Winter Work

[Contributed by Sam #6]

The fall is over. We did some really good work this fall, taking steps towards our goals for the spring. We progressed through several tournaments, even shaking a rough start at Glory Days to throw down and crush our sunday competition. But here is the catch: Everything we have done in the Fall is now irrelevant. Now that we're heading into our Winter Break from school, its time to start thinking about spring ultimate and the College Series. The college series is our goal as a team, the time when we want to peak and perform at our best, hopefully making the step to REGIONALS this year. It is going to take us a lot of work to become a great team, and the break away from school is a great time to start putting in that work on an individual level. Ultimate is one of the most demanding sports I have ever played, combining sprinting, changing direction, jumping and laying out throughout a point, and repeated through seven or eight games for a whole weekend tournament. This intense sport requires a good deal of work to be played at that level, and the more work we put in as individuals over break will result in a higher starting point as a team when we meet up in January again. If you talk to any good team, they will tell you that the basis for their spring success is work, all winter, they work their asses off to get in shape. So lets make it our goal this winter to work more often, and harder then we have worked so far in ISU Ultimate history.

I have looked at other team's winter workout programs, and here is a a sample of the work done by many regionally, and nationally competitive teams:

• Workouts of some sort up to five days a week
• Snertz (hurl)
• Track workouts: 12x200 repeats, 8x400 repeats, Ladders from 100 to 500, etc.
• Leg circuits (like we did in practice on Monday)
• Stair workouts
• Team runs
• Workout groups (every elite team I know of has groups that go to the gym and lift together at least 3 days a week, up to 6!)

Notice any themes? Teams work. Hard. If we wanna make the next step as a team, we need to work hard too! Wisconsin won three college national championships on the premise that their legs would win them games, not their skill. If they can win national championships by outrunning and outworking their opponents, we can certainly learn some lessons from that.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea to read up on ultimate and watch some games online while you have some time off from school. There are tons of good sites, like The Huddle, that offer tons of knowledge on ultimate. There are also videos of the resent club championships on the UPA's website.

So use this upcoming break to get your legs under you, get strong and healthy, and get ready to train us some energy legs! If you have any questions or comments, shoot them to me or Steve. Need some ideas to get your ass in shape, ask me or Steve. Whether you have access to a gym, or just stuff you can do around the house, there is a way for you to get into shape going into the winter. Lets start putting in the work now and make some noise this spring.

A few other notes, we will be getting jerseys shortly, so keep your ears open for info on such. Also it is time to decide about High Tide, so get me your money if you want to be included in our plans for this sweet trip. I need money, or at the least commitment before we go on break.

Thats about it for this post, everybody have a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and a great New Year. Have a great break.

Bust a nut, GnoMEN!

How to be more like Crack

[Contributed by Kyle #27]

A lil something from Crack on basic Crackhood.

Hey guys this is Crack, and I’m sending this out to give you guys a starting block. As most if not all of you guys know I love to work out and love intensity, and that is critical to being competitive in any sport (Feel free to disagree…but you will short yourself).
To start out I’m getting into nutrition and supplements: Having good eating habits will make or eliminate progress, it is that simple. A lot of you younger guys live in the dorms, and have big meal plans…get your money’s worth!!! I’m not saying that every time you go in there that you need to eat like a fat kid (I do that too often), but you should go in there knowing 2 major food groups. The first is fruits/veggies. I probably sound like mom and dad, but it is so important to get them. The fruits are easy, and most of you probably get enough. The big on I’m looking at is Veggies. Most people don’t like them a lot, myself included, but having 2 salads a day is a really good start. This is where you are going to get a lot of the vitamins and minerals that you need…and that Ice berg lettuce doesn’t count. The other big reason to eat more of these is the hydration factor. Most fruits are 70-90% water. The other food group is Protein. It’s not that you should go overboard with it, but just a fact that you need to make sure you get enough. If you are doing nothing I would recommend you consume at least 75% of your weight in pounds, in grams of protein (you weigh 150lbs, you should eat 112.5g protein). That is the lower end of what you should consume. It is really easy to find protein charts online. On the high end 185% of your lbs, in grams of protein is all your Kidneys can safely handle. I usually try to get 150-200 grams a day.http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/highproteinfood.htm
Now to supplements. These are an easy and fast way to usually get nutrients and other calories for your body, but they are only for the added purpose of getting enough. If your diet is crap, then you are boosting your body to a state of good crap….thus you still have crap. So first are the diet, and then your supplements can really help. Of all the supplements on the market I recommend having some kind of protein powder (they are a lot cheaper than the premixed shakes), and some kind of multivitamin. These are the basic two I would look at. Multivit’s are good, and most of the sports multivitamins have to take 2-3 for a full serving. I LIKE THAT! B/c you can then go through and spread out the goodness. And you can decide to not take the full amount. My multi is a take 3 a day, I take one with breakfast, and one at lunch, and then they will last longer not to mention that I don’t need 300% of some things. Whey proteins are the super common, and if your lactose in tolerant, that’s fine you shouldn’t have a problem. If by some chance you do, then get an iso-whey. But if you know that you have some other major weakness (Sam and I have bad knees) Read up a little bit, I am on glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, mix (Sam is taking something similar….I think). There are a lot of other supplements out there, and I have used a few of them, and a lot of different brands with really similar products. Feel free to ask me if you have questions. You body is your temple, have the best looking and functioning temple you can.

Glory Days 2009

Dear Gnomes,
I can't be there this weekend. Make sure to bitch up some teams for me. Thanks.
-RSK

Western This Weekend

[Contributed by Sam #6]

This weekend we head to our first tournament of the fall as the ISU Men's Ultimate Team. Kind of a big deal. Really. In the past, a preview might have been written for each team, talking about the teams we are gonna face, and how we might stack up against them. But I am gonna spare talks of match-ups and opponents, thats all here in the pools. And besides, at this point in the fall it is guess work to assume I would know which teams have which new good freshman, and who has graduated their star players from last year. Instead there are a few things I want to stress heading into this weekend.

First of all, this weekend, and all fall for that matter, is about playing ULTIMATE. Who cares what else happens. We will play, get experience, and have time being on a sweet-ass ultimate team. Use this weekend to learn, and get to know both the game, and your team. Go into this weekend with goals, specific things you would like to improve upon. Maybe working on your dumps, or your cuts, or work on that IO forehand huck that is so elusive. Everyone should know what you need to work on, and if you don't, ask Steve or Douglas for advice. For many of you this is your first tournament as a Gnome, and hopefully in a few years you will be playing in hundredth tournament like Steve.

Now there are two things I want everyone to do, one, right now after you finish reading this, and the second should be done this weekend on the fields.

• Once you finish, read through this huddle issue. These are some elite level players talking about what Spirit of the Game means to each of them. Read through these players thoughts on spirt, and think about what it means to you.
• Second, this weekend, stay involved on the sidelines. One thing that all elite teams have in common, both club and college, is active, loud, involved sidelines. Since we have no home-field advantage, our teammates on the sideline have the potential to be that game-breaking difference. It is not an exaggeration, games can be won or lost based on sideline involvement and energy level. So sidelines, GET LIVE!!!!

Now all thats left to do for this weekend is get pumped and play some sweet ultimate.

