Cold Zone

This morning before work I decided to check my weight before I started playing Ulti again. My goal of Ulti is to get regular exercise, but in the end I do hope to lose a little more weight. I was surprised to see that I was already down to 170 pounds.

The game tonight was a hard one for the first game of the season. It was cold. Very, very cold. I was wearing a biking jersey, two t-shirts, and my riding arm warmers. I was still cold.

It was also very windy tonight. The league we play in is recreational so there are a lot of new players. People who are still learning to throw, and people still learning to catch.

Playing on a cold windy night is rarely fun for veterans, but really sucks for newbies. Veterans of the sport know that when it is windy, zone coverage works really well. Newbies have a hard time understanding what they are supposed to do in the zone defense. Hell, I still have a hard time with zone.

So far I am glad that I signed up again. The game tonight was fun, and I played alright. I was a handler for portions of the night and when my hands were warm I was throwing decently.

For the first point of the game I was on the field and part of the cup.

I made a couple of good defensive moves that may have saved us from getting scored on. I even layed out for the disc at one point, but was unable to come up with the disc. That was unfortunate since it also resulted in me getting soaked. A later point we were on our endzone and the handler walking up with the disc told me to strike since he was going to huck. I took off breaking free of my check. When the disc was up in the air, the wind caught it, and it floated up pretty high and wide. At a full sprint I was looking up over my right shoulder to track the disc, and I did a pretty god job of reading it. Unfortunately the wind kept it aloft for a while and the defense was able to catch up to me and block me from making the catch. Too bad.

Our team looks good, and I am looking forward to getting to know them better.

League Headers

I signed up for summer league again this year. I had a great time playing last year, and I actually lost quite a bit of weight doing it. This year I am looking for more of the same. The rosters and game schedules were sent out last night, and I only recognize one name on my team. One thing that stood out for on the schedule was the number of double headers we have. Last year we played two double headers, this year there is four scheduled, with the first one in three weeks.

The first game is this Wednesday and I am primed to play.

Handler Season

My last Ulti game of the season was a doozy. It was cold and very windy and I can’t quite tell if I enjoyed the game or not.

I didn’t get much of a warm up, so I ran on the field cold. It was an up-wind point, and it ended up being a very long point. This took th elife right out of me. I need a good warm up if I am to feel good and play well in a game.

AS it was I tried to run for the first few points and see if I could get comfortable enough to handle in the wind. Well, that plan didn’t work out and I got pulled into handling right away. That didn’t work out so well for me. It was a difficult throwing game. Very few passes made it to their intended destination.

The only throw I was proud of during the whole game was when I was a handler. We were being zoned and I had the disc. The cup was pretty effective in shutting me down and the count was getting pretty high. I could see one teammate who was standing there clearly open. He wasn’t moving, and wasn’t cutting. He was directly behind the man counting. I had no choice but to toss a hammer. It turned out to be a perfect hammer and was right on the button. Awesome.

The end of my season is here, and I can’t say I am going to miss it. I don’t feel like I clicked with the team. I never actually felt like part of the team.

Now I will need some other form of regular exercise. I am wondering if I can get back into a weekly Thursday morning swim.

Conflicts Handler

Tonights game was an early one which suited me just fine. I needed to work this evening, so the early game meant I could eat some dinner then get some stuff done.

One thing about my team is that several people are on multiple teams (some are on 3 teams). This means that sometimes they can’t play for our team due to schedule conflicts.

Tonight we had 4 players show up, but one of them played for a different team the he was also on. We lost by default which sucks. I am the kind of person that likes commitment. I committed my Thursday nights to the team, and I kind of expected everyone else on the team to be as committed.

Anyway, we ended up snagging a couple people from the other team and playing a 6 on 6 game for a while. We got creamed. The other team had 4 really strong players, and a couple other good players. We didn’t play well, made lots of mistakes on defence, and definitely deserved the loss.

I still sort of had fun though. I really needed to get out and run to blow off some steam, and I accomplished that tonight. Handling-wise I wasn’t all that hot if I was a dedicated handler. If I was a mid or a winger then my throws were fine, but as a handler I threw it away a lot. Weird.

I did have a couple good throws though. The first I was going to hammer to one of the guys in the end zone. I faked a hammer to him, and the defense noticed this and converged on him. I hesitated, looked around, and saw one of our ladies in the end zone all alone. My check was on me pretty good, so my only option was a hammer. It was a perfect throw, and she made a great catch. I felt good about that play.

Another situation where we were aiming for the endzone I looked up and saw two ladies in the endzone not really being checked. I hammered to the further one, but the closer lady tried to catch it. Meanwhile the defense caught up to the play. The closer lady actually had the disk skip through her hands, the defense swiped at it, but barely tipped it, and the further lady actually caught it. I felt lucky for that play.

