Up Calls

3rd in the Nation

2010-06-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

Dat ain't bad.

Thanks

2010-06-03T12:33:00.003-04:00

What an unreal experiences. It's pretty crazy to think back to my freshman year. And, although I wasn't the best HS ultimate player, I had experience, but was cut from the A-team. I worked my way through the ranks of the B-team and finally got to play at Nationals. The hard work paid off.

I don't really know what to say after the fact. I'm not going to recap because it would just take way too long. There's a lot of guys I could thank, so I'm going to try that:

Wes - coach last year and gave me some good words/advice before this weekend
Rob and Banyas - giving me a chance to play a high level tournament last summer (CUT), which paved the way for a big confidence boost heading into the fall
Weasel, Josh and Vatz - coaching this past year and giving me the opportunity to find my role on this team
Nick - coached me on Impulse, then got to coach with him last summer. In my opinion, he's the smartest ultimate person I know and gets a lot of respect from me.
My teammates (brothers) - for getting to play with them, learn with them, have fun with them and win with them
Brody - sticking with the team, following the team, giving advice at nationals and taking great pictures
TallE - right there after every point at nationals, handing out water on the line
Henry - helping with financial costs and giving the biggest support for Pitt ultimate I've ever seen
The other alumni
The B team

I know I'm probably missing some people. And I'll update that list if/when I think of more.

It was just a great experience and fun to earn a spot not only on the team, but - for the most part - a starter as well.

Now there's a lot for me to think about. I graduated, but I'm having a hard time finding a job. An internship I thought I would get went to the other guy because he had a master's degree and I only had a bachelor's. Times are tough and the possibility of grad school looks more appealing each day.

But for now, I just need to unwind, rest and recover. I'm pretty beat.

A list

2010-05-24T09:27:00.002-04:00

Kaczmarek
Ravi
Bailey
Pannone
Bob
Myself

Our defining moment

2010-05-20T17:11:00.003-04:00

A couple days after Regionals, Ari and I met up with Nick at Peter's. We start talking about the obvious. How bummed we were to lose to Cornell, again, but that we're still excited because the program is making its sixth consecutive trip to Nationals. And for Ari and myself, our first trip to Nationals. We talked a little about strategy and what makes this year such a unique team, and an exciting one at that.

But then Nick asked us what we thought our defining moment was of the season. In a flash, visions of 8's and Eastern's came to mind. I also thought that our finish at Stanford Invite was really impressive. I'm sure Ari had similar thoughts, but we couldn't pinpoint a certain moment in our season. We've had some success and we've had some lows, but nothing that defines this team, right now, here in 2010.

So, neither of us really answered the question and Nick gave us a reason for our semi-silence. It's because our greatest moment is yet to come. Anything that's happened in the past is over. Whether it's warmup tournaments or the college series, that time has passed. Now we're at the highest stage of collegiate ultimate.

That - in Madison, Wisconsin, in 7 days - is where our defining moment will be made.

Nationals schedule

2010-05-19T09:39:00.004-04:00

UPA released the seedings and schedule for Nationals. We land a No. 10 spot. That's pretty much where I expected us to be. Had we not lost to Cornell in Regionals, I'd assume we'd be higher, but we couldn't be placed higher than whatever seed Cornell got (they ended up at No. 8).

But let this be said: I think this is the best possible pool we could've landed in. Colorado is the top team in our pool, followed by Wisconsin, then us, Michigan and then Texas State. We've beaten three of the four teams in our pool already this season. We know that we can beat these guys. It'll just come down to execution and mental focus. I also think playing Michigan and Texas State is a good way to start the competition on Thursday, before we take on Wisconsin and then Colorado on Friday.

Edit: I somehow missed that the No. 3 seed from the pool still makes the pre-quarters of the championship bracket. We don't need to finish higher, but we can and should.

Alright, that's about as much speculation as I'm going to do. There's still time to get some work done.

Pitt vs. Texas State to open Nationals.

Wow. I can't believe after four years, I'll finally be playing at Nationals. That feels good to say. It'll be even better to play.

The men's schedule is here.
The women's schedule is here. Danger lands a No. 12 seed and will be the third seed from the top bracket.

Regionals recaps

2010-05-05T14:13:00.005-04:00

So this past weekend I got to do something I've never done before. I've been playing ultimate since my junior year of high school. I've played college ultimate for the past three years, but this past weekend was something special. After three years on the B-team, and captaining last year, I finally made my way to the A-team and got to play at Regionals.

I don't this often say things like this — well, OK, sometimes — but I played pretty damn well. I'm not sure how to describe it, but for me, there is something that clicks in my head whenever the competition picks up. I turn my game, my focus and my play way up. I love the bigger (note: not biggest) stage. I can't help that I love the attention that not only I'm getting, but that the team gets. It gets me super fired up and ready to win.

And after this weekend, I now get my shot at the biggest stage in college ultimate: Nationals. Damn, I'm so ready for this.

I'm going to post a lot more this final month, mostly because it'll keep me motivated and focused.

For now, Regionals recaps. It's the best that I can remember because like I said after Stanford or some tournament, it's hard to recap whenever you play a lot. The points and games at times can seem jumbled together. But here goes:

Saturday

PREQUARTERFINALS: NYU (Pitt wins 15-5): ESPN was all over this game, as it marked the first time Clay and his former team would do battle this season. But in all seriousness, it was never a really close game and we pretty much took over from the start. I played a good game, here, skying some dude for a goal line catch. I also had — the team will tell you at least — probably my first layout grab, for a score at that, all spring. Not sure why it happened but there's a little joke that goes something like "Jay? Yeah. He can't layout." Whatever. Pitt wins pre-quarters or whatever you want to call it. Next.

QUARTERFINALS: Carleton University (Pitt wins 15-5): Much of the same as the first game. Carleton was fresh off a really long universe point game against Georgetown, so they were tired. They have some 7 foot guy on their team but they didn't utilize him very well and we were able to shut him down. Game was easy and the biggest threat came whenever we were up 14-4 or something like that and that 7 foot dude starts something with Isaac and/or Plunkett. Next thing I know Bob goes running over and by the time I turn around (the fight happened on the sideline and I was walking to the line to start the point) Bob's in a headlock. Honestly, I don't know all the details and it seems pretty stupid after the fact, but it was kinda crazy at the time. Things settle down and we trade points and Pitt wins quarterfinals. Next.

SEMIFINALS: Penn (Pitt wins 15-5): As was the case with NYU and Carleton, nothing special going on this game. Penn just finished a long universe point game against Delaware and didn't get any rest in between games. We controlled the game and Penn was never a threat. I eventually rolled my ankle pretty bad late in the game. It swelled up and I was done for the day. Fortunately for me, this was our last game. Finals in the AM. Pitt takes semifinals. Next.

Sunday

FINALS: Cornell (Pitt loses 15-11): So here it was. The game everybody on the team wanted. Call it a rematch. Call it another game. Call it a revenge game. Whatever you want to call it, there we were matched up against Cornell in the finals. For the first time in Pitt's history, a lot of guys felt we were the group to finally get over that hump and take down Cornell, and in the process, take the Metro East Region. Everybody was geared up for this game. It might have had something do with watching ESPN's 30 for 30 The U the night before. As for me, ankle was good to go. I was feeling good and the team was pumped. Regardless, the game started out poorly for us. The O wasn't clicking and D couldn't get enough breaks to turn the game around. That was tough. I think we went down 3-0 and never really got and closer in the first half as we headed to the break trailing 8-5. The second half we were able to claw our way back, getting really close at 11-9 or 11-10, but failing to capitalize after getting the turnovers. Cornell eventually hits the gas and we fall 15-11. Cornell takes finals and the Region. Damn.

The hardest part about this loss is how close we were multiple times to getting over the hump and winning that game. There were so many times when we we would force some crap throw/huck/dump at stall 9/10 and the wind would take the disc flying into the air and some taller Cornell guy would come down with it. We didn't get any breaks and that was so frustrating for me, personally. I had a hard time believing that we played such good D for 10 seconds, only to have crap like that get caught and hurt us.

Personally, I played pretty well. I shutdown my guy most of the game and rarely got beat. Nothing flashy, but that's not my game. I was just more concerned that our team couldn't pull out the win. The W is more important than anything I do.

