Mid Season Retrospective: Part 2

After a chilly weekend in columbus, the gobies were ready for what would turn out to be the biggest tournament of the season. Case's home tournament, NorthCoast saw the gobies split into A and B teams. This is Case A's story (much love to my b-team brethern though, I was with you last year)

North Coast

Case Western:15 Cincinnati: 7Though this wasn't quite the Cincinnati team that case would see later in the season, the Gobies came out strong against Cinci, and rolled off several breaks in a row before ceding a point. The gobies took care of business early.

Case Western: 12 Calvin 10
The wind decided to pick up against an athletic team from Calvin College. After pulling ahead initially, Case trailed for most of the game, and Calvin took half 8-7. Zone defense was the name of the game. Calvin threw a tight zone against Case, took issue to quite a few of our travel calls. When the goby zone made its debut against Calvin, double teams were called once again. There were even a few heated disputes over the intricacies of the rule book. Kevin Pochatila was seen in a rare moment of hot headedness, and was overheard to say "i can react to whatever the fuck i want to" after some of the finer points of cup-collapsing were discussed. Both sides cooled off, and case eventually pulled away for the win. The highlight of the game, and possibly the tournament was Jason Williams' layout Callahan to break Calvin, and essentially put the game away

Case Western: 12 Bowling Green: 9
Case Was still riding high off of the excitement of the Calvin Game, the gobies failed to bring the intensity against BG. The penguins brought a collection of alumni, and luckily case was able to hold off the wily veterans long enough to secure the victor

Case Western A: 15 Case Western B: 3
Several members of Case B played well. Old man lehman led the charge and helped case B score 3 points. Strong efforts by colin morlock and justin michel were seen as well

Day 2

Case Western A: 13 Shawnee State: 11

Shawnee was a first year team with a "few" pickups from the cleveland club scene. Understandably, they were more than a challenge for the gobies. However, Case was beyond pumped for this game. Not a single goby was ready to surrender their undefeated Northcoast record to shawnee, and it showed. Several early breaks, along with solid deep D's by jason williams and jared VanLandingham set the tone for the Case, and the gobies rushed the field after nearly every point

Case Western A: 13 Kent State: 10

This would be the "game of the tournament". Unfortunately, Case Went down big to a tough Kent zone run. I believe kent took half 8-3 However, the gobies got their stuff in order, and won the second half by a margin of 10-2. Solid play by mike macdonald, and former captain alex hunt (the cupbreaker), along with clutch d's all around helped stir the comeback. The best sight of the weekend were the crowds of gobies at the line itching to play and get a D.

Case Western A: 9 Ohio University:15

The only loss of the weekend came in the finals. OU certainly looked like one of the best teams in the section with their split team performance at NorthCoast. However, Kevin Vick was a bright spot, with approximately 4 skying scores which typically featured him beasting over a crowed of OU players. Almost all the scores took place right in front of his girlfriend. I think it goes without saying that case's big man also scored some major points with the ladies with his high altitude showing

Overall Northcoast was a great tournament, and showed some encouraging results. As always, much could be improved, but it was one of Case's best Northcoast showings in recent years

-Kevin

Mid-Season Retrospective Part 1

I know what you're thinking

"damn Kevin its been a long time since we got to read your blog stylings"

well everyone needs a break, and I figured I should focus on my in-season thrashing instead of in-season blogging.

but heres a little look back for everyone, tournament-by-tournament


Ohio State Fall Brawl
ooooh man, Case Western on the big stage in columbus ohio. Many gobies found lodging the night before with alumnus Matt "Wendy" Lehman, where they watched the fast and the furious 3 (tokyo drift), and gleaned wisdom such as "the nail that sticks out gets hammered" which would surely help them on the field the next day.
With fresh new hoodies helping them sport a fresh look, the gobies took the field flush with expectation and excitement.

certainly there were highs and lows. Armed with a mixed squad of rookies and veterans, many young gobies got to see what stiff competition is really like. throw in even stiffer wind, and near freezing temperatures... well youve got a recipe for a hard day (thats what she said). However solid effort and gutsy play prevented any such disasters

Day 1:
Michigan Magnum Reserve-Win
Despite a lot of early mistakes, and admittedly bad offside infractions, the gobies overcame an early deficit to beat a spirited Michigan team. Gabe, "rapidash" Dash comes up with one of the more memorable scores of the year

Manchester-Win
Manchester was a team that liked to play physical. Sometimes that means not ceding cutting lanes. other times that diving headfirst into a cutter 5 seconds after he caught the disc. Ok, the dudes from manchester were generally pretty spirited, but there were a few times we feared for our lives. Nonetheless we overcame another early deficit, and quite a few mental mistakes to take the win

Kent State-Win
Kent Stat brought some good competition to Columbus, and played a hard-fought game. Thanks to some critical defense by duncan davis (footblocks and foul recognition), jason williams (layouts), and kevin vick (pwning noobs with his height), case pulled out the victory

Va Tech-Loss
Virginia tech is a very good team. The gobies did not play like a very good team against them. Enough Said

Tennessee-Loss
This was a slightly more positive loss to a high-caliber opponent. Case preformed quite well against a very tight zone, and was able to put up a decent number of points on the scoreboard. Even in a loss, its always satisfying to see a high-level opponent get frustrated when you move the disc on them

Day 2:

Miami-Loss
We scored an upwind break for the first point of the game, but showed little signs of life thereafter. Troubled by turnovers near our own end zone against the miami zone, Case lost this game big. I think Kevin threw a massive full field huck to ed for a score. but whatever. dunno if anybody saw that. well maybe the crowd of case ladies who came over to watch, but yeah, no big deal

Toledo-Loss
This loss hurt. Toledo has been bringing their A-game all season, and despite some effective disc movement, we were plagued by drop after drop. Also the wind sucked, and certainly never helped us. Even the massively intimidating 3/4 field huck off the pull from Ed to Kevin on the first play of the game failed to establish a rhythm


Ohio Northern-Loss
File this one under "moral victory". After giving up a sizeable early lead, Case put the clamps on defense with a new zone scheme, and nearly pulled off an epic comeback due in part to the brief return of their captain, mike macdonald to the field. Mac made a brilliant layout to tie the game and bring it to universe, but the gobies came up just short on the final point. Still, Cases ability to activate shut down defense and close a multiple-point deficit was certainly something good to take from the game

Overall, a fun tournament. Lots of hard play, but also too many mistakes, and a lot of places to make improvements

-Kevin

Winter Workouts

Just emailed out the winter workouts and I gotta say I'm pretty excited. Last year around this time I was approximately 12 weeks into Air Alert and was getting some pretty ripped legs along with my bros. This year I'm going to try and tackle this workout schedule and go above and beyond. I remember as a freshman I struggled to make myself keep up with it and ultimately didn't do enough. I came back and wanted to puke at every practice after break. Too much dessert and sitting around I guess. This year I want to push myself to be in the best shape I can be in as we start our spring season. It is real important that we all do the same if want this as an added advantage as we begin our big push towards regionals. Shortly after we return we host CWRUL and after being part of the 2nd place team last year I want to win it SOOOOO BADLY this year. If we're in great shape and maintain our fundamentals we should be the favorites. Recently some of the bros and I have been trying to work on our abs after practices. Mark has made a great suggestion to do these workouts everyday as soon as we wake up. I started it last week and when I wake up and work out I feel great all day. I've even already started to notice results (see above) so I recommend that if you are trying to go above and beyond this winter try doing those core exercises as you wake each morning. I hope all of you on the team do your best to hold to these exercises and those of you outside of the team continue root us on in our quest for regionals. Hope to see you all running around too without your shirts on in the Cleveland cold.

-Eddie Money

More self thizzin'

10,000 views!

More Than A Game

Not too long ago I went to go see "More Than A Game" with T-Rent. Long story short, the documentary is about LeBron James and how he grew up playing basketball...with his 4 closest friends (translation --> bros). The documentary is most relevant to LeBron, but covers the lives of his bros pretty well too. It was easily one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, and naturally, I was reminded of our own quest. LeBron and his boys were on the road to a high school championship - we're on the road to regionals.

One of the biggest themes throughout the movie was of course team concept...but it was beyond that. It was bro concept. Those guys used to eat, sleep, dream, workout, go to school, do everything together. The Goby Bro's do pretty much the same thing, so it was legit to see that this is not an over the top, unnecessary series of actions. It worked for LeBron, it's gonna work for us.

I highly recommend that everyone go see the movie, basketball fan or not. That flick is too real. Below is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KXYDa3gARs

Club Sectionals Recap: Oh My User!

