Thoughts.

Phew. Quite the weekend.

Two days of full ultimate–4 games on Saturday and Sunday–and then 1 last game to cap it off on Monday. Boy, are my dogs tired. Dartmouth went 4-5 on the weekend, 5-5 if you count our win by default over UChicago on Monday. We were 3-1 in universe point games (4-0, if you subtract a play by this guy, more on that later), which was a good sign, though we also lost a couple games by fair margins that we really shouldn’t have to UChicago on Saturday and Tufts on Monday.

But hey, that’s how it went down. Take what’s happened for what it’s worth and build on it. For a pretty well-depleted squad of Dartmouth players that was missing over half of its studs we certainly didn’t embarass ourselves.

I’ll go through the tourney game-by-game.

Saturday:
vs Colorado- My first point in (second point of the game, D point), we forced a turn from Colorado with our zone near the zone and were primed to get the break. I made the first cut, got open against Beau [EDIT: according to Crewser, game film was checked and it was, in fact, Colorado's Beau look-alike, and not Beau himself, I got open on. Meh well, I would've gotten open either way], and was poised to make the catch in the endzone, but the throw was a little long and out of bounds. Having committed to getting the disc, I was in accelerate-to-layout mode, but couldn’t slow in time as the disc went out and wound up making a sort of half-assed fall-layout-thing, bruising the palm of my left hand (which still hurts) and tearing my red plaid skirt I was planning to make a statement with. I feel like this is a pretty good analogy for the tourney as a whole–flashes of potential, but ultimately lacking in proper execution and ending up a bit worn down. We came out fairly strong for it being our first game of our first tourney in a good while (Williams Turf Invite notwithstanding), but were still pretty flat, and Col got several breaks on us while our first opportunity to break was probably our best. 13-5 or so, Colorado.

vs. UChicago- I don’t have too much to say about this game. Saturday in general was a very flat day for the team, and for me–I don’t know if it was the heat, the sun bearing down, the lack of sleep Thursday on the flight over, the 1 1/2 of practice in the sun on Friday, or what, but probably 80% of the tourney as a whole I was playing feeling like I had no juice, no fire to kick my game up to the next level. This would be an adequate way of summing up our game against Chicago, as they went up a couple breaks and never really looked back. I think the final score was 13-9 Chicago or something like that.

vs. UMass- Just what we wanted, a regional matchup early in a tourney we flew across the country to play in. While we had a bit more fire for this game, we still didn’t have enough to get ‘er done. No idea what the final score was, but we dropped this game and dropped out of the top-tier (top 32 team) bracket.

vs. San Diego State University (I think that’s what SDSU stands for)- This game was under the lights, as the sun had already set. We played better this game. I felt pretty strong throughout the game, due in part to the bye beforehand and also due to the cooler temperature, I think. Personal highlights include a very nearly disastrous play where I spiked the disc after milking a pass into the endzone that turned out to be a pass that was contestably on the line rather than past it. Worked out all right, thanks to sideline support from Pov and good persuasion from Seigs, and one would have hoped that I’d learn my lesson from that and start checking line more carefully. Not so. Anyways, we won this game on universe point, SDSU threw zone and a couple redonkulous hammers and cross-field floaters later we’d shredded the zone and salvaged a bit of dignity on the day. 11-10 or 12-11, Dart.

As an aside–Poverty called me out on “the cockiest spike I’ve seen since Seigs” after a (admittedly pretty sweet) sky against Cal on Sunday–I just want to say that when I spike the disc, it’s always the same upside-down, over-my-right-shoulder throw. It comes pretty naturally and has become my preferred method of getting rid of the disc after the score. The magnitude of the spike is not a reflection of cockiness as much as how pumped I am after making the play. I was real stoked about pre-emptively skying two guys who were closing behind me on a deep put, ergo, the force I put into the throw for the spike sent it really high. I was really surprised when I turned around after the play to find the disc was just on its way down. When I start busting out the curtsy spike (gonna have to put the skirt to use somehow), then you can call me cocky.

