Blind Ding

City Wok

2011-02-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

Origins:

Irvine Invitational 2009, Frorida

City Wok started out in 2009 when the TD of the Irvine Invitational Tournament asked me to put together a "community" team for the college tournament. The reason being that the 16th team had dropped from the tournament at the last moment and he needed a team to round out the pools so that he could keep the current format. Thus, "Frorida" was born. The team consisted of a majority of (azn) Irvine alumni with a couple other guys from UCLA and the OC area. Our only instructions were to "not win the tournament," but as the tournament went on, playing games against UCLA-B, Azusa Pacific, Concordia, and SF State proved to be too difficult of a task NOT to win... so we sleptwalk our way into the finals. Once there, we faced the #1 seed LPC who had in their own right plowed their way to the finals. In the pre-game huddle, we reminded ourselves what the TD had asked of us to NOT do... but won the tournament anyway with a 15-7 win.

The first Frorida roster consisted of 10 guys, with our tallest guy being a mere 6'2"... with 3.5 non asians. We relied mostly on familiarity with each other as players, in addition to a lot of quick movement and tough defense to get through our games. Despite the tournament win, we knew that it was a college level tournament, and to many of us, the team was a "one-time deal," and we went about our own ways and into the real Club Season.

City Wok

Fast forward to 2010... and Club Trouble in Vegas. The core from Frorida consisted of Irvine alum, Allen Lai, Steven Lowe, Jerry Yang, Jamison Gorin, with UCLA alum Ed 'Biclops' Melo. We had talked about attending the tournament in Vegas as "Frorida," but decided while watching South Park that the name "City Wok," (pronounced "shitty" wok), would be more appropriate. So the team name was born. In addition, Biclops had secured somewhat of an endorsement deal from the City Wok Restaurant chain that would give us $250.00 towards jerseys which we put the company's logo on. It was quite amusing to see people's reaction to the jersey, but we cruised into Las Vegas with 13 guys, just to have some fun.

Due to the weather and Cultimate's rescheduling, the open division was reduced to one day on turf, with 4 games deciding the champion. We partied hard on Saturday, and showed up to games on Sunday hungover. We faced three teams in "pool play," and won the first two handidly, something around 15-4, 15-7. The third game was against the Minnesota Alumni team and despite our efforts, we lost the game by 3 or 4. At that point, all was done, but due to point differential, we had advanced to the final against the Hodag Alumni of Wisconsin. They had a lot of star power, with a callahan winner and multiple national champions on their team. You can find the game recap here, but in the end, we upset the defending champions and won the tournament.

It was an incredible accomplishment for the rag-tag group of unknown players from Orange County. To come into Vegas and beat some very good teams... made winning even better, especially since we came into the tournament without any expectations to do well at all. Two for two in tournaments played. Not bad.

2011

This year... City Wok has expanded the roster to 19 players for the recent New Year's Fest tournament in Tempe, AZ. The roster expanded to some more UCLA players, a couple more UCI Alumni as well as the three top players on the current UCI team (farm system?). A 5th place finish was disappointing though, as we struggled to find chemistry on a team that was so full of talent and athleticism. It was a lot of fun playing with former teammates and we even had a full 2007-2008 UCI line go out and play an O-point. Just like the good o'l days.

Next up.. will the the final Trouble in Vegas. "Mega Vegas," as it is being refered to. Our team is the defending champions of this tournament, and despite losing a lot of players to the mixed division, this team is the most geographically and ethnically diverse City Wok team to date. It will be a squad of 17 or 18 players from the greater LA/OC area, looking to just have a ton of fun and quite possibly win the tournament. Again, last year's win was a one-day affair, but this year's tournament will really show us if we can hang as an open team.

Looking forward to many future tournaments. We've also talked about attending Kaimana in the future, as well as maybe traveling to the midwest for some tournaments. I think we got a good thing started here in Irvine. Here's to Vegas!

-Hammie

zot zot zot~*

Update

2010-11-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Surly, Revolver, Fury, and the Polar Bears on your National Championships! Well deserved!

