my first coed tourney

Not really true, since I have played in a lot of the summer series coed tourneys. But never with an actual coed team before. Anyway, this weekend we packed up the family and headed to Boseman for Bozofest.

Now this is a classic tourney. No pools up beforehand. Starting later than advertised. Teams bailing at the last minute. A friday, saturday, and sunday party. This was definite old school frisbee.

Anyway, we arrived to play with the Flycoons from Missoula. This was our first time playing with this team. We had met most of the team before the weekend, but never really played with them besides a little pickup 2 months ago. There had been no practices as of yet, since most of the team was caught up in the grueling spring league season (which is not going great, after a 2-1 start we are now 2-6, ugh...) It was my first tourney in 10 months. And much longer for T. Plus, we brought our 2 kids with us to the fields. And that would be the hardest part, trying to play and manage the kids at the same time. Personally, I was trying to limit myself as much as possible, but still stay somewhat warm.

We were the 2 seed in our pool behind edmonton who won last year. We had a ton of guys (~16 or so) and ~7 or 8 women, losing 1 of the ladies on Sunday. So a ton of men, probably not enough women. But I had no idea, since this was the first time in a while I had been at a strickly 4/3 coed tourney.

The first game of the day was easy, I think against a team from Moscow, ID. We played a lot of zone and we won 13-1. There was not much talk about strategy before the game. And on my first d point, we just called a zone and no offense. They turn it near the endzone. I was the deep and I get called to pick up the disc. As I am walking to the disc, my only thoughts were I have no idea what anyone is going to do. Luckily, it was obvious and the goal was an ez throw. 1 throw as a flycoon, 1 assist. I played 3 or 4 more points, caught a goal. And I was on the field for the one they scored. Blah, I hate that, but we survived the first game as a team. And our kids were not going crazy.

Game 2 was against the Vipers from Portland. They were pretty funny, they wore vests, and did a pretty funny cheer at the end of the game. But that is really all I remember. We won fairly easily in this game, although I think they score more goals. At this point I was just happy the weather was nice and that the little ones appeared to be enjoying the outside.

Game 3 was against Edmonton and obviously the toughest game of the day. I like ultimate much more when you have to run and you have to play well. The challenge is great and these guys were pretty good. Their guys were tall, skinny, ultimate looking type players with a couple of short speedsters. Their women were solid and had excellent disc skills. Probably the most skilled women-wise we faced all weekend. Going into this game, I was pretty confident with our team. It did not seem like there were any real weak-links on the guys side. There were a couple guys who preferred to play offense, but they were not guys who were lost causes on defense. And I was confident our women could hang. Solid athletes and solid throws all around for the team. Again, much better then I expected to be in Montana before I moved here.

Back to the game, ummm, saturday seems so far away. What I do know, we won 13-8. We were very good defensively in this game. And to my surprise, zone was very effective against this team. We were able to get some takeaways and force goofy throws. I had a footblock and then also kick someone in the hand. I bruised my butt as I was undercut going up for a disc, not a dirty play, but the guy did not expect me to go up. It was close to a foul, but I took it back. It's May...

I also had several turns at high stalls. This was the first time when it was obvious that I never played with any of these peeps before. Well first, I was lazy turning to the dump. Always late. Second, I got into the habit with zero of turning and firing. When I was turning here, they started to fake instead of me just firing it into them. I felt like I went up to 5 different people on saturday and said "this is what i like..." I am a high maintenance teammate. Totally just 2 different schemes coming together. All of which lead me to about 5 turns in this game. Yuck. But we won, I learned a lot about my new teammates, my kids were napping for a good portion of this game, and we won.

Last game was against the Bozo B team. We traded points for a little bit. Took half like 7-4, and then went from there. We were totally mentally checked out of this game. So we won our pool, 4-0 and the quarters did not start until 11 on Sunday. Sweet.

From what I hear the party on Saturday was pretty good. Of course, in our room I was in bed out by 9:30.