After the game, a lot of the guys just walked around or laid down. Headbands and hats over their eyes and faces. It was a really tough, emotional loss. We all thought we would win this game. Expectations were very high and we didn't deliver. But if you don't think will get us motivated for nationals, you're crazy. This team has rebounded from losses throughout the season. We'll be ready.

BACKDOOR FINALS: George Washington (Pitt wins 15-11): Pissed after our loss to Cornell, we're fired up to just take a nice little dump on GW and head to Nationals for the sixth consecutive year. And we did come out hard and the game was never in danger, but it was closer because we were still bummed and thinking about the last game. Don't get me wrong, GW was a good team. Otherwise, they wouldn't be there. But we were still thinking back to finals. We might not admit that, but that's the fact. We won this game because we were the better team, but we really should've beat GW by a lot more. Whatever. We're going to Nationals. Nice.

History: Take 2

2010-05-03T19:44:00.002-04:00

For the first time in 4 years of playing college ultimate, I'll be PLAYING at Nationals.

History

2010-04-11T21:09:00.003-04:00

For the first time in 4 years of playing college ultimate, I'll be PLAYING at Regionals. Pretty excited. More on sectionals later.

College Easterns: Recaps

2010-04-03T10:14:00.005-04:00

It was a busy March for Pitt ultimate. We played in 3 tournaments in 4 weekends, with a lot of unexpected conditions. Last weekend it was time for our final regular season tournament: Easterns. There were 18 teams and some good competition from some up-and-coming teams. And the weather? Pretty good. 70s and a little wind on Saturday. Nearing 80 and a more steady, but manageable wind on Sunday. Eddie's got some stuff as well.

Here's my pretty long post:

Saturday

Duke (Pitt wins 15-6): Nothing much to talk about this game. We could've easily won this game by more. We won because we were the better team, not because we did anything spectacular. It was a good warmup game.

San Diego State University (Pitt wins 15-8): Similar to the Duke game, this was a tougher warmup game. We won, yet again, because we were the better team. SDSU is better than Duke, but just as our competition improved so did our playing. Thing is, we started out somewhat flat and SDSU broke us a couple times and held a lead early. But then we went on a 13-1 run and ran them into the gorund. Guys started to adapt to the weather conditions and wake up.

Kansas (Pitt wins 15-1): I don't even know how to describe this game. Somehow, somewhere people started talking highly of Kansas. How they were a very aggressive team and it could be the toughest game of the day. We were told to get observers for the game because it was going to be chippy. Kansas was hyped - big time. Then we went up 13-0 and it actually felt like some kind of joke. Up 13-0, we sent the O-line out to play D and they gave up the score that broke the shutout. Kansas rushed the field and the sidelines jokingly poked fun at the O-line. In all, there isn't much you can say bad about a 15-1 win.

SHOWCASE: Ohio State (Pitt wins 15-8): I don't think there was any other team at Easterns that we wanted to beat than OSU. We traded points early, but they never gave us the competition that we saw at QCTU. Our intensity is what gave us a 2 or 3 point lead at half before we sprinted out the second half for the win.

The only thing sweeter than beating Ohio State was getting free* jerseys. And the only thing sweeter than getting free* jerseys was winning our pool. And sweeter than that? An 11 a.m. start time on Sunday.

Sunday

QUARTERFINALS: Georgia (Pitt wins 15-5): Fresh off a universe point win over UNCW in prequarters, Georgia was tired. The game was fairly close in the beginning but I don't think any of expected that to last long. We got the crucial updwind/downwind break (winds picked up on Sunday) towards the end of the first half and Georgia never threatened again. Easy but solid win to start out the day.

SEMIFINALS: Virginia (Pitt wins 13-9): With wind much more of a factor, but nothing like it was in Centex, upwind/downwind breaks were necessary to win. If we got the upwind break, we needed to get the downwind one to go with it. Unfortunately, anytime we did, Virginia would come score the upwind offensive one and then maybe get the downwind break. A few breaks early in the first half by both teams, but the game was on serve heading into halftime as we trailed 8-7. Starting out the second half on offensive with the wind meant we'd have to score an upwind break to win the game. Right after our offense scored to make it 8-8. Our D-line got the upwind break - 9-8. And finally converted the downwind break - 10-8. Virginia answered but we got the upwind/downwind break again. Virginia is a pretty solid team and they upset Cornell in quarterfinals. They have a good handler (don't know his name) but he could rip the disk upwind or downwind. Unfortunately, their offense revolved around him and he couldn't do it all. Still a good team.

FINALS: WISCONSIN (Pitt loses 14-11): For the second time in three tournament were in finals at good tournament. And for the second time, we lose. Sucks and pretty heartbreaking. We also put up our 15 jerseys for winning the showcase game on the line in a winner-takes-all contest. Anyways, like has been the case all season, we came out pretty flat in a game and it showed. When we bring intensity and never let up, I really think we're the best team in the country (I feel like we've shown that at times throughout this season). But when we're flat and lazy, we struggle (And again...I feel like we've shown that at times). As for the game, they hucked it deep to their tall guys and we never had extra deep help. It also didn't help that some of their tall guys made some nice catches. Our O-line got broken early in the game. I think we started out down 5-0 before it was 8-3 at half. Hell, we took the second half 8-6 after showing some intensity and getting some updwind/downwind breaks.

I felt like this game could be summed up in this one point I played in the second half. We were trailing 11-9 out of half and with the cap looming, we needed a double break. We got the upwind break the point before. I'm covering one of their main handlers as Wisco heads upwind. I've got their guy near the one sideline we're forcing about 40 yards from the endzone. I kill the dump and he lets off some stall 9 bending huck upwind. We get a couple under and they do, too. Wisco comes down with the disk and a quick pass or two later, they score the goal. It was like we did everything we could on the point, shut them down and were about to really close in on them...and then we couldn't come down with the disk when we needed. We needed a play to be made and we didn't get it.

But that's Easterns. Series starts this weekend. Sectionals in Penn State.

The Stanford Invite: Followup

2010-03-13T17:38:00.005-05:00

I've always enjoyed playing defense. I like it because it's like getting to play two points in one. Your main objective is to essentially destroy an offense and the rub it their face by scoring on them. It's a great feeling to know that you're (the defense) the reason why a team is losing, why they can't win and why they won't come back. You control the game and the tempo. It's how we're running things on the team right now and it's so important.

The team thrives on the defense. This isn't to say anything against our offense because they're the 7 most skilled and best ultimate players on the our team, but our defense is what fuels Pitt ultimate. We want nothing more than to start a game on D and absolutely crush any hope our opponent has by getting the first break. It gets the D pumped up and the O as well so they can come on the field and score if need be. If we get a few breaks early, it takes the pressure off our O (and our D, really). Defense is such a huge momentum shift, a game changer.

This was shown in our games at Stanford. When we won, especially against teams like CUT and Wisco, our defense was energized and fired up. And our losses, like Cal, our defense wasn't.

For me, I played pretty much every D point last weekend, save one here and there because we wanted some height on the field for a zone. It was exhausting, but I thought I was playing well. But then I started looking back on the tournament and I realized that I had like one layout D. That got to me because, and Henry Thorne has told me since I was in high school, I thought I was more of a playmaker on D. But I didn't do any of that last weekend. I was no Eddie, who had just some unreal layout Ds, or Colin, who had some great skies.

But I started thinking some more and I realized that, despite playing nearly every D point, I didn't have any showtime Ds because that's not my style anymore. I don't know when it happened, but I can remember starting to change my approach on D during Wilmington 8s. I started guarding more handlers. I started learning more of how a handler works, the thrown and run, and began working on stopping that. This tournament was the first one that really felt like my workouts and strength and conditioning paid off (I'm working out about 5 days a week, including practice). I think that helped me on D, guarding handlers and going step for step with them. I also really worked on my marking and felt like I was very prepared at knowing when to kill a dump throw or force a turnover.

I got beat up line only once or twice, including for a goal against Colorado in semifinals that really pissed me off, but I played fairly strong and consistent throughout the tournament. I might not make the highlight reel, but if I can shut down my handler, cause a turnover or a bad huck, I'll take that any day.

Centex in 7.