And remember... Bust a Nut GnoMEN

Water Up - A Guide To Being Awesome

This is something we've all heard far too many times to take it seriously: "Make sure you drink lots of water before the tourney this weekend, guys." I've said it a lot, and I've been told it a lot over my ultimate career, and really I've only begun to take it seriously this season, but I'm now a habitual H2O drinker, and a firm believer in its power. I began trying to keep myself hydrated in late June when I started having hamstring problems. I was doing everything I could to try to be able to play again, so I started adding in an extended warm-up routine along with keeping myself hydrated. Here's a rundown of what I do to keep my body in good enough condition to contribute to my team for a full season, and more specifically for a tourney weekend.

• Begin watering up Thursday night - I try to have as much water as I can Thursday night, which usually amounts to about a gallon or so.
• Get some good sleep Thursday night - this is usually the toughest part of my routine, since this is usually the night when I start getting excited for the tournament.
• Begin mentally preparing Friday during the day - begin going over what you're going to do to help your team succeed over the weekend in your head. Think about your strengths and weaknesses as a player, and how you'll use your strengths and hide your weaknesses on and off the field. Since I nearly always handle on team I play for, I like to go over every possible situation I could be in on offense, i.e. cutting for a dump, clearing out when my cut is shut down, how I will follow a throw to an in-cut, etc. Defensively, I think about how I can best use my athleticism and then start to get psyched about coming up with a big D at the right moment. If this doesn't get you excited for the weekend, you're in the wrong sport.
• Continue watering up all day Friday - It's important not to have too much water, but for most of us the main issue is in not having enough. Here's a resource if you're worried about drinking too much.
• Friday night: Bromance Time - The best thing to do on a Friday night before a tournament, in my opinion, is hangout with your teammates. It doesn't matter what you do. Play some Xbox, go to the BBC, try to build a life size replica of Rocky Balboa in your living room out of Busch Light cans, whatever. Just get some of your team together and hangout. Share with each other your excitement and concerns for the weekend. This will assure that any of your teammates that weren't already psyched for the weekend are now in the right frame of mind. Don't forget to sleep.
  
• Saturday Morning: Get there too early - Seriously, I guarantee you won't get to the fields so early that it'll hurt your game. 1.5 hours is a decent amt of time for a good warm-up and time to go over plans for the day with your team. Being at the fields cleated up and throwing, or better yet, jogging, when your opponent gets there is a big mental edge. At this point you may as well have just scored the first goal. Only 14 more.
• Sip of water after each point - this one is big. At ISU I played nearly every point for most of the 3 years I was there, and so watering up was tough. Usually I'd try to drink some between games, but even if I drank til I felt like I was going to puke it wasn't enough. When you're exercising you can only drink so much water at once. It's much more effective to just drink a little bit after each time you sub. This will go a long way especially on hot days. Same goes for food. Try to space it out during games. Half a bagel here, and a banana (gross) there rather than gorging during your bye.
• Warm-up jog (at least) before every game - You'll thank me Monday, when you're not as tight as you usually are and you haven't pulled anything. You'll also thank me when you're actually prepared for the first 3 points of rounds 2-5.
• MORE WATER! Saturday night, make your pee clear.
• Light exercise early Monday - by early, I mean before the afternoon is over. Early morning is even better. Do something to help get your muscles moving and the soreness out. Racquetball was a favorite of mine for this, some people like to go for a jog, and I've heard that swimming is the best option.

Follow these 10 steps and you'll be handblocking Douglas Daube in no time (fact). Seriously though, these are easy ways to keep yourself performing at your peak ability and, arguably more importantly, not let down your teammates by getting injured.

p.s. Saturday night, have as many cups of water as you do beer. If you feel like you can't drink anymore water without puking, you've had enough beers.

p.p.s. I spell-checked this in word, and apparently I write at a 7th grade level. Only 1 more year to high school!

p.p.p.s. This is Ryan, not Sam

Goals Goals and Goals!!!!!

[Contributed by Sam #6]

ITS FALL NOW!!! Which means its time to start heading to tournaments and really get into ultimate. This means its time to start thinking about your goals for the upcoming season of ultimate, and the spring. As a team, we have had a goal for the last couple of seasons: Make Regionals. As we start our season, its also time for each of us to make our individual goals as well. For some of us that goal might be as simple as come to practice and improve at every practice, and some people might not even aspire that, but just want to play ultimate.

Now the question comes up, do any of your goals include making regionals this spring, or helping to build this team into a highly competitive team? If you are in this boat, and many of us claim to be, lets ask if your goals line up? Are your goals and actions this fall gonna help us make regionals? Now this brings up actions; they are entirely different than goals. Until you put action behind goals, they are just words, and words are not going to help us make regionals, or we would have by now. The work to make regionals needs to start this fall. If we wait until February or March to start buckling down and really putting forth an effort, it will be too late. The work to make our team into a competitive regional team needs to start in the fall.

So this is where I make my own suggestions to what you can do to improve and prevent another gnomes free regionals this year:

• "Optional Workouts" with your teammates. Results from those who have done these have been noticeable already, with only two or three workouts worth. So try and make Saturday afternoon workouts, and encourage people to come with you.
• Lift. Its simple. Its easy. Go to the dorms or the Rec. Lifting will help in so many ways. It'll help you get more power in your throws. Help get your body through tough weekends of tournaments and prevent injuries. Plus it'll help you get the ladies and look more like this guy.
• Throw a disc EVERYDAY.
• Learn the game in any way you can. Watch it on Youtube or Ultivillage, Read about it on blogs and websites, talk about it with your friends, ask questions (there are a bunch of very knowledgeable ultimate players on the team), and play play play as much as you can.
• Cuddle with Douglas. You'll be better at ultimate and life for it.
• And remember, come party time, don't be like the girl on the right, actually shotgun your beers.
• Also, get psyched for a beer mile. Where real winners are separated from the rest.

Now with these thoughts, go out and get better at ultimate and lets make regionals come series time. Get some work done, get some knowledge, and never, and I mean NEVER, forget.

GnoMEN go Bust a Nut!!!!

ISU Women's Ultimate Blog

If you like the Lion-Shark blog, boy are you gonna love the Kryptonite blog. Emily started one for the women's team. Check it out here: http://straightuponthatkryptonite.blogspot.com/ Only one post so far, but stay tuned for more.

In other news I'll be handing the blog over to a current member of the ISU men's ultimate team soon, so unless you hear otherwise, you'll still be able to get all your Gnomes-related satirical and serious ultimate talk here for years to come!

MVPs 09

Great year everybody. Here are the winners of this year's awards as announced at the team BBQ this afternoon for all 3 teams:

Most Spirited - RSK, Serena, Colleen
Offensive MVP - Cracker Barrel, Bernacki, Brooklyn
Defensive MVP - Stefense <-- get it?!?!, Amy K
Rookie of the Year - Afryl, Sam Dimmig
Most Improved - McMuffin
Winner of 'the game' - Corey

Sectionals Results

ISU - 15th
ISU D - 3rd at Div II Sectionals
ISU Women - 9th, 1 spot away from regionals!

Good job from everyone this weekend, write-ups to come soon...

The Series Preview

This year has been interesting to say the least. From the best rookie turnout we've ever seen to the best rookie retention rate we've ever seen to losing 2 of our top players to injury and another to ineligibility, it's been a rocky road to the series with lots of ups and downs. From the high of rolling the competition at Knox to the lows of losing our legs in the championship game, and seeing our teammates go down in games, it's also been probably the most emotionally taxing season of ultimate I've ever played. Although I'm sure you all know this already, I'll say it anyway--there's nothing I'd rather do this weekend than play at sectionals with the Gnomes. I'll leave it at that. Now I'll give a little preview of the weekend. Hopefully it won't be my last.