On Sunday, we got to the fields around 10:30 and lets just say the quarters were not going to start at 11. Once they eventually got going, we played Moscow, the first team we played in our pool. We were sluggish, they were not. So instead of 13-1, we start out 3-3 or something like that. We talk half 7-4 and the cap goes on. 9-4 final. We took half after a timeout call on the endzone when they played some sort of junk d that involved not covering anyone. And I threw a endzone-endzone backhand (wind-aided) for a goal.

For the semis, we played Salt Lake City. There definitely seemed to be a rivalry between our team and theirs. Of course, I knew nothing about them or this rivalry, so I was looking forward to another challenging game. This game starte out pretty even. We got the first break pretty early, but they would eventually get that break back. During this early stretch, one of their better guys hit me with a follow-thru on his backhand. He called a foul. Ugh, horrible call. Not much else to do about it besides contest and whine a little bit. Eventually, Jesse gets a pretty sweet catch d block in front of his man. That starts a charge to half, ~8-5 or so. And we role some more, maybe 15-9. The second half we were definitely in control. My last memory was throwing a cross field backhand for the game-winner to Skyla.

They switched to a force middle sometime late in the first half, as if to signal they could not force us to turn it. And we did not really force anything, a fairly clean game on our side. Really, they did play ok, but I think this was our best game. Our execution and defense was excellent. Not much else stands out about this game. At least, not at the moment.

The finals was rematch of pool play with Edmonton. They had defeated the Bozeman team, I think. But I am not sure. Anyway, we came out hot in this game. An early d followed by a break mark huck/floater that Will pulled down 1-0. The next point, I got a poach d and then a foul on the throw of a potential huck to me. Grant pulls down another hucks and calls to. Dump to me and T is open for the goal 2-0. I think they scored next, because I went back in at 3-1 with us pulling, I think. Anyway, we get another d. I give-n-go with Becca and then jack a horrible forehand that is turned over because it floats forever.

Three things about this throw, 1. it was horrible. I had my worst weekend throwing deep forehands since sometime in the summer of 04. I completed one forehand over 40 yards, I would say. And that one was on a great grab by Jesse. 2. my defender called a horrible travel on me. It would have been the worst call of the weekend, but it was incomplete so the call did not matter. The reaons why this call was terrible are A) my pivot foot stayed in place B) his first argument was I did not stop in 3 steps. I do not know exactly how many steps I took, but I came to a stop as quickly as possible and then threw it. C) his second argument was I took 4 steps. Now, what I do know is my last step was with my right foot, my non-pivot foot. My second to last step was with my left foot as I was stopping to set a pivot foot. So if he indeed counted correctly, that count being 4 steps. I established my pivot on my 3rd step and threw it on my pivot, how every normal stopped person does. Whatever, it does not matter, I turned it. Point #3. our mo' stopped after this point. I have no idea if my incomplete huck had anything to do with it, but we stunk after this point.

After going up 4-2, they storm and take half 6-8. At some point around this time, we stopped dumping and swinging. This is what absolutely killed us. We basically only used 15 yards wide of the field and tried to stuff down their throats either with unders or deep. Not even really break mark hucks or anything, straight getting forced one way and never using the full width of the field to try and score. Take that into effect with 3 dropped discs in or at our goalline. A hammer thrown away on the goalline. Somewhere in their run, I called a to, and then threw to the incorrect shoulder of Daphne allowing her woman to get a d.

After half, they score the next 2 points on our o. 6-10. We finally score off a pull with a huck from me to Andy who throws a short pass for the goal. 7-10. We get several ds on the next point, but fail to convert. Included was a stall on our endzone. And another dying quail of a forehand from me that is almost caught by the receiver. Ugh. I used to be good at throwing forehands. Then end up scoring 7-11. Late first half/early second half, they started going 3 men/4 women and really let their women cut downfield. Our first response was to go zone. I was the deep, and we put 2 men in the cup. This is the one bit of strategy that I was not sure about, I would have put the men in the middle of the field (middle cup, short deep, and deep deep), but I was definitely interested in how the 2 guys in the cup would work. This zone was ok, but eventually they worked it well and I got sucked in on a shot up the line and the women threw a hammer over me that I could not recover in time. We did not go back to the zone the rest of the game. Definitely that feeling of man-to-man desperation, you know, where you have to take it away with one-on-one defense set in. Not that should not be that way, but our zone was fairly effective the previous day. Something to remember if we face the canadians again.