After the game I felt like I had done a good workout. My legs still feel a little drained.

Turning Position

Just got home from this weeks ulti game. A few weeks ago I was on the verge of quitting. I wasn’t having much fun at the games and didn’t feel like a part of the team, but rather just felt like I was a warm body on the team.

The game two weeks ago was a bit of a turning point. I had a lot of fun, and ran lots. I spent less time handling, and more time out on the rest of the field. Since that game I have been trying to do that more, and I think it is helping me enjoy playing with this team.

This team also likes to play in a style that I don’t always enjoy. They like to employ the horizontal stack, which I can theoretically understand, but in practice I think it is harder to implement well. I like the vertical stack since I feel it opens up the field more.

They also like the long bomb, and quite often can make it work. I don’t like it since with most other teams I have played with, it frequently doesn’t work. It also doesn’t get the team playing as a whole.

In any event tonight I was playing a mid position as we were zoned most of the time. I felt like the timing of my cuts during the swing pass were getting better, but my position was still a little off. Once I get that down I will feel pretty confident in that position.

On defense I can’t say I played great and I can’t say I played poorly. Most of my checks never got the disc sent their way. On defense zone I played a long position which is generally pretty lax with lots of communication to the mids. I prefer to play a mid position though.

Next week is another game.

Windy Pressure

Played my first Fall Ulti game tonight. We lost. We lost bad. It was fun to get out there and run around again. A couple people on my team are from my summer league team, but other than that they are all new people. I think it is great to play with new people. You learn new strategies, pick up new plays, and have lots of fun.

It was a little windy out there tonight, so the zone was on us quite a bit. We did a great job of marching it up the field, but several times we would throw it away right at the end zone.

I felt like I played pretty well, making few mistakes. I was a handler for quite a bit, and I think I am starting to get really comfortable in that role. I’ve played enough now that I don’t feel pressure when I get the disk. Of course, sometimes I just wanna run, and really like popping, or stacking. Running felt good tonight, but it was pretty weird running on the artificial turf.

Coolest part of the game was hearing what I thought was a hawk screeching a lot. I soon learned it was an osprey, as it flew back with a fish in its talons. It landed on a light stand next to our field, after dropping a big crap on our field. It sat there eating its fish while we played on.

Ultimate Pits

I had a great time playing Ultimate this summer, and as the season wound down, I learned some people mentioned they were putting together a fall league team.

After talking with Sox, I signed up with one of the teams, and will once again be playing Ulti up at UVic. They have some new turf fields that the Ulti players get to use, so that will be a big change from the crappy mud pits I used to play in.

Funny thing: our team name was originally Cockblockers. The intramural guy didn’t like that, so it was changed to KockBlockers (so much better), then it got changed again by intramurals to Knock Blockers.

Points Dive

Great game last night. Still in the finals we were psyched for another win. The team we were playing is one we beat on points, but lost due to lack of women. We were golden.

Starting the we were in god spirits. Right off the bat we scored a couple points and were feeling good. Then there was a rather long point, and right near the end I was starting to stitch up. Breathing was labored and the pain kept increasing. Unfortunately we lost that point and had to walk, but this gave me a chance to get some water and take some deep breaths. It went away and I played on. Actually I had no choice to play on since we had no subs at all.

The fields were in very god shape. Much better than last week. It had been raining during the day so the grass was wet, and the ground softened. Awesome.

Wouldn’t you know it, I was striking for the end zone and the the disc was getting away from me. I put it in overdrive, but couldn’t catch up to the disc. I ended up sliding on my butt a ways, but didn’t come up with the disc. ๐Ÿ™

Throughout the game I was feeling great. Fitness-wise I felt fast which was much different than last week. My throwing and catching was spot on, and my timing for catching the disc high up in the air was spot on. I was also doing well breaking free from my check. I was having an awesome game.

Then came my backwards point. I have no idea what happened, but I was supposed to be a handler, but somehow ended up in the stack. Every time I tried to get back to a handler position, I got blocked by someone on my team cutting me off, or a pass going forward so I was out of position again. Then, on the turnover, my check got the disk, and I forced the wrong direction. Weird. After that point I was back to normal.

Nearing the end of the game (we hit a time cap), I was breaking for the end zone and the handler saw me. He threw it up, and again the disc was getting away from me. I sprinted hard as I could, and as I was gaining, the disc was dropping. In my mind I knew I could catch it if I dove. Then I remembered my teammate and his separated shoulder. I thought about the time I dove and ended up with a groin tear. I thought about my messed up shoulder. I thought about my family and how an injury would make home life more difficult. Then I decided to dive, but be careful. I layed out and started sliding. The disc was heading for my hand and my hand was open. The disc bounced off my hand and I wasn’t able to snag it. I slid to a stop and did a mental check to see if I had hurt myself. Nothing was hurting, but I was having a little trouble breathing. I ended up slightly winding myself, so a quick rest and the point continued.