The Stanford Invite: Recaps

2010-03-09T12:09:00.005-05:00

What a weekend. Lot of stuff to talk about, so I'm glad it's spring break so I can try to do that. Overall, I felt I played really well. I played just about every D-line point with a couple O-line points scattered across the two days. Needless to say, I was pretty sore yesterday and just getting back into things. I'll talk more about my play and other team thoughts later, but for now: the results.

Pitt took home 2nd place with a 5-2 overall record. It was a great weekend, especially considering our initial 8th seed and our poor performance at Queen City Tune Up. It was good, it was fun, it was awesome to upset some teams. I didn't play on A last year, but I was at Nationals watching them. In what was dubbed Revenge Tour 2010, we beat the three teams that beat us at Nationals last year. That was sweet.

These are fairly short recaps, as I realized I don't really remember score-by-score or play-by-play from these games. I played too many points and they all just jumbled together at some point.

Saturday

Texas (Pitt wins 13-6): Easy win as Texas never really gave us a problem. We started out on D and jumped to a lead with a break. I poached a lane early and snagged a toss. A few plays later and we were up. The D-line kept the intensity rolling all game and our O-line fed off that anytime we didn't get a break. We took a comfortable lead at half and kept doing more of the same in the second half. The game was highlighted by an nasty catch from Al. After getting a turn on D, we were working it up the field when a throw to Al was very tight between him and his defender in front of him about 10 yards from the endzone. Texas had positioning and should've gotten the D. Both guys laid out and everybody thought Texas got the D - I thought so, too, after watching the Texas sideline erupt after the catch. Needless to say, Al somehow gets his hand in front of the Texas guy, gets up quickly and throws a goal before anybody realizes what just happened. Pitt storms the field.

California (Pitt loses 13-9): As is the case with us sometimes, we win big against a team only to come out flat the next game. Case in point: Pitt vs. Cal. We kept it close at times, but we were never able to adjust to get the breaks when we needed them. Our D-line lost energy and our O-line couldn't fix anything. Cal runs away with it at the end and we fall to 1-1. Losing our second game wasn't good and it meant we'd pretty much have to win out to make the Championship Bracket (there were no pre-quarters/play-ins or quarterfinals at the Invite, just a semis and championship game).

Carleton (Pitt wins 13-7): What a great game to play in. We come out fired early in the game on D and get multiple breaks to take a huge lead at half, 7-3. Even then, it felt like we were just dominating - and we were. CUT never got close and our D-line shut them down significantly. This was the first time that I realized all of the hard work (not just me, but the team) was paying off. We were really well conditioned and just running around the CUT players on offense and staying with them step for step on defense. It was complete shutdown, dominating performance. After beating CUT, the No. 1 seed, it looked like the race for the top two spots in Pool A were wide open. Having never played CUT before, but watching the Pitt guys at Nationals last year, I hated them. After playing them, even though it wasn't a chippy game, I can see why Pitt doesn't like CUT: they're cocky and don't show respect (not that don't show sportsmanship).

Wisconsin (Pitt wins 13-10): After beating CUT, the team is fired up for another Nationals rematch - this time against Wisco. Word comes in from Josh that the Wisco and CUT coaches were talking and the CUT guys say they lost the game because they beat themselves and that we didn't really outmatch or outplay them. The Wisco guys agree and don't think their game against us will be a tough one. Throughout the game, they continuously talk down to us, even when they were getting beat pretty handily. I guess some times just have a hard time adjusting to a different Pitt team. As for the game, it was back-and-forth early before we got a couple breaks and took half on an absolutely unreal goal catch from Ty. Beat to the disc by the Wisco guy, Ty makes up ground with good closing speed and literally robs the guy from the disc right in front of his face - snags the disc with a pseudo-layout/sky with his hand reaching over in front of the Wisco guy. I think we took half 8-5 or 8-6 with the goal. We trade points out of half and get a break. Up 12-8, we had a chance to close the game out on D. But we get beat and the O-line gets broken. A two point game late wasn't what we wanted but our O-line puts in the final goal and we win. It was another great win and it meant we control our own destiny when it comes to the Championship Bracket with one more pool play game Sunday morning.

Sunday

UC-Santa Barbara (Pitt wins 13-8): Feeling good after our 3-1 Saturday performance, we're energized for the UCSB game. Unfortunately, they were also ready for this game and both teams traded points early in the game. Eventually the D-line makes adjustments to bracket the cutters (UCSB relied on their huck) and force towards their side stack. This makes an instant impact as we rattle off a few breaks and take a halftime lead. We kept with our first half adjustments in the second half and the Black Tide were never really in contention. We beat them and finish first in our pool, after being seeded 4th in it and 8th overall, and get ready for semifinals.

SEMIFINALS: Colorado (Pitt wins 15-13): Haven't been this excited for a game since 8s finals back in November. All the hard work we've put in so far this season was starting to pay off, like I said about the CUT game. For being such an important game, both teams were very aggressive with the disc early in the game. It led to some turnovers, but neither team got a break until Pitt got the deciding one to grab a 7-6 lead before half. You know what's weird? For as important of a break as it was, I can't remember what happened. I want to say it was a deep huck after a turnover, but the D-line could've very well just worked the disc up and scored from 5 yards out. Anyways, we were up 8-7 at the break. More of the same in the second half as both teams traded points. Colorado got their break back to make it 10-10 or 11, but the D-line responded back with a break of their own. Up 14-12, the D-line couldn't close the game (something we talked about after the game) but our O-line was there. We kept on rolling on our way into finals.

FINALS: Oregon (Pitt loses 15-9): If I was excited for the semifinals matchup, I don't know how to describe this game. Finals at Stanford Invite. Pitt vs. Oregon. Two teams nobody expected to be there, yet here we were. Oregon, which beat CUT in the other semifinals matchup after being down by 4 or 5 in the game, is a great team and the way they play, is one reason why I think they're now the team to beat. As for the game, it was similar to the semifinals game against Colorado with both teams hucking early and often. Both D-lines got multiple turnovers, but neither got the break. That is until Oregon a couple late in the first half and we were down 8-6 at the break. For some reason, whatever it was, we didn't have it in us for a second half comeback. We traded points right at the beginning, but then Oregon rattled off like 4 straight breaks and that made it 100x harder for our D-line to comeback. Put that on top of playing our sixth game of the weekend and we were strapped to find energy. It never came and neither did our comeback.

It was a tough way to end a weekend, but a lot of good game from it. We finished 2nd at the Stanford Invite. That's insane. We were really well conditioned, but fell apart in the second half of the final game of the weekend - there's still work to do. This is from RSD:

Ego really stepped up their defense in the second half and pretty much ran away with it, reeling off four or five straight breaks to take a lead they wouldn't give up. I suspect Pitt ran out of gas in the second half, even though Oregon had a tougher semifinal game.

All but 4 guys stayed in California this week for spring break, which is where they are now. After this week, it'll be back to the grind as we gear up for Centex in less than 2 weeks.

Not that I'm looking past Stanford...

2010-02-23T20:02:00.003-05:00

...but this is odd: http://scores.upa.org/scores/#college-open/tournament/6691

No Pittsburgh anywhere.

CC says it'll get taken care of, though. And who doesn't believe him?

Queen City Tune Up 2010

2010-02-18T14:31:00.003-05:00

So that happened. Tough weekend. Still trying to piece together how we could've finished 9th. 9th. Let that sink in. We were seeded 1st. We finished 9th. Jeeze.

Eddie put together a few thoughts on how we struggled:

1.) We are younger than I expected.
2.) Our roster losses have been more impactful than I expected.
3.) Our defense is soft.
4.) Our mental game is soft.
5.) Our offense is soft.

I'd agree with this, it's just unfortunate that we didn't realize this until this weekend. Even then, not until the Delaware game on Sunday.

And I think all of this comes down one central reason for our problems this weekend.

The last thing to happen to us as a team was a little thing called Wilmington 8s. It was our premier tournament of the fall season and we won it. We beat everybody there. We went 8-0. We beat Florida. We beat Cornell - twice. Whether we said so aloud or not, we thought we were the best. We were the team to beat.

QCTU? Where's the competition? We've got that.

And you know what? We were probably right about that. We were among the top teams. We didn't say anything on RSD, but that didn't stop people and other teams hyping us up. We might not have said anything, but we read it. We knew it was out there. We saw the Coaches and Captains 25 poll and saw the first place votes. We saw us in the top 5, the top 3.

