The (Incomplete) Definitive List of Ultimate Tournaments I Want to Play In

Competitive:
USA Ultimate College Nationals
USA Ultimate Club Nationals
USA Ultimate Open
Club Worlds
World Games
Co-ed Worlds

Fun:
Potlatch
Poultry Days
Fools Fest West
Fools Fest East
Gender Blender
Kiamna Klassic

Sand:
Lei Out
Chicago San Blast
Wildwood
Paganello
Sand Worlds


What have I forgotten? Post links if you've got them.

Ways To Get Good Cleats On The Cheap

There are lots of ways to get great cleats cheap.

1. Ross and Marshall... selection changes week to week but some times you get lucky like my teammate who go 3 pairs of Vapor4.2s for $12 each

2. Eastbay. Prices aren't great when the cleats are new, but as soon as they run out of 1 size, the price gets cut bigtime. Also be on the lookout for good online coupons. A google search will help with that.

3. Ebay. Ive gotten many brand new $100 cleats for $35 from college football team equipment managers who have extra.


The key is to have your cleat needs in the back of your mind instead of waiting till your single pair blow out and you need some new ones ASAP. Having a few pairs that you rotate will help you never be in dire need like this.

In the end though, you should probably accept paying $15 more than you want to pay. I know we are in college, but you dont really have many expenses. Good cleats that fit correctly are totally worth it if you are invested in Ultimate enough to be reading about it on the internet .

Review of SoCal Club Sectionals

A tournament with perfect weather is always fun. A little misty in the mornings, but the dew burned off by halftime of the first game making for a great weekend.

Streetgang rolled through all of our games on Saturday and our O-line scrimmaged or D-line between games. I am happy to report that the O continued its dominance over the D ;) Three and out, SG's morning started early and ended early.

The team off note for our Saturday was OYU (Old and Young United) a team of mostly highschoolers from Burbank with a few old guys as player/coaches. Yeah we beat them 13-1, but I really enjoyed seeing these younins play against great players. I wish I had started that young and chatted with a few of them and told them such. Being exposed to high level Ultimate while still in high school is going to make those kids great in college. Heres hoping they stick with it.

Day two had Streegang playing the Beyondors (the Master's team from Santa Barbara). This was my first time playing against Greg 'Hollywood' Husak of Condors fame who was part of the part of the amazing Condor's 95-01dyNASTY. That guy can ball. Closest game of the tourney. I like that older players can make the game simple: if you cover me deep I get the free in. If you cover me in, I get the deep. Easy as that.


Next was a team from San Diego who i played for 3 years ago - Beefcake. Not really a challenge - just a good time with some old friends. Point of fact: I had THE worst pull of my competitive career in this game leading to them taking the disc at midfield. This was followed by my mediocre deep D, throwing an almost-Callahan turnover on our goal line and then getting beat to the open-side for the score. Oops.


The finals were supposed to be after a bye but got moved up for some reason. Santa Barbara Condors vs San Diego Streetgang. In general, we scored with few throws and our Ds really flustered them. They kept it even at first but the wheels feel off when one of their popper got covered trying to get into the cup. We took half very confidently and kept rolling after it.

Much to everyone's dismay, 2 of our players had their shoulders dislocated on close bids. One was captured on tape and highlights an excellent defensive bid by the Condor's Jacob Baumer. Absolutely not a foul, sometimes players just get hurt - not Jake's fault at all. We continue to press (I get really close to a layout D in the cup) and they continue to have a very hard time scoring. I talked with some of the condors afterwords and they mused that they were not quite sure who their zone handlers were going to be. Either way, i think this game speaks well of the pressure our defense puts on other teams.

Final score: 13-7 . Over all, I was happy with how we played and given the acrimonious nature of past San Diego/ Santa Barbara games, I was happy with the amiable relations between the teams.


While i did enjoy the tournament overall, the flaws should be pointed out so we can have better tournaments next time.

• The front of the enzones should be double coned and the cone placement should be spray painted. I know that fully lining the field probably wasnt possible, but the fact that the 2 best teams in all of Southern California played the finals on a field with unknowable boundaries is disheartening. 
• There were no scoreboards even though I offered to bring all the ones I had built for Presidents Day
• There was lots of room in between fields (props to the TDs) but players and spectators still put all their stuff haphazardly 1 meter away from the sidelines. Sideline safety must be a cultural shift.
• The format was screwy. Pool play straight to placement? Streetgang played 6 games in a row - 5 pool play and then the finals. The team that I coach, the BAGS, got there at 8 both days and left at 5 both days with 8 games and 5 byes total. (yes, I know a 13 team tournament is hard to work with). It might have been ok if people had known the schedule ahead of time but people were learning of their games an hour before hand. (Again, I know how hard it is to TD. It sucks that your fields got taken away last minute)
• I only saw a few non-player spectators at the finals even though we were in Long Beach, a city filled with Ultimate players. We all need to do a better job to get our beach-pickup buddies to attend the finals of big time tourneys. 
• Getting water was a pain, only 1 station very fair away from most of the fields.
• We started at 8am even though everything was done by 5. Give me 1 more hour of sleep and Ill be way happier even if it means I get home a hour later.

