Ultimate Outlook, Spring 2006
Well, you might not know it if you’ve been outside recently, but winter is almost over. One week until the official start of spring... effectively meaningless in itself of course, but at least the days are getting longer and the sun brighter, and that can only help.
With respect to ultimate (since that is apparently pretty much all I write about), winter league hit its three-quarter mark this past week, and for Trogdor that manifested itself in a rather disappointing crossover loss to Johnny Chimpo that’ll send us to the B division for the remainder of league play. Hopefully we can use it to work on our fundamentals, win some games, and build some confidence heading into summer league play. I have come to the conclusion that we are just not cut out for the indoor game. While we do well in summer, for some reason our game just doesn’t translate into the indoor environment. I checked our cumulative historical record over the last two seasons of winter... 4-28-1. Not impressive, to say the least. But in spite of, or perhaps because of our winter league frustrations, we’ve always come out strong in summer and this year we’ll look to continue where we left off... on a 12-game winning streak and division champions, albeit in the Wednesday B division, below the Wednesday A division reserved for the league’s elite teams. This year we are likely moving to a different night where we can play in the A division and still find teams that are a better match for us, but ideally continue our winning ways.
Before then however my focus is on the upcoming Fool’s Fest tournament in less than three weeks. I’m excited but getting a little apprehensive for a few reasons. First off, I’m picking up with a team where I only know a few players and the overall skill level is pretty good. They’re a fun team but getting more serious about their competitive play, and I want to do well and show that I can hang with them. Secondly, no matter how fit I think I am at the end of the indoor season, outdoor is a whole different game in terms of the type of fitness required, so I have no idea how I’m going to feel after a few points. Lastly, while indoor games last an hour, outdoor games last significantly longer and at tournaments there are generally about four games on Saturday, usually with one bye thrown in somewhere, and two to four games on Sunday with no byes. I’m not sure how many other sports require the same level of effort over that many games in as short a period of time. Anyway, I’m trying to train myself for that kind of exertion but I don’t know if I’ll be completely up for it by then. This weekend was another test of sorts, a 4-hour hat tourney on Saturday and an intramurals game plus a 5-km run on Sunday. I made it through both days OK but had no energy afterwards... not good if I have to ready to party it up Saturday night or drive home Sunday. One possible saving grace is that we’ll have a big roster, so hopefully that’ll make things easier on me. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ll continue training and playing winter league, plus getting out and doing stuff that doesn’t involve ultimate. Next few posts will be about something else, I promise.
With respect to ultimate (since that is apparently pretty much all I write about), winter league hit its three-quarter mark this past week, and for Trogdor that manifested itself in a rather disappointing crossover loss to Johnny Chimpo that’ll send us to the B division for the remainder of league play. Hopefully we can use it to work on our fundamentals, win some games, and build some confidence heading into summer league play. I have come to the conclusion that we are just not cut out for the indoor game. While we do well in summer, for some reason our game just doesn’t translate into the indoor environment. I checked our cumulative historical record over the last two seasons of winter... 4-28-1. Not impressive, to say the least. But in spite of, or perhaps because of our winter league frustrations, we’ve always come out strong in summer and this year we’ll look to continue where we left off... on a 12-game winning streak and division champions, albeit in the Wednesday B division, below the Wednesday A division reserved for the league’s elite teams. This year we are likely moving to a different night where we can play in the A division and still find teams that are a better match for us, but ideally continue our winning ways.
Before then however my focus is on the upcoming Fool’s Fest tournament in less than three weeks. I’m excited but getting a little apprehensive for a few reasons. First off, I’m picking up with a team where I only know a few players and the overall skill level is pretty good. They’re a fun team but getting more serious about their competitive play, and I want to do well and show that I can hang with them. Secondly, no matter how fit I think I am at the end of the indoor season, outdoor is a whole different game in terms of the type of fitness required, so I have no idea how I’m going to feel after a few points. Lastly, while indoor games last an hour, outdoor games last significantly longer and at tournaments there are generally about four games on Saturday, usually with one bye thrown in somewhere, and two to four games on Sunday with no byes. I’m not sure how many other sports require the same level of effort over that many games in as short a period of time. Anyway, I’m trying to train myself for that kind of exertion but I don’t know if I’ll be completely up for it by then. This weekend was another test of sorts, a 4-hour hat tourney on Saturday and an intramurals game plus a 5-km run on Sunday. I made it through both days OK but had no energy afterwards... not good if I have to ready to party it up Saturday night or drive home Sunday. One possible saving grace is that we’ll have a big roster, so hopefully that’ll make things easier on me. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ll continue training and playing winter league, plus getting out and doing stuff that doesn’t involve ultimate. Next few posts will be about something else, I promise.
posted by Druski at 9:07 p.m.
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