The format for this weekend is very forgiving, in my opinion. Here's the breakdown:

• 7 bids to regionals
• 2 paths to 7th or better place
• 1st: take 1st or 2nd in your pool, win 1st or 2nd game on Sunday, or your last 2
• 2nd: take 3rd or 4th in your pool, win out Sunday

Pool Play

Round 1: Gnomes vs Notre Dame
Notre Dame is the top seed in our section, and they deserve it. They have an outstanding regular season highlighted by wins against Colorado, Iowa, and Illinois - 3 teams with a pretty good shot at Natties. We'll fight for this game like we always do, but it would be a huge upset if we pulled it off. Enough about that.

Round 2: Gnomes vs Bradley
Play our game, run our systems correctly, and this game should be easily won. We haven't played Bradley yet this year, but our D team has beaten them twice (once mixed at Knox).

Round 3: Gnomes vs Western Illinois
If you weren't there for last year, you've heard about it. I won't go into detail. This game should be hard fought and, due to some of the struggles we've had this year, winnable for either team. The key here will be shutting down their 4 main players - Doc, Garrett, Hastings, and Greg Jr. and making sure we don't give them easy goals via turnovers near the goal line, lazy defense downfield. Expect to run hard downfield. Their cutters will be fighting for every disc. This game will be important in our road to 2nd in the pool.

• Keys of the game for Western: Shut down our main players - Steve, Crack, Shane, Cole, Trevor, Tom, ROOKIE, Peteo, Goober, Wildo, Samsicle, Greg, Pat, JGraham, Teleport, Corey, and Afryl

Round 4: Gnomes vs Wheaton
We haven't played Wheaton once since I've been at ISU. I don't know what to expect. Wheaton is traditionally a good team and regularly qualifies for regionals although I don't know if they've ever made it past that. This game could be the difference between 2nd and 3rd in our pool.

Round 5: Gnomes vs Southern Illinois
Frenchy's out, Ktan's out, Mojo's out, Flounder's out...I feel for these guys and if we weren't playing in this tournament and I wasn't injured I'd love to give them an extra pair of legs for the weekend. God knows they probably wouldn't need it anyway though because they always seem to find a way to win games even if they're playing savage. This should be a fun game and even if we lose it we can still remind them of that one time they got naked lapped at 214 W. Willow.

Remember that with such parity after the 1st seed point differential could make a difference in placement after pool play. We'll have to finish hard. Luckily games are to 11 so we shouldn't have too much opportunity to slack off. Best of luck to everyone playing this weekend and I wish everyone a safe weekend. p.s. I've never been to Detroit...

Huck Finn Preview - courtesy of Peteo

Peteo decided to be awesome last night and wrote up a preview for Huck Finn. Enjoy.

This weekend we will be playing against teams that are a step up from the teams we played at Chicago Invite. This should be a good opportunity to take what we learned from all those close games and see how good we can be. All the teams we play are beatable if we play our best , and they will help us prepare for the competition we'll see at sectionals.

SATURDAY SCHEDULE:

Round 1 - Missouri S&T

Round 2 - St. Louis

Round 3 - Kansas B

Round 4 - Truman State

SUNDAY SCHEDULE:

Round 1 - Missouri State

Round 2 - Missouri

SATURDAY

Round 1 - Missouri S&T: Miner Threat seems to be winning a lot lately, and Naji is probably getting a little cocky. I don't think I've ever actually been able to play them, but they seem to be a decent team with good spirit. They have only played a couple teams I've seen before (lost 7-13 to North Park and won 13-9 to DePaul). I think we could get comparable scores against those teams, so hopefully we can come out strong and start the weekend 1-0. Hopefully without a naked point...

Round 2 - St. Louis: I'm pretty sure this is SLUT, who we played at Glory Days. I think we won with our X team, or at least had a close game (and if I remember correctly, they were nice). Some of their recent games include beating Notre Dame B 13-2 and losing to Illinois B 6-15. If we keep our heads in the game and don't let up we should have a good chance of winning this game.

Round 3 - Kansas B: I haven't played these guys, but I saw them a little bit at Mardi Gras. Even though they are a B team we can't look past them. Kansas is a good program and there should be some decent talent and athleticism on this team. They lost to Illinois B too, 9-13 (by the way, Illinois B is a team we can beat if we play well). It would be great to start off the weekend and get some confidence by going 2-1 or 3-0, so we can bring our positive attitudes into the tougher games. yeah. be positive! the ladies love it.

Round 4 - Truman State: We played JujiTSU as an X team at Western for our first game. They were able to get a lot of deep throws on us, so we have to watch out for that. I also lost against them at Mardi Gras. These guys are pretty good, and I heard they went to regionals last year. That might just be made up though. Either way, they are pretty cool guys and at least one of them likes Gnomes. They were pretty excited when I walked by in my shorts. Anyway, they have pretty good flow and we need to disrupt that. I think they also poached a little bit and did a good job of clogging the cutting lanes, but that might have just been because we were playing on a small field. They probably aren't looking at us as their biggest threat, so let's use that as an advantage and surprise them by coming out strong and winning. and scoring more points than them.

Round 5 - BYE: I'm not sure if we're going to celebrate the bye by leaving early to shower/eat or by watching the Dnomes or by watching a "showcase" game. All of those sound fun to me!

SUNDAY

Round 1 - Missouri State: I don't know much about these guys, but they beat Northern Iowa (the team we played first on Sunday at Chicago Invite) 13-6. They did lose to Maharishi twice, which I think is that one team we lost to last year at Huck Finn. Anyway, they seem like a pretty good team. I don't think they're out of our league though, so let's come out swinging Sunday morning. Just don't hit anybody.

Round 2 - Missouri: There sure are a lot of teams from Missouri and St. Louis going to Huck Finn! UPA says their team name is the MUtants. Scary. Let's see here...they beat Vanderbilt 13-9 (I played them at Mardi Gras, we could probably beat them), lost to the Grinnellephants 11-12...beat to Indiana. Yeah, I don't know anything about this team. I would guess they are not the best team we play all weekend but not the worst either. Maybe somewhere in the middle, or towards one of the extremes. I strongly believe that we could win or lose this game. Let's try to win though.

Round 3 and beyond: I'm still a little confused about this format so I have no idea what kind of teams we'll play after this, but hopefully we'll get lucky and play one of the top 25 teams.

Take luck!

ISU D Huck Finn Preview

Doug wrote a preview for Huck Finn in order to make up for missing the Chicago Invite. I won't be writing one for the 1st team because I'm too busy with schoolwork. My apologies, and now Doug and I are even. Enjoy.

So Cu1timate is trying out this new format for Huck Finn. I’m not going to comment on that because you can do that somewhere else. All I know is that the Dnomes have a very good chance at having a good record for the weekend. In the long run, it more about developing this team rather than winning, but doing both is pretty awesome. The schedule for the weekend looks like this:

Sat Rd 1 (9:00) - BYE
Rd 2 (11:00) - Wisconsin-B
Rd 3 (1:00) - Marquette
Rd 4 (3:00) - Notre Dame-B
Rd 5 (5:00) - St. Louis-B
Sun Rd 1 (8:30) - BYE
Rd 2 (10:30) - SLUH
Rd 3 (12:30) - Wash U-B


Rd 1 vs Steven Naji: I like that both days we start with a bye because I absolutely love to sleep in. Plus I’m working Friday night so I’m getting into St. Louis late so I’m not going to be getting much sleep, especially if Venus hogs all the covers again. We’ll be watching the A team take on Missouri S & T which should be a good game.

