I'll go through in order and then toss some thoughts in at the end from what I saw
USF-These guys were pretty good and all around good guys from the time we cohabited the field. They definitely had some experienced dudes that knew how to make the throws and catches.
We came out cold against them and it was 2-7 at half due to a ridiculous amount of drops. After a motivation speech of some happy thoughts and other outright threats, Boomland came out harder and played closer to our potential and lost 7-13. Major thought: 0 breaks the entire game
Oklahoma State-Another team out of the same mold as USF, good guys with experience who have been in situations before. We came out slow and again had trouble with drops and keeping our heads in it for the first half and were down 3-7. More yelling would follow and Boomland would begin to exhibit some of the fire the captain's knew was there taking the second half and repeatedly breaking OSU's offense. However there wasn't enough going on and we lost 10-13. Major thought: Too many free throws to the force side and not aggresive enough marking
Texas Christian- This was by far the most disappointing game of the weekend. Boomland came out on fire and took half 7-2. Second half TCU found a fire and we began to fall apart. Some A-team guys came by and helped to pump up the sidelines during their bye and the extra intensity helped Boomland continue to put it in (take it out). But the intensity was not to last throughout the end of the game, despite some sick layouts by the rookies and some physical play against 'red-hat-guy,' my new arch-nemesis who clearly has no idea what the 11th edition of ultimate is, we were broken 6 points in a row to lose 12-13 on universe point. Major thought: We lost intensity from the sidelines when the A-teamers left, we have to have that fire without them
Kansas B- The one game we had to win, we were unable to get Mark on speaker phone but after piecing together what was said last year by the vets a working replacement speech got the team pumped up. Before I go on, I want to say that none of us really had any problem with anyone on Kansas's team. Boomland would finally find the fire and punch their man D in the face, taking half 7-5. After half Kansas switched to a zone and Boomland had some issues breaking their cup, but were able to trade points and break them. Ridiculous heckles from the Kansas sideline and their A team members fired up the vets throughout the second half and after some questionable calls from Kansas (read bullshit), yours truly was pissed. A callahan by Pete fired the team up even further and we took the game 13-9, bringing the years head to head with Kansas (A/B) to 2-0 in favor of the Illini. Kansas also became my least favorite team in ultimate, and you can beat that I will continue to hit the gym so I can spike it on your face the next time you try to strip the disc from me. Major Thoughts: Beating Kansas felt good and we fixed our major problems from earlier in the day for this game
Black Ice- The first game of Sunday was against a Minnesota conglomorate. It was a bunch of high school kids, some college guys, and their coach. An outstanding layout and skying of their coach by Charlie Ma got Boomland moving. Evidently Austin's brother was on that team, the one who cleated Chrysler, the goon trait runs strong in that family. Boomland would take the game 13-11. Major Thoughts: We have to come out firing Sunday morning, take warm ups seriously and really get stretched out prior to playing
Texas B- I personally was looking most forward to this game after hearing that we would be playing them, a rematch of Kansas B would have most likely ended in bloodshed. Due to restrained time, we were forced to play a much shorter game than normal, but Boomland managed to fit a full game's worth of intensity into 12 points. After coming out with 6 breaks to start the half, we took half 7-1. Our zone looked sexy and a monster D by Chris got the team fired up out of our zone. An additional highlight was the Spenser point, affectionately named such after he had 3 hucks thrown to him in order to get that elusive catch in the point box. We would take the game 9-3. This also would mean that both the A and B teams would beat their counterparts on Texas at Mardi Gras. Major Thoughts: Our zone looked ballin' but the switch out of the zone into man and when we didn't have time to set it lead to some iffy situations.
Depaul(timate)- The only team we would play from our section this weekend. Put frankly, DePaul just came out harder than we did and took half 3-7. After letting the game run away from us the score dropped to 6-12. McKinley, Schmid and Sidrys all came out firing hard and each got at least one D. We would go to break DePaul 3 times and bring the score to 10-12 before finally running out of gas. Major Thoughts: This is a team we must beat to make it to regionals, use whatever might have happened you didn't like in that game and come out with the fire we found in the second half right of the bat on Sunday at Sectionals.
Boomland would finish the weekend 3-4 with several close games and not a single blowout. We would find the fire at some point in every game we played, but we only able to maintain it in 2 of those games, Kansas and Texas. We have to keep it going all day, every game; especially if we have 30 guys on the roster, anything less than 100% sprinting is unacceptable with those numbers. We were in every game, now we need to take those first points and ride it from there, we are a good enough team that we shouldn't have to come from behind to go for a win with the other team in position to already win.
Keep coming out to practice and lifting, we've got work to do in the next month so we can screw some people up at Southerns.
-Keenan-
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Mardi Gras Preview
So it's Boomland's first spring tournament of the 2009 college ultimate season. We're bringing some serious old and new talent to the board here, thanks to the Illinois A team continue to be ballin'. We're going to have to look to the vets to continue to improve and the rookies to find a play style that suits their abilities.
I don't have the advantage of knowing who we're playing on the same level that Rip does for his blog, but I'll try to make it entertaining and maybe get something right.