Sunday:

vs. Stanford B- we showed up flat to start this game, but fortunately Stanford was ill-equipped to take advantage of it. We rattled off a couple early breaks to give ourselves a nice cushion, but then we got lazy and Stanford gave us a wake-up call with a couple breaks. In the end we rolled them pretty hard though, coming out strong in the second half. 13-7, us, I think.

vs. Cornell- this was a tight game. Both teams did well to avoid getting broken for most of the game–I think we each got one break on the other, leading to a universe D point for Dartmouth. Highlights include lots of hucks to Elliott, mostly from Seigs, with a reversal of roles at one point where Ell put it to Seigs instead. In the end, Dart got it done on defense, taking universe point in a great game. 11-10, us, I think.

vs. Cal- An interesting parallel with last year’s winter tourney where Dartmouth beat Cal (who were defending Nat’l runner-ups), making a statement about the team’s strentgh. The game actually went pretty similarly this time, too, as we were poised to take half on Cal 7-3 or 7-4 on a break, as Seigs put a short gainer to me in the endzone. But–me, being a) confused about the precise field position and ergo, the endzone position, b) always eager to generate some good flow with a quick upfield continuation, and c) not having learned my lesson to check feet, quickly spun around and fired a backhand to Sunshine, who, also influenced by a), milked the throw out of the back of the endzone instead of into it, resulting in a turn on the continuation. Cal went on to get a couple breaks on our O before we took half, and we more or less traded points leading up to universe, where Dartmouth struggled repeatedly to seal the deal in the zone, with something like 5 turns before Cal managed to pull off the break and the win. A real tough loss, especially for yours truly, though I don’t really kill myself over the play. Little point in getting myself down over something like that that was a result more of confusion and less of any particular fault in my execution or judgment (though of course, I’ll make damn sure to be more aware in the future). 11-10 or 12-11, Cal (meh…)

vs. UMass, again- tough rematch. Probably one of the last teams we wanted to play again at this point in the tourney. But we stepped it up and avenged our previous loss, with solid zone D forcing a lot of turns and the D line converting on enough to keep Dartmouth in the game. This one wound up going to universe point too, since for some reason we seem to be incapable of beating A-teams without a one-point catalyst to force our hand, and we got it done this time. 12-11, us, I think.

Monday:

vs. Tufts- Disappointing game. We showed up shortly before the game, with little time to warm up…I was playing flat, I don’t know about how the rest of the team felt, but generally everybody seemed too detached. While we didn’t play poorly, we just didn’t have any fire. Even when we had timeouts, halftime, trying to get pumped up, the motivational speeches were all pretty flatline, matter-of-fact, and I found myself trying to picture a more rage-tastic Seigs and Yi getting pissed to try and get my adrenaline flowing to little avail. Started to get some of the fire our very last point, but I couldn’t put touch on a dump pass to Socks (my second botched dump of the game, the former being an upline to Zargham that got layout D’d–should’ve looked for a better option), causing the final turn on the endline (we had too many of those on the D line that game) as Tufts took the game 12-9 or so, I think.

vs. UChicago, round II- Chicago had to catch a flight home, so we wound up winning this one by default and without a fight. Kinda a lame way to end the tourney, though we did get to watch a lot of swilly hucks with some nice highlight-reel plays to get the goals in the Fla-Carleton finals.

General notes: On a personal level, I made a few looks I was perhaps not ready to execute on properly. I had more than a few throwaways. While some of the turns were not necessarily 100% my fault–things like tiredness of the cutter going for the disc come into play–I definitely should be able to make better puts to make those discs less contestable or easier for a cutter to chase down. Certainly my forehand needs more polish at all ranges–I’ve definitely lost some of my feel for it over the winter. Backhand is pretty solid, been working on my reach and extension to get a good around/IO break with it, not that I’m often in position to have to make those sorts of breaks. As a cutter, I had a couple drops/Ds due to poor execution on cuts. Again, not all the turns were 100% my fault, but there’s still lots of room for improvement. I had more than one turn because I was adjusting a cut, either cutting off a deep cut for a gainer or an open cut to streak deep as the disc moved, only to find the one with the disc put it to me on the first cut because I was open on it. I feel like I have a pretty good sense for the temporal and spatial limits of my effectivness on cuts, but sometimes it’s more prudent to stick with the open cut I have, rather than trying to adjust and make for a more effective cut–because open is still open, period.
On that note, I have a pretty good feel for how I played this weekend. Not up to my standards in terms of success, though overall it was a great learning experience. I really was in a position to be a much bigger playmaker than I’d previously been on the A-team level, and while I didn’t exactly flourish in my efforts, I didn’t flounder either. Just another stepping stone on my way up–an assessment that I think applies to the whole team. Everybody elevated their game, and I think we all got to see where our ceilings are right now. I’m certainly not satisfied with what I’ve got right now, and I doubt the rest of the team is either. With any luck, we’ll elevate our games as the season progresses, be that much more capable and effective as a team when our usual studs come back and push us down on the depth chart, and similarly we’ll be that much better prepared to take on larger roles in years to come for the experience we had this weekend.