Last weekend, at the Eastern Plains Club sectionals, the goby-heavy team of "Oh, my user!" competed for a shot at the Division II sectionals title. Led by goby greats Mark Richardson and Andy Coleman, Oh my user brought some much needed swagger to Versailles OH. This is their story.

Day 1:
Oh, my User! 13: ON-YON 6
Giddy with anxious excitement (especially after having found out they woke up an hour and a half early due to scheduling errors) the team, whom we'll refer to as the gobies for convenience's sake took the field with nearly four full lines. Many of the gobies were rookies who had never played a point of competitive ultimate in their lives. That being said, they certainly didn't disappoint. Veteran Nayyir Qutubuddin started things off with a clutch layout D that set the tone for the game. Many rookies stepped up to the plate and made an impact in lines with very few veterans. Joe Koors gets a layout D.

Oh, my User!: 9: RAMJAM: 11
The next game proved far more difficult than the first. Wooster brought an experienced team that was ready to ball (disc?). The Gobies kept it close, but failed to put the disc in the endzone when they needed to. We tried a bit of zone defense, and the rookies stepped up to the challenge once again. Reports of Mike Saylor getting sick D's are most likely true. Kevin Pochatila did his best Dikembe Mutumbo impression and wagged his finger "no no no" as he defended three Wooster hucks from the deep-deep position to help the gobies win a thrilling break

Oh, my User! 14: GUINS:13
Veteran Gobies went into this game with nightmares of last years college sectionals still ripe in their minds. Bowling Green laid a thrashing on the gobies in a critical game on saturday of sectionals in Granville. We let the rookies know how much the game meant to us, and yet again, they proved ready to thrash. Mental mistakes and throwaways, along with poor execution on the goal line led to the GUINS taking half at 7-3. Points were traded back and forth, and the score stood at 12-8, game point bowling green. That was when Oh, my User! decided to wake up. A few hucks to rookie Jared VanLandingham (with his defender left in his vapor trail), along with spirited play, and probably another Joe Koors layout, and the gobies had all of the sudden evened the score at 12-12. The sideline was bristling with excitement. This was the kind of Goby Ultimate that we've been thrashing all summer for. This was the kind of comeback we hadn't seen in years. Feeding off of Keith Lupton's overwhelming sideline energy, Mark Richardson called out an all veteran "U-Point" Line which soon scored its 5th break in a row after a clutch D by Owen Mayer. After letting up a point to bowling green, and narrowly escaping defeat with the help of an Evan Frasz D, Oh, my User! marched down the field and scored on an admitedley unorthodox ricochet to complete one of the most epic comebacks in recent memory

Oh, My User! :15 Denison: 7
Still riding high off of the BG game, Oh my user had some strong preformances, especially by the rookies, who got to see some more PT for the final game of the day. Colin Warlock toed the line while pulling down a huck, along with some gratuitous layouts by Keith lupton (on O), and another layout D by Joe Koors.

Day 2:
Oh, My User! 5: Savage: 15.
Toledo showed up with a team that was ready to play, while Oh my User! did not. Plagued by early turnovers and failure to knock down goal line swill, the gobies were handed a tough loss. Bright spots included a layour score on offense by Andy Coleman. While chasing down a disc that was trailing away, Andy sacrificed his body and made the kind of play that reminded everyone why hes a captain: because he's a stud.

Oh, My User! 10: OU 15
Another game where the rookies got to see extended playing time. The mood was notably lighter, as evidenced by The return of Steve Knab and his much loved hammers. Still once again the rookies amped it up, and managed to take 2 breaks in a row against a more experienced OU team. Every once in a while the gobies threw in a stacked vet line and marched down the field just to keep the defense honest. Joe Koors gets yet another layout d. This time almost a Callahan.

Denison decided not to stick around, and Oh my user! called it a tournament.

Highlights of the Weekend:
-New cheer: The Clint Mansell "Party" cheer: videos to come
-Trent taunting Brady down the field while running down a pull
-The "Jason and Q" handler show against OU
-Chip Dean unintentionally leveling a Dension player
-Dan Kwass & co. scamming Culver's into 5+ free frozen custards using the same 5" fry.
-Intense game of "contact" in which Luke correctly guessed "Drank" with the guess "is it purple"



Everyone is currently on pump up alert for fall brawl. More intensity at practice until then

-Kevin

Parallels between Super Smash Bros. and Goby Ultimate

One of the many sources of bro-ing out for the Bloggers is a videogame. It's called Super Smash Bros. Perhaps you have heard of it.

Super Smash is not your usual, feeble, mindless videogame, meant to corrupt the mind. No, it's actually been proven to strengthen ones reflexes, and exercise the mind, increase resourcefulness, and develop killer instinct.

I'll give you a few examples of how we use this seemingly recreational event to train for Regionals. Be advised, this is not for the faint, and some experience in "Smashing" is recommended.

1) Match-ups. In the world of elite Smashing, your choice of a character with respect to your opponents' may decide the game before it is played. For example, King Dedede has an infinite chain grab on characters like Ness. If you get locked into it, you're done. What does this mean? You have to counterpick your characters properly, especially when starting on offense. On the ultimate field this translates to O/D lines. You cant put a chump O player out there to play against the best defenders on the other team. You'll get rocked ever time.

2) Mind games. There is a game within the game of Smash to be played, a sort of virtual chess match during a battle that you need to monitor at all times. This is known as the "metagame" among avid gamers. For example, you dont always attack from the same spot on the stage, you change up your timing, approaches, and vary your attack combos. This has profound effects on the Ultimate field, especially for me as a handler. We're always playing mindgames on the field. The simplest of these are obviously fakes, but it's deeper than that. For example, sometimes I like to go deep, sometimes I like to cut instead of handle, sometimes I play D in the cup, sometimes I play short deep. I try and always change up my play style, so they cant "camp" me. Right now I'm working on an even more advanced metagame...hoping to have it ready by Northcoast...more on that later...

3) Strong Fundamentals - You cant overlook fundamentals in Smash. You gotta know how to shield grab, jump with x/y, L-cancel, power shield, etc. Everyone knows how to "smash buttons" (analogy: throw a disc as hard as you can). What makes a good player is strong fundamentals, doing the simple things consistently, and never messing the easy things up. In Smash, Andy reminds me of this all the time when he looks at me with his quirky face and says "Q, that was preettttyyy standard", when he shield grabs me, or edgehogs me. You bet he says that on the field too when he breaks people, or gets me on an in cut.

Former Goby Evan is looking over my shoulder telling me to wrap up the post, I could go on about the parallels between the two games, but you get the point. We treat Smashing as a form of cross-training. Feel free to challenge any of us at anytime, before or after practice, of course.

- Q

Mind games

"Weak minds lead to weak actions. A strong, disciplined mind, which anyone can cultivate through daily practice, can achieve miracles." ~ Robin Sharma

As we progress through week after week of Ultimate practice, we have all learned the importance of training and strengthening our bodies for the upcoming season. Our hope is that through enough physical conditioning we will be able to out-maneuver and outlast our opponents on the frisbee field. Even though this physical sculpting is of utmost importance, we must not forget to strengthen our minds and sharpen our wit.

As quoted above, "Weak minds lead to weak actions." What good is it to have a body like the Gods without the discipline to control it? What good would it be to have great hucks but not restraint to know when to hold back? And, what good would is it to be as nimble rabbit but not have the understanding of when and where to cut? Thus, the man who only concentrates on strengthening his body is no greater than the brute.

For this reason, it is my suggestion that in addition to our scheduled practice regimen, we take time to focus solely on the building of the mind. How might we do this? Board games.

Most board games focus on quick thinking, strategic planning, and outsmarting the opposition. Sound familiar? It should, because these are the traits every great Ultimate player must possess in order to achieve success on the field. There are many traits that can be learned from common board games and applied to frisbee. For example, chess focuses on making good decisions, spacing, and patience. Backgammon relies on taking risks, playing aggressive offense, and setting up a strong defense. The variant of mancala known as Kalah practices planning ahead, predicting your opponents moves, and minimizing their effectiveness. These are all traits that can and should be applied in a game of Ultimate.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you ever want to play some board games feel free to stop by the fortress. But beware, when we play chess it gets as ruthless as the game seen in the picture above.

-Andy "The Titan" Coleman

3 Spoons, 1 Bowl, 1 Goal

Two nights ago, Andy, Kevin, and I cooked up three boxes of Food Club Mac & Cheese (join the Club!). These little treasures can be found at Dave's Market for 59 cents each.