University of Southern Florida - The Scallywags. First off, sweet name; second off I really don't know anything about them. They played at Warm Up and managed to beat Florida Tech, UCF-B and two split Florida B teams with losses to Brown, Davidson, and Iowa. The only thing I'm able to determine from this is that they really didn't beat anyone and lost to Jake Bradley. I kid, Iowa is going to make some noise and with 4 bids to nationals in the central region he ought to be leading IHUC to Columbus. But that is neither here nor now.
Oklahoma State - Ultimato. What does that mean? Lame name. The have an entertaining website, but that means they're spending time on that and not practicing. It looks like they've got some serious numbers returning, so expect some sneaky moves. Based on the teams they've played this year, I can say they have an OK win or two, but none of the teams stand out to me based on my brief UPA browsing.
Kansas B - Horrozontals. I would say good name, but I would be lying. And Mark would choke the life out of me. Long story short, if we don't beat them again, I don't know what to say. This is the one game of our pool that it will be unforgiveable to lose. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Texas Christian - PEZ. Lame. Secondly, why isn't it the fighting Ladainian Tomlinsons? Or at least Horned Frogs, either would be better. They appear to have a fairly new program there, so expect most of us older vets to have more experience playing than anyone on their team. Now, I may be completely wrong, but another good website also leads me to this conclusion.
A final thought on Saturday: We have the potential to win this pool, we have the potential to sweep this pool. It's going to come down to us running hard. We practice 4 times a week, we lift at least once a week, both with a top 25 team in the country. Our statement for this season and this program starts on Saturday, be ready to put everything out there then.
Keenan
I don't have the advantage of knowing who we're playing on the same level that Rip does for his blog, but I'll try to make it entertaining and maybe get something right.
University of Southern Florida - The Scallywags. First off, sweet name; second off I really don't know anything about them. They played at Warm Up and managed to beat Florida Tech, UCF-B and two split Florida B teams with losses to Brown, Davidson, and Iowa. The only thing I'm able to determine from this is that they really didn't beat anyone and lost to Jake Bradley. I kid, Iowa is going to make some noise and with 4 bids to nationals in the central region he ought to be leading IHUC to Columbus. But that is neither here nor now.
Oklahoma State - Ultimato. What does that mean? Lame name. The have an entertaining website, but that means they're spending time on that and not practicing. It looks like they've got some serious numbers returning, so expect some sneaky moves. Based on the teams they've played this year, I can say they have an OK win or two, but none of the teams stand out to me based on my brief UPA browsing.
Kansas B - Horrozontals. I would say good name, but I would be lying. And Mark would choke the life out of me. Long story short, if we don't beat them again, I don't know what to say. This is the one game of our pool that it will be unforgiveable to lose. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Texas Christian - PEZ. Lame. Secondly, why isn't it the fighting Ladainian Tomlinsons? Or at least Horned Frogs, either would be better. They appear to have a fairly new program there, so expect most of us older vets to have more experience playing than anyone on their team. Now, I may be completely wrong, but another good website also leads me to this conclusion.
A final thought on Saturday: We have the potential to win this pool, we have the potential to sweep this pool. It's going to come down to us running hard. We practice 4 times a week, we lift at least once a week, both with a top 25 team in the country. Our statement for this season and this program starts on Saturday, be ready to put everything out there then.
Keenan
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Do it
How do we know we're a team? Not typically something that we consider when out on the field. But pause for a second and reflect on it.
Being on a team isn't about playing perfectly and being a superstar (although those moments are nice). Being on a team is about motivating everyone around you to hit that superstar status. Whether this is at practice or sunday afternoon at sectionals, the best thing you can do as a teammate isn't to worry about yourself. It's about how well you can get the 6 guys next to you on the field to perform at their peak; it's about motivating those 7 guys on the field while you catch your breath, its about yelling to finish to the 30 other guys doing sprints at the end of the worst practice of the year.
We've all played together for the past 6 months, some of us have played together for the past 3 years. You should know the guys around you well enough by now to feel comfortable to call them out on something they need to work on, and also understand that if you get called out on something its not a personal affront but a chance to make yourself and the team better. These guys you play with now will be around at least for the rest of your time at Illinois and a lot of them beyond then. We won't all be running for the same team then, but we'll always have been on a single unit that was greater than any one of us.
-Keenan
Being on a team isn't about playing perfectly and being a superstar (although those moments are nice). Being on a team is about motivating everyone around you to hit that superstar status. Whether this is at practice or sunday afternoon at sectionals, the best thing you can do as a teammate isn't to worry about yourself. It's about how well you can get the 6 guys next to you on the field to perform at their peak; it's about motivating those 7 guys on the field while you catch your breath, its about yelling to finish to the 30 other guys doing sprints at the end of the worst practice of the year.
We've all played together for the past 6 months, some of us have played together for the past 3 years. You should know the guys around you well enough by now to feel comfortable to call them out on something they need to work on, and also understand that if you get called out on something its not a personal affront but a chance to make yourself and the team better. These guys you play with now will be around at least for the rest of your time at Illinois and a lot of them beyond then. We won't all be running for the same team then, but we'll always have been on a single unit that was greater than any one of us.
-Keenan
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