Rd 2 vs Wisconsin-B: Wisconsin has a very good program. They’ve won nationals the last two years so I pretty sure they know what they are doing. I expect for them to have a good solid B team. Wisconsin will have only played one game so they shouldn’t be too tired but I think that we will be able to beat them with hustle. We started to get very good flow at the Chicago Invite. If we can keep that going we should do well.

Rd 3 vs Marquette: I don’t know much about them. I’ve been told they are a solid program and I expect this to be the hardest game we play this weekend. As long as we play our game, we should do fine. It’s only our second game so we should still have somewhat fresh legs, and I know all about being Fresh.

Rd 4 vs Notre Dame-B: We played this team last year at Sectionals. I pretty sure we won decisively. They’ve had some time to grow and are coming from a great program so they should be better this year around. If memory serves me right, we have them on looks. This game is within our reach. If we have the desire (which I know we do) we should be able to win this game.

Rd 5 vs St. Louis-B: I’m worried about this game for one reason, we run a good cup. Why would this worry me? It sounds like a good thing right? It is, but it is also our last game. At the Chicago Invite, we ran cup almost every game the second day and got really tired. If we can keep the intensity up and keep fresh legs in, then we have a chance at winning this. It will be close no matter what.

Sun Rd 1 vs Yo Mamma: We again have a bye first thing in the morning. This will be good for the rest of the day and for cheering on the Gnomes!

Rd 2 vs SLUH: I’ll be honest for a change; I don’t know what this stands for. I think it might be St. Louis University Honors, but it could also be Spitting Loogies Under Horses. I don’t know. So I don’t have much to say on this game.

Rd 3 vs Wash U-B: This will be our last game before the BCS bowl game that we play (I don’t really know how the format works. It reminds me of college football. I just hope we don’t get the Meineke Car Care Bowl). It will be a hard fought game as we play tired. If we can stay mentally tough, we should come out on top.

I expect the team to make big improvements this tournament. It’s our second tournament as team so we should start to flow better and know where to be at the right time. As long as we give it a 100% I’m going to be happy. Remember, when you have the disc you are the quarterback of the team.

Huck Finn Schedule

Below is the email I received from Cultimate about our schedule for this weekend in it's entirety.

Huck Finn is the latest addition to Cu1timate's list of premier college ultimate tournaments. Top-ranked Florida will look to continue its winning ways, but bitter rivals Wisconsin and Georgia will stand in the way. Colorado has climbed back up the rankings after its win at Centex, and Notre Dame has had great success but will see a step up in competition.

While there are many different outlets for rankings (NUMP, RRI, UPA), Cu1timate hosts top teams at several different tournaments, giving the opportunity for more informed internal rankings. Heading into the weekend, Cu1timate’s rankings are as follows, including Record, Key Wins and Losses, and Notable Finals Appearances in 2009.

#1 Florida 22-2 (AC) Champion - Trouble In Vegas, The Stanford Invite

Key Wins : Carleton, Colorado, Oregon, Cal, Wisconsin, Stanford, UCSB, Iowa, Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Brown, Duke

Losses : Georgia, Carleton

#2 Carleton 21-4 (CN) Finalist – The Stanford Invite

Key Wins : Florida, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Cal, Wisconsin, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Texas, Arizona, Western Washington, British Columbia, Georgia

Losses : Colorado, Florida, Harvard, NC State

#3 Colorado 18-6 (SW) Champion - Centex, Finalist – Trouble In Vegas

Key Wins : Carleton, Washington, Cal, Harvard, Wisconsin, Stanford, Western Washington, Michigan, Texas, Brown, Cornell

Losses : Carleton, Oregon, Florida, Cal, Washington, UCSB

#4 Washington 17-6 (NW) Finalist - Centex

Key Wins : Oregon, Colorado, Wisconsin, UCSD, Stanford, Iowa, Arizona, Duke

Losses : Harvard, UCSB, Carleton, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado

#5 Oregon 21-4 (NW)

Key Wins : Colorado, Harvard, Virginia, Cal, UCSD, Wisconsin, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, NC State

Losses : Florida, Washington, Carleton, Western Washington

#6 Wisconsin 20-8 (CN) Champion - Mardi Gras

Key Wins : Washington, Arizona, Western Washington, Texas, Michigan, Brown, Duke

Losses : Virginia, Florida, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, UCSB, Tennessee, Carleton

#7 Notre Dame 24-2 (GL) Champion – Whitesmoke, Tally Classic, Finalist - Queen City Tune-Up

Key Wins : Ohio State, UNC-Wilmington

Losses : Georgia, UNC-Wilmington

#8 Cal 21-8 (NW) Champion – Santa Barbara Invite, Prez Day

Key Wins : Colorado, UCSD, Stanford (2), Arizona, Iowa, Georgia

Losses : UCSB, Florida, Stanford, UCLA, Harvard, Oregon, Michigan, Carleton

#9 Pittsburgh 12-5 (ME)

Key Wins : Stanford, Harvard, UCSB

Losses : Kansas, Oregon, Carleton, Duke, Tufts

#10 Stanford 18-13 (NW)

Key Wins : Cal, UCSB, Texas, Georgia, Brown, NC State

Losses : Cal (2), Williams, Iowa, Carleton, Florida, Harvard, Pittsburgh, Virginia, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Colorado

#11 Harvard 11-7 (NE)

Key Wins : Carleton, Washington, Cal, Stanford, UCSD, Iowa, Arizona

Losses : Oregon, UCSB, Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#12 Virginia 22-7 (AC) Champion - ACC Championships, Finalist - Easterns, Southerns

Key Wins : Harvard, Wisconsin, Stanford, NC State, UNC

Losses : NC State, Virginia Tech, Duke, Oregon, Western Washington, Kenyon, Cornell

#13 UC-Santa Barbara 15-9 (SW)

Key Wins : Washington, Cal, Colorado, Harvard, Wisconsin, UCSD, Arizona, British Columbia

Losses : UC-Davis, Stanford, Kansas, Western Washington, Florida, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Michigan

#14 Western Washington 16-7 (NW)

Key Wins : Oregon, Virginia, UCSB, Texas, British Columbia, Iowa, NC State

Losses : Harvard, Carleton, Colorado, Wisconsin, UCSD, Arizona, Illinois

#15 Michigan 18-9 (GL) Finalist - Mardi Gras

Key Wins : Washington, Cal, UCSB, British Columbia, Texas, NC State

Losses : Ohio State, UNC, North Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, UC-Davis, Florida, Oregon, Carleton

#16 Cornell 19-3 (ME) Champion - Southerns

Key Wins : Virginia, Brown

Losses : Middlebury, Colorado, Arizona

#17 UC-San Diego 20-8 (SW) Finalist - Prez Day

Key Wins : Arizona, Western Washington, British Columbia, Iowa, UNC

Losses : Las Positas, UCSB, Cal, Washington, Oregon, Harvard, Minnesota, Kansas

#18 Texas 9-10 (SO)