That’s my hope, at least. I’ve written far more than enough about this already. In terms of non-ultimate Vegas action, I slept. Lots. Watched the Olympics. Mostly slept, though…1-2 subs on D means I played close to half our points for the tourney. Lots of 50-80yrd runs…

We rolled into Williams yesterday with a depleted squad (missing a handful of our offensive studs, most notably), itching for the chance to finally play some competitive ultimate after the weather and the D-plan had kept us all in limited disc-related activity for the better part of the last couple months.

A couple solid games, the first against Williams, which we lost, and the second against (an also-depleted-squad) UMass, which we won–or were winning, anyways, when the sudden downturn in the weather forced a hard cap–really, when you start out with relatively calm, clear weather, who wants to play in a hurricane? Not me.

Anyways, I had a great time. Played my ass off for two games. Definitely feeling the benefits of just a couple weeks’ conditioning; unlike the fall, where a consecutive point or a good sprint on O or D was enough to tire me, I was able to play strings of 3, 4 points, and have all sorts of speed and power left in the tank.

Played pretty solidly; led the team in D’s, according to Pov’s stat-keeping, and I was only a few inches away from a couple others. Which brings up point number one to improve upon–defensive awareness. Both of the near D’s I can remember came as a deep or wing in zone; in one of the situations better communication/responsiveness on my part would’ve put the defense in a much better position to make the play (there were two of us in contestable range, but he just had a step too much in his favor). The second situation was really more me needing to be more aware and not assume that hey, I’m within 5 yards of my man, I’ll D whatever they put to him–they hooked it around, I had to lay out essentially around him to get a hand on the disc. The same sort of stuff applies with being last back in the stack–I was in the right position a couple times, but was distracted by my man, or something that wasn’t the developing play, and missed the up of the disc and as such had less time to respond.
I also need to maintain focus a bit better, as I had a few turns I shouldn’t have. Got point-blocked my first touch of the tournament, and I have a history of first-touch turns. I had to mess around with my ankle brace a lot before we got going, cutting into ever-important tossing time before warmups, and though we did do a pre-game drill, it was a game simulation and I only touched the disc a couple times. I need to make a deliberate effort to throw with the disc, warm up my throws, and not come out playing careless. I also lost focus and had a drop later in our first game. I forget what it was, but my mind was a bit distracted, which is why I dropped it. My third and final turn was a drop of sorts; cutting in ho-stack, Crank put a lowish disc to my left (side my defender was on) and because I had to slow ever so slightly to bend over for the grab my man got past me for the D. Not entirely my fault, but there’s something to be said for setting up the cut better than I did.
What else…I was happy with how I played on O. Busted ass for the majority of my cuts, made a lot of good cuts, didn’t embarass myself with the disc. Even had a nice huck to Elliott that would’ve been a score if Ell hadn’t been fouled. I felt like I had pretty good stack awareness, as far as where the stack should be, when I was in good position to cut, etc. Defensively, outside of zone awareness I was pretty happy. No breaks on the mark that I can think of, generally kept my man out of the game when I wasn’t last back in man D…played a lot of deep/wing in zone, which worked pretty well, I think. Granted, I don’t think either team was particularly well-equipped to handle the zone, but hey, still good play time.