All in all, good tourney. It feels great to be sectional champions as San Diego Open has not won Sectionals in 15 years.

Audio Interviews for the USA Ultimate Board of Directors

Check out my audio interview for the USAU Board of Directors. The Election is Oct 1st - Nov 2nd http://bit.ly/StephenHubbard4USAUaudio

 

How do my answers stack up to the other candidates?

Helpful Things to Say to Players on the Field

There is a short list of words and phrases that can be said by a sideline teammate that are actually helpful to the player on the field.

While on O

• Toe (as in Toe the line)
• Go to (Because your defender is going to make a bid on the disc)
• Milk (Milk the disc for a little bit before catching it (in the endzone)
• Greatest ( you must perform a Greatest to keep the disc alive)
• Man on (You thought you were poached and now you are not)
• You've got time (on a high disc, you don't need to jump just yet - wait to make a play)
• See**Someone's name** (when someone is ridiculously poached )
• See **Some throw** (when some option is obviously the right one but the thrower is not seeing it - examples: Hammer, Swing) (This mostly goes for DOffense players with the disc. If you need to tell your O-line players how to move the disc and what options to see, you need to reconsider the composition of your O-line.)

While on D

• Inside (shift your mark inside)
• Around (shift around)
• No huck (no huck mark)
• No Dump (shift all the way around to prevent all throws to the backfield)
• Strike (Jump over to the open side for a count)
• Team D or No foul (Back your mark up so the thrower can't draw a foul or an And-1 throw)
• Drop (you need to book it deep to prevent a huck score)
• Now you are in (your guy is only viable to cut in)
• Aggressive/conservative (for in zones that shift between aggressive cups/containment cups)
• You're last back (you should be aware to help deep)
• Bid (make a play on the disc)
• Up (a throw has gone up, often used for hucks)
• Right Shoulder (a huck/dump pass has gone up and you should turn right to find it/ D it)
• Left Shoulder (a huck/dump pass has gone up and you should turn left to find it/ D it)
• Guy on your right/left/behind (telling defenders in zone were the threats are)
• You've got two (telling defenders in a zone that 2 threats are in his zone)
• Looking, Looking (telling face-guarding defenders that the thrower wants to hit your guy)
• *Describing noticed tendencies of someone's defensive assignment: "He likes the lefty backhand
• Peel (leave your guy to defend the open guy in the endzone. Often happens after your guy catches a huck just outside the endzone)
  

Am I missing any?


Conclusions: if you are saying anything else from the sideline like "Nice cut Mike!", your on-field players are tuning you out at best, but probably distracted from the task at hand. Celebrate after the point is over, not before.


Joke of the Day:
The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Highlight Vid of the Day: Wisco Women Whomping at PresDay Weekend

Game of Last Week: Cal vs Oregon NW Regional Finals 2010. Damn Ego looks good. Its all solid fundamentals... give-go, high speed of play, touch on every throw... 8:16 isn't fundamentals though, that's just straight-up Jedi.

Nail-Bitter/Barnburner Game of the Day: CUT vs Pitt, Qrts, Nationals 09

NW Club Regionals

Revolver, Sockeye, Furious George, ECU, Rhino, Wolf

Damn, it is going to be one exciting October.


PS- Don't count out Pizzahuttacobell. They are young and fast. Very darkhorse right now.

Truths About Ultimate

Every turnover is a thrower error.


You need to pass the disc to your teammates when THEY want you to, not when you want to.


If you are not actively pursuing a comprehensive strength and conditioning program, it is very likely that you are going to get injuried.


It is way better for the D to set up than for the O to set up.


The best way for a novice thrower to improve is for them to watch the body mechanics of great throwers and attempt to emulate what they see. Precise instruction does not work as way as careful and watchful plagiarism of total body form.


Thinking is bad. Allowing your body to do what it has been trained for is the way to unleash peak performance.


If you want to get a freshman out to practice, throw with them for 5 minutes and then give them the disc.


Drills lasting more than 10 minutes bore people.


Practices need to be hard.




