This weekend St. Thomas went to Spinvite, a tournament in Steven's Point, Wisconsin. There were only 7 teams there including us, Whitewater, Marquette, Madison-B, Stevens Point, Stevens Point Alumni (plus friends), St. Thomas and Wiconsin Plattesville.....
Our first game we played against Marquette. They were nothing specil, they had one guy who played for the coed team Seiche out of Milwaukee, who basically did everything for them. And we couldn't stop him apparently. But it's not like he won the game for them, we lost the game for ourselves like we have been doing as of late. We started off ok, trading the first few points then all of a sudden we just start to crumble. We make idiotic throws, drop easy passes, make stupid ass poaches (despite the screams from me and Rob Mooers), get broken with weak marks and pretty much anything else we could have done wrong we did. We lose this one 13-5 I think, not a pretty one.
Game two was against Wiconsin Plattesville....sigh. This team is bad, really bad, they had two girls on the team. I would say the only reason this game was good for us was because we got a little bit of confidence out of it, we were actually swinging for the first time this spring. We set up plays that actually worked and were playing harder D. Now, this really wasn't a big deal because this team was honestly really bad, but I know for some of our guys it helped to get that little boost of confidence. I think we are a very emotional team, if something bad happens we get way down on ourselves and it's hard for us to get back up. So we win this one 13-2 I think.
Game three we played Whitewater, I think they were missing some of their guys because they seemed a bit shorthanded. We actually start off really well, it seems like the positivity from the previous game has carried over. We start off with a break, we get the turn then played chilly O and worked it in. I think UWW was a little surprised. We came with our zone and got a few turns but could never cash the check, they tie it up. We score the next O point and then i think we trade points until 4's. Then BOOM, it happens again. Drops, stupid shit that I know we are better than. We played absolutely horrible. Some intensity was there and we were trying but we just couldnt tie anything together. I believe we lose this one 13-5 or 6.
That night we all just completely shit faced to the max. The seniors have a tradition every year where they meet and each choose an under classmen, AKA their "horse". There was 5 of us and Rob (our coach), we met and all chose different horses. The purpose of this game is to make your horse be the first one to throw up, yup I'm a good captain. So, we make our choices without anyone else really knowing what's going on and then we just fucking dig in. When I walked back into the hotel room the first thing I did was make my horse take a shot of Sakke (sp?). He was already getting pretty drunk and he told me "well, I'll listen to anyone who gives me liquor". I just looked at the other seniors and laughed, how could I not win this!?....of course I didn't. We got them all shit tanked though. Gold medal went to Yayo for picking Ike, a brand new freshman to the team this spring, who decided to talk shit and say he could out drink all of us. Silver went to Al for choosing Snorlax who was throwing up until maybe 3 am. At one point I went in the bathroom to check on him and he was passed out with his pants down on the toilet. And the bronze went to me for picking Whispers, another freshman who can't handle hard alcohol.
Sunday morning. We played Wisconsin-B first, I had actually never really seen them play but they were pretty good. Of course their coach, Nate, who used to be a Hodag was playing with them. But they did have some very solid players and pretty much took it to us after the first few points. However, in this game I got the D of the weekend (i wasnt playing either). One of our guys threw a huck right on the line and it went out and never came back in. So one of the pimpdags picked up the disc and walked with it then threw it back to the spot where it went out of bounds. I was like wait wait wait, that's a turnover. Then Nate was trying to tell me that it was just a travel, but I wouldn't let it go and eventually he came to agree with me and we got it back. Kind of cheap, but hey, I'll take it.
Then we played Stevens Point Alumni who had Mr. Andrew Brown on their team and we started off well going up 5-2, then I think we lost 13-6. We just could not break their zone for the life of us. Very frustrating to watch as an O handler.
After that we played Stevens Point and it just seemed like our heads were never in it. Three straight points on O we would catch the pull and drop either the next pass, or the next two passes. We get killed. Overall it was a pretty frustrating weekend for me and Im sure the guys who were playing. We have alot of work to do before this next weekend, which makes me very nervous. I just feel like our team has fucking ADD or something, when it comes game time it seems like they just forget everything we taught them all season and what we talked about in the huddle right before the game. Someone just said something to me recently that I found to be very profound and I agree with it completely. Commenting on a player from my team he said, "it seems like he's made up his mind that he has nothing left to learn". I completely agree with this. Some people just have this attitude that they already know enough about ultimate that they don't have to listen to me or another captain or Rob. And that is the most frustrating thing in the world, and my guys will never get any better if they start acting like this. I feel like I never would be where I am now in my game if I hadn't been soaking up everything I was taught from the moment I started, and I know I definately have alot more to learn.
We'll see how practice goes this week and how we'll end up at sectionals. On a side note my Hopkins Ladies went 5-1 this weekend at the Paidea tournament in Georgia, losing in the finals to the Paidea ladies.
take care,
becky
Labels: Frustration, Spinvite