What's most important is that we ate this heap of food from the same bowl, huddled around it with Tahitian Treat (aka T Treat) to wash it down. We could've split up the Mac & Cheese into separate bowls and eaten it in our own rooms in comfort and solitude. But will solitude get us to Regionals? We think not. Every little step you take with the team, or just one other teammate, gets us one step closer to the paramount goal: Regionals 2010. Get to know your teammates; bro-out with them, listen to tunes (i.e. chill-tense) with them, eat with them, do homework with them, party with them, do whatever you can to get closer to your teammates. Because if we can't get along off the field, how will we unite as one team on the field when it matters?

So next time you are devouring a plate of pasta or guzzling down some gatorade to fuel your body for practice, offer a teammate a fork to join in or a sip of your drink.

We can't make it to Regionals as individuals; we can make it as a team.

- Mark

P.S. We will continue to eat massive bowls of Mac & Cheese at the Fortress, so stop by if you want to join in at any time. You are always welcome. At 59 cents a box, how can we afford NOT to eat this stuff as a team?!

We're doin' it real big, bigger than we ever done it.

Yeah, it's been awhile since we posted. You might get the idea that we've been slackin', mackin', hot doggin'. Naw man, we've been keeping it real, especially at practice. We've been busy man, real talk. In the words of my man Ice T, pimpin' aint easy, but someone's gotta do it. We're reppin the rookies pretty hard right now. When we're not guarding each other, we're refining their flicks trying to make them get sick. We have an agenda out there.

Anyway, I'll get the other bloggers to step their internet game up at prx tonight.

Meanwhile, just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna start videotaping select portions or practices and tournaments with my new mini HD video recorder thing. It's pretty slick, nothing too fancy, just something to get a couple layout D's, chair alerts, and Goby love. It's all set to go. The plan is to maybe put together a little documentary thing together. The blog will have to satisfy your insatiable knowledge of Goby-happenings. Though I intend to edit the documentary as I go along, I dont want to release anything till...after the College Series of 2010. Maybe during winter break I'll post a little teaser trailer. Till then, we're gonna be doin' work harder than Kobe.

-Q

First Prx

Frisbee ain't shit but hucks and flicks
Pick up my bags and head to prx
-Andy Coleman


Words to live by. This week saw the first two practice of the Case Western Reserve Fighting Gobies. We've reunited at last, and we're stronger than ever. Being able to pick up my bag and head off to prx at Frieberger was one of my most satisfying and exciting experiences in a while

Some highlights:

Return of the Bharath: We all knew it would happen eventually, seeing the man in person again was enough to make us all thizzly. Add on 7 weeks work of air alert legs, and you got yourself a budding stud

The John Carey Experience: What's John Carey plus 10lbs of additional muscle and newfound cutting skills? A new deep threat that the Eastern Plains section is going to learn to fear

The Candyman Cometh: Sure we ripped on Andy all summer for not hitting up club prx. Then again, only a player like Andy could come back from a frisbee-light summer with rock solid throws and frighteningly chiseled physique

Marky Mark's Funky Bunch:
Thats a bunch of throws that he'll use to mess you with. Playing hard all summer, Mark came back with a vengance and made his presence known against yours truly. Picture it: Forehand fake, backhand fake, lightning quick reset to the forehand and an unreal inside-out flick break. It was rapid. It was clean. It left me stunned

Edward Scissorcuts:
You've been hearing about this guy all summer, but how much he's stepped it up has become all the more evident now that he's taken his position as co-leader of the gobies. Born Leader. Born Thizzler

Mac'sWellhouse
Good to the last drop. The last drop, that is, hasn't happened since the mid 90's. Our captain remains as solid as ever. Minus a "few" injuries, the leadership and talent remains pure.

Fear of the Nayyir:
An oft-diagnosed condition seen in many of the Gobies' opponents. Its all still there. The smooth-gliding flicks. The step around breaks. The fakes. But most of all: The style. The man basically walks around with cool blue underglow on his feet. He doesen't move, he flows

Jason Thrilliams
aka Jason Williams, another returning vet who caught the fever. The man talks fris 24/7. He's got the fire. Couple that with terrifying speed, and the gobies have moved one step closer regionals.

"Brawndon" Corbett Walsh
Few people love the gobies as much as Corbett. Many more people are glad to have Corbett fighting for the Gobies this year. He's worked hard all summer; gotten faster, throws better, and
has a killer instict now backed up by killer skills.

Oh yeah, and we've got some legit freshman. Many of these bros are ready to make a difference right away.

We've got the tools in place. Time to put our heads down and push towards regionals

-Kevin

And So It Begins...

On the eve of our first official practice, I sit here unable to sleep in anticipation for tomorrow. To continue K-Love's metaphor - tomorrow we open up the pack of Gushers. Who is going to be the 7th Gusher packet? What flavors will it possess, and possibly more importantly...will they blend well with the other Gushers to form an immaculate collection? Heck, I'm even eating Gushers right now. So many questions to answer.

Tonight I spent a few hours with fellow veteran Goby Jason Williams watching Ultimate videos and talking strategy. I even showed future Goby Trent Hovis a few of last year's highlight reels in an attempt to get him pumped for what will most certainly be an amazing season.

This past weekend we had our annual SatCo - a sort of Ultimate Clinic run by the team for prospective players, and it yielded another solid crop. I can only hope that as many people show up to practice from that as possible. The future is bright here, and, quite frankly, seeing as Future has come and gone (but still with us in spirit - and the fall semester), we need a new one.

-Q

The unification of chill

In case anybody hasn't heard, this year there are five men among us Gobies living in the same apartment, the Ford Fortress. Everyone is welcome to come visit us if they want, and think they can handle the bro-love. One of the best parts of our new apartment is, in my opinion, the porch. This porch is the unification of all things chill.

It is important to remember that learning to be chill off the frisbee field helps one maintain chilliness on the frisbee field. This is one lesson that we all need to be reminded of from time to time.

Anyways, this porch has many various factors that contribute to its overall chilliness. First we have a grill which allows us to cook up awesome food that can be shared and enjoyed by many. We are always playing chill music (see previous posts) to set the mood and maintain appropriate chilliness levels. Besides the usual bro-ing out that happens on the porch, some fun activities that can be enjoyed are PW, b'gammon, and slumber parties. PW, aka P-dub, aka people-watching, is an important part of our lives here at the Fortress. You would be suprised at the variety of folk that walk up and down the streets of Ford and Hessler. The typical reaction of a passerby who witnesses us chillin on the porch is usually a brief moment of confusion, followed by intrigue mixed with a rising wave of jealousy that crashes down on them when they realize what they are missing. If you are up for a more intelectually stimulating way to spend your time chilling on the porch you can always play a rousing game of backgammon, cribbage, and (soon to be) chess, checkers and Go. Playing these games is a great way to bond with bros and excercise the mind while resting the body and soul.

If, at the end of the night, you feel like you haven't experienced enough relaxation and rejuvination, you can always spend the night on the porch like KP and I did recently. Waking up to the sound of a garbage truck, the sun in my eye, and Kevin's shirtless body next to me reminded me of the Road to Regionals in multiple ways. The garbage truck made me think of the all the bad things that happened last year and how we, like the garbage truck, need to take out all of the trash from before. The sun in my eye reminded me of the light at the end of the road to regionals. The morning sun was like the birth of a new day for the Gobies. No matter what has happened the previous day, a new day will dawn and we can do whatever we want with it. Waking up next to Kevin reminded me that even through times darkness my teammates will be there by my side. This trust in one another is of utmost importance on the frisbee field.

Anyways, if you want to come by and chill out at the apartment or on the porch, chances are you're always welcome so just let one of us know.

-Andy

You'll Never Walk Alone

I recently became a fan of Liverpool FC. One of their slogans (title) reminded me of the Road to Regionals. If you're seeking the road, know that you'll never walk alone. There are always fellow Gobies following the same path - for starters, the 5 of us will always be there to lead the way.

The Road to Regionals takes you to Regionals, it tells you nothing about the path you are taking to get there. Moreover, the road can be different for each individual. This summer, my personal Road to Regionals had stopovers in Malaysia and Bangladesh. In my farewell post I mentioned how I was going to use this time away from the home pitches of Cleveland to rest, recover, and relax a little. Well, I'm back, and I accomplished what I set out to do originally.

Malaysia is highly legit. Real talk, it's an absolutely beautiful country. My time there was fairly well spent, but I still wish I could have stayed a bit longer. While in Kuala Lumpur, I stayed at a resort called the Mines Wellness Center. It's a sort of old-fasioned spa and massage oriented hotel, with many servies including complementary Qi-Gong classes (kind of like, Tai-Chi, very relaxing, controlled motions), massages, herbal consultations and so forth. During my stay there I go the most legit massage of my life. Using ancient Chinese techinques (Tui-Na, Tai-Su), my body's Qi was refreshed. I don't think I have ever been in more pain in my life before. The massage techniques he used on me were very deep and intended to really surface my blood, remove old knots and muscle tensions, restablish proper blood and Qi flow throughout and attend to previous injuries. My body was a deep scarred red for three whole days. My back looked like wolverine had clawed at it over and over again. The pain and visual cosmetic "damage" was well worth it. I felt more energetic instantly, and I feel lightly all over. It even gave me a spiritual boost. This stuff is real man. The Chinese know whats up.