Outside of playing, had a decent time at the party. It was a bit sparse, but I got to put my ankle through the rigors of a dance floor (which it handled ably) and had a good time with my friends. Highlights include one of the Midd guys coming up to me and complementing me for being one of the few good ultimate players that isn’t afraid to wear flair (did I mention, the theme or the party was ‘porn star cliches’–I was an asian prositute, hair done up and wearing a pretty flowery oriental-style dress), and what was presumably a Williams player asking me at one point if I’d “like to get some Williams ass tonight” (I refused) and following with some complements on my play. I also got recognized by name by one of the zoodisc players when we were shaking hands after the game, which was really cool. I’m starting to feel like I’m gaining some legitimacy and recognition as a player, which is great.

But man, I am beat now. Had a couple pretty ridiculous layouts, including one in the first point of the first game in which I caught a disc by the sideline, realized I was falling off the turf and onto pavement, and dropped the disc to save my face by catching myself with my hands–they’re nice and scraped up on the palms, and I’m feeling all sorts of aches and pains in my legs and various areas of my core as well. The good news is, my ankle held up fine. Still needs more recovery/rehab, but it’s a good sign.

Good
Better consistency with cutting–better positioning and initiative
D, generally
O, generally
Conditioning
My Ankle Brace–easily the tourney MVP in my book.

Needs Improvement
Defensive awareness/communication, particularly in zone
Pre-game routine/Preperation/Focus

Frozen Disc of Death, what can I say…

I had a good time. Great time, even. Got to play with my class, which was really really nice. I’m loving the 08′s chances for sweeping classwars (finishing second only to the 06s amongst Dartmouth teams through no fault of our own)…

Anyhow, I played just fine, generally speaking; the weekend as a whole was a good confidence booster. The level of play is far lower than what I’d encounter playing at your average A-team tourney, so I wasn’t really getting pressured on the mark or cutting outside of the occasional Exceptional Player that would keep me honest. But I don’t think it was a bad thing at all in terms of practice; I got to work on my mark a bit, forcing more than a couple less-than-ideal throws that often ended in turns, got to work on my help D (we worked that really well by mid-saturday, it was a beautiful thing), getting many a sky on D, and got to work on my throwing a bit too, with some really nice hucks (also a few poor executions and poor decisions, but overall not bad). Wasn’t looking to play all that seriously, and I didn’t need to for most of the time, though I turned it up a notch every now and then.

It was really nice to be able to be a B-level stud again, tooling on the unfortunate masses (one of the highlights of today was a girl teasing “so how does it feel to sky a girl?” after I D’d her as last back. I opted for the neutral “Well, somebody had to” rather than “it feels good, real good.”). I did get carried away sometimes in terms of trying to make too many of the plays (though in my defense, I was making the plays more often than not), but it’s all in good fun.

The biggest highlight of the weekend, though, was being able to see, catch up with, and sky my old counselor, Dusty, of Pike fame. He’s got a monstrous forehand huck, I was studying his form a bit but I feel as though I’m lacking the requisite strength to throw that far at the moment. Lots of good heckling, when playing each other, when watching the other play different teams, and some decent conversation about this and that (with this being ‘ultimate’ and that being ‘frisbee’).

So much ultimate this weekend…a little burned out from all the play, but that won’t stop me from going out to practice. Need all the play time I can get…

Pretty good weekend. Lot of play, lot of good games, high-quality (or at least, not low-quality) competition to work on our game on. We went 3-0 on day 1, highlighted by a victory over Harvard in which they score the last point after hard cap to lose by a point (really weird way to end a game), 12-11. Day 2 saw a pretty good steamrolling of Tufts, and then an epic semis game with UMass Zoodisc where we were down 9-4 at one point before going on a 7-2 run to tie things up for universe before they scored again. A bit disappointing to have lost, but really not a disappointing game at all in my mind–we were down early and seemingly out, but we stuck to our guns (or perhaps more accurately, found our guns and started using them) and really swung momentum in our favor. It’s exactly the sort of mentality we need to keep in that sort of situation.

