Evolution

It's funny how frisbee is still undergoing radical changes in terms of strategy and common approach to the game. A few years ago, everyone ran vert stack, now ho is the way to play. Japanese Zone is sweeping those elite enough to have played against it, and new and different plays are constantly being introduced and subsequently countered.

I think that this atmosphere provides Claremont with an advantage over many other teams that we play. Obviously frisbee isn't the most heady of things, but we are theoretically smarter than most schools we play. If we can use this to stay one step ahead of our competition, we'll be able to dominate our region. With the possible exception of Colorado.

Stepping up your game

The response I got from the email I sent out was somewhat heartening.  Shy and I had a bit of a disagreement, Gerber posted the article on training from The Huddle, and Markham reiterated his standing offer for ten dollars to whomever can dunk, and twenty to grab rim and do twenty pull-ups.  In terms of money, that was foolish on his part, because dunking would be a stretch for me.  Not unreachable, but a stretch.  I will be severely disappointed in myself, however, if I am unable to grab rim and do the pull-ups in a year or two.

The best comment was from CGU Rob, who expects me to be huge when I return.  I believe "seriously mammoth" were his exact words.  I respect Rob tremendously for many things, but now for his ability to hold a leader accountable for his words, and to hold me to the same standards I strive to instill in my team.  I have been working out, true, but I can do more.  I can push myself harder and become bigger and faster.  I need to work on finesse and skill as well.  Batman isn't just a thug.  (I just watched the first one, seeing the new one tomorrow).

So the next time someone starts handing out weaponized hallucinogens, I think I'll politely decline, drop to the floor, and start cranking out push-ups.

Time Off

sucks. I hadn't played ultimate since Potlatch two weeks ago, and I wrecked myself at YCC yesterday. Today I worked out with Tom at the WAC and did one-legged squats where you pick up weighted balls, squat jumps, and lunges. It was difficult. I spent twenty minutes or so afterwards stretching and foam rollering and I'm still very sore today.

Tom is an excellent trainer though, and when I explained the necessity of getting my team large and strong, he said he would put together some workouts that I could give to the team. That will be hugely helpful, so instead of telling people to go workout, I can hand them a workout that they have to do. It is way easier to be motivated to do specifics than to figure it out yourself.

In other news, we cut the wood and fitted the bottom circle for the giant salsa bowl that will hold the chip-shaped glider we fly off of a thirty foot pier at Redbull Flugtag in Portland in two weeks.

Dominant Athletes

I went to YCC practice today with Casey and Milo, and got coached by Moses, Will Henry, and Alex Nord. They are all smart guys who have thought about the game immensely. I think of myself as being very knowledgeable about ultimate, but I clearly have a lot to learn.

The biggest thing that I learned today, actually didn't have anything to do with the coaching. I found out that Jake Coates and Kelly van Arsdale are both going to Colorado next year, and will be playing for Mamabird. Now Jake and Kelly are each well over six feet tall and good athletes. I'm sure they will excel at Colorado. But what does that mean for Claremont. Well...

Colorado is already stacked with huge athletes, and now they're getting two more. With all other teams losing substantial parts of their roster, I feel comfortable saying that Mamabird will be our primary rival over the next three years. What I realized today is that we may be better with the disc, and be way smarter than the Colorado guys, but it doesn't matter if we can't hang with them athletically. At this point, we have no one who can guard Hylke, much less a line of jacked six footers. If we are going to have a shot against these guys, we need some of our own people to really step up and become dominantly athletic. So that we can lock down star players and make the other team dither when marking up on us. Average athleticism just isn't going to cut it.

So...

Tonight I played for a few hours with the YCC team, then did five sets of twenty push-ups, thirty sit-ups, and a few minutes stretching. It isn't much, but I have a work out tomorrow at 11 o'clock.

Time is ticking, and Colorado isn't getting any weaker.