I go back in at 8-12 (the cap was on, so now game to 14). We were bogged down even more. Twice we had it on our goalline and twice we crowded the thrower who then had to force it in an attempt to score.

We scored to make it 9-12, fairly easily as I recall as our "force it down their throat" strategy finally worked. We pull and get a big d from Skyla on the line. Her woman did catch the mack, but was ob. We begin to work it up and I was able to get 3 unders to half field, but not much room after that. On the third, I threw a backhand that all I had to do was keep it in the box for a goal. Of course, that did not happen. They march it up, I tip the disc on a break mark with my cleat, 50/50 ball that Kerr appears to have d'd, but a foul call. I did not agree with the call, but there was some contact. It look as much as the offense's fault. Well, they eventually hit 2 break marks and score the goal. 9-13. And then 9-14 as we are unable to convert . Those darned canadians win.

It was a fun game, they were a good team who was able to force us to use only a 15 yard wide section of the field. I did not feel like their marks were that spectacular, but definitely good enough to stiffle us. Props to them. Their strategy of 4 women also appeared to help, I think in part b/c we were deeper then them with men. And our women were tired. The ineffectiveness of late Saturday games and early Sunday games hurt us. In those games, the inefficiency does not hurt. It is the cummulative effect that takes its toll on Sunday. 4 lines of men and only 2 lines of women is tough. I believe there will be more women during the late summer/fall series.

It definitely intrigues me the different strategy that is now on the table. And I look forward to see what we can come up with.

From a team standpoint, I would call this weekend a success. We started out not even talking about offense and just "flowing". From there, we started to morph into something pretty good, see Salt Lake City game. But something that needs work, see Edmonton in the finals. Although a majority of the team is back from last year, we had not practiced or had any strategy discussions. We faced some challenges and did well. And other not so well.

The obvious improvements on o are use the full width of the field and give the thrower space when he/she has the disc. Also, a little organization on the endzone would help. In terms of d, not much is needed. I think we were a little too scared of Edmonton's deep game at times. They did not really kill us with hucks (they were more successful than us for sure), but it is not like I felt these guys/girls are amazing huckers. Maybe a little too much respect there.

I was impressed of the athleticism of this team. I guess I had the stereotype that co-eders would not be great athletes or have some other flaws. But all across the board, everytone proved their worth to the team, especially on the d side. I can respect that and it excites me to play with them more. I will never have the feeling that we will be an inferior team on the field against anyone we play. That is a good thing.

Personally, it was good to shake the rust off. I probably will have to re-shake the rust off at the next tourney since that will not be until August at the earliest. I was disgusted with my forehand and have already worked on it this evening in effect to figure why I threw so crappy. It just never felt right all weekend.

Also, I had way too many turns. Most of them involved poor sequences witht the dump. Hopefully, that is all ironed out. It peaked in the finals when I turned, went to throw, and the dump started to cut upfield. I could not hold the disc and threw a 1 yard backhand! Lesson - turn to the dump earlier nimrod.

I was happy with my endurance and my backhand. I feel I am slowly gaining my speed back. But I am not going to do away with longer track workouts for a little. Still cementing the endurance side.

I am exhausted though. Not only b/c of playing, I played very little compared to past tournament experiences for myself. But because it was non-stop. I was either playing or running around with Lucy or holding Leo. It was quite the different experience. I felt bummed that we could not hang out more with our new teammates, but that is part of the deal. We are parents and we survived. Not major meltdowns. Our 2 year old just loves to be outside, that is good. Hopefully, we will employ some help at larger tourneys. But it is not how I grew up on ultimate. Playing hard and just sitting around and bsing about ultimate. Now, its where the milk? Or Grapes? Or baseball???

I think it was worth it. And I think we are going to try and brave it some more. Ultimate is really fun. And the Flycoons are really fun. For now, we are going to keep getting in shape in Hamilton.

This is long. I am posting it now. Good day!