As an aside, I’ve been reading Buster Olney’s Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, and part of what was discussed as an attribute of the late 90′s Yankee dynasty was their utter, unrelenting confidence, the sense that, no matter the circumstance or opponent, if the Yankees were in a position to come back and win it, they would find a way to do it. The sort of chemistry and sense of team they had obviously played a role in their success; and it’s that sort of feeling that I think we’re capable of having on Dartmouth’s team as well. We just have to play hard, keep our heads up, and play our own game, and there’ll be few things that’ll keep us down.

Personally, I felt great over the course of the weekend. Came out flat in our first game against Roger Williams, a trait I think is common for Dartmouth in general, but after getting sufficient warm-up, proper adrenaline flow, and realizing that part of the soreness came from running up and down a slanted field, I played pretty well. Finally feeling like I’m getting a feel for Cabo, getting better about switching as a wing (after getting beaten several times in the first game), and running forces as the mark, which is good. Still lots of improvement to be had, but I wasn’t ineffective, generally speaking.

Only had one D on the weekend, I think, but it was a pretty sweet one by most recounts. I was a bit worried I was beaten on the play but I didn’t give up and wound up getting the D, which was sweet. Otherwise on defense, I had a pretty solid mark, didn’t get broken that I can remember, and though I did get beaten a couple times in man generally I held my own. I do need to work on my positioning though, particularly when I’m tired and can’t move quite as quickly as I’d like (though this’ll also go away with better conditioning; I’m real excited to train this winter).

Offensively, well, I had one turn on the weekend, and really it could almost count as a D as I mis-played the situation and wound up skying my teammate. Still don’t know why I didn’t just play conservative and look to get the mack, but we were playing Brown B so it wasn’t as crucial that we value the disc in that situation I suppose. Other than that, well, on Saturday, all of my touches (aside from the one turn) were either assists or scores, and on Sunday I only had a couple non-scoring touches (I caught a score or two), so I had pretty solid ratios despite a low touch count (such is the fate of D-line cutters). I do need to work on my cutting a bit though; several instances where I didn’t get the O going as a first cut or wasn’t doing great generating flow occured that I can remember, though I generally cleared out pretty quickly. I guess working on the cutting, and also just running all-out, too, as that made a big difference in a couple points where I was all fired up.

All in all, pretty good weekend, personally and from a team standpoint. I know some people weren’t happy with their play, but I think ideally we can focus on the positives, that we played well as a team and stepped it up when it counted, rather than get bogged down in the negative of a particular throw or missed catch.

Good
Improvement
Decision-making (in a limited role)
Fired-up play
Mark
Sky-ing in a couple instances

Needs Improvement
Cutting (as always)
D positioning, particularly when tired
Not skying own teammates
Conditioning

Went down to Yale this weekend to play one day of ultimate (bracket play got rained out, unfortunately). Dartmouth A went 4-0, but seeing as our closest competition was Northeastern in a 13-8 win by us, we really didn’t have a ton of very competitive games.

We did have a pretty good time though, despite the poor weather. And the women and Bness were there too, so we had a nice team-bonding sort of experience; the Bness went 2-2 without competitive subbing, while the women continued to be undefeated this year, winning yet another tourney (the women only had a one-day thing).

Anyways, I got lots of PT, particularly against Northeastern, and I played so-so.

As far as things I did well go. Offensively, I had no turns on the day (though I did have a near-throwaway that Rem being so springy helped save). I also had a couple really nice plays in flow, getting a nice breakside pass and shortly thereafter making well-put assists from power position. But that’s more or less a given for me from power position, I think, so it’s nothing too great. Had a couple nice runs and cut decently as well.

There were far more things I need to improve. Partly due to weather, and partly due to, you know, 3 hours of sleep the night before, I had neither the explosiveness (for laying out or skying, as well as sprinting) or the traction (for quick changes of direction) I’m used to, so I found myself unable to make good on a baited D attempt, or getting beat in conditions that normally would be workable for me. I’ll need to be a bit more aware of this in the future and respond to the conditions accordingly, and I don’t generally plan on staying out so late before tournaments, so the lack of gas should resolve itself naturally as well as with more training. In addition to the defensive gaffes, I had several miscues as a cutter. It wasn’t just me, mind you, but there were several situations in which I should’ve been cutting in as a fill as the dump strugged to get off, or making a continuation cut (or a cut to get the offense going, period), and I would be late or ineffective. Again, this partly comes back to the conditions–the stutter-steps and jukes and such aren’t as effective when you can’t change direction as quickly–but part of it was just me not being aware enough.