Then there was the lingering "hamstring" issue. I put that in quotations because upon doing my own extensive research (since doctor's incompetently misdiagnosed it) I found out the true issue. By whatever means, laying out, landing funny etc, I had pinched my scastic nerve. I went to a neurological accupuncturist in Malaysia and after piercing my skin with many needles and applying a pulsing voltage...I was cured soon enough. I still require a follow-up treatment, but the bulk of my pain is no more. Accupuncture FTW.

The rest of my trip was full of many other adventures, but I had one more task with me. I, naturally, took a Goby disc with me abroad to toss with perhaps teach a few school children how to play. I really wanted to teach some kids in Bangladesh, but I soon realized that they have much bigger issues than what disc sport to play. In the end, I entrusted my Goby disc to my cousin's son - who is in 11th grade or so. Maybe he'll start playing or something, who knows. Once again, Gobies are international.

Congrats to K-Love for winning the 2009 Summer League Championship. Of course he wont let it get to his head, he knows what's on the real agenda.

Vocab: Chair Alert

- Nayyir Qutubuddin

Gushers and such

A box of gushers normally has 6 packets of delicious sugary "fruit snacks". Yesterday I picked up a box, and to my suprise:

7 packets.

it was miraculous. I paid for 6, and got 7. It made me think of the gobies. I look around at our team and wonder "who is going to be the 7th packet". Could it be one of our established players who steps up? Could it be an unknown freshman seeing goby glory? Who knows. I'm excited, almost as excited as i was when I shoved another wad of gushers in my mouth

Today was also the culmination of cleveland disc association draft league. I can proudly say, that for the first time in my life, I have won a championship in something. The finals were hard fought, and it was a challenging, but exciting game. Afterwards, my captain told me that intensity on the ultimate field was truly important, and to keep it up during the college season. He said Case needs to have dirty jerseys on Sunday, and I hope that's something we can all strive to do. The more we play balls to the wall, the more it will inspire our team to work hard as a group and achieve something great.

I'm excited to see all our new players, to see old ones go crazy on the field, and to see unexpected people step up in big ways. Hopefully we're all tweaking out and screaming after every point. Not in a douchey way or anything, but just so that we can feed off of each other and really care about something so that it pushes us to achieve. Even though it's just ultimate, that kind of attitude definitely translates to every important aspect of life.

-Kevin

Goby progress

Another few weeks has gone by, and I can say that I'm fairly pleased with the improvements and progress my fellow gobies have made on the Ultimate Field. Between open practice and summer league, there's been sheer ferocity, determination, and outright skill flying around all over the place.

Most of all, I've really been seeing a passion and desire to compete that hasn't been as evident in years past. All the gobies are just brimming with intensity and energy. Everyone really seems to love to play ultimate. That of course is probably the first step towards regionals. If everybody gets excited to be out there playing and having fun, the desire to thrash the competition will follow

more to come later. once i get more inspiration that is

-Kevin

Making it Happen

You'll be hearing "Make it Happen" coming from me pretty often these days, as I've decided to make it my new catch phrase. Its pretty great when you make a sick cut (off of swim move) and toss a nice soft pass to a handler, tell him "make it happen", and he fires off a long, clean huck that's pulled down in the endzone by another fellow cutter (i.e. mark).

"make it happen" can also be a slogan for the road to regionals. We here at the blog love to talk about, and imagine all the training montages, and glorious moments along the way, but what it all comes down to is making the reality of the Gobies at regionals actually happen. It's "real talk": cutting down to whats serious. Its a phrase to live your life by. Eliminate the extraneous stuff, just think about what you want, and "make it happen" I think its pretty legit.

Summer league has been going pretty well. I've made an official monetary commitment to clique league, and have been playing with team tron and the twinsburgh people. We've gotten off to a 4-2 start, and have definitely been shocking the league.

Draft league has also been successful. Team pink sits mightily atop the standings with an undefeated record. This isn't to say we aren't just coasting through the league. We've been putting a lot of heart and spirit into our thrashings.
I've been relegated to handling a lot in summer league, which is always frustrating me, because I'm a thrasher (cutter) at heart. Against chocolate yesterday, one of my many fans/admirers personally requested a swim move demonstration. Though I was all too eager to chump the competition, I had very few opportunities, due to my handling duties. Still, stepping out of one's comfort zone to improve a weak part of their game is definitely a step on the road to regionals.
We defeated team chocolate by a decent margin, but it wasn't without a solid performance by crunkin' Duncan Davis. The fellow goby played like a game changer. I can't tell you how legit its been to see every goby stepping their game up to the next level.

Thanks for your continued readership, as Q and I are glad to have your support. I would say the same for the other bloggers as well, but I haven't heard much from them lately

-Kevin

A Mental Vacation

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much - mostly cuz Summer League updates week after week can get pretty redundant. Here's my summer league recap. We win some games, we lose some games. I have good games, I have bad games. Kevin wins all his games, convincingly.

Anyway, this post is to inform those in Goby Nation that I will be leaving the country for awhile, and believe it or not, I do not intend to blog at all while abroad. I'd like to take the time I have off to regather myself mentally, step away from Ultimate for a bit, enjoy life, let my body heal up a little more, and just take a break altogether. I pretty much play Ultimate year round, so taking a few weeks off is not a bad thing. I never gave myself enough time to properly heal injuries, so currently I play Ultimate on Aspirin (hamstring injury from D3 Nationals 08, bruised rib, and lately, Plantar fasciitis). We'll see how much I can remedy all of that.

So, I urge all of you in Goby Nation to keep up the good work, and hopefully my fellow bro's will keep you entertained.

I leave you with two things. One is a chill-tense track that I've been thizzin to every now and then. It's called "Don't look back" by Telepopmusik. Special thanks to Weston Miller for opening it up to me. The other is a new vocab word for you all: Real Talk (Kevin explain plz). I come up with(and legitimately use) a lot of this stuff, but I cant let you in on all the vernacular at once. Too easy. So, from now on I'm gonna end all my posts with a new word.

Good game,

Q

Goby Withdrawal

I've had the shakes lately.

I lie in bed at night, and think about my fellow gobies, and how we're going to improve ourselves and come together as a team to be victorious at sectionals. I keep thinking about us scoring that last point to qualify for regionals. We're going to win a tournament this year. We're going to bond at spring break and bro out so hard that we'll have to worry about high-five calluses. Just thinking about it gives me shivers

As fun as its been to play with a wide variety of people, I'm getting pretty antsy about reuniting with my Case teammates this fall. Once that first pull goes off, we're gonna thrash up the field like a buff hurricane. Every time I imagine it in my head, there's some badass rock music in the background with a guitar crunching out some sick riffs while we shred a zone, or break chumps. Sometimes chill-tense just doesn't cut it.

-Kevin

Dictionary Preview

So many of you have probably noticed that a few of us incorporate some interesting wordplay into our entries. For those of you that have trouble following our flow, I wrote up a dictionary a few months back to help explain ourselves (kinda). This will serve as a little taste of the full lexicon of your blogging gobies. Just a few rounds of our verbal armament so to speak. Im guessing it will eventually become expanded, and turned into an iphone app or something




Thizz: To react strongly to something in a positive manner
Ex: “I was thizzing so hard after breaking my mark. I chumped him out bad”

Antithizz: The opposite of thizz; to react negatively to something
Ex: “man, im pretty antithizz about getting beat deep on that play. I’m gonna have to train harder to make regioanals next year”

Chill-gressive: “The state of being both chill, and aggressive.
Ex: “man, he was lulling me to sleep with his chillgressive style. I totally wasn’t ready for it when he busted strike and threw a huck deep to Andy

Chill-tense: “The state of being both chill, and intense
Ex: “Dude, explosions in the sky and minus the bear is such chill-tense music”

Big: An all purpose modifier to show increase in intensity of a feeling or action
Ex: “I’m about to go big eat some food
Ex: “I’m big antithizz over the fact we didn’t make regionals this year”

Rep: To “represent”. Also commonly used to denote ownership or usage
Ex: Dude, let me rep that umbrella, its big rainy outside
Ex: I’m repping big hucks so hard today

Chump: A person who is not at the standard of others. Also can denote a shaming or dominating action over someone else
Ex: Dude, that punk is the biggest chump ever. I just callahanned him so hard
Ex: I’ve been chumping punks all day, I keep beating them on in cuts like nobody’s business

Nub: Modification of “noob” or “newbie”. Someone or something that is inexperienced or not up to par
Ex: Dude, western Kentucky made us look like total nubs when they eliminated us from Great Lakes Secitionals 09. We’re not gonna be nubs like that next year

Legit: If something is legitimate; worth some measurable value
Ex: “Yo, it was so legit when you let off that low release forehand. You owned him hard.

gg: “good game”. To finish someone or something.
Ex. Yeah I just caught a huck for the win. gg nub
Ex. Oh man, he just gg’d that chump with that break throw

-Kevin

Half Full or Half Empty?