We saw people hate on us because we were good, not because of how we play. Jealousy hit other teams and overconfidence hit the Pitt team.

In all of that, we traveled to North Carolina expecting to win it all. And not that a team should never expect to win it because you want that winning mentality. We never really took a team seriously. We were excited, we were pumped and we were ready to roll over teams. But we never thought any of them would give us a challenge.

And whenever a team did that...we didn't know what to do. We weren't mentally prepared as Eddie put it. We weren't mentally tough as Josh has said.

Look at the Michigan State game. We didn't know what was happening. We tried to make a big play every time to get us back into the game, instead of working hard, grinding and scoring the Pitt way.

It sucks that we are where we are right now, but we put ourselves in this position. We became a team over the weekend, even in losing, and we'll work as a team. We'll put this behind us and look to the future.

Eyes on the prize, one tournament at a time. Getting ready for Stanford.

Remembering why we're here

2010-01-27T22:12:00.003-05:00

Last night, after a pretty intense practice that saw quite a few guys fail to finish the last sets of our 300-yard suicides (to the 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 and back each time) for one reason or another (I'm not getting into that), Josh brought the team together and told us one thing:

Don't forget why we're doing what we're doing.

It's important that we don't get so caught up in working hard, getting stuck in a routine, that we forgot what we decided our team goal was a few months back. It doesn't even need to be said because anybody who's anybody reading this knows what we want this season.

What happened last night set off quite a few talks from players on the team (there's a BBoard post based off what Josh said and Eddie talked a little about it as well).

Josh wants us to be the best conditioned team this year at nationals, that's a goal that's been said time over time with the A-team. And while I'm sure they've tried their hardest at accomplishing that goal, this team is different.

Josh knows it. Geoff knows it. We all know it.

Which is why we also need to be the most mentally tough team. We can't afford to take our mind off what we want because we need to be focused to get there. Whether it's practice, track workouts, scrimmages or tournaments, we all need to be mentally tough enough to handle any situation that we're given.

This is turning into a rambling, but I just wanted to say what I thought and get this out there because it's true. Gotta stay focused.

And part of that mental toughness will come with working hard at and away from practice, as evidence by Geoff's frustration and short talk with the guys who were on the sidelines of the sprints. We're working our asses off to get well-conditioned, which will pay even bigger dividends whenever we remember that. That's part of being mentally tough.

Gearing up for the spring season

2010-01-24T22:09:00.004-05:00

Three weeks from now I want to be in a van — maybe even myself driving it — back from North Carolina with a tournament win. It would this team's second of the season and second in a row after winning Wilmington 8s back in November.

That tournament? Queen City.

And there's absolutely no reason why this won't happen. The teams, pools or schedule haven't been announced but that doesn't matter. It's just Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, etc. I think this is the mentality for the team right now. The last tournament we played, we won - and we beat some great teams to do it.

We haven't slowed down since then, either. A lot of guys, especially the younger and newer players have been putting in some ridiculous hours at the track and gym working on getting stronger for the season. It's showed, too, because a lot of these guys are starting to breakout as good players on this team.

Eddie has a good post on his blog about a few of the players. And I agree with what he's said. It's great to watch guys just come to their own on this team. Everybody is really starting to figure out there role. All of this and we've only had a few practices that've allowed us to use a full field for scrimmages.

For me, the last few weeks have been all about pushing others to work hard. I'm doing that through pushing myself to work harder. Two guys on the team came up to me after winter break and said the only thing that got them to go on runs or head to the gym was seeing what I posted on the "Hard Work" thread on our BBoard. I know that there are more people working out than are posting on that thread - and they're not posting for different reasons - but I think a post on that thread does a lot more good than harm, especially if your workouts are detailed enough that others can work off it.

Over the last few weeks, too, I've really started to find a great workout group. Ari, Eddie and I are lucky enough to be within relatively the same weight lifting group and we all have the same free time for about 3 days a week. That's a huge plus because Eddie is probably the hardest working guy on this team. And Ari's helping me and himself get right up there with him.

Eddie's great when it comes to lifting. Ari's come up with some great plyometric workouts and both Ari and I have been pacing track workouts. It's a good situation we've got going on right now - for all three of us - and I can't wait to get on the field and show it.

After we come back from QCTU with our first tournament win of the spring season, we'll head to Stanford for what's becoming known as a big revenge tournament. That's all I've got to say about that for now. I'll let Pitt's hard work and on-field performance do the talking.

I hate holiday hours

2010-01-18T14:47:00.001-05:00

Trees gym closed at 3 p.m. today. It was the only one open on campus today. I had a work meeting that went past 2 p.m. Because of that, I won't get to lift today. Not cool. Not cool at all.

The Spring Season and Drinking

2010-01-09T16:06:00.003-05:00

I've seen guys puke at Saturday and Sunday morning practices because they drank the night before.

I've seen guys look like they're dying at Saturday and Sunday morning practices because they drank the night before

And I've seen a fair share of out of shape people - not necessarily on our team - because they do a lot of drinking.

Since my personal goal for this season is to be in the best shape I can be, I've decided to significantly reduce my drinking. It's actually been on a decline over the past few months. I ended the fall semester with a bang, but the spring semester is going to be even more controlled. I think a lot of it will have to do because of weekend practices, but a lot will also have to do with my own self-control to stay in shape and just not really feel even slightly hungover the next morning.

Now, that's not to say I won't go out and have a drink or two at a party or at the bar, but late night and excessive drinking are really going to be limited.

I've saved three days for longer nights of heavier drinking:
1. The beer pong tournament
2. St. Patty's day
3. My birthday

Working Hard

2010-01-04T15:03:00.005-05:00

A month later and I see that Eddie stumbled upon my blog. The good news: somebody's reading. The bad news: I'm updating very infrequently and didn't even see the comment until just recently.

So, in an effort to keep me more motivated for the upcoming spring season, I'm going to also get motivated to post more and keep people updated.

My personal goal for this season is to be the best conditioned person on the field. I want to motivate my teammates and outwork my opponents. I want to literally leave Wisconson in a few months knowing that there wasn't anything else I could've done better because I was in the best possible shape. Yes, I will work on my throws, but I've always been just a mid-range thrower. And, yes, I will work on my game and field sense.

But when everything comes together at Nationals, I want to be the best conditioned person on the field. That's my personal goal.

This past month wasn't all that bad in terms of working out. Both the week leading up to and including Finals Week wasn't nearly as busy as others, so I was able to get in at least 3 solid workouts per week. And I even have a gym membership back home, so I was able to workout up until the day after Christmas. But now I'm back in Pittsburgh and today was the first day that a gym opened on campus (Trees for now as the rest will open on Wednesday, I believe).

As senior in my last semester of school, it looks like I will have a very nice schedule for upcoming season: 2 classes on Tuesday and Thursday, 1.5 (the half is a one-hour per week, 3-credit internship class where I just meet and discuss) and an online/Saturday class. With practices on Tuesday and Thursday (and the weekend eventually) that leaves Mondays and Fridays open and enough time to workout Wednesday.

That's good. I'd like to see my day-by-day workout go something like this:

Monday: 1-2 mile run warmup, stretching, hard lower body workout, core/abs
Tuesday: 1 mile run warmup, stretching, shorter shoulder and back workout, core/abs, practice
Wednesday: Track workout
Thursday: 1 mile run warmup, stretching, shorter arms and chest workout, core/abs, practice
Friday: 1-2 mile run warmup, stretching, hard plyo workout, core/abs
Weekend: 2-3 mile runs and stretching, practice (if we have it), rest and recovery

I like the idea of having lower body and leg workouts on Monday and Friday because if we have a tournament, I won't be working out on either of those days, but I figure I'll be getting a leg workout anyways as I play in the tournament.

Wilmington 8s Recap: Day 2

2009-11-24T13:03:00.003-05:00

I know I'm behind on this, but about a week ago I posted recaps from the first day at Wilmington 8s.

Today, you get the second day's action. Not that I didn't play well on the first day, but the second day was one of my best appearances at a tournament. I threw a few scores, including the championship winning one, and played my best defense to date. It's something that felt good and has me motivated to get even better.

Day two started out with a few people, including my room, oversleeping our 7:30 a.m. leave time to the fields so that meant bad news from the coaches whenever we showed up, late, to the fields.