Key Wins : British Columbia

Losses : Illinois, Arkansas, Florida, Oregon, Western Washington, Carleton, Colorado, Michigan, Stanford

#19 British Columbia 8-7 (NW)

Key Wins : Stanford, Iowa, Arizona

Losses : UCSB, Carleton, Western Washington, Texas, Michigan, UCSD, LPC

#20 Middlebury 21-4 (ME) Champion - Southerns

Key Wins : Cornell, Virginia, Duke, Dartmouth

Notable Mention ::

Georgia 22-11 Champion - Queen City Tune-Up, Finalist - Warm Up: A Florida Affair

NC State 14-10 Finalist – ACC Championships

Luther 20-3 Champion - Frostbite

Ohio State 15-6 Champion - Hellfish Bonanza

Note: Italics – Not In Attendance

All schedules were made to give the opportunity for teams to not only play, but also get a chance to spectate at some of the many exciting match-ups. Below is the schedule for the Showcase Fields. Long-time rivalries renewed. Top Callahan contenders squaring off. Big Ten rivalries played out on the Frisbee field. Huck Finn will play a pivotal role in the course of the season, separating the contenders from the pretenders, and provide one of the few opportunities to be both a player and a fan.

Showcase Games ::

Saturday

Rd 1 (9:00am)

#3 Colorado vs. #7 Notre Dame

Big Ten #6 Wisconsin vs. Iowa

Rd 2 (11:00am)

#1 Florida vs. #3 Colorado

Big Ten #6 Wisconsin vs. Illinois, Michigan State vs. Northwestern

Rd 3 (1:00pm)

#6 Wisconsin vs. Georgia

Big Ten #15 Michigan vs. Purdue, Illinois vs. Iowa

Rd 4 (3:00pm)

#3 Colorado vs. Georgia

Big Ten #15 Michigan vs. Illinois, Iowa vs. Northwestern

Rd 5 (5:00pm)

#1 Florida vs. #6 Wisconsin

#7 Notre Dame vs. #15 Michigan

Big Ten Indiana vs. Northwestern, Michigan State vs. Purdue

Sunday

Rd 1 (8:30am)

Big Ten #15 Michigan vs. Iowa, Michigan State vs. Indiana

Rd 2 (10:30am)

Big Ten Northwestern vs. Purdue

Rd 3 (12:30pm)

#1 Florida vs. Georgia

Big Ten #6 Wisconsin vs. #15 Michigan, Illinois vs. Indiana

Rd 4 (2:30pm) Placement Games

Rd 5 (3pm) Huck Finn Championship Game


The Format ::

The format for Huck Finn is designed to give the highest quality games of parity across the entire weekend. Each team is scheduled for six games over Saturday and Sunday’s first three rounds. Based on Overall record in those scheduled games, teams will advance to a seventh game (including The Championship Game, played in Sunday's 5th Round, 3:00pm). The seventh and final game (played in Sunday's 4th Round, 2:30pm) will pit teams of equal success from the weekend, for final placement at the tournament.

Tiebreakers are decided as follows:

1) Head-To-Head

2) Record Against Teams with Same Record (ie, if five teams are tied with one loss, the team with the best record against those five teams will advance to the Huck Finn Championship Game)

3) Overall Point Differential (In All Games Played)

While most teams are used to playing through Pool Play and into Bracket Play, this format heightens the meaning of every game. With appropriate spacing of these games throughout the weekend, teams have the opportunity to play at their peak performance. With many teams in the field positioning itself for a run at the UPA College Championships in Columbus, all of the games will be important for seeding in the Series.

The Championship Game is expected to produce a match-up of two undefeated teams. If more or fewer than two teams are undefeated at the end of the tournament, the tiebreaking procedures will be used to determine the two teams that advance. Beyond the Centex Championship Game, rematches will be avoided where possible.

Huck Finn Championship Game :: #1 vs. #2 :: Rd 5 :: 3:00pm

ILLINOIS STATE’S SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS ::

Sat Rd 1 (9:00) - Missouri S&T

Rd 2 (11:00) - St. Louis

Rd 3 (1:00) - Kansas-B

Rd 4 (3:00) - Truman State

Rd 5 (5:00) - BYE

Sun Rd 1 (8:30) - Missouri State

Rd 2 (10:30) - Missouri

Rd 3 (12:30) - BYE

ILLINOIS STATE-D’S SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS ::

Sat Rd 1 (9:00) - BYE

Rd 2 (11:00) - Wisconsin-B

Rd 3 (1:00) - Marquette

Rd 4 (3:00) - Notre Dame-B

Rd 5 (5:00) - St. Louis-B

Sun Rd 1 (8:30) - BYE

Rd 2 (10:30) - SLUH

Rd 3 (12:30) - Wash U-B

Original Group Placement ::

Groupings are not Pools, as obviously not all teams within a Group play during the course of the schedule. Groups are used to for determining the seventh and final game of the tournament. As mentioned at the outset, schedules were designed to give the highest quality games of parity over the course of the weekend.

Group 1 Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Washington University, Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Missouri, Missouri State, Marquette, Illinois Chicago, Kalamazoo, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois, Washington University-B, Illinois Chicago-B, Iowa-B, Northwestern-B, Notre Dame-B, SLUH

Group 2 Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Kansas, Truman State, Missouri S&T, Illinois St, DePaul, Western Michigan, Loyola Chicago, St. Louis, St. Louis-B, Illinois State-D, Kansas-B, Illinois-B, Wisconsin-B, Desmet Jesuit

The Seventh and final games for those not advancing to the Centex Championship Game cross as follows ::

Rd 4 (2:30pm)

Group 1 2nd vs. Group 2 2nd (NOTE : One of these teams may advance to the Huck Finn Championship Game, and would be replaced in this game by the first team from the other Group)

Group 1 3rd vs. Group 2 3rd

Group 1 4th vs. Group 2 4th

Group 1 5th vs. Group 2 5th

Group 1 6th vs. Group 2 6th

Group 1 7th vs. Group 2 7th

Group 1 8th vs. Group 2 8th

Group 1 9th vs. Group 2 9th

Group 1 10th vs. Group 2 10th

Group 1 11th vs. Group 2 11th

Group 1 12th vs. Group 2 12th

Group 1 13th vs. Group 2 13th

Group 1 14th vs. Group 2 14th

Group 1 15th vs. Group 2 15th

Group 1 16th vs. Group 2 16th

Group 1 17th vs. Group 2 17th

Group 1 18th vs. Group 2 18th

Group 1 19th vs. Group 2 19th

Group 1 20th vs. Group 2 20th

We look forward to seeing you at Huck Finn.

Cu1timate Team

Guest recap - EIU Tourney by T-Dig

ISU didn't send a team to EIU's first tournament this past weekend, but there were lots of us there playing on various pick-up teams. Trevor Scheibe wrote a recap of the weekend for us. Enjoy.

This past weekend a few of us Gnomes went to EIU to play a little ultimate (quite a little). I could post a full roster of who went, but for simalr results throw darts at a board full of rookies. Anywho, after waking up way too early for a Saturday, we arrived in a rainy Charleston around 9. And here goes the day from my perspective....