I'd say the summer is about halfway done. A good month and a half has passed, about that much more left. I figure it's a good time to reflect a little on everything so far, and possibly refocus for the second half of the summer.

For starters my summer league team is 2-3. We won last week handily, it was never even close. I barely broke a sweat, and was kind of disappointed by the workout. Nevertheless, as a team, we made up some point differential, which was good.

This week was a little more interesting. We played White, and on paper, I must say I didn't recognize many people - so I thought it might be an easier win, a win that would punch us into the top Tier of competition for the second half of summer league. We traded points throughout, going up 2, and down 2. We played a lot of zone, they beat it with hammers. It was actually a lot of fun. With about 3 minutes to go, we were down 2. We sent out a hot stud line, and went on a solid run scoring 2 quick points off big yardage gainers via huck. Double game point ensued, I got a handblock on their goal line, but then turned it over trying to get the disc to Rose on the block. They then marched it down the field for the win. Disappointing loss, but w/e, It's the tournament that matters the most I guess.

Anyway, in regards to my own personal progress...I'd like to continue working on throws, breaking the mark, getting in better shape, still, and continuing to work hard on defense. My xrays on my ribs came back, nothing broken, but I did lose some quality time. In a few weeks I'll be leaving the country, so my time is actually pretty short in regards to increasing my game further.

In summary though, I'm not too pleased with the way this summer is shaping up in terms of Ultimate (more personal than anything, injury, work, etc.). It's had it's ups, but a lot of downs along the way as well. Only thing to do is make the second half better.

Wisdom and Bagels

Its been a while since I blogged. Spilling water on one's computer (a second time) tends to be a detriment to internet access. As myself and my fellow gobies work hard through the summer, it becomes pretty evident how much i miss the company of our Pittsburgh Bretheren, Mark and Andy. Last weekend at no surf, with pittsburgh teams oozing all over the fields like a bunch of big sooty pimples, I wished that I could be skying pretty eyed, or bulge-enhanced chumps.

No Surf was an excellent tournament in which i got to participate against some high quality competition. It was definitely a learning experience for myself. Also the bagels were excellent.

I've been having to go to a lot of "summer on the cuyahoga events", and the last one I attended was a talk at shaker country club hosted by none other than the cavaliers GM danny ferry. The dan man imparted some sage wisdom about the cavs, and cleveland sports in general. He said:

"We're not cursed, we just weren't good enough to win"

Being the proud and mighty gobies that we are. We often tend to think that we "should've won that game" or failed to beat a team when "we're better than them". I think in times like these we need to remember the Dan Man's words. Once we become an excellent team, there won't be frustrating losses. We'll just be better.


-Kevin

Week 3 Summer League Results - Powder

Look man. We lost. GG. NBFD. Game nearly rained out. Ed an I were both tired/hurt on the field, didn't think it was worth it to over exert ourselves in a Summer League game. My boy Ed's been doin' work harder than Kobe, Ultimate 6-7 days. He deserves an "off" day. I hope he listened to a lot of chill-tense musik on the way home. Maybe even just chill.

I didn't even think I would make the game. I ended up showing, however, and it was quickly apparent to me that I was still injured. I bruised my right rib on a layout at Poultry Days. It hurts to breathe sometimes. It hurts more when I try to run. I was completely ineffective. I had like 2 good points. Barely broke a sweat. Didn't care though, thought it more important to heal up. I played limited minutes. I won't make practice tomorrow either - I need to heal up. I hope bruised ribs arent a big deal.

We even ran a cup-o-saurous one point, and the last point for us was an upside down point. But hey, despite all the fatigue and pain, we still had fun this week. It's okay to have an off week. That's the nice thing about summer league, it matters some, but at the end of it all, it's not Regionals we're talking about.

Player Profile: Michael MacDonald

Name: Michael MacDonald
Nicknames: Mac, Macwell, Mac Daddy, Mac Attack, Granville (On the Block)
Age:20
Height: 5'11
Major: Engineering Physics <---I hear this is difficult
Special Move: God Mode

Case's Resident LeBron, Mac is the veteran captain of the Gobies. Sporting multiple hairstyles and multiple throws, Mac is a threat to "go off" at any moment. His God Mode ability is often activated during frustrating games against lesser opponents, and does not shut off until victory is attained. Mac has a crippling weakness for protien shakes, chocolate covered raisins, and skying people. He enjoys physics, and bro-ing out at the ford frisbee fortress, where he is always the first to offer a high-five.

-Kevin

Summer '09: Mixing it up

Gobies,

It is wonderful to see the strong numbers that continue to make it out to Cleveland club practices and local summer leagues and to hear about those of you outside of the area making waves for the Gobies in your local areas. As we all are catching the Ultimate bug that leads to such dedication it is important to remember how much time still stands between today and Sectionals '10. Once school starts we expect you all to remain dedicated and show the new rookies what Ultimate is all about as you also dedicate time to school. It is important not to get burned out before the school year starts because, assuming we all put in the time we are putting in now, we have A LOT to be excited about this year.

So please, when you're not on the field and looking for a way to stay in shape consider some enjoyable alternatives. I've been playing basketball 3 times a week which helps keep me in shape and keeps me jumping. I love me some pickup Ultimate just as much as the next guy but consider hosting some full court pickup basketball or soccer or whatever else you can think of to keep you in shape. Bored by tossing? Go play a round of frisbee golf with your Ultimate disc and work on those hucks and making accurate throws. And - maybe most importantly - if you begin to feel injured or burned out from playing Ultimate please sit a day or two out. This is the time to do it.

All that being said, stick to your goals (or make some goals) of coming out to club practice and working out and doing whatever else you planned on doing over the summer to be ready for next year. We haven't even played our first club tourney yet but I'm already excited about our first tourney as Gobies in the Fall because I see the drive in so many players that I know will take us to a higher level of play this year.

Enjoy your summer.

Ed

On the Road again

So this past Saturday the Pittsburgh Summer League officially started. As Mark mentioned before, he and I got on the same team along with two of our friends from high school. Our team turned out to be pretty good, and it seemed like the majority of people were younger than 21. This means we had lots of fresh legs (we also had like 30 people show up) but a slight lack of experience. It seemed like everyone had the fundamental skills down they just needed some game experience, for instance who to pick up on D, making sure to clear out, keeping the force.

For me, this weekend was a bit of a kick in the butt. There were many things I could have done better but also some good things that encouraged me. Right away I noticed that I was less in shape than I hoped. I got tired faster than usual and on one occasion it made me give up a point. I guess my workouts of pushups, situps, and Wii fit isn't enough. There was one time I could have layed out for a D but chumped out, and one time when I should have layed out but more like stumbled-out. That was a little embarassing, I missed the catch and bruised my shin. I had 3 hucks throughout the day, one which was caught, one was a diving (missed) catch, and one anyone over 5 feet would have caught. So overall I was pretty happy with that aspect, one of my goals for this summer league was to work on my hucks (and handling in general).

Some of the best plays I made were when there was synergy between me and Mark. It seemed like when one of us had the disc the other would know exactly where and when to cut. We probably had 4-5 upfield/break throws this way. Other than that I had a few good throws/cuts/heads up plays that made me feel good about my overall playing.

As far as our actual games, we ending up beating both teams we played. The first game we went up 14-5 but somehow let them come back 14-13 before finishing it. Woops. The next game was a hard fought battle, we stopped them on their game point and took the next three points to win by two.

Overall this weekend was a lot of fun and a good reminder to me that I need to be working out (running/jump-roping) and working on my thows more outside of games/practices.

I hope the rest of your summers have been filled with flying discs.

-Andy

Poultry Days Write-up - Gobies an International Phenomenon

You may have come to expect long blog posts by me. This one will be the same, if not longer than most. Simply, a lot happened this weekend, and since it was my first Poultry Days, it was a little more special than most other typical tournaments.

Poultry Days is a big deal. There were 48 teams at this tournament, mostly coed, and in addition to the usual mix of teams from across the US, the national teams from Taiwan, Great Britain, Canada, and US were also present as they prepared for the World Games this year. It was an exciting atmosphere. I'll try and keep most of the talk about what happened limited to my team "Pollo en mis Pantalones", but there are other relevant topics regarding the Road to Regionals that I'll bring up.