Drej pretty much has the whole weekend summed up at his site, so here's what he had to say about the second day, including the finals matchup against Cornell:

Maryland 15-7
After running fourteen sprints for being fourteen minutes late, we were both pissed and tired. The culmination left Maryland scoring the most points on our team ever. They scored a remarkable seven points, i think half was something like 8-5 and then they scored 2 points when we scored 7. Eh, first game. We'll do better next time.

NC State 15-9
The game was once again nervy in the first half, but our dominance in the second. We played hand in hand with them for the first half and down a break at sevens we needed to get control of the game. The game in the first half was a story of D line missed opportunities as we got the disc quickly, but lost them quicker. At sevens to take half the D line finally punched it in for a huge momentum grab and a confidence booster. The game turned on its heels after and we managed to break them five more times, or more, for the decisive 15-9 win.

UNC 15-8
The UNC games had been notoriously known for their chippiness and their intense nature. Yet this was a brand new team, they lost most of their cutters and were left with a Saul brother and a large cutter doing most of their work. They couldn't stay in the game with our depth and team as we cruised to a pretty easy win.

FINALS
Cornell
With the Octogon now in sight Pittsburgh wanted the win. And the game started as usual with O line's holding. Cornell got a break at three, but we held serve and broke back at 6-5. We continued exerting pressure as we scored another break for 7 - 5. The halftime score 8-6. The game was like the other one before with Cornell playing as anticipated and our O line holding strong and our D line punishing mistakes. The second half started on a positive as we broke two more times and pushed our lead to a resounding 10-7. At this point, the confidence on the team sideline was high and in the reaches of hubris. And boy did we pay. Huck after huck were missed and small, sloppy mistakes punished as Cornell beat us down with our own medicine. Five breaks Cornell had turned the game and our loss looked inevitable. Yet this is where our new spirit shines. Down 12-10, the O line punched in their goal after Alex Thorne had a gnarly lay out D to save a break. The D line took the field with a mentality of must break; they did as the score moved to twelves, and thirteen twelve with another huge break. With Cornell scoring on O and our O scoring as well it was now 14-13. Mega D line, the ensuing point had multiple Ds and multiple turns, but the one that mattered came down to Jay Huerbin getting in between two confused Cornell players and getting a huge D. The D line turned that D into a break and a tournament win as Pittsburgh went undefeated on the weekend.

What more can you say about Pitt Ultimate? To win a tournament with essentially the best competition in the East? It was a great feeling and nice to send Cornell back to New York after going 0-2 against us.

Wilmington 8s recap: Day 1

2009-11-18T11:25:00.004-05:00

The first van, the one I was in, left around noon on Friday and strolled into our Super 8 around 10:30 or so later that day. And thanks to Ari's mustache, we didn't end up with any tickets on the way down there. Almost everybody was asleep within a half hour.

First games for the UOA Wilmington 8s Tournament started at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. That means we leave hotel by 7:15 and get to the fields one hour before game time. Saturday was by far the toughest day out of any of the teams schedule-wise, as we played some great competition all four games.

Pitt vs. Tennessee (W 15-10)
This was a good wake up call for us, as Tennessee went on to beat Florida in the third place game. I don't remember too much from this game, but I'm pretty sure we were in control of the game the whole time. It was a hard game, but all of them that weekend were, but I think we all felt confident during this game and came away with a nice victory and a 1-0 start to the weekend.

Pitt vs. Florida (W 17-15)
I don't even know where to begin with this game. Although the 5th seed at this tournament, they played anything like it. Remember, this is a team that only 2 years ago was a few points away from a UPA College Championship (they lost to Wisconsin 15-9 in finals). Florida is tall. Like everybody is tall. And they're all pretty athletic. And all have good throws and play a physical game, especially on defense.

But so does Pitt. We weren't as tall as Florida, but we made up for it our athleticism. Our team has a lot raw athleticism this year and a lot of players have stepped up and become very skillful with the disc. This all makes for a great team.

That said, Florida jumped out to a nice little lead in the game. I don't remember the exact scores, but I know they took half and probably had a two or three point lead at various times throughout the game. I think they were up something like 12-10 or maybe 13-11 (I know, I should have posted right after the tournament) when our defense turned it up. Guys were bidding and our athleticism just took over the game. We were in better shape and were able to shut down Florida - point after point. The game is eventually tied at 14s and we head to overtime. At 15s, the game was capped to 17. Our offense gets us a point to take at 16-15 lead. Our d-line, which improved so much during this game and over the course of the weekend, got the disc back and put it in for the score.

Pitt wins, 17-15. What a great feeling, but it was only team number 2 on our way to a championship.

Pitt vs. Cornell (W 15-13)
Florida is a great team and it made for a great game and even better win. Cornell is a very strong team as well and it showed in our (first) matchup against them in this tournament. Just to look back, in MetroEast Regionals last year, Cornel defeated Pitt pretty handily. But in quarterfinals of the 2009 UPA College Championships, Pitt came back and upset Cornell, 15-13. Needless to say, this is one hell of a rivalry and anything goes when these two teams play each other.

In this game, I don't think either team had more than a 2 point lead at any point and breaks were few and far between. I wish I could remember, but I think Pitt took half 8-7 off a break and was getting the disc out of half. I think we took a 9-7 lead and then points were traded until Pitt came out with a 15-13 win. I don't remember how each point happened and what the leads were, but I do remember it being a great game and celebrating pretty well after we beat them. There's nothing like watching Cornell lose, while we improve to 3-0 on the day.

Pitt vs. Virginia (W 15-11)
This should have been a much close game considering Virginia won the Atlantic Coast Regionals last season, but they had lost an earlier game to North Carolina and looked somewhat depleted on the sidelines. Because of this, Pitt, like our game against Tennessee, controlled the game from the beginning. Our theme throughout the day, and what looks like is becoming our theme for the season, is to finish teams. Whenever we got a nice lead against Virginia, the mindset is to finish them off. Don't let them come back and give them hope. Don't let them score easy points on us. Ramp up the defense, bring the intensity and take them out. That's what happened in this game and we finished day number one with a great 4-0 record.

After the Virginia win, we headed out to Salt Works, where we ate some great food and had a good time, taking a breather from day two's games. After getting back to the hotel after eating, showers and a quick candy run, everybody was pretty much passed out by 9:30 or 10:00.

Day 2 recaps will come soon.

Champions

2009-11-10T17:36:00.002-05:00

Pitt Ultimate won Wilmington 8s this past weekend.

It was a great feeling.

Better recap to come later this week.

Two weeks till Wilmington, if you're healthy

2009-10-26T09:12:00.003-04:00

I made the A-team. That's good news.

That said, there are about 25 guys on the roster. Two of the guys aren't here this semester. But for some reason, we still only have 14 able guys to practice and scrimmage. It's been like this for almost three weeks now and I'm sure it's starting to irritate some players.

We're two weeks from one of the best tournaments of the fall, Wilmington 8s, and we have 8 or 9 guys standing around on the sidelines while the rest of us practice and improve our game. The problem I have with this isn't injuries. If you are seriously injured, then you go see an orthopedic doctor, get a diagnosis and heal it. That's how injuries work. And there are guys on the team that are in that situation and doing everything they can to get back out on the field.

The problem is with guys who self-diagnose or just go to Student Health and get some half-assed response and don't do anything from there.

The captains and coaches have brought up this point multiple times, especially recently, and it's a shame that it is happening. There is a difference between playing through pain and playing with an injury. In the latter, you get it checked out and do rehab and whatnot. Play through pain? Come on. The best players do that all of the time. I'm sore every once in a while and am always bruising myself or straining a muscle during practices and games. It happens. You get over it and play through it.

I'm not calling anybody out - because for all I know nobody is actually being lazy about their problem - but there is definitely a small divide happening on the team right now and some people would like to have at least one sub during our scrimmages.

I'm sure it will get better though. After all, if you don't practice, you don't play. Simple as that. If you have a serious injury, it must be a miracle for you to get healthy for a tournament if you couldn't practice the week before. You don't get better in two days.

Fall is here

2009-10-14T00:03:00.002-04:00

So we're more than a month into the fall season and my senior year and it's great. It's so much fun playing with some of the guys who I started out playing with my freshman year. I'm glad to be on the A-team (for now) and I feel that I'm definitely playing my best Ultimate right now.

