East Ultimate

So, I'll make this as brief as possible, 'cause I know that you all have more important things to do.

You guys rocked on Tuesday. Regardless of the score (really, it doesn't mean anything), y'all stepped up fantastically. The learning curve throughout the game was spectacular... and I'm so f-ing psyched for the November tourney. Also known as STATE!

Remember my advice: throw, throw, throw. It's fun, and feeling comfortable with the disc is step one to, well, domination.

I'll leave you with a little fire up quote:
“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most people succeed because they are determined to.”

- George E. Allen

As I am faced with another long winter of seemingly endless conditioning and other such unpleasant tasks, I am also faced with a question that I’d like you all to consider. That is: what makes East Ultimate great?

Rest assured; we are a great team. We have everything that a great team should have: desire, talent, athleticism, coaching, leadership... and love. That, in my mind is the thing that sets us apart. I was recently asked by someone, I don’t remember who, why we were all crying so hard after State last year. I tried to explain to her that it was more than just a coach leaving, but she couldn’t get it. So I will try to word it properly for you.

It mattered so much because East Ultimate runs, has always run, and hopefully will always run, on love. We love our teammates, we love the game, and as last season so dramatically demonstrated, we love our coaches. We play this game with every ounce of energy and focus that we have because we love the player standing next to us, and everything that he or she represents. This love is what gets us through the “dark night of the soul” every damn year. It gets us through long bus rides through stormy Nebraska nights. It keeps us focused on what’s really important through all the tough stuff. It keeps us running through bitter cold nights in the winter months. It gives you what you need to run all the way through the line on every single sprint and to never slack on a drill, even if no one’s looking. We play so hard because we have passion for the game and for our team, and that passion will never give up. And we will win this year because enough players are going into the season with the bitter taste of last year’s disappointment still on our lips. In a limited sense, this is about this winter. There are no excuses this year. We will be the best conditioned team on the field come May, and that starts right now. I know that Elise and Neal and Sasha and Tote and Ned and Chris and AD will work their asses off this winter and spring, because they have all felt the disappointment of ending the season with a loss.

This is our year East. Start taking it this winter. And if you ever need motivation, remember that East Ultimate plays (and trains) with love, and passion, and intensity, and heart. It all comes from inside. FTW, East.

http://springsultimate.org/media/
Hessler throwing with the little boys is somewhere in the middle...

Short and sweet. Bring some money for all of these things (campsite, gas, food)... I'm thinking about $10-20 per person.

Mary and Brenna will go grocery shopping for 2 dinners (Friday and Saturday) and breakfast stuff. Bring whatever other food you want.

Mary is covering the campground stuff, we'll let you know exact location soon.

Maggie Rounds will be organizing driving/carpooling sometime soon. Check forum and emails for info. If you can drive people, let us/her know how many and when. If you need a ride, let us/her know when. It looks like most people are planning on leaving Friday around noon.

Check the "tent groups for lungbuster!" thread on the Forum (in "team business") for info on what to bring. Things to share include: tents, camping stoves, fold up chairs, lanterns/flashlights, canopies, and tarps. Post there if you can bring this stuff.

Personal stuff:

cleats
clothes (It's supposed to be pretty mild weather- highs in the mid-70's, but at night it'll be in the high-40's... that's cold. Be ready for any kind of weather.)
sleeping bag/sleeping pad
pillow
snacks
water bottle
tooth brush/paste, toiletries, etc. (sunscreen!)
coat

People I know are going:
Elise (pd)
Brenna (pd)
Neal
Ben (pd)
Ned (pd)
AD (pd)
Jim (pd)
Chirs (pd)
Mary (pd)
Sasha (pd)
Tote
Kit (pd)
Hayley (partially pd)
Rhys (pd)
David (pd)
Zax (pd)
Nicole
Canyon
Duncan
Liz Weller
Nuch (pd)
Maggie Rounds

If you're not on this list and want to be, talk to me. If there's not a "pd" next to your name, get me $30 sometime between now and Friday. If there is someone on the list who will not get this email, either forward it to them or call them... make sure they know the plan.

Taken from the DeepDiscThoughts blog:

"After Nationals ends again without a title...

Well, you just sorta pull back and take stock. You let the season go, bit by bit. You have to. You can't carry that weight with you.

For someone who goes into every single game knowing he will win, the months after Nationals can be so very hard.

Cold, regardless of the weather.
Dark, regardless of the time of day.
Depressing, regardless of what goes right.

Some ultimate is played. (Half-hearted and coed, most likely.)
Some training is undertaken. (Low-intensity and weak, most likely.)
Some thought is dedicated to ultimate. (Asinine and half-baked, most likely.)

Shrinking from the Ultimate world and taking time to lick the most painful wounds yet (as each year hurts more than the one before). Writing and talking about the game no longer seem prudent or interesting. Just futile.