We heard the call for the time cap and played on. The game was tied and it was tight. The final point was a battle that could have went either way. To both ends of the field multiple times. The issue was light. Depth perception was dwindling with the light, and so was our energy level. Passes became more and more difficult to see and turnovers kept happening. Then one of the passes to a player on our team went wild and he tried diving for it winding himself. He ended up leaving the field since he felt wrong, so we were down a player. As a result, there was some confusion an opposing player got open, got the throw, and ended the game.

We lost, but it was a fun, enjoyable game against an evenly matched team. I was drained by the end of the game.

Playoffs Dead

Ulti playoffs started tonight, and our game was at 6. The warm up was … warm. The weather here was heating up over the past couple days, and tonight was the culmination of that. The wind was non existant though, so that made for some excellent playing conditions.

We were raring to go, but the other team failed to show. Only one of their players showed up on time. We were told that we would get a point every 2 minutes that they couldn’t field a team.

By about 6:15 or 6:20 we could finally play 6 a side ulti.

My game was horrible. My legs felt dead and I just couldn’t get up to speed. Maybe I was over heating, but even wetting my hair didn’t help. I couldn’t keep up to my check, and I couldn’t cut, nor get out of the way of plays. I felt like I was taking up space on the field. Fortunately I was throwing pretty good, and I was able to make a few catches.

We were up 6-3 (not counting the points gained from no team) and we were feeling pretty good for ourselves. Then we relaxed or something. They clawed back, and when time was called it was 6-6. They scored the final point.

It was a win for us, but I left the field deflated. I just didn’t enjoy that game at all. It probably didn’t help that we played at Uplands School fields. Those fields aren’t getting watered this summer, so they are hard and dry. I have multiple blisters on both feet.

Bleh. There is always next week.

Transfered Inches

Last night was our second double header ulti night. I was pretty pumped to do better than last week. This week we were at Central, and wow, the grass was lush and green meaning the ground was the perfect softness for some hard cutting action. I learned pre-game that a player from last weeks first game asked to be transfered to our team. We had ourselves a real speedy guy who can handle. Woohoo.

Then, a few minutes before the game the team was passing the disk and I was goofing around and tried to intercept it. The high speed pass hit the end of my thumb, jamming it pretty bad. It went numb for a few minutes, then just ached the rest of the night. Even today it is still sore, and I wonder if I sprained it a little.

Game 1
Our team played great and actually won the game on points, but defaulted due to not enough women. Bummer. The other team loaned us a couple women so we could play a real game.

They had lots of great plays, tried the zone, but mostly stuck to man coverage. I am not sure why, but they struck me as an experienced team and I was sure they were going to cream us.

As it was our handling was good, lots of the team was making excellent cuts and were getting open, and catches were made. We were also full of spirit.

I was having a great game. Handling I was doing really well. I felt loose, comfortable, and best of all, I felt fast. The new guy and I were hooking up passes very well. He threw to me in the end zone many times. A few of those passes were thrown as I was cutting, and I was cutting the wrong way. Luckily I recovered enough to make the catches.

My favorite play of the night was a perfect catch. I was running hard, and the disk was thrown out of bounds, and was arcing back to the end zone. I stopped just inside the zone, checked my feet to make sure I was inbounds, then had to strech out of bounds to catch the disk. Such a awesome feeling.

Another potential point I was chasing the disk down through the end zone. My check was beaten and trailing me. The disk was just floating too much. As the disk came down I reached out and caught it, then looked down. My right foot was just outside. I was inches close, but I called myself out. I had the best view, so I made the call. I am still not sure if it was the right call or not.

The only downside of the game was that on one play a guy on the other team caught the disk pretty close to the sideline. I wasn’t in the right position to make a call, and I prefer the player makes the call themself. I simply asked him to check feet. When the play was over he came up to me and basically chastised me. He went off on how there is no rule to get someone to check feet and that if he was out I should have called it. It was odd, but for some reason it still rubs me the wrong way.

Game 2
The other team chose to play even though we were short on women. They also started the game quickly so there was no time to cool down.

I don’t really know what happened, but they utterly overwhelmed us. We couldn’t make our plays. The threw on the zone, and it was strong. Their cup was fast, very effective, and shut us down.

I was still running hard, and my throwing felt good, but I felt slow and a little sluggish. Maybe that was fatigue setting in.

The only way we could break the zone was to really tire them out. Swing from one side to the other until we can hook the swing pass to a strong cut.

We had lost out mojo and it was getting increasingly difficult to score points.

In the end, we lost the game, but scored more points that game than both games of last week.

Next week the playoffs start. Apparently we will get 2 weeks of playoffs then the third week is the finals. Somehow I think we only have 2 nights left in our season ๐Ÿ˜‰ It’s been a blast though.