Game 1: EIU X/Y
I missed the first point of this game while on a 15 minute search for a potty that wasn't portable, but we came out pretty sluggish to a split Reaper squad. After being up 2-1, we let Reaper start coming down with every floaty disc put up. We got outhustled and outplayed to see the half slip away at 4-7. Crack and Colleen did their best to fire up the team (I'll admit to being a poor captain the first game) at half. It was upsetting to be down to a split team without James and Sasquatch (insert joke or Jack Link's commercial here), but this proves that EIU is on their way up in the ultimate community. We came out into the second half more aggressive, but time was not on our side. Final score was somewhere around 6-10 if I'm not mistaken.

Game 2: WUT?
After some gratuitious cuddling on the sidelines, ISU was ready for the second game vs. Wartburg. This team wasn't quite what we thought them to be (I later found out that they were in their first year), but they had a lot of heart. With the rain and wind picking up, play got a little sloppy. Dropped discs on both sides were a plague, and I know backwards hat guy was pissed about his slippery forehands. Still, after a half full of swilly throws and nice bids, ISU took half at 7-3. I expressed my concern about our lack of flow on the field and urged us to make better decisions with the disc. My fellow Gnomies listened and we were able to move the disc more effectively in the second half. With some excessive poaching on behalf of Crack and a successful double tabletopping of Liz and Sam on the sidelines, ISU took the game at 11-5 (or something like that). This team was fun and friendly and I hope to see them again. Side Note: My "What What in the butt?" (insert link here) count was probably somewhere near one hundred by the end of the game.

Game 3: Browning Superstars
After dismissing Cole from the fields for attrocious spirit (he wouldn't hug me), the light rain that had been falling all day got even heavier as the wind picked up some more. The Browning Superstars are your typical old balls team with many familiar faces and some new ones (traitors like Baby Herr and Jill), so we knew they would be well rounded and probably the best team we would see. After a shotgun start and Charles drinking his 2 half finished Mad Dogs, the rain proved to be a little too much for us. The old balls cup forced turns left and right and they continued to score off the turns. Half found us down 0-7. I could not let this stand. After coming to a decision to forfeit the last game with everyone's health in mind, I stressed the importance of making the last few points of the day the most important. Again, the team listened. We came out with amazing ferocity and hustle (not to mention a savage line) for the last half, and while the score may not show it, I think this was our best ultimate of the day. Letting Favre, Table and Crack handle, we were able to get the disc moving upfield for our first score of the game after an 8 ft. slide by Crack. Although we lost 1-13, I was pleased at the determination the young Gnomies showed.

Weekend notes:
-After seeing Liz and Sam cut and Colleen and Michelle handle, I'm excited about the future of the Lady Gnomes.
-It was nice having Doc around again, he provided some sneaky big plays on the rail.
-Great efforts all around for the guys, lots of bids and hard cuts all day.
-Charles can't sandwich a disc, we'll just have to accept it.
-Don't punch brick walls, you could break your hand.
-Colleen claims to have won the party, I have heard no proof.
-If you haven't seen Crack in his tighty whities, pray you keep it that way.

A break from posting

I'm sorry to say that I'll be taking a break from posting to the blog for a few weeks. I recently (Saturday) broke my elbow on a layout D at Chicago invite. It is now in a splint and a sling which makes typing rather difficult. I welcome and encourage any of the ISU players who are interested to write a review of what happened this past weekend, but I don't have the time it would take me to type out a review with one hand. Sorry, and hopefully you'll hear from me in a few weeks.

Chicago Invite Preview - ISU Women

I asked Emily to write up a preview for the Lady Gnomes for this weekend. Here it is, enjoy.
[Women's Score Reporter Link]

Every season seems to be a rebuilding season for the Lady Gnomes, fortunately, going into Chicago Invite we have more returning players than ever before. We have been ranked 7th overall in the women's division and are competing in a power pool with Illinois (1), Loyola (4), North Park (6), and Wisconsin B (10).

Game 1: Illinois
This will undoubtedly be our toughest game of the day. Illinois is a very solid team with experienced handlers and quick cutters. They continually rank in the UPA top 50. This is not something we should be intimidated by. All we need to do is beat them at their own game. Smart throws are going to be key in this game because Illinois knows how to capitalize on mistakes...if they don't their coach will take them out back and shoot them. Everyone should be looking forward to this game because it's rare that we get to compete against their level of play and there's a lot we can take away from this experience.

Game 2: Loyola
We have played Loyola twice as long as I've been on the team and both outcomes were very similar. The match was a close one which resulted in Loyola winning. I don't know why, but it seems that we are constantly telling ourselves that we've lost before the game has even begun. Heads up Gnomes! We can ABSOLUTELY beat this team! I believe our handlers are stronger and if we can force a lot of turnovers we could run away with a victory. Defense, defense, DEFENSE! Also, we like Loyola and this is bound to be a fun game!

Game 3: Wisconsin B
Don't be fooled by the "B". Wisconsin is one of the best teams in the nation, meaning that they're B team (atropha) is one of the best B teams in the nation. They are bound to have fairly experienced handlers, as well as a lot of newer players. We're going to have to go into this game with confidence if we want to come out on top.

Game 4: NORTH PARK

In the past couple years North Park has developed into a solid program. Every year our matches with them are very close (not counting last semester's game at Western...grr). If there are two words that can describe North park's offense they would be...red head. This chick is very fast and plays a very smart give and go game. Speedy players get ready to mark her. If we can shut her down their game will take on a completely different dynamic. I also want to try throwing a cup on them because they always seem to freak out when we do that. GET EXCITED!

Saturday's schdule will definitely be tough, but if we come to the fields with confidence, get a good warmup in and listen to "Bounce That" over and over on the way there...we could definitely make a good showing.

Chicago Invite Preview - ISU Open

I've been holding off on a CI preview because the seeds were changing daily, but I think they're pretty much finalized now and if they change any more, I probably won't write another post. Currently ISU is seeded 2nd in pool G which and due to the outrageous number of teams attending this tournament, we'll need to secure either 1st or 2nd in our pool Saturday in order to advance to the Championship bracket Sunday morning. Our pool is, in order of seed:

-Western Michigan
-Illinois State
-Toledo
-Michigan B
-Rose Hulman
-Niles North (Team ILL)

I'll give a quick preview of how I think each of our pool play games should go first.

Game 1 vs Toledo: I don't know much of anything about this team except their seed at Chicago Invite. Because of this I'm glad that we get to play them first with fresh legs underneath us since that is our team's biggest strength - the ability to outrun our opponents. Be ready for a fight, but I'm sure that if we keep our intensity up and play our game we should escape the first round unharmed.

Game 2 vs Michigan-B: Again, we should never look past our opponents, especially teams from schools with a reputation for ultimate excellence like Michigan. Expect to see some rookies probably with a lot of speed and heart mixed with a few experienced players with solid throws and field sense. If we come out hard and playing our game, this game should be won without too much trouble

Game 3 vs Niles North: Niles North (Team ILL) is a high school team that our Y team played at Glory Days last fall. They were a cool group of guys from what I heard, but shouldn't be too much for us to handle. Kudos to them for playing in college tournaments as a high school team. I'm sure they've all got great ultimate careers ahead of them.

Game 4 vs Rose-Hulman: We played RHIT last year at Sectionals after our loss to Loyola. We were all a bit dejected after being knocked out of the 10th place bracket by a team named after a duck cartoon, but we found the drive to step up and play well in the second half and I believe that the score was somewhere around 13-9. Last year they were a decent team led by a core of 2-3 solid handlers with good field vision. Expect to see a similar team this weekend. Their downfield cutters weren't particularly strong so if the D line can shut down the handler motion, this game should go our way as well. RHIT was a also a very cool group of guys, and I wish them the best of luck this weekend before 2pm and after 4pm.

