Chico Wrap-up

Chico, California. A small little town with more bars/pubs than supermarkets, and home of the Sierra Nevada Brewery. LA Metro traveled up to this small town, population of a little over 100,000 for Discos Calientes V.

No pools were posted and when we got to the fields, we discovered that not only were we seeded 1st, that the scheduling dictated a 1:15pm start time on Sunday, meaning we would probably miss our 7:35 flights. So before any warmups, all the people on those flights had to call and change the flights. inconvenient... but necessary. Our first game was against the #3 team in our pool, Humboldt. Our squad of 5 girls and 10 guys (missing 3 girls and 4 guys) played sluggishly the first game, with various turns and throw-aways but we muscled it out for a what i remember was a 13-8 or 13-9 win. Of note... Jello shots afterwards =)

Game 2 = good flow + great defense = 13-0 win over the Red Hots.

The third game proved to be the most difficult of the day against BAG, a group out of Davis that included several open players from YR (yeah right). They played well and we traded points for the majority of the game. Their handler set was difficult to contain as they ran the quick give and go's. It came down to 10's with us on D. We generated the D and while we were working it up, Hard-cap blew and we scored the last point to squeak out the win 11-10. There was some mild arguing over several calls, but in all it was a clean game and showed us what we needed to work on. (Cutting + disc movement).

Game 4 of the first day was a cross-over that put us against the Chico co-ed team. In short, they didn't do too much with the disc and we won the game (forgot the score) and finished the day 4-0. Although we had went undefeated, we had many kinks and bad habits to make up for. We talked about them during the cool down and went into a night of just rest, relaxation, brewery time, and lots of food.

Day 2 started out disasterously. First game was 11:45 and by 12:00 we were already down 4-1. We were playing GNT (gin and tonic) and they simply out matched us physically and on the disc. They ran harder than us, faster than us, and consequently their throws didn't have to be spot on. Our cutters weren't running through the disc and mentally, we didn't show up. The result was a 13-5 loss in the quarters to a team we knew we could have matched up against. The lone highlight of the game (atleast from what I saw) was a huge lay-out D zippy style on the goal line to stop the score. ALthough she landed funny and KO'd the air out of her as well as gave herself whiplash... it was some sexy D. Great job zip!.

I've never seen our team so down or upset over a loss this year. True, we've lost to teams such as Mischief, but there's no crappier feeling than beating yourself. We knew what we did wrong and our captains did a GREAT job in getting us mentally prepared for the next game. We pretty much blitzed the next team and went up 5-0, throwing a 1-3-3 zone with Scott Wonderboy chasing. The ladies in the wall had some great reaction D's and what we did DIFFERENTLY this game was play psycho D and then calm it down on Offense. Although we could have been more chilly with the disc on O, we did well and cruised to a 13-6 (?) win.

It was a great win both physically and mentally. We were successful in tanking it in quarters, but what I'm more proud of was the way our weekend captain (martha) picked us up mentally and assured us that we would be fine. Although we were missing several of our best playmakers and captains, our core group of players meshed together, made adjustments when needed, and bonded more as a team. This was a really fun weekend, atleast for me and it makes me even more psyched for what this club season will bring.

If only it wasn't so gawd freaking HOT in Chico (100+ the first day, 80 the next).


Highlights and random shenanigans

- Zip lay out D
- Barrs refusing to land on his feet and rather on his face
- BREWERY
- Cheap Beer
- Cheap Mexican food
- Enway sleeping in the closet
- $5.00 chicken fried steak
- Ball peen hammer
- Ice-water misters (best idea ever!)
- Pregnant Pause
- Nicole's speed (never gets old)
- Yugo's toe
- Watering Hole
- Red Bull
- and more Barrs in more places


Until the Labor Day Ultimate Championships in San Francisco, CA.

-Hammie #10