If you forget why or how you love this sport so much, choose a practice or a tournament and try to be the very last person to leave the fields. Think for a bit about the way you feel out on that grass. Is that shop you are sitting on the same spot you got your last layout D?

Get Some Football Cleats

The large majority of players on good, high level teams wear football cleats. The majority of players on low level teams wear soccer cleats. You do the math.

Think about it: a lot of soccer cleat R&D goes into making a good kicking surface - something we don't need at all. I played soccer in high school so I word what I had been wearing  untill my sophomore year of college when I tried on some Speed TDs and never went back.

Defense

Defense must turn the playing field into a battle field – an inhospitable place for offense to tread. They must make the offense uncomfortable. They must make the offense not want to be there – anywhere but on that line waiting for the pull and the ensuing onslaught. Make them worry; hem and haw. Make them be thankful to lady luck every time they score. Force them to huddle with each other and argue about how to crack the zone you are throwing. Make them pray that their team’s D line stays on the field so they don’t have to go back out there. Defense must parch the offense’s lips and empty their lungs and enlarge the lump in their mouth and fill their hands with the perspiration of desperation.

If you are not doing that when your team plays defense you are failing. If the O players look comfortable or in a groove you are just not doing your job.  Even if they are turning over the disc it’s very possible you are still failing. If you look closely, you can tell if they are flubbing it up or if you are actually earning it. Be very wary of the former: wins that you didn’t actually earn with pain and sweat don’t help build your team. Additionally, there is the ever present temptation to not analyze your performance simply because the result is a W.

Ask yourself: are we dictating to the other team or are we merely reacting?

Making the thrower uncomfortable

Congradulations to team USA

Junior Worlds Champions!!


# 25  Eli Kerns
(Catches the greatest)


I taught him almost none of what he knows!



Check out YouTube for some really quality video of WJUC10


Lucky kids....

Ultimate on ESPN

 If you haven't already seen this sweet catch by Andrew Fleming of Seattle Sockeye from the World Ultimate Club Championships 2010 in Prague, do yourself a favor and watch it in HD (be sure to full-screen it).

Now, go watch it again and marvel at what website you are watching it on. That's right baby, this was the NUMBER ONE play on Tuesday's SportCenter Top 10.

Sweet huh? Personally, I would like more general acceptance of Ultimate in the mainstream and stuff like this can only help the cause. Long throw, huge layout, great crowd noise, intense spike and pretty pan-out shot to see a packed stadium. Perfect!

One of the real problems with Ultimate in the mainstream is its watchability. The highlights, like this Fleming one or this And-1 Mix Tape or this one, are great, but whole games are hard to watch if you are not a lover of the sport.

But imagine ESPN going to the USAU and saying, 

"We want to show a game of Ultimate but we have seen whole games before and we don't like players arguing between each other about calls, less stoppages, no players wandering the entire sideline, less time between pulls, and it must be in a stadium. Do that, and we've put it on in its entirety"

This is not inconceivable considering the response the Fleming video has garnered. The USAU would jump at this chance and the finals of Labor Day or E.C.C. would be filmed exactly to ESPN's specifications.For as much as people talk about how to get this sport on TV, all we really need is a ESPN producer to tell the USAU what it want and we'd be good to go.




One last thing, it could be me on the Top10 next - Ultivillage is going to be at Colorado Cup, ECC and Labor Day, all of which Streetgang is attending. I'm excited for this upcoming club season!

History Repeats Itself

LA Strike Slip > SD Streetgang @  Club Sectionals09 
:
LA Strike Slip << SD Streetgang @ Club Regionals09
::
UCLA Smaug > UCSD Air Squids on Sunday Morning of College Regionals10
:
UCLA Smaug << UCSD Air Squids on Sunday Afternoon of College Regionals10

Rules with Definitions

Check out the way the online 11th Edition Rules of Ultimate now have scroll-over definitions.

Hopefully this will help people learn the rules better. Like this new USAU Rules Clarifications FAQ, anything to help players know the rules is a good thing.

The Ultimate Thesis Project

I think it appropriate for me to write a thesis about Ultimate - what did Jerry Maguire call it? A Mission Statement, a Memo? Haha. Through my last 5 years of college, I have studied Ultimate as much as I have studied the subjects in my classes. I think about Ultimate a lot: for all the times I've said that my blogs will be about lots of things, 90% of the content is Ultimate. Sometimes its hard to be honest about this, but i'll just put it out there: Ultimate has been my life for the last 5 years.


So that's why I think I should write a thesis. A thesis about Ultimate.