I'll get right into Saturday morning. We were seeded 4th in our pool, and we all thought we were better than that, and that we had the possibility of winning the pool. We really did. Our schedule wasnt completely favorable however, as we played the 1 seed, 2 seed, 3 seed first, the the 6 seed and the 5 seed. We would have had to come out playing our best from the beginning, which is never an easy task. We also had 28 people this weekend on our roster playing for us. This meant a few things - less playing time overall for everyone, tighter rotation on the roles (O line players stay on O line, D line stays D line), the abililty to withstand injuries with our depth, but also that it's more difficult to get a flow of the game and develop some on field chemistry. I think our numbers may have hurt us a little early in the day by manifesting itself in the form of many miscues, bad throws, drops, loss of offensive flow (especially off the pull...). Those turnovers really killed us. We played pretty solid defense overall I would say, the other teams we played gave us chances to break them - we had a hard time converting. One of the biggest issues was endzone offense. Sometimes we'd still be in horizonal in the red zone, other times we made bad, rushed decisions, sometimes our handlers wouldn't be spread out properly and we would force bad throws. All those factors really killed us on Saturday, and we ended up going 2-3 - holding seed.

If you ask me, we all severely underperformed, almost everyone from 1-28 on the roster. We're so much better than we played...

I was on the O line all weekend, and so part of the responsibility falls on my shoulders. I had a couple of miscues. I put up one huck all weekend, and my target couldnt quit get to it (even though the throw was prety nice, and not forced). I did not have any assists on Saturday (or Sunday for that matter). I was not the playmaker; instead I fell into more of a reset handler responsible for keeping possesion - letting other players make plays. I was fine with that, and there were some bright spots on offense when I worked with some of the more experienced players.

In terms of D, I would say I was solid. Truth is, if you play good offense, you shouldn't have to play much D - and the offensive line was marginally successful in getting scores, i.e, there are less opportunities to showcase defense on the offensive line. In terms of people that only played O line, I would say I was pretty big on D. Most of it was just putting on solid marks, not letting my guy get the disc, and making the dumps difficult. My marks were pressured enough that I got a couple D's from my guy making a difficult throw. I was able to recover on a huck well enough to not get skied in the endzone, and probably the one that sticks in my head the best was a full layout D on a hard in cut in the middle of the field. The throw was a little high, so I was even surprised I got a hand on it. I was really pumped, and wanted to yell back at the sideline for someone that was telling me to hustle more on D, but I held back. That was pretty much the story of my defense that day. I tried for a couple of layouts on dumps, but they were out of reach, and I think I looked stupid trying. Sometimes you feel you are just inches away from those throws though, especially high stall ones. In retrospect, laying out for those wasnt the best idea because I didnt get good form on them; I bruised my knee and it affected my play the rest of the day, into the next.

Even still, as I said, the team didn't play to its potential on Saturday, and after a full day's work, we fell into the B bracket.

Sunday was single eliminaion. We came out firing against the first team. I was a little more timid with my playing time on Sunday, however, because of my injured knee. I took a lot of extra time stretching on the sideline. The truth is, I didn't feel I played great on Saturday, and I wanted to really play better on Sunday. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

I didn't play horrible the first game; I was solid, but I didn't make any super plays. The one that I'm upset about is a strike cut I made up the line for the score that I needed to layout for to catch. I got airborne, clinched the disc in my hand, and then it popped out as my body hit the ground. I was furious with myself. I had also landed on my right shoulder, and I bruised my ribs. I called an injury timeout to take myself out of the game. Talking to someone who saw the play said that my left foot caught the huge traffic cone (2ft tall...) that took me off my flight path, which screwed me up bad. If that stupid cone wasn't there, I would have had a better chance at it. In general though, I have a harder time catching discs on O when I lay out. I can think of 3 times right off the top of my head where I got to a disc while airborne, had it in my hand, and it pops out. In principle it makes sense - on D, you just need to get a finger on it. On O you have to catch it. I really need to work on that. My ribs still really hurt today, I'm gonna take a few days to rest up.

On a quick side note, this was one of the first weekends that I really felt the improvements of Air Alert (15 week vertical leap enhancing program, completed with Mark, Andy and Ed). I didn't notice it so much in my vertical, but I feel so much more explosive, especially when I go horizontal.

In the second game I only played 2 miserable points. I was clearly ineffective. I had 2 really bad turnovers, and got beat deep once because I held my head down for a second right after I gave the disc up. I did however force 2 D's on the mark, which was solid. All was not lost. I did get the feeling that my captains were losing faith in me, and that did not help. I felt a lot of pressure to perform this weekend, and sometimes I let that get to me.

So what did I take away from the weekend? I'll break it down to two things that I need to focus on:
- On defense, one of the big focuses of the team was getting back to your man ASAP even when they are on the opposite side of the field or clearing after you shut them down. Reason for this: even if they appear to not be a threat, in a few seconds, they may be as soon as a big huck goes up or the disc is swung over. Catch up to them, then rest with them in the stack with you still at their hips. The good thing is this is just a mental thing to focus on (partially conditioning). I can overcome this with practice.
- On offense, I didn't think I would say this, but my throws. Not my backhand, forehand, break or w/e but a different kind of throw. I want to work on getting lots of spin on my flicks and backhands with minimal windup for immediate swings and short passes, for give and go situations. This was something I saw executed well by the World's teams, especially by their handlers. The idea is to just put out space pass swings for my guy to get to and run out towards instead of always trying to hit a target.

This weekend was more about Ultimate though, and I had a great time off the fields as well. On Saturday night I spent some time with Team Taiwan. I got to know a few players on their team, and at the end, I traded two of my Gobies jerseys for Taiwanese Club Team jerseys. Gobies are officially international. Who knows, one day you might be playing in Taiwan and you see the fish out there. That's my jersey. On Sunday, I met up with a few Team USA players, my former coach Gwen Ambler, and Dylan Tunnel. The interesting thing about Dylan is that he wears the same number as I do - 78. You dont see that too often, so at the end of the day we swapped hats. The way I look at is that these were all steps taken towards our goal of Regionals. Gobies are global now.

So yeah, I had a great time this weekend. Some things even happened that I'm not going to blog about here. But in regards to Ultimate, I still have a lot of work to do. I talked to Jeff Meyers, one of the captains for the team and asked him for an assessment of my play. His response, I played solid this weekend. He said my defense was pretty good, just to work on the point I outlined above, and that I could be more of a stud on defense if I got some more conditioning in. On offense, also said I was solid, but to hit my first look a few times. Sometimes he felt like I hesitated a little.

I would say I took about 8-9 steps towards Regionals this weekend.

- Q

Kevin's Week 2 Summer League Recap

Minus two of our top players, week 2 saw team pink nearly dethroned from their seat of dominance. We played a hard-fought game against an energetic ice team which featured standout gobies Evan Frasz and Jason Williams. Those two were like trying to mark a barber shop. There were cuts everywhere, they dished them out at a frequent rate, and when it was finished, they made me look bad. Though we went up 5-1 on them, they fought back and injected some emotion and intensity thats normally unseen in a Cleveland summer league game. Though I made quite a few mental mistakes, victory was ours in the end. I think everyone on both teams had a great time. It was pretty awesome to see something casual turn into something spirited and intense. We were all gasping for air at the end of each point, and the celebrations after each score were like something out of the college series.

Nayyir posted his workout schedule in an earlier post. I've been trying to keep to the same routine, but my summer obligations with SOTC have been frustrating. Forced socialization with geezer alumni certainly gets in the way of thrashing my quads.

-Kevin

Week 2 Summer League Results and Poultry Days

So, this week has been pretty busy for me. For the last few weeks I have been going to both Club Open practices and Co-ed practices, as well as lifting/running/tossing on my own, bro-ing out mostly with Kevin, and of course Summer League. To be honest, its a little much for me right now - especially driving the distances I have to get to practices and such. I've all but decided this is going my be my routine for the next few weeks, and I'm going to try and stick to it. I don't want to be burned out this summer by Ultimate, and it is important to get some R&R during the "off season". Too bad in Ultimate there is no true off season. Anyway

Sunday - Co-ed Practice
Monday - Opting to skip Open practice and lift on my own
Tuesday - Lift on my own, option to rest muscles
Wednesday - Summer League
Thursday - Co-ed Conditioning Practice
Friday - Lift
Saturday - Toss and jog

Speaking of summer league...we played a team (Moss) that lost last week by the same margin we did. So it was a clash of the not-titans. The game held pretty true to form. Actually we were up on them by 3 early, but let them climb back into it by half. I believe we were up 2 at half recieving. They eventually caught back up, and even went up 3 points on us at one point. Luckily this week we picked up Ashley (but sorely missed Ed). At one point late in the game, I'd say with about 15 minutes left, Ashley, Rose and myself decided to take over the game, and we didnt come out till the end. Our offense basically fell into recieve the pull, have Ashley or Rose cut, throw to each other, I get the dump, and when we get close, have me throw to an iso-ed Ashley or Rose. We were pretty good about getting D's too. Sucks that in summer league we had to do that, since I'm all for everying getting their PT, but this was a game we needed to win.