Good
Disc judgement/throws

Needs Improvement
Dealing with weather conditions, specifically rainy/wet fields
Getting proper rest pre-tournament
Awareness as a cutter

Had a pretty good weekend.

The Pain Train rolled into Williams College to play in Purple Valley; we got some much-needed tournament experience, and also had the opportunity to match up against our perennial regional opposition: WUF, Harvard, and Brown.

Beat WUF on universe point 11-10, lost to Harvard 12-10 after going on a run once hard cap went on, and lost to brown 12-7, also going on a run after hard cap. We also beat Middlebury 13-3 or so.

We played decently, though nowhere near up to potential–there’s still a ton we need to work on, particularly our zone O and D. I’m definitely excited for us to start developing our potential and really playing some smooth, solid ultimate.

Personally, I felt like I played very well–when I was playing. It was hard to just watch the game develop from the sidelines sometimes, especially when the offense was sputtering at some points (I played exclusively D points over the weekend)–I really wanted to be in the game, making plays and helping us out. But I guess such is the nature of the game when you get slotted into a role.

I was very happy with my defense; the men I covered in man D didn’t get the disc very often, and I don’t think I ever gave up any breaks besides dumps on the mark (though I should be a bit more aware of the dump and make that harder); in the zone I played very well, with only a few mistakes in front wall, pretty consistent coverage as a wing, and generally not giving up easy plays. I got to run in the mark for a bit when we played our 2-man cup zone, which was an interesting experience–it’s very free-form, which is wonderful, with great great great potential to shut down an opposing team, but it also means I have to be that much more active and on my toes to shut down plays. Something to work on, I suppose, if that winds up being one of the roles I take on.

Offensively, I need a bit of work if I’m gonna be a D-line handler (which I’m likely going to be doing a lot of). Harvard’s shifting mark (force trap to start, then switch to no dump after 4 or 5 count) really gave me a lot of trouble. I need to get more practice dealing with that, and looking to be a bit wiser with my puts to the dump or if that’s not really viable looking upfield and getting something up there. Other than that, though, I handled myself very well. I can’t think of any situations besides that when I was a liability on O–I definitely am getting a good feel for timing my cuts to generate flow, though that of course requires that I be in the stack cutting and not handling. Only played in zone for a little bit, but aside from needing to be more heads-up to help out handling I worked very well popping, I think.

Things I’ve been working on: my shut-down D is getting pretty good; several situations, in transition or whatever, I covered a man and kept him from getting to where he wanted to, which is a great feeling.
My handling is so-so; I’ve got great throws in flow, I’m really good at getting off a quick swing when it’s there and displayed that several times over the weekend. Generally stayed fairly patient and didn’t give into the riskier passes with the disc.

Things I need to work on: I feel like there were several situations over the weekend where I could’ve contributed to the defense more with some well-timed poaches. I’ve got pretty good field awareness on D, and in some situations there’s definitely opportunity to pull off a good switch or leave my man where he’s not a threat and help generate a turn. This is a bit hard to really work on, but it’s something I want to keep in mind while I’m scrimmaging.
Pressure handling: as described above, I’m not making great decisions in the clutch, which stems from my getting too narrow-minded and not looking to use all of my teammates. I need to work on my field sense on O when I have the disc.
Consistent cutting: I had some good moments cutting and generating flow, but it wasn’t 100%. I have to make sure I’m constantly looking to make that continuation cut.
2-man cup/general zone D: Definitely need to work on getting a feel for the 2-man cup, and I also need to keep elevating my zone D; it was passable this weekend, but I know it can be better–rather than avoiding being a liability, I have to really make myself into a point of strength, generating those D’s or forcing those turns.

So, to list things for me…
Good
shutdown man D
heads-up D on transition
midding/continuation in O

Things to Work On:
Team ‘help’ D
field awareness on handling/pressure handling
consistent focus whilst cutting
zone D, particularly 2-man cupping