I promise you, this will not be hard because of a lack of things to say - if you have read any of my blogs or talked to me on the field, you know that I could fill a book. The challenge of actually being concise is what really intrigues me about this project.

So far, I imagine a "Thesis" about Ultimate could be about a couple different things:

• The Unique, Strange, and Challenging Existence of Spirt Of The Game in our sport
• Ultimate Offense and Defense strategy
• The Unique Community of Ultimate players
• How Ultimate is viewed by its Players and by Outsiders
• Why People Play Ultimate
• The Unique Niche of "College" Sport
• Sports Psychology through Ultimate
• The Rules (and their Ramifications) of Ultimate
• Build a Winning Ultimate Team
• The Mental Game in Ultimate
• The Differences from the Top Level to Pickup in Ultimate

I'm sure that many of the sub-topics appropriate within each topic would find their way into the others and I am sure that some of these are way too general (especially the Strategy one). AND i'm sure I am missing something that I have thought about before.

So I would like to ask you, reader, what would YOU be interested in reading a thesis about? And secondly, if you were tasked with writing something long about Ultimate, what would your title be?

Quality Hucks and Sideline Talk

I posted two really good IOTDs today and yesterday that are more appropriate, length wise, for this blog. I seem to get more diverse Ultimate-related viewers on this blog so I wanted to forward you the links.

What to Say to Your On-Field Teammates

Quality Hucks Follow the Rule of Thirds





Madison in 7 days! If you are going to be there, come say hi!

Also exciting: the UPA is FINALLY going to open their new website in 4 days!

Good Morning

The Squids are having 6am practice today - the last one we will have before Regionals.

Its a beautiful day.

Peace.

First Practice

Hallelujah!!!
My team's cuts get sent out today and we finally get to practice with the team that will be competing to represent UCSD across the country and in the UPA series. No longer will the team's focus be mainly teaching rookies the game, we will be about forming and training a group of players to complete our goal of qualifying for (and placing well at) Nationals in May. No longer is a focus error or a silly mistake O.K. - do it once and you get admonished and then you never do it again. No longer do the vets have to smile and be supportive when a 15 yard forhand is turfed. Finally I can really ENJOY Ultimate for the COMPEDITIVE side of it.

Here is what I am thinking about saying tonight:

"Congratulations, you've made the first round of cuts but know that no one here, myself inlcuded, has earned a spot on the final roster - were nowhere close to that. You should know that this is A team and you may have picked up a lot of misconceptions playing with everyone through the Fall. Yeah, people joke around a lot and yeah, most of the vets don't take the Fall as seriously, but that ends right now. The commitment level goes way up and the dedication level goes way up. This is a tough team to be on - the hard work starts right now. If you had any inclination that this was going to be easy or that you were ok or could just cruse because you knew something about frisbee or because you are a decent athlete then you need to get that out of your head right now. We are going to be much better at disc skills and athleticism and team cohesion and we need you to get on board right now: being a top 20 team in the nation last year doesn't mean much for this year. Ultimate is really fun, this team is really fun, but you need step up your intensity right now if you want to be on the team in the Spring."

Boy am I excited. I know that I have lots of studying to do for my midterm tomorrow and I have a paper due as well, but I am having a hard time putting the joys of A team's first practice out of my mind.

Loving Ultimate Right Now

There are good practices and bad practices and shitty practices and fun practices. And then there are those that make you really really happy to be on the team. Last night was one of those.

I wasn't playing particularly well and had some weird turnovers due to muscle fatigue (from the Crossfit Total I did an hour beforehand (new PR: 690lb). My team was not bad - we won our scrimmage - but we certainly were not good. The weather was nice, my new Speed TDs were fitting perfectly, I was running well, and our Guppies (new guys) were learning quickly and having fun. On top of this, our coaches showed me the list of guys they are considering for A team: its appropriately long and has all the guppies that I like. We ran a really simple but beautiful drill to teach cutting hard and making good throws when tired and I had the last goal of the night on a fast break bomb to one of those favorite guppies. Afterwords a different guppy threw down some meal points for my massive salad at the Dining Hall. Siting with 3 new guppies and 3 new Psychos (our girl's team), we recanted how cool the party I hosted was this weekend.


Moving on. I have big news: I will be going to Club Nationals in Sarasota to be an Observer! While I was thinking about future frisbee goals 2 weeks back, I decided that I want to be on a team that makes it to The Show - I guess if the Observers count as a team... well we all were the same uniform...

I am particularly excited because both the Men's (Streetgang) and Women's (Safari) San Diego teams made it which has not happened in a long while. I am really looking forward to hanging with these old friends and meeting new ones. I am also particularly excited because the UPA is picking up the tab.