Practices have been tough and our scrimmages have been even harder. There's a lot of emotions riding in these practices because people know that despite having 30 or so good players on the team, some will get cut.

Up next for us is the tournament at OSU this weekend. I had hoped to be playing there, and was really looking forward to it, but I might not be able to due to unexpected family issue. I really won't know if I can make it to the tournament until almost the day of. That's how things work out sometimes, though. It'll be OK.

We still had a split-squad scrimmage on Sunday with our teams going to OSU. The game got really heated after the other team took a 5-1 and 6-2 advantage. But we bounced back and played some really good defense. We were still down at half, 8-7, and traded points until we began to break away when we needed to. We ended up winning 17-15 or 17-16. I can't remember the score, but it was still a great comeback for our team and a devastating loss for the others. That's how competitive Pitt Ultimate has been so far this summer. This is going to be a great year.

But if I can't make the OSU tournament, I'm 100&% ready to play in the Wilmington 8, which is from November 7-8. Now that will be a great tournament to play in with a lot of good competition. Take a look at the list of teams and the structure. This is going to be quite the tournament and I'll be pumped to be playing in it.

Looks like that's all for now. I couldn't make practice today because of this pretty bad cold that I'm going through, but I hope to be back on the field on Thursday.

Swaggtionals

2009-10-01T14:07:00.001-04:00

I almost forgot...

Swaggtionals from Swagger U on Vimeo.

Mid-Atlantic Regionals

2009-09-30T14:25:00.004-04:00

Looks like the seeds and schedule are posted on the UPA score reporter.

First up for Swagger U? The No. 6 seeded team, LOS. It will be a tough game, but so was Pike - and The U took them down. That's basically the only opponent that we're guarenteed to play as the rest of the bracket is dependent on how other teams finish. I'm not even going to look at who else we could play whether or not we win.

Not sure of how many guys Swagger is taking this year but that's not important. Winning is. And we'll do that.

Step 1

2009-09-28T23:21:00.002-04:00

First A/B splits took place.

31 guys will be gunning for a spot on the A-team this season. I'd estimate that around 10 get cut between now and the end of this term, but I could be wrong.

There are 14 returning A-team players, 3 B-team players (Bob, DZ and myself) and 14 "rookies" - I put that in quotes because a lot of them have played before and are good players. I'm unsure of how many true rookies there are, but you know the team is looking to take at least one of them this year.

That's pretty much it on the Pitt Ultimate scene right now. Tryout practices will last the next couple months with cuts here and there - typically after tournaments - and so we'll go from there.

I've worked hard this summer and into this fall, so that's all I can say about that. Now I just have to prove it on the field.

Club Update

2009-08-12T19:23:00.003-04:00

I got word about a week ago that I wasn't going to be put on the final Forge roster. And while it sucks that I didn't make the cut, it isn't unexpected. I missed three tournaments this summer. It's a shame that the three weekends I would have conflicts would be the three weekends that Forge had tournaments. That's how it goes, though, and I'll be alright.

I'm still invited to come practice with them, which is always a good thing. It will help me to keep on practicing for this fall when I make my push for the A-team.

Speaking of this upcoming fall, I've been working really hard this summer to get myself into the best shape possible. I go to the gym as often as possible (I try for at least 5 times per week) and have been throwing and learning a lot more strategy. I'm in the process of completing Air Alert III. I'm currently on week 11, so only a few more weeks to go. It'll be perfect timing for the fall season.

Because I'm not on the Forge roster now, I'm left with two options for club ultimate this year. My first option is to keep practicing with Forge and see if they take me on their team for the club series. The second option is to keep practicing with Forge and play with SwaggerU for the club series. Either way, it looks like I'll be playing with Forge whenever I can during the rest of the summer.

Looks like that's all for now on the personal level. I got back from Minnesota on Monday night after coaching Pittsburgh Impulse to a 3rd place finish at the Youth Club Championships. I know I said I'd make some posts about me coaching, but that never happened this summer. Maybe I'll get around to getting a post up recapping my summer as a coach.

That's all for now.

Gotta keep on working hard.

Can you hear that? Pittsburgh's calling.

2009-07-22T00:55:00.003-04:00

So, here's the Forge update: I still don't know.

Basically, the captains (Ben and Rob) have made their selection of guys for the team. Right now, the roster consists of 20 guys. Because I couldn't make the two previous tryout tournaments, I was given an extended tryout. Ben and Rob never said they'd take me, but they never said they wouldn't. Basically, my performance on the field and off the field workouts are going to decide whether they take 21 guys with them or leave it at 20.

Yeah, so, it's mid-July and I'm still not sure if I've made the Pittsburgh's club team yet. That doesn't bother me, though, because it only makes me want to work harder. I want Forge to want me on their team because they know I can bring something to them. It's how I'm approaching the situation and the team itself.

Because of this, my extended tryout was essentially this past weekend at Forge practice. Despite most of the guys being slightly hungover because of a party the night before, I felt that I had my best Forge practice/tryout to date. It was the first time that I felt confident a Forge practice. Playing against the best players in Pittsburgh didn't seem to phase me and I took chance when I felt the time was right and I gave it my all on defense.

Guess what. It paid off.

I caused a few turnovers on defense and score a couple goals. I also had a nice full field huck for a score during one of the scrimmages. It was a good feeling and now it leaves me hopeful for what my next step might be in terms of club Ultimate.

As always, I'll update as soon as I know more about my stay with Forge.

P.S. I know I said I'd post an update about coaching and Impulse, but I got busy with work. It's on my to-do list (thanks, Google) and hopefully there will be one in the next day or two.

Summer update

2009-07-05T13:46:00.003-04:00

Wow. One month, no post.

Basically, I've been really busy lately with coaching, volunteer service trips and family vacation. But just because I've been all over the place doesn't mean I haven't been working hard.

I just finished week five of Air Alert and, wow, it's turning into a good workout. I can really feel my legs getting strong - not only when I jump but whenever I run and sprint, too. This could be one of the best leg workout programs I've done. I'm a big fan of it - for now. I still have 10 more weeks to go. I start week six on Tuesday. Going to be tough.

Unfortunately because of my travels lately, I couldn't make the last two tournaments for Forge (No Surf and Boston Invite). The problem? They were additional tryout tournaments. And although I already talked about tryout tournament mentality, it was almost necessary for me to make these tournaments if I wanted a roster spot on Forge. It's a shame I couldn't make the tournaments, but the final decision still hasn't been made. Hopefully I know soon.

As for other playing options...I will either see if I can get in on playing Steel Reserve, which is Pittsburgh's second open team, or see if I can play with Swagger U, a primarily all-Pitt club team. Not sure what's going to happen, but I'll update this when I know.

I'll have a post on coaching soon and hopefully another one or two by the middle of this month. Things will start to slow back down for me after the 14th, so I can begin posting more again.

CUT Recap and the Tryout Tournament Metality

2009-06-08T16:12:00.004-04:00

Ended up going to CUT with only 27 guys because of last minute drops. Regardless, Forge struggled throughout the tournament to gain any momentum and win games. We ended up going 0-4 on Saturday and lost our only game - against Pike - on Sunday. Needless to say, it was rough.

Going to a tournament, and a tryout tournament at that, with so many players can be very difficult mentally on the players. I would say that most guys, myself included, didn't hurt a lot on Saturday night and that's because of the way the lines were run. And this is in no way a knock on the way the people calling lines, but imagine trying to gain momentum and stay in the tournament mental mode if you only play 1 or 2 points in a row and then sit for 5 or 6 points. It's very hard to stay focused and play with any rhythm or chemistry. But that happens at tryout tournaments.

Which leads me to how I approached and looked at CUT (but any tryout tournament, really). For me, trying out for a team and playing a tryout tournament is broken into two categories:
1. Preparation
2. Execution

That might sound cliche and broad, but it's pretty simple. Heading into this weekend, I prepared and told myself that I wasn't going to get a lot of playing time. In the end, I probably got about as much playing time as anybody else trying out and not "already on the team" but heading into the weekend, I didn't expect that. So without know how much I was going to play, I knew that this tournament was going to take desire, dedication and perfection. I knew that every point I was on (O, and especially on D) was going to need as much desire to get that disc. That meant sprinting when cutting and clearing, laying out when I needed to on D, making sure my throws 100% and to not go beyond my limits. That's how looked at this weekend. I mentally prepared myself for limited playing time, but knew that I needed to be perfect when on the field.

