Before I get I get ahead of myself about next season ( it is only September), I would like to look at last season and say goodbye to the team mates who graduated last year.
Without further ado:
Anson "Duffy" Brune
Duffy is a year ahead of me so I always automatically thought he was legit but he certainly has earned that demarcation on his own. He was never the best player on the field but I can't really remember ever seeing him attempt something that was obviously outside his skill set. He was on the D line and was solid and consistent. The exception to this was as Sean Ryan this last year in Santa Cruz: The first game on Saturday vs Chico after a shitty night's sleep on dorm floors was our first of the Ice session and everyone was still groggy. Duffy, out of nowhere, gets a amazing layout D up high to prevent a zipping huck that surely would have been a score!What a way to show the freshman we'd brought how to play D!
I think a large part of why he was good was his high pain tolerance gained from wrestling in HS. He was the opposite of the average tall and lanky ultimate player - shorter and husky, but he still managed to smoke most of the team at the track in old shitty cross trainers because he could endure the pain well.In addition to going hard at the track, he goes harder than anyone at a party. He started a power hour on spring break at 5am. What the fuck? I remember one Saturday night of Santa Barbra Invite it was raining hard and while people were scrambling to take
their sleeping bag and shit to wherever they were staying, he calmly strided through the flooded streets with a case of 40oz's of Cobra Malt Liquor on his head as his only possession - what else would he need?
(PS- His preferred method of celebrating anything, is picking people and things up and flipping them)Yui "Yui" Takeshita
Yui was a transfer from Carlton-GOP and is studying at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. UCSD is pretty lucky as we normally get 1 good transfer student on the A team a year (not as lucky as Stanford which seems to get 4/year). I'm sure it has to be hard to walk into a new situation and integrate well into a new team, especially when dealing with loads of school work, but Yui became a vital part of the team and a great friend as if he'd been here since freshman year.
I think it is really great to have a different perspective on Ultimate strategy, tactics, and team dynamics. He has a great throw and go, around flick and a tendency to bid really big. Some people think of Asians as natural lightweights but Yui is a heavyweight is everything he does. He slams beer with the same reckless abandon that he bids, he can almost out-eat me (Im 6'3", 200lb and didn't get the name Pumba for just one reason), and he works really hard at grad school to boot.
When we beat Tide in the game to go I was immediately overcome with exuberation, but with some time to reflect on the plane back to SD one of the many strong emotions I had was a overwhelming happiness for the ability to take Yui to nationals. As a member of Carlton-G.O.P. , he was peers with CUT guys but never got to share the fame - GOP will always be the "2nd" Carlton team. He truly earned this trip to Columbus this year and when he was able to joyfully celebrated with his longtime friends on CUT after their Championship win, I felt deep happiness that I could be part of the team that took him there. I consider him a great friend.
(You can see it in his eyes how much he loves his new teammates)
Up Next Time:
Cork
Hutch
Dibs
(Most photo credits go to the wonderful Amy "Meeko" Chang)
PS- NorCal Open Sectionals is this weekend in Davis and I am pumped to play everyone and get another shot at Jam and Revolver!
PPS- Why am I so bad at buying plane tickets? Is it really gonna cost me $350 to fly to Eugene for San Diego for Regionals on Oct 2? Fuck!
PPPS- I would like my blog to not look so much like puke - I think a design overhaul is in order
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