So theres like 5 minutes left, and we had just tied it. The three of us were on a roll. If the point lasted long, this was essentially universe point (Summer League is to time - 40 min halves). We pull to start, and after some sketchy foul calls back and forth, I believe I hucked to an outstretched Ashley who almost caught my throw. Sadly, turnover. They get the disc back, and this team Moss basically ran the same offense all game, throwing to the open side. At one point after my cutter cuts force side and he is no longer a threat, I peek back to see another cutter cut behind me. I turn around just in time for the layout D. It wasn't an insta-layout D like I've been hoping to work on, but nevertheless, a big D. A few moments later, Rose is on the block, but catches it just outside, I get a dump, and throw a blade for the score to Trent (future Case player) for the game winner. It was a great feeling to come out with a win, especially knowing that Case essentially put the team on our shoulders for the second half to not lose it. I hope we can continue it in the next few weeks...

The other big thing going on in my world of Ultimate is Poultry Day's this weekend in Versailles, Ohio.

This is actually a big deal for me, not only because this is a great tournament (admittedly my first time), and the competition will be great, but because this is a big tryout tournament for the Cleveland Co-ed team. Remember, one of my goals is to make the team, gain lots of valuable experience, and play at a higher level. There isn't much to be said other than the fact that I need to play well. I have been designated as an offensive handler, I doubt I'll see many D line points, especially since the roster has 27 people on it. That moves my focus towards a few things. Overall, when the captains evaluate me by tournaments end, I want them to at least think I played solid. I don't want them to have images of poor decisions, bad throws, missed defensive assignments, or other things that can stick in their mind. More specifically though, I think a positive assist to turnover ratio is vital. By assist, I don't even mean that I have to throw many scores. I just want to be there for every dump, swing, and reset. I'll only take throws I'm positive of, and only huck if they explicitly give me the green light. On defense...I think I have to surprise them a little. The O line will turn the disc over, so I will have opportunities to play defense. I think people underestimate my committment to defense. Not to over-glorify the lay-out D (better if your man never touches it, or you dont have to bail yourself out with a layout) but I have been getting one pretty much every time I play or scrimmage these days. For the last 4 club practices I have gotten at least one layout D - and not on chumps off of poaches - off of hard in cuts.

So there may be a lack of faith on the defensive side for me, but I guess it's up to me to prove otherwise. Perhaps I'm playing the O line because they have confidence in me. I dont know. (The other explanation is that they view me as too much of a liability on defense. I hope not.) I'm not saying I need to dazzle this weekend, but I think I need to play just a notch above solid this weekend. Not out of this world, but just a step up. Speaking of world, I hope we get to play Team USA this weekend. Shoutout to my former coach Gwen Ambler, I'm gonna D you for sure.

- The Question

The "other" summer league

Pittsburgh summer league starts this Saturday. The setup is different from the Cleveland summer leagues. Instead of one game every week, we have double headers on Saturdays scattered throughout the summer (6 or 7 total Saturdays I believe).

The important thing though is that Andy and I managed to get on the same team, along with two of our bros from high school. I think (and hope) that us four will have to be the big contributors of the team if we want to win. I look forward to being a potential leader of my summer league team.

Summer league is always an interesting psychological battle for me. Sure, there are great players and good players on every team, but sometimes the games don't seem very intense and competitive. It's very easy to just kick back like everyone else on the field, play lazy defense, and make poor, but exciting decisions.

There's a shit ton amount of teams (24 or something), and it's nearly impossible to gauge how good or terrible our team will be. But I mean, we have the chemistry of Andy and I that stretches back to sophomore year of high school, not to mention experience with our other two bros, Jaymes and Niko. If anything, I know it'll be a great time playing with these guys.

Some goals for myself at summer league:

1) Backhand, backhand, backhand. My backhand needs a LOT of work. I've been working on it in my free time and at club practice, but I think at summer league I can take more chances and gain confidence in breaking people. Most of my issues with backhand is due to lack of confidence.
2) Shut down defense. My man shouldn't get the disc. It's as simple as that. The hardest part is making myself play hard when others might not be playing 100%.
3) Gain complete confidence in my low release forehand. The Huddle says to work on your strengths more than your weaknesses, and I think this is my best throw. If I can have the confidence to consistently break people with a inside low release flick, that would be great.

Hoping to start off 2-0,

Matsi

Week 2 of Summer League

OK, so last week was pretty disappointing for me and my summer league team. We got rocked. Score reporter says 19-5 or something. We don't really have a super team like **cough** Kevin's squad, but we do what we can.

For the record, I did not achieve my goal of 2 layout blocks last week. It was a rough time all around. We severely lack experience. In fact, I'll fess up and mention that I got lay-out D blocked (but know the throw was pretty behind me, and the other guy was a few steps behind me and he still had to layout to get it - ie, I didnt even have a play on it).

I did have an assist though, and a foot block, though an uncharacteristic number of turns, I'd say about 4. Like I said, rough week.

This week we play an easier team, although we wont have Ed or some of our other studs...so it'll still be very difficult. I think I decided that I'm going to not try too hard and let the game come to me. Often times when an unexperienced team is playing poorly, there is a tendency to want to do it all - especially via frustration hucks. I'm not going to do that this week. I just hope people know how to cut though...

I was surprised to hear how many people knew about my personal D goal. I guess thats what happens when you blog. Last week I had a couple of bids, but nothing really good. I can think of 2 instances when I might have been able to get something by laying out, but they were the types that I mentioned I have to work on - the instant layout D.

I can remember this one clearly: A guy catches the disc on an in cut, im on the off handler, and he creeps up, starts calling for the disc. I KNOW it's going to him, I'm a 1/2 step behind him, and the thrower puts up this toss that is inches from my outreached hand. If I had the presence to just get horizontal I would have had it no problem. That kind ot stuff.

Maybe this week...

- Q

Summer Dynamics

Summer is in full swing, and we're all still getting a handle on all of our unique schedules. I personally have been pretty busy with work and the Summer on the Cuyahoga Program. Mandatory programming and events have been keeping me from thrashing ultimate as much as I liked so far, so I've been itching to play more than ever. Last week i took a spur of the moment drive down to Versailles for D3 nationals, which turned out to be a lot of fun

The working world can be rough for one's planned ultimate training schedule, but Nayyir and I have been making sure to talk as much ultimate strategy as possible while running tests and preforming analyses on all sorts of helmet technology at Team Wendy LLC.

Here is a sample of a typical conversation

Kevin: Hey Nayyir, can you do the impulse analysis for the 5th impact?

Nayyir: Yeah yeah yeah i can rep that

Kevin: Aight, cool. I've been working on my low-release forehand. One day it will be as vicious as mark's

Nayyir: Yeah dawg, thats what im sayin'. Lemme rep this article about zone offense.

Kevin: Dang, thats some cool stuff. I'm going to go research sensors.

Tron (on Gchat): 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01110010 01101111 01101110


Also, we've been paying more attention to health and nutrition. As ultimate players, We all have a tendency to nom whatever we please, because of our massive energy use from playing. However, in order to maximize our training, and bring our bodies to peak condition, we should try to follow proper dietary guidelines. As the son of a dietitian, i can say that the most reliable source for nutrition is located at www.nutrition.gov. However, if you find yourself wondering what you should eat, you can never go wrong with the five dollar foot long. They're cheap, delicous, nutritious, and you can even get tuscan chicken for $5 if you're Q in East Cleveland. He has a way with the black ladies.





-Kevin

Pre-Summer League Thoughts

Summer League starts tomorrow. I'm on Powder, baggaged with Ed (also playing with Ashley and Rose on my team). Needless to say, I'm super pumped. This year's league style is draft, so the teams are supposed to be a little more even. I don't think we have the strongest team on paper, but we should be pretty competitive - we might surprise some people.

But, as with everything regarding this blog, one of our goals is to make Summer League count towards Regionals. Yes, there are some chumps in SL, but there are also some legit players out there. It's going to be important to step our individual games up to stay competitive, even though the rest of the competition might be a step below us. This is our time to really work on things that we are uncomfortable with. As with my philosophy on a lot of things, I have set a few goals for myself in SL; here they are.