Game 5 vs Western Michigan: Assuming Western Michigan is able to hold their seed until the last game of the day, this very well could be the game to decide the winner of the pool. Again I don't know much about Western Michigan but I'm sure Luke gave them a top seed for a reason. Hopefully Shane and Josh's workouts this winter have done their job and we'll still have our legs beneath us in this game. I'm sure we will. The biggest challenge here will be keeping our heads and trusting each other in what will most likely be our biggest game of the semester, and our first big game as a team. If we do that all day Saturday, this pool is ours.

With those out of the way I'd like to point out the importance of taking pool G Saturday. 1st or 2nd gets us into the championship bracket, but 2nd almost definitely pits us against North Park in the 1st game Sunday. While this is a winnable game, it will be hard fought and given that we'll have 4 rounds to play on Sunday to get the cup, any way possible to make our road a little easier should be welcomed. If we take our pool Saturday we'll get to play the 2nd place finisher in Pool B, which looks like it could probably be EMU, Lewis, or Gustavus. I think they're all around the same level, but NP is definitely a step above all of the Pool B teams and should take the B pool fairly easily. After the 1st round of bracket play Sunday, the games should all be of similar difficulty, so remember to bring your 5 hours and icy hot. Good luck to all the teams going this weekend, it should be a great time.

High Tide Recap

The last car of Gnomes rolled into Normal, IL around 11pm on Saturday, tired from a long week of ultimate, laying out on the beach and partying with 40 other ultimate teams. Overall the week was a smashing success. The only things that really went wrong almost all involved sunburns.

The Gnomes tied for 3rd in the mixed division, but it wasn't really about the games we won/lost. I believe that I speak for most of us when I say that I'd be just as happy with last place as long as we still had fun. It would take me hours to write up everything that happened this weekend, so here's a bulleted list of the highlights as I saw them. Feel free to add your memories in the comments section:

-The Toy Box finds a giant 'Big John' statue in Metropolis, IL. Minutes later they stumble upon a slightly smaller 'Giant Superman Statue'
-Toy Box discovers that Nashville is roughly 8924592659 times hotter than Hotlanta. Cowboy hat!
-Chris has a magic trash can
-The Gnomes enjoy the Georgia Sea Turtle museum, consider adopting a team turtle
-Amy finds a sand dollar!
-Euchre is resurrected with the new Gnomes. Did Goober ever learn how to play?
-Padula makes friends with Marquette!
-The power goes out on our block, and a midnight beach party commences.
-About 30 seconds before the power goes out Trevor, Willy and Ryan attempt to "shotgun a beer from beers" with the help of an unknown ultimate player who helps us keep our balance during the blackout
-Pete keeps it positive! (and the ladies go wild)

-Eric takes us out to a nice seafood dinner and NEVER CALLS US AGAIN!
-Balloon tips, buzz tips, strippy buzz tips in the middle
-We all met Brenton Hard, the guy who laid out for a disc in the endzone at Hucktoberfest '07, broke his arm, and held onto the disc. We gave him a Gnomes disc at that tournament, and it only took him about a half hour to realize that he was playing flippy cup in our house.
-Smashica sneaks out for a few hours. "Who am I? I'm drinking natty light!"
-Afryl Lavigne shows up to hangout on the beach with us
-The male Gnomes realize that growing mustaches is harder than it looks
-Emily turns 21, multiple Gnomes rock the live band heavy metal karoake at some bar on some other island. Emily orders a drink with eye medicine in it
-The clown nose makes its rounds

I'm sure I missed a lot, but that's what happens when you drink rum. Chicago Invite preview coming soon. Later taters.

High Tide (kind of a preview)

The Gnomes (or at least some of them) are leaving this weekend for a spring break tournament in Jekyll Island, GA. I'd write a long, detailed tourney preview but it's not really about the games. We're going to have fun and if we win some games along the way, that would be nice. I'll write something up when we get back which will probably be full of good stuff but for now here's a list of who's going, and their favorite animal:

Goober - Monkey
Peteo - Bear mixed with Monkey
ROOKIE - Regular Bear
Stuart Huizengar - German Shepherd
Reynolds - Shane
Basia - Animated Penguins
Emblebee - White and Black Striped Horses
Padula - All of Them
Vicius - Rhinoceros!
Hollywood - Dog
Shane - Toytle
Amy K - Salamanders
William Joel - Yoda
T-Dig - Giraffes
Brett Favre - Sprite
Cole Lucas - Owl
Samantha - Pterodactyl
Michelle - Teddy Bear
Smashica - SOSOs (Sea Otter Shaped Objects)
Rachel - Crabs
Colleen - Koala
Ashley Betke - Monkeys (because they get rid of the bananas)
Me - LionSharks, duh (also cows and cheetahs)

p.s. I'm leaving early with a few others and stopping in Nashvegas and Hotlanta. Can't wait for all the stories that are bound to come out of this trip. Have a great break everybody, even if you're not going on the best trip ever with us.

ISU Ultimate History

Attention alumni (who probably don't know this blog exists), current players, and people who quit the team because we started wearing shoes. I need your help! I'm attempting to compile a brief history of ISU Ultimate. I'll be doing it in a timeline format because I have neither the time nor motivation right now to do it any other way. So please send me whatever info you have about ISU Ultimate that you think is valuable, and the time it happened (please be as precise as possible. An actual date is preferred to "the day after me and dave drank that stolen 190-proof whiskey that chuck brought with him"). Here are some example of what I'm looking for, although feel free to send whatever you feel is relevent or funny:

-Old rosters
-Old pics
-First tournament we attended ever
-Any notable scores that you remember
-Any notable on-field wins that you remember
-Any notable off-field wins that you remember (i.e. party wins, naked lapping SIU)
-Our founder
-Our re-founder in the late 90s
-A past list of captains, and when they were captains
-Any tournaments we've won, or come close to winning
-Other major accomplishments of the club (Voting for officers, hosting a tournament, etc.)

Feel free to leave the info in the comments section or email it to the team account which is isuultimate at hotmail dot com. I hope this turns out well, I'll keep you updated on my progress. Also feel free to let me know if you're interested in helping.

Handler Defense

I found this article about handler defense, and I thought it was great. You'll find a lot of similarities to how I teach handler defense, plus some great insights. Check it out and do it: http://forceflick.blogspot.com/2009/02/handler-defense.html

Winning from the sideline

This post is about an aspect of every ultimate team's game that is all too often overlooked--cheering. Now I know that upon reading the word cheering that every "serious" ultimate player out there probably threw up a little in their mouth, but stay with me. I'm not talking about the clever rhymes that you make up at the end of CUSL games to tell the other team that "their bids were legit" or that " their D was all over me", what I'm really talking about is support. I'm talking about taking the support that we give our teammates 3 days a week for 2 hours at a time at practice a little further. I'm talking about winning games from the sideline.

If you've ever played a school with a program - meaning a school that competes yearly at regionals, maybe takes some shots at nationals ever once in a while, and nearly always has a solid team come spring - I'm sure you've noticed that they know what it means to win games from the sideline. It helps that those schools usually have squads of around 20-30 guys, but it's possible to do this with 8 guys, or maybe even 7? When you play these schools there's always someone from their sideline yelling something when the disc is in play and sometimes between points too. It's tough to play against a team when their whole sideline is giving "up" and "broken" and "strike" calls on every throw. It sucks to get beaten on an in-cut, but it sucks even more when all you can hear from the sideline is "nice cut" and "yeah Jimmy" as you're getting beaten in. It gets in your head no matter how good you are.