Then something happens. A moment that you can never remember, but you're sure it happened. Maybe a clip of you on Disc 4. Maybe a joke by a coworker about your stupid hobby. Maybe a midget skying you in some shit-ass pickup game. Maybe some college kid gets all excited about his team. Maybe you win some worthless (but fun) coed tournament. Maybe all of the above.

Inexplicably, the psyche slowly begins to rebuild itself. The inner strength gathers again. Egged on by teammates and friends, the energy builds. Training starts taking on a more competitive edge. Pickup starts to be depressing not because of the level of the other players, but because you know you need to be better. And now you want to work on it. Prove those fuckers wrong.

The Talk begins amongst team leaders and meetings are planned.

The new season starts to take shape. Never the same as the last, it always provides new challenges. New stories, new focuses and new growth (both mental and physical).

Excitement returns. *This* will definitely be The Year. It must be. I am good enough. I will WILL my team to victory. I will succeed.

THIS WILL BE THE YEAR."

As Derek said yesterday, this team has a flair for the dramatic. This team has always loved the glorious win, the come-from-behind victory. It's what we're all about.

It is with that in mind that East Ultimate will face its biggest challenge yet. From now until this time next year will be the hardest time in East Ultimate's history... the loss of our beloved coach, the person who was always there to remind us of our goal; when we were struggling through "the black night of the soul" he was there to guide us through it. Now we are just us. Yes, we will probably have a coach next year, and I'm sure that s/he will be great. But as of right now, East does not have a coach. Now is our time to show everyone what we are made of. I appeal to all of you, right now, to step up. Yes, the season ended yesterday, and we are all looking forward to a break from ultimate and competition, but while you are kicking back, ponder on this: each and every one of you (myself included) now hold the future of East Ultimate in your hands. Whether you are mad or sad or indifferent, this doesn't change the fact that we are a team. And now that we don't have our constant coach to remind us of what is really important, our cohesiveness and interdependence as a team really become important. With Gottlieb gone, the responsibility of convincing rookies that ultimate is a real, competitive sport falls on each and every one of us. When East starts practicing again (in the summer/fall), I ask all of you to lead by example. God forbid we let Derek's departure also mark the departure of competitiveness and intensity from our team. The responsiblity of carrying on the East tradition now falls squarly on the shoulders of all of our returners (freshmen, congratulations, you are no longer rookies). Don't let East fall into a prolonged "dark night of the soul".

Conditioning is not an issue over the summer; skills are. Throw and try to play some; pickup is widespread in Denver in the summer. And if you need a good reason to play over the summer and get better, just think about playing CA next season.

Show everyone what you're made of East. Rise to the challenge.

I've played in a lot of tournaments. I've won a few, placed in a few, and lost a lot. I've played basketball, softball, and, of course, ultimate. Personally, I define myself by the sports that I play and how I play them. That being said, let me add this: the feelings that I've been having, the thoughts that have been running through my mind as I attempt to study for finals and finish up (way) overdue homework, are brand new to me. I have never in my long career as an athlete experienced the emotions that I am going through right now. Yesterday, after a talk with Tote, I finally realized how to put them into words (however roughly).

I know that we will win states. It's not a feeling, and it's not a measured speculation based on seedings and possible outcomes of pool play games, it's a fact. I would imagine this is what it feels like to believe in God. I have no strong basis for it, as I haven't seen a lot of the competition play, and the teams I have seen are no doubt much improved since I last saw them play. But despite the lack of evidence, I know.

But that's not the real reason why I feel so damn good about this weekend. Background info: for pretty much this entire season, I have gone home after practices and games thinking that there was something more I could've done. I missed the block, I got broken, I threw a crappy turnover. All season I've felt decent, mediocre. But not now. Thinking about this weekend, and visualizing how I will play, I know that I won't make mistakes. I am so confident that I will be faster, stronger, and better than my opponent that I do not have a shadow of a doubt about what the outcome this weekend will be. Beyond that, (here's the important bit), I feel the exact same way about all of you. I'm not trying to fire you up, and I'm not appealing to you to give it your all, I'm stating a fact. I know that y'all will go into states ready, and that you will play your absolute best, because there is no Monday for East Ultimate. We live until Sunday afternoon, and that's it. I haven't even thought about next week at school.

We as a team have four days of perfection ahead of us. You don't need to believe that we can win states; I'm telling you. You just need to know. We're ready East. Now let's go win.

Today was arguably the best practice we have had so far this season. Actually, screw that, there's no argument. Nothing else comes close. We were focused, we worked hard, we pushed ourselves mentally and physically, and we improved. Way to go, East.