And as the tournament started out, I was right about limited playing time. I played three points in our first game against Ironside (13-6 loss), and despite not touching the disc once in the game (played all D points) I never let my guy get beat in. I didn't get any D's, but my guy was looked off on any incuts. It was solid play on my part, but I (and the rest of the team) wanted the win. As the day went on, I saw more and more playing time (upwards of 9, 10 or 11 points per game). Whether that is a result of my previous play or not, I don't know (but I can hope it is). As somebody trying out, it's important to keep track of your play so you know where you can improve and what your strengths are. In the end (and after a lot more playing time, especially in later rounds of the tournament) I threw away one disc, completed two hucks, turned in a layout D and improved my cutting and and fakes. Overall, I felt I played consistent. I didn't play spectacular or have layout catches for scores, but I didn't turn the disc over and I gave it my all every time I was on the field. I executed my plan to the best of my ability and had a good tournament.

What happens next with Forge, though, is up to the captains making the team. The next round of cuts will probably be over the course of the next week or so. I'll update when I know more.

Getting Ready for CUT

2009-06-03T16:25:00.003-04:00

My first tournament with a good club team. Gonna feel good playing this weekend.

Forge is take 33 (34?) guys to the Cazenovia Ultimate Tournament in New York.

I feel like I'm ready for it. I had some good tryouts and practice this past Sunday wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. Playing Ultimate while sick is not a fun thing to do. Really slows down reaction time, even if you try to fight it. I guess I know how Malkin felt last year in the Stanley Cup Finals when he had the flu for a month.

Anyways, my cutting, throws and defense have all gotten better since I started playing with these guys. It's amazing what playing against good players does to you. If you want to get better at Ultimate, you have to play against (with) better players. Simple as that.

After this tournament, players will be cut so the final roster is produced. A lot of guys playing in this tournament, so I have to make sure I make the most of the points I do get to play. I can't afford any errors this weekend. 100% throws. Layout D's. Patience.

I'll update Forge scores this weekend on Twitter, so follow me if you want.

TRUC Week 1 Recap

2009-06-02T10:37:00.005-04:00

Due to the crazy Pittsburgh weather in the spring, we had to move the South camp to Saturday morning (10 a.m.) and bump the games back to 12 p.m. It wasn't that bad, but it may have affected the way the South guys played in the games. Regardless, the South camp was pretty much identical to the North camp with a couple slight exceptions to the 30-30 warmup and 5-man drill.

We have roughly 60 guys from both camps, one of our highest numbers for anything Impulse related. It's good to see so many youths coming out to get better at Ultimate. This is going to do so much for Impulse, PHUL and Pittsburgh Ultimate. It's great.

As for the games this past weekend, North was pretty much in control. Not only are they the larger group, but they are the more skilled group. The difference between the two camps is pretty noticeable, too. Like I said, the North camp (North Hills, Hampton, Pine-Richland) are skilled. They play the game the way they want (and because they can). They're typically more athletic and sometimes see the camp as holding them back. On the other side, the South camp (Lebo, Allderdice, USC) are more strategic. They listen to what the coaches say and adapt much quicker than the North guys. They're here to improve their game because they may not be the most skilled players.

Of course, there are player exceptions in both camps, but that's how I see.

North won both games, 15-4 and 15-9. In the game I was coaching, the South guys were down 8-3 at half, but mounted a comeback after getting back to basics.

Afterward, the coaches had an early talk about potential guys we'd like to see on Impulse. A lot of guys who maybe don't think they have a shot are on the list. One reason: potential. As long as those guys want to keep getting better, they will. And hopefully they'll be on Impulse.

TRUC Camp Week 1

2009-05-27T23:26:00.002-04:00

Had my first serious coaching situation tonight. It was the first day of the first week of TRUC. Basically, TRUC is aimed at bringing the Impulse program to all of Pittsburgh high school students, who may not be able to play for or tryout for the team. It's also the warmup/tryouts for those high school players who do plan on trying out for the team. It's a 4-week program with two divisions (North on Wednesday and South on Thursday) who practice once during the week and play games against each other on the weekend.

Like I said, the overlying goal of TRUC is to bring the success of the Impulse team to all players in PHUL who want to improve their game. We currently have 60 guys signed up, and are still hoping for another 10 by this weekend. We set a goal of having at least 60 guys join the camp, so we've gotten that far.

Anyways, our first practice was tonight (the North location) and we had roughly 30 guys show up. The focus of this week is to throw to space, swing the disc, cutting aggressively and making a play on defense.

Now, that may seem simple and all, but for a high school player whose never played competitive Ultimate outside of his team in PHUL, learning these things is fundamental to become a better player.

The use of various WUFF Camp drills helped us this week and will continue to be a staple of this part. For throwing to space and swinging the disc, there is no better drill than Mike G's 3-man weave. Run effectively, a team is unstoppable. I wish I could describe the drill (or have a picture) but maybe you should just spend a week in Wilmington with Mike G himself. Basically, it's a quick handler motion (HAMO) drill with three lines that involves one handler getting a disc upline from the middle handler, he fakes a huck, pivots commits to his reset (the guy who just threw to him and went upline and has now come back from his cut and away from the handler with the disc). Whenver the second handler gets that reset pass, he immediately turns and throws into the space available for the third handler who was also running upline, but has now retreated and has made a cut away from the second handler, who has the disk. It's one of the best drills out there and if run correctly during a game, opens up so much space.

As a coach, the best way explain aggressive cutting is to continue to hammer it into the players minds. Whether that's pulling them aside or telling them publicly when they made a good cut, it's important to make sure the cutter is always sprinting from his initial cut to his clearing.

Slowing down when making an incut will be a D every time in competitive Ultimate. A rounded cut is easy to defend every time in competitive Ultimate. If a cutter is "dangerous" and is just half-assing his cuts, he'll be D'ed every time in competitive Ultimate. It's a simple case of wanting the disc more than your defender and doing that by being explosive out of your fakes.

I just found one of Jim Parinella's blog posts about cutting that I feel is something everybody should look over:

1. Cut sharp.
2. Cut hard.
3. Cut decisively
4. Think, but only before or after the cut.
5. Know when to just run.

He goes into more detail about each of these steps in his blog post, but doing these five things will make you a much better cutter. This is something that I've always tried to follow when cutting. And while being fast gives me an advantage, you can't run around like crazy out there. If you're going to be fast, you have to be smart.

Much of this week focuses on the basic fundamentals of stack offense, but defense wins games. Our mindset heading into this first week was to get the guys to play aggressive and intense on defense - essentially making a play. This week, it was all about working hard and trying to get that into the minds of the players. As the camp goes on, more defensive strategy will be taught.

South camp is tomorrow night. It'll be much of the same as tonight's, but if something else is noticeable, I'll post about it. North vs. South games on Saturday.

Forge Update

2009-05-22T12:18:00.002-04:00

Got word yesterday that I made the first round of cuts for Forge. Not sure of the exact roster, but my guess says it's somewhere around 28-30 guys still on the team and that the next round of cuts will put the roster to 20-22. Still a lot of work to be done, but it feels good have made such a good team.

Up next is C.U.T. in New York from June 6-7. Should be a great test of where I actually stand on this team. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good tryout. I felt good out there and felt like I was competing with the best. Hopefully my defensive presence is something that continues to shine on this team. That's definitely one my strengths.

Other than the Forge announcement, not much is happening. I start "coaching" TRUC next week. Already 40 guys signed up and hoping to get another 15 or so over the week. Can't wait for it.

On the injury front, the groin is still an issue, especially during Saturday of the second weekend of tryouts. I think the only way to combat this issue is to make sure I ice it the night before practices/tournaments. That seemed to work last time. Anybody have any other ideas? It sucks.

That's all for now. Heading to Columbus in a couple hours to watch Pitt at College Nationals. Should be a great time.

Not Ultimate, but WOO!

2009-05-09T22:58:00.003-04:00

So, this is one of the few times I'll post a non-Ultimate entry.

But, damn, I love Pittsburgh.

Go Pens!