Now imagine the most intense ultimate game you've ever played in. I'm talking about that one game where you played balls out every second of every point and threw your body around like you didn't care if you lived to play in the next round. That game where you probably forgot the score because you were so focused on denying your man the disc and making hard, smart cuts straight to your throwers. Now think about what you heard during that game. I bet it was your teammates on the sideline giving you position calls and encouraging your effort on the field. Now try to imagine playing as hard as you did without the encouragement you received. I know I couldn't do it.

This, meaning winning games from the sideline, is something that our team can do very well with at times, and absolutely terribly at others. Case in point: Western game at Knox Indoor '09 vs. Chicago game at '08 Sectionals. For those of you that were there at last year's Sectionals, imagine our last game on Saturday without Lee on the opposite sideline encouraging us and making sure that we didn't give up. It wouldn't have been the same without it. It's hard to keep a sideline up through 4 or sometimes 5 rounds of play during one day at tournament, especially when you're down on the scoreboard, but in order to take the next step from being a team with a lot of potential to a team that translates their potential into wins on weekends, it's something we have to do. Lucky for us, it's doable without much effort at all. It takes some awareness from the sideline, and some passion and drive which I know this team has.

Most importantly, though, it's keeping the chatter positive and simple that really makes the difference. The 7 players on the field don't need 10 guys on the sideline telling them that they're marking wrong, or that their hands are too low. Leave that up to the captains, that's what they're there for. Simply calling your "up", "broken", "no breaks" and "strike" calls make all the difference when there's a whole team yelling them from the sideline. Let's win games from the sideline this spring.

Guest Article: Open Side Dump Cuts by Nick McDuffee

I asked Nick McDuffee formerly of Illinois and currently of Machine (Chicago's elite open club team) to write a guest article for us about cutting for the dump from the open (or force) side. This is something that I've struggled with myself over the course of my ultimate career and I think that Nick did a great job explaining how to do it effectively. If you have any questions for Nick feel free to comment on the post and I'll be sure to pass your comments on to him.

Handler cutting is about timing and explosive cutting. If you cut early or late you will not get open and if you cut tentatively you will not get open. If you continually jig jag and cut back and forth you may get open, but the thrower will not know where you are going and may throw it to the wrong spot. To be a good team you need to be able to hit your dumps 95% of the time. You should be able to hit your swings 60-70% of the time. The dump cut may be the least glamorous cut in ultimate, but it may also be the most important because it allows you to reset the stall count.

Getting open on the dump starts with the guy with the disc. He has to look for his dump cut on 4. That gives him a great chance to get the dump off, and if the first dump cannot get open he still has a shot on the second dump. If he looks after 6 he is putting a lot of pressure on the dumps to get open immediately. Once the guy with the disc decides to look at his dump he has to stay with the dump. He cannot give him a one second look and turn back up field. Once you commit to the dump you need to stay with him until 8. On 8 you can look to turn and huck. When you commit to the dump, turn and look at him, so he knows you are looking for it. Back hand throws are much easier and more consistent forehands at the short distance of dump passes.

Now that the thrower has committed to the dump, the dump cutter needs to get open. The most important aspects of cutting for the dump are spacing, decisive cutting, and explosive cutting. Each of these aspects are a little different based on where you are on the field. I will try and go through each of them as we did them last year on Machine. This was the most effective system I have seen since I started playing ultimate.

Disc trapped on the sideline

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My focus for this article is on cutting to the open side, but that starts with good fundamental cutting, so I will begin with the most common scenario you will find yourself in while making dumps and swings. The cutting process starts with spacing. All too often, the dump sets up too close to the disc and does not give himself enough room to cut explosively. The dump should set up 10 to 15 yards away from the disc. This gives you the opportunity to cut explosively. Cut hard right at your defender. If you can get him on his heels you have created a huge advantage for yourself. Now you can dictate your cut rather than just taking what the defense gives you. If you can get up line you want to take this. Once you decide to cut upline you have to take it. You cannot cut it off and cut back for the dump because the second dump is filling in just in case you do not get it upline. Make one decisive cut so the thrower knows where you are going and cut upline or dump. If you catch it upline, your first look should be for somebody cutting deep and to quickly continue the flow upfield. If you catch a dump your first look is for the swing because the hardest place for an offense to work is on the sideline, so you want to get the disc back to the middle of the field.

The swing cutter or second dump sets up about 25-30 yards away from the thrower and he is about 5 yards upfield. Starting upfield allows you to gain yards on a swing or at least not lose any. Once the dump starts his cut you need to be moving at probably 75-80%. You do not want to go so fast that you impede the dump cutter, but you want to be setting up your cut. Your cut should begin by mirroring the dump cutter, but 5 yards up field. If he goes up line you should look to attack up line, but make sure you peek up field so that you do not cut off an open look. If he goes dump, your cut should look like you are trying to go up line, but then you cut it off and cut back hard where you came from. This should create enough separation that a floaty swing pass can be thrown about 20 yards to the middle of the field. And you should catch it with a wide open break look, which should be your first look.

Force side Forehand-middle of the field

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The break side handler sets up even with the thrower about 10-15 yards off. The force side handler sets up about 10-15 yards off, but 3-5 yards behind the thrower. The throwers first look should be to the break side handler who cuts hard up line. If he’s open hit him. If not look at the force side handler. He should cut straight behind the thrower. Keep 2 yards distance. As he is running past hit him with a short, tight pass. This gives him a wide open look to the break side. The thrower needs to seal off the marker really well because once they see you do this a couple of times they will jump the throw and attempt a block. If you seal the marker off he will have to foul you to block the throw. If the defender is overplaying this cut, wait until right after you pass the thrower and cut right back and you should be open. This is tough to communicate between cutter and thrower. The easiest way is often if the thrower thinks the cutter is covered he should do a fake, and that will signal the cutter to cut back.

Force side Backhand-middle of the field

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You set up the same way as forehand, but opposite. You do everything exactly the same except you have one extra option. If cutting from the force side, and your defender is overplaying for the cut across you can cut straight up field. Because you are starting a couple yards behind the thrower it is an easy flip pass rather than an up field throw. After receiving the pass you should have a wide open look up field.

Force side-sideline

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When the disc is on the sideline the dump cut wants to set up a couple yards behind the thrower and the swing cut wants to set up even. The first cutter is 10-15 yards away and the second is 25-30. The first cutter should cut straight for the sideline and receive a dump pass right at the sideline. Right after the thrower passes. He should cut towards the middle and look for an immediate throw back from the dump. Because the marker is behind the thrower he should be open every time. If the fist look does not get the pass he should clear back and around very wide and as hard as he can because he has to clear space for the next cutter.

The second cut should be cutting at about 75% as the first cut starts knowing that if the dump gets off the first look is to the guy who threw the first pass. He cannot be in the way. In this scenario stay further up field so you can cut for the swing after the second pass. If the first dump does not get the pass you need to be ready to fill in. You should mirror and go to the sideline or cut that off and go up line for a short flip pass.

Using these techniques was the most successful I have been on force side dump and swing cuts while playing at Illinois and on Machine. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an email.

Nick McDuffee