It's hard to imagine that this will be my third Cal States tournament in beautiful Santa Cruz, CA. The past three years have all been with my current team, LA Metro, and we have finished 2nd, and 3rd in '08 and '09 respectively. It's no question why this year we want to come out with guns blazing and to really start this season off on the right foot.
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The big story with the coed scene in 2010 (again), is the emergence of the (#1)Polar Bears as the new powerhouse team in the Northwest. Their core group of LPC alumni really work well together and have shown flashes of brilliance that indicate that this team is for real. On top of being a bunch of class-acts (finals vs. Ambush), they know the game well, incorporate their baller women seamlessly, and have really been taking the coed scene by storm as of late with 2nd place finishes at Lei-Out and SB Classic, and a DUI tournament win back in early April. That said, it comes at no surprise that they are the #1 seed at this year's tournament with Mischief, LA Metro, and BCBC, rounding out the rest of the top seeds.
(#2)Mischief is a perennial favorite to make it to the big show but last year was (correct me if I'm wrong), the first time they haven't made it since '05. They continually bring a roster that has experience and more than enough ability, as we haven't been able to beat them in over 2 years. This is really the first real look at Mischief for us, the last one at DUI, but I am more than sure that the brought a streamlined squad that didn't fare well. The Northwest knows how to play frisbee. I expect a very strong showing for them.
(#3)Metro is bringing a strong squad this year that is a lot younger than years in the past. The idea hinges on building up the college players in the LA area as the "future" for LA Ultimate. In a previous post, I stated that LA Ultimate's mentality and attitude was not conducive for promoting future growth, so where better to start than in the college ranks. This is our final tryout tournament and after this tournament our roster will be streamlined some more and eventually finalized. We're proud to be the top team representing Southern California and hope we can hold our own against the powerful Northwest Region.
:::NEWSFLASH::: (#4)BCBC had tryouts at SB Classic! That in itself is already a huge step in this 3 year team, as it pretty much had been an invite only team in 08 and 09. They have all the pieces to being sucessfull with strong women, skilled handlers and athletic cutters. Their only kink does tend to also somehow become their strength in that they never know their tourney roster until the day before. Sometimes it works in their favor, sometimes not. Rumor has it that the are actually practicing this season and should show improvement because of it.
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Cal States is arguably the best early-season tournament on the West Coast. It brings a majority of the Norcal and SoCal powers together on the best fields (in terms of location), I have ever played on. It's a great tournament to play at, in addition to being able to go home for a weekend and see my folks. Safe travels to everyone making the trip up north. Rock on!
-Hammie
LA Metro #10
2 comments:
BCBC has almost always had "try-outs" playing with them. It's not really new. They just don't get invited back if they don't cut it.
Sadly, they're not practicing this year. That was just a rumor. The teams too spread out to get together to practice regularly.
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