Unfortunately I'm not writing this to give us a pat on the back. I'm writing because I experienced today that shitty feeling that every other team in Colorado will experience 16 days from now. Our offense is just fucking demoralizing. The trick is to recognize how money our offense is, and use that to push our defense. Every time you feel like shit because the other team scored on a sloppy transition, use that feeling to be more vocal next time, more heads up. This is practice, and in practice that shitty feeling is a positive thing. I hate getting beat deep, especially when I'm right there and all I have to do is body my man up a little, or just layout. Especially when it's the last point of the game. But I guarantee you that next time I see the huck go up, I will remove my head from my ass and get the D. You have to use that hatred of getting beat (wherever it may come from), and turn that into power. (By the way, Spence, nice cut and grab.)

That said, fire up East. And for the next two weeks, think about what that means. Bring it at practice. Get that feeling in your gut, that urgent feeling that screams to you that if you don't push yourself, if you don't run your hardest, you might explode. That slightly nauseous, nervous energy that turns your body into a fucking live wire. The feeling that you can't believe it's been 24 hours since you've played ultimate and you are jonesin'. You need to get the D, because if you don't, you let yourself down. Well, dear reader, it's worse than that. You let your team down.

So fire it up, East. Fire up that gut feeling. And bring it to practice. You play how you practice, and if you practice balls (or ovaries) out all the time, you will play that way. (If you have any trouble getting fired up, I can burn you a CD.)

16 days, baby.

~Brenna

P.S. Throw in your off time. No turns. Ever.

May I be (one of) the first to say good job this weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of the boys' games (just a few points of the Regis game), but the girls absolutely killed it on Saturday. (Forgive me if some of this is a little off, I don't pay that great of attention when I'm playing.)

We came out very strong against CA, working hard for the D's (mostly in man, but working in some effective 1-3-3) and capitalizing on the turnovers. This was, for the most part, a less experienced team, with a few exceptions (one girl, Sarah, I think, was good), and we won 13-1.
Next we had Lakewood, who were a different team than we saw on Thursday, thanks to the presence of their standout Alex. Her hucks were an issue for us all game, but we managed to contain her and took half decisively. We cruised through their poachy zone-D until the last two points, when we started to get tired. Although we only had nine girls, and not a whole lot of experience, we ran a MONEY zone offense, specifically in the second to last point (if my memory serves me well). Handlers were chilly and kept the disc moving, tiring out their cup. Poppers and wings were making money cuts, putting themselves right into the gaps, and being in the right position to advance the disc after the break. Unfortunately, our fatigue was getting the better of us, and we'd work the disc all the way down the field, turn it over, and they would huck it right back. We finally came through, albeit exhausted, and scored the next point to take the game.

Next was Monfield. We had a short break before the game, and after the last bit of the Lakewood game, we were not ready for them. They came out fired up, and took the first few points. Nothing really seemed to be clicking for us in this game: our D was lax and our offense was simply not working. While some would attribute this to tiredness, I say that it was because we didn't do a cheer before the game. It was a bush league mistake, one that we'll never make again. This was very frustrating, but we made it through the game, and ended it with a sick Callahan by Nicole.

We took the momentum from the last point of the Monfield into the finals game against... Monfield. I am SO PROUD of us for not letting ourselves get discouraged and moving on from the loss. One thing I love about this team is that we have so much heart and desire, and it really shone through in the finals. We amped up the D, got the offense moving, and contained their big thrower and downfield cutter with our money 1-3-3. In what felt like a redemption matchup for the previous game, we came out on top 8-4.

All in all, East girls (aka east.org) played some hot ultimate, and everyone improved drastically. Allow me to elaborate: KJ's layout grab for a goal, Nicole's sick pulls and LAYOUT, Elise and Hayley's sweet handles, Mary's Hansen's in-cuts, Hig's popping (and intensity, damn), Leah's wing/deep-deep work in the 1-3-3, and A.D.'s cutting was money!! Basically, we're sick. Great job this weekend girls. See y'all tomorrow!
~Brenna
P.S. Can't wait till Madison!!

This is what ultimate is about. This is what being on a team is about. Therefore, this is what East Ultimate is about. Getting your teammates back is getting them the D when they throw the turn. It's running for them when they're late. It's being accountable to your teammates. It's feeling the need to play your best because you owe it to your teammates. You spend it for them because you know that they would spend it for you. It's not cheating on the mark because you know your teammates are holding the force. It's laying out into traffic because you know everyone else wants it as bad as you do.

It's not just for yourself and your own desire to win, it's for your
teammates.  It's because you love your team.  I know that it may be hard to believe right now, but sometime between now and States, we will come together and become that kind of team.  It just takes time, and hard work.  That's my bit.

Hector Valdivia, Bravo player and Fairview coach, posted an entry on his blog that pretty much sums up all of this. . .

Read more!