any individual (they don’t, for instance, do track workouts), and their way can carry them pretty far in the right (windy) conditions.
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(I’ll leave commentary on the other divisions to those who saw more than I; Ballometrics had games for most of the time I was in Devens. Check U Catch and Josh Mullen.)

I’ll try and give impressions by order of finish:
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In the wake of the recent appointment of a managing director of business and communication, along with Tom Crawford’s appointment as the new Executive Director, the description of either’s job experience inspires confidence and raises a question:

Is the UPA hoping to win ultimate inclusion in the Olympics?

Certainly this is something that would come well down the line, but Tom Crawford has a lot of experience working with the United States Olympic Committee (more here), and Chuck Menke has Olympic experience as well (more), primarily as a media coordinator for the US hockey programs.

Whether it’s feasible or not is not something I’m prepared to comment on at depth, but my guess is that any efforts to this end are still a ways off (with growing the sport, establishing a clear structure for officiation, etc as priorities over the next 5+ years).

That said, if ultimate is ever going to join the Olympic pantheon, it certainly would help to have people who have an insider’s perspective on how Olympic sports work, to say nothing of the utility of all the contacts both men no doubt have (I’m led to wonder if Chuck’s appointment isn’t a direct result of Tom’s influence, actually–surely the two men were acquainted, from their prior work).

It may just be a coincidence; after all, given our sport’s structure (largely amateur, relatively young and growing on a grassroots level), the biggest and best examples to follow would be Olympic sports. It’d be a great sign, however, if the UPA was forward-thinking enough to at least have future Olympic inclusion on the radar; here’s hoping.

Really big*.

Seeded fourth, should’ve been seeded third, finished third. This weekend was an exercise in taking care of business.

Saturday was rainy and chilly. (I’ve forgotten how capricious New England weather gets). We started off fairly sluggishly in pool play, but used our early games as an opportunity to seek out and hone our offensive strategies, pressing on through miscues and bad-weather drops/throws.
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