1) Limit turnovers, improve decision making - This may prove to be very challenging in SL when there is a constant urge to huck or make irresponsible plays. Also, if I handle, the disc will move a lot through me, so it is important to make sure I make the right play - not the low percentage play.

2) Cut more - Trying to become a more well rounded player. That means playing other positions, and getting used to the position more so that I am more versitile on the field. I'm a strong proponent of players being able to do lots of things, so that handlers feel comfortable upfield, and cutters are comfortable handling for a few throws. This can translate really well to our college team.

3) Step up the individual defense - On the marks, on the handlers, and on the in/out-cuts. I've decided I'm not going to look for lots of handblocks this summer (unless it's like...right there), and instead really committ to trusting the rest of the defense and play solid marks. On handler D, I'm going to be working on not poaching my defender. I think that really kills us in a lot of defensive sets. In regards to the in/out cuts, really challenging myself to not allow my guy to touch the disc all point. Beyond that, I'm going to aim at going out and getting D's, not waiting for them to turnover a disc on a bad throw, as many teams do in SL.

4) Work on the intangibles. I really want to gain a solid cohesivness with Ed, be able to know what cuts/throws we like, and develop a little on field synergy. Also want to step up as a team leader more, leading by example, and picking my teaching opportunities. A lot of times in SL people want to say 493 things in a huddle during a time out. Little do they know, most players can only focus on 1-2 things. We have to learn to filter out the important things, and focus on the task at hand. Really, it actually ticks me off when people try and teach too much in SL ("try this on the mark, lets change this, i found it effective when..., let's run this special defense"). Really, SL defense is more about playing hard as a team, and doing small things individually. Anyway, basically my goal is to only say really important things, and not step over other leadership on the team. I look forward to hearing Ed get some coaching reps in maybe, other captain permitting.

Hopefully, I'm also bringing in a new player on the team. He's looking to join the Case team in fall. He has only played recreationally, so I want to weave him in slowly, and hopefully he will like it, and stick with it. My goal is to kind of take him under my wing and develop him into a real contributer for the fall. It should be exciting.

So to sum it up I think I am going to play a little game with myself. +1 for a regular D, +2 for a layout D, -1 for each turnover. Try to get as much in the positive as possible. Only -1 for the turnovers because I feel like I might be handling a lot this summer. My goal is to average 2 layout D's a game. I'm pretty confident in getting a D on a lot of in cuts when I'm really able to time it right (and have good positioning), but I want to work on quickly getting off my feet in a short burst, without having time to fully gather myself mentally - like on high stall count handler dump defense - when I KNOW its coming to me.

We'll see how it goes.

- Q

D-III Nationals Recap

This weekend the Gobies traveled to Division III Nationals in Versailles, Ohio. We had a slightly disappointing turnout, having only 9 players on Saturday and 13 on Sunday. The extra help of two ladies, Kumi and Kari, and Kevin's friend Justin was much appreciated.

Our Saturday went like many of our Saturdays of this past season: we underperformed and we knew it. We lost our first two games against Rice and Vassar, and won our next two games to finish the day off at 2-2. It was apparent that we had the skill and talent to win our pool, but the offseason definitely took a toll on our team chemistry and physical conditioning.

Due to our win in the crossover game, we barely made it into the championship bracket as the last (18th) seed, and were due to play the 1 seed, Los Positas. They were definitely a solid team, but at the same time, I think our sectionals team could have beat them. Our biggest problem as a team (in my opinion at least), the inability to convert on the goal line, was shown this game. Los Positas took half at 8-2 or something similar, yet there were at least three points that we turned over on the goal line that they in turn marched down the field and scored. If we had converted those three points, suddenly it's a tie game at 5-5. It's disappointing: we work so hard at that part of our game in the spring, yet it still plagues us in game. I think if we can solve this issue for next year, we will see huge improvements in tournament results. We must be doing something wrong, we just have to figure it out.

Our first game in the 13th place bracket was against Kalamazoo (I think). We started off strong, then fell apart mid game, and then finished great with our backs to the walls, but fell short in the end to lose 13-11.

Other than the first two games of Saturday, our play was pretty solid. We definitely need to learn to play our best on Saturday and Sunday, not just Sunday, which seems to happen all too often (such as High Tide). Even so, our play was impressive considering all of the key players that were not in attendance for the weekend.

Notable performances. We finally used Kevin Vick's height to our advantage, as he skied many chumps throughout the weekend on hucks. Evan, the MVP of the weekend, came down with at least a few clutch grabs with defenders all around him. He's a fun-loving guy and jokester off the field, but he always brings intensity and heart to the field when it matters. He will be sorely missed on and off the field, as this was his last official tournament as a Gobie. He was never ashamed to show his bro-love to all. Bro, you're our bro, bro.

- Mark

Update Club Practices, College Nationals

It's been awhile since you've heard from the Goby Bloggers. Thought I might step in and put in a few words on whats been going on lately.

I think most of us have still been getting settled in to a summer routine. I started working this Tuesday with Kevin at a company called Team Wendy - a step towards Regionals - as we spend much of our time talking about Ultimate as we develop helmet padding for soldiers abroad. Don't get it twisted, it's legit. I tried to get Mark a job there, but I guess it wasnt meant to be this year. I think Mark has been interviewing for a few jobs here and there, deciding where he wants to spend the rest of his summer. Best of luck to him. Anyway, though we've been busy, we've been fitting in as much work as possible.

Club practices have started in Cleveland, and right now it's just a lot of pickup. The team is headed by former Goby John Richey, and local Shawn McCarthy (AKA MC). I think right now they are trying to get a gauge on the scene this year, see who is committed, and keep the interest level up in the beginning by running a lot of structured pickup. I think it's a smart move by them, and I've actually been impressed by the level of professionalism and leadership demonstrated by the captains. They generally start with a little warmup, then break into teams and every point or few points they focus on a specific task - breaking the mark, swinging the disc, forcing backhand, vertical stack strings, etc. That's the way any scrimmage should be run. Players need to know what to focus on, they need direction, even when playing a seemingly innocuous pickup game.

What I've been even more impressed with is the number of Case people showing up to these practices. I think it's the most we've had since I started playing, and I really hope they stick with it. To name a few I think I've seen Jason, Corbett, Solomon, Kevin (of course), Ed (of course), Franz, Evan, and a few others. That's really exciting, and the veterans on the team have really been stressing the younger players to come out. Good to see them out there. Though I have been practicing with the Open team a little here and there (since they have open pickup to the city), I am not planning on playing with them over the summer right now - I'm trying out for the Co-ed team. However, what I have noticed is a lot of hard work being put in, especially by the Case players. I know I made it a point to mark up on Kevin a lot, and focus on playing solid defense on him, and on offense breaking the mark and not turning it over. We're breaking a good sweat out there for sure. I also had a couple co-ed practices over the last couple weeks, and those have been going well too. Last Thursday we had our optional conditioning practice, and I ran it with former Goby Will Link and captain Mac. We ran hard, and I definitiely need to put more time into conditioning. The thing I really liked about the co-ed conditioning practices is that we did all of our conditioning with a disc - the highlight the importance of disc skills when you are physically exhausted. In other words, running repeat 800's is great, but it really doesnt simulate gameplay at all. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks with the team.

If you follow College Ultimate at all, you know that Nationals was in Columbus this year, so naturally with it being in our backyard, all the locals made a trip down, including myself with long time Ultimate friend Weston, and a few of his college teammates. I went down with him in 2007, and had a great time. It's always nice to watch top level Ultimate to know what you're striving for. I said it before in my Regionals post, but there are a few things that standout as dividers between top level teams and the rest of the competition. 1) Fundamental disc skills, 2) Athletiscm, 3) Spacing on the field, 4) The mental game - intensity, focus, determination. Those are the qualities we need to work on. Beyond that though, the weekend was relaxing, and it was nice seeing players I havent seen in a long time. I picked my boys from Carleton to win it all, and they did, barely facing any competition throughout. Want to know whats scary? Most of the top level players on that team are sophomores, they're only going to get nastier. Shoutouts to Pbob, Evangelides, and Grant. Ya'll are sick.

Watching Nationals was great for another reason. It reignited my motivation to work hard and do work this summer. More on that in my next post.

Poll Results

So the poll "how pumped are you for regionals '10" has closed

I'm glad to see that 62.5% of you are "super pumped" and a respectable 12.5% are "big pumped"

but what is frightening is that 1/4 of you said "nah, im just chill"

I sincerely hope this is just a strategy for getting yourselves from a state of chill to chill-tense. Being chill about the prospect of regionals is absolutely unacceptable

-Kevin