But as for Ultimate, Pittsburgh Impulse 2009 and more Forge updates to come later this week. I've literally been running a hard mile everyday and doing a good abs workouts (8 minute abs), so I'm hoping my core is getting better. We'll know come Forge tryouts.

But for now...Go Pens!

Forge take two and working hard

2009-05-06T20:05:00.006-04:00

Day two of Forge tryouts took place last Sunday. It was a pretty good day, with an intrasquad scrimmage at noon and then a scrimmage against Pitt at 2.

During the Pitt scrimmage, I was talking with Wes about my ultimate career right now and said something pretty cool to me:

"If you play for Forge, you can be more than just a role-player on Pitt-A next year, you can be a player."

I think that's an important piece of advice, and I'm going to follow that (not just Forge, but working hard) this summer. I'm ready for the A-team. It's been 4 years coming.

Anyways, the night before, I iced off-and-on my groin injury and it apparently worked. I played to two intense scrimmages and walked away sore on Sunday, but no injury.

Right now, we're in the midst of a two-week break before another tryout weekend the 16th and 17th. I believe it will be run very similar to this past tryout.

In the meantime, I'm working on sprint workouts, going to the gym when I can and throwing as much as possible. It's the summer, I can do this.

Not much else to talk about personally on the Forge end.

Impulse 2009

2009-05-02T20:25:00.000-04:00

About a month ago I applied to become the coach of the 2009 Impulse team. I didn't get it.

A couple weeks later, I reapplied to become the assistant coach of the 2009 Impulse team. Got it.

I'm pumped.

I've always wanted to coach an Ultimate team and what better way to start than a championship-caliber (they lost on universe last year) youth team from Pittsburgh?

To make this a quick post, basically Nick and I talked an extra 15-20 minutes after my interview the other day about coaching and player development. And, despite having never coached before, Nick and I have a very similar philosophy and we agreed on everything that it takes to coaching a youth club team to a national championship.

National championship and Pittsburgh are all you need to know now.

"Tryouts" will be taking place soon. I'll be updating.

Forge tryouts started

2009-05-02T20:00:00.001-04:00

First day of Forge tryouts today. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Yeah, six hours with an hour break around 1. It was a long day, but I definitely knew that going into the day. Hell, I wouldn't be trying out if I didn't think I could make it.

And speaking of making Forge, there's a saying I've heard a couple times that I don't quite understand. It goes something like this:

"I don't think I'll make the team, but I'm just going to tryouts to get better."

It's not the last part of that sentence that frustrates me, it's the first. Regardless if you'll make the team, you should head into any tryout expecting to make the team. You should give it your all and show the captains/coaches that you deserve to be on the team. If you walk into a tryout and aren't 100% sure that you can make the team, then you won't be giving 100% when you're trying out. There's no way around that. If you don't think you can make a team, especially one as competitive as Forge, you will always have that in the back of your mind and won't be trying your hardest. I've seen it in a few players on different levels.

I've even done this before, back when I started out at Pitt as a freshman. And even as I continued to make cut after cut during the fall, I never thought I'd be make the A-team come spring. And sure enough, I wasn't giving 100% and didn't make the last cut.

Anyways, Forge tryouts were intense, but nobody said it would be easy. A lot of good drills that tested different aspects of the game with intrasquad scrimmages to three between every drill or so. I was definitely able to showcase a few of my skills (my speed in the beginning and my throws in the second half).

On the injury front, the groin problem showed back up. Very tough and painful to start accelerate. I was able to get some good step-outs on my throws, but I could definitely feel it.

Tomorrow: Intrasquad scrimmage at 12 p.m. and then scrimmage against Pitt-A at 2 p.m. We'll see how the groin feels and gauge how much I play on that.

Sectionals Postponed...

2009-04-05T01:16:00.001-04:00

There's nothing I hate more than preparing - both mentally and physically - for an event and then having it pushed back.

Whatever. 2 more weeks to get better.

The team is finally coming together and we're hitting our peak at just right time. This is the best B-team at Pitt in at least three years. From veteran experience to reliable rookies, guys are making plays and performing at such a high level right now.

There's no doubt it my mind that Pitt-B has a serious shot at making Regionals. The only setback? West Penn only has three bids. It just makes our games that much more important.

Spring has Sprung

2009-02-25T04:00:00.000-05:00

It's nice to be playing outside again. It frustrates me to no end to be stuck inside a stuffy place trying to practice Ultimate. Nonetheless, I've done a lot of work physically this year.

I started the year weighing in around 148 with the goal to finish the season close to 160, but with more muscle. I'm at 153 right now. We'll see if I get there.

Doing cardio, track workouts and lifting on a regular basis, I can already see myself improve on the field. I've also worked a lot on my throwing, which is something I felt I could always improve on. I now have a lot more confidence throwing, especially in the wind. I feel confident controlling the disc and working against a zone. It's nice to be feeling good playing offense.

I'm also pretty pumped about my defensive play. I can see that my hard work this offseason has paid off. I'm running a lot faster and beating guys to the disc.

Above all, though, it's just nice to have finally been able to balance my time between school, work and Ultimate. If you don't think it can be done, talk to me. I've figured it out.

I guess life is good now. I can breath easy heading into the Spring season.

Posts about the team and our past tournament to come.

Pittsburgh Strong.

CUFF 2008

2008-11-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

Club Sectionals 2007.

That was my last tournament.

Wow. Early September 2007.

I can't even explain how excited I am for this tournament. More for myself than anything. I've been dying to play Ultimate competitively and can't wait.

It's been over a year since my last tournament, but I can still look at how my game has changed. I've become a lot more aggressive and I'm a lot more patient. My throws, especially my hucks and deep game, have gotten better. I've really focused on my fakes and release. And for me, I think they've really improved.

I'm ready.

As for the rest of the team...we're looking good. I've narrowed down the starting 5 for the O line, but still haven't figured out the next two. Practice was rough today with 3 of our starting handlers sitting out, so I'm not sure what to do. We put some guys into positions they're not comfortable with, but that's part of the game. We need guys to step into big positions whenever our stars go down. Most of the struggles started with the handlers and not positioning themselves. That shouldn't be a problem come Saturday morning, however, with our starting handlers back.

We're bringing 17 guys with us. And it's essentially split down the middle between O and D lines, which is good. We still have a lot to learn, but this a huge step in becoming a good team. A lot of these guys are out to prove something this fall and spring.

And they know it.

That's great to see. And I'm so pumped to be a part of it.

P-I-T-T

Back in Black (and Blue)

2008-11-13T02:37:00.000-05:00

I had one of these back in my freshman year, but got rid of it after the season. I should have kept it, but whatever. I figured I should have one of these chronicle what's going on with Pittsburgh's B-team as we fight for a spot at Regionals in 2009.

It's my first time having any serious leadership on a team. I've never coached before and never did much captaining, but things are looking good so far. From what I can tell, some of the vets are already impressed with practice turnout compared to last year. We are routinely getting close to 20 guys, if not more, out every Tuesday and Thursday. And even when the weather takes a turn for the worse, they still show up.

That's dedication. That's what this team needs to go somewhere in the spring.

A lot of the reasoning behind the increased commitment has to be because how the team is now organized. We have to two solid captains in myself and Trevor, who are handling practices and taking control of O and D lines. Asher is the unsung hero by organizing the money, tournaments and the like. There is a core of 5 or 6 guys who are assuming secondary leadership roles by helping out the rookies and throwing in input during team huddles and outside of practice. It's a good flow we have going now. It's just another part of what's going to make this team good.

As for the rookies, what can I say? Every one of them has made every effort to come to practice and are making huge strides in their game. Those who were cut from the A-team are dominating and showing why they'll be back in the running next season. The rest of the rookies are progressing nicely. I can already pick out 4 or 5 guys who, if they continue to practice and get better, will put up a fight for the A-team next year.

A lot of the vets have improved and are going to be instrumental in how this team finishes. They've all gotten better and have that never-give-up attitude.

As whole, it's making my job tough to figure out who will be the starting seven come gametime. And believe me, that's a good problem. Assuming a few more people who were off this semester come back in the spring and another 1 or 2 get cut from the A-team, we're going to have a solid B-team with the possibility of having to cut people off from attending a tournament.

Anyways, 3 months into my junior year and captain of the B-team, I have to say that I'm pleased with where we are. Very pleased.