Finally, I really must do a write-up of my Club experience this summer with the Bay Area's EndPhase, but for now: Thanks guys for a really fun time; I learned a lot and made a lot of great friends.

For now, keep enjoying disc.

PS- Carmalization torches are great for starting backyard bonfires mid-party.

10 Stages of Wind Throwers

Photo by Amy "Meeko" Chang

Ultimate players have interesting relationships with wind. While the majority of athletes play their sport almost completely unchanged in blustery conditions, there is no denying that Ultimate is a radically different game in calm then in calamity. I see that there are 10 stages one goes through in his relationship with playing in wind. These are a combination of mental, physical and skill stages.

10 Stages of Wind Throwers:

1. Unaware

- All your throws suck, they are mostly incomplete no matter what, so you don’t really notice the wind. You just don’t think about it.

2. Bewildered

- First real wind generated turnover. You though you could do something like throw a simple forehand but it gets ripped out of your hand or goes sideways or pops 30 feet straight into the air. You are amazed at the power and randomity of the wind.

3. Frustration

- You seem to be progressing in all other skills but don’t seem to be going anywhere in terms of throwing effectively in the wing.

4. Anger

- “This isn’t real Ultimate!”. Playing in the wind sucks and everyone around you knows how much you hate it.

5. Realization

- The other team has to playing the same conditions, might as well sack up and start working on your wind game.

6. Acceptance

- You don’t really know how, but you seem to manage to be able to throw and play in the wind

7. Self-awareness

- You have a basic understanding of the wind game and why you are able to play well in whatever capacity you actually do.

8. Better

- People are impressed with your wind throws. You are impressed with your wind throws. You still get those panges of dread when you are looking straight into the wind and a 6’2’’ cup on the trapped sideline. You get mad at yourself and your teammates for wind turnovers.

9. Advanced

- You don’t get mad anymore. You’ve accepted that there will be more turnovers but you see them as less random and more controllable. You play to maximize percentages. You focus, you help your team mates focus, and you play well.

10. Unaware

-You don’t consciously think about the wind and this appears as you not even noticing the wind. It’s not that you have any throw, it’s just that you automatically, subconsciously have a set of things that work in any particular situation. There isn’t a chance that you blindly attempt a throw you don’t have at your disposal. You play within yourself.

One certainly does not simply progress from step to step, we all have moments of each. For a handler on a Nationals caliber team, I’m not that great of a wind thrower – my hammer and scoober, ceteris paribus are sub-par, yet I feel that I can comment on these stages because I know that I have experienced all these things. While this year I had perhaps my best run of wind points in the middle of the Cal-UCSD PrezDay Final when blades were just flying out of my hands with perfect arc and pinpoint distance and hangtime, I also sporadically felt those pangs of dread when I knew before I threw it that the forehand won’t be coming back inbounds.

I believe the thing to work on as a wind thrower are the obvious throwing and catching skills but also understanding home you can get marginal advantages here and there with strategy and tactics. If you think a upwind point is hopeless like a Stage4er, it is. Instead of thinking of 70 yards away as Yes, up winders will be hard to come by with 25 mph winds but 1 completed effort of intense focus might be all you need in a strict upwind/ downwind game.

When I was a sophomore the Squids had a handler, Prof, who was a great wind thrower – maybe the best I’ve ever played with (Seth Wiggins picking up on my club team for Solstice probably doesn’t count). He used to tell me he preferred wind to calm. Playing against a zone was a big puzzle and as a handler he got to solve it. I never understood him until this year. Playing in nice 80° San Diego sunshine was fun and playing in wind above 10 mph was a pain and something to be rightfully grumpy about (I was a Stage4er for a while). But perhaps now that I have better throws and some perspective on the game (and what wind games REALLY look like coughregionalfinalcough), I see the enjoyment of wind games. Yes it is a different game but it is no less Ultimate - both teams expereince the same conditions and if you like ultimate partially because of the cool things you can do with the disc, a zone game is the perfect time to unleash that thumber (not really).

PS- It happens to be my birthday today. Any suggestions on amazing things to do in the Bay Area?

Swagger

Swagger.
Yeah, you notice it.




Starting 7 of throwers that act like bad asses on the field and get the groupies off it:

Austin-Arizona
Cal-Arizona
Mac-Mamabird
Cork-Squids
Bacon-SLO Core
Eli Janin -EGO
Brodie-Florida

*Honorable mention to 808 from LPC


Too bad only 2 from this list are going to Nationals. Well, I guess that just means more women for this handler who is just developing his swagger.