Hibernating for a little bit... 2010 Club Season definitely burned me out a little bit. Be back in December.

-ham

The Show

2010-10-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

A year ago today, I was sitting in the same chair, figuring out what the heck to put in my Ultimate pack. Three weeks prior in early October 2009, we had qualified for the 2009 UPA Mixed Championships in Sarasota, FL, by taking 2nd in the Southwest Region and by Sunday, had finished 11th overall, with wins over Slow White, TAU, Bashing Pinatas, in addition to close losses to Slow White, 'Doh, One Trick Pony, and eventual champions Axis of C'Ville.

Fast forward to this year. On 10/10/10...we had upset the #1 seed at Regionals to secure the top spot in the Southwest Region and a coveted spot at the new USAU Club Championships in Sarasota, Florida. It's been quite a change from 2009. Not only is the "UPA" no more, but we go into this year with higher expectations and a more experienced and energetic club. Of the three years I've been with this club, the 2010 campaign has been the most dramatic and eventful. Devastating losses, unpredictable injuries, two teammates contracting mono (not from each other), this season had it all. Being completely dominated in the finals at Sectionals did not help either, but we bounced back... and here we are.

We come into these championships with a greater hunger than we had last year, and know that we will be bearing the weight of being the sole representatives of Los Angeles Ultimate in Florida.

game 1 vs. (#2) District 5
When the schedule came out, this scheduled game instantly reminded me of 2009 and our first round game against eventual champions Axis of C'ville. It was a hard fought match with Axis pulling out the win 13-15. The lasting impression I had from that game was that the game was very winnable. Maybe it was the heat/humidity during warm up, maybe it was the time adjustment, but simply put, we weren't ready. It is imperative for teams to be playing at their best right at first pull and this game will most certainly demand it from us. District 5 has been rolling all season and if it wasn't for a loss to Slow White in the Regional final, they would most definitely have been the #1 seed overall. Watching them at ECC, they're solid. They're a first year team, but you can never discount those teams who put together solid women with very athletic male players. I'm excited for this match up and know that the tempo will be set right from the get go. It will be 85 degrees-ish with 80% humidity at first pull, 6:30am PST.

game 2 vs. (#7) Polar Bears
These guys have been in the thick of talks all season. They demand a lot of respect because simply put, they are a very good team. With solid throwers in Raty, 808, and Greg, to athletic cutters in Zip, Lisa, and Robot, they have been relevant since day one. A universe point loss to rivals Mischief is the only reason for them not being a top 5 seed at Nationals, but rest assured that despite being a new team, they have what it takes to win. We have only played them once this season, with us squeaking out a universe point win at CalStates. It's a completely new ballgame now, and what better then a rematch on the polo fields in Florida? The matchup has explosive potential as both teams pack a lot of talent with a lot of desire to win. Slugfest anyone?

game 3 vs. (#15) Dirty Birds
We owe these guys big. A tough loss against them at Labor Day has left a bitter taste in our mouths. All we really saw from them was a difficult zone to break. The wind was definitely a factor in San Francisco, and it can potentially do the same in Florida. Last year at the '09 Championships, the wind was the calmest it had been in years. We won't know about the wind until we get down to the fields on Thursday, but despite them being the #15 seed, they are the favorite because of their Labor Day win over us. It will come down to desire and patience if facing the zone, and winning with our legs and not with only throws. By the third game, exhaustion, fatigue, and dehydration become relevant, and I remember feeling dizzy and nauseous in our 3rd round game against TAU in '09. It becomes a battle of wills and against a zone-heavy team, that desire to win must be mixed in with patience, intelligence, and a gritty work ethic.

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Two more days until first pull. Two more days until again, I get to play on the best fields on earth. I've had the following picture up on my bulletin board since January 2010. It was something I looked at everyday, something I burned into my brain as I began preparing for the 2010 season.

Honestly, after the shalacking we took at Sectionals, there were doubts in my head and I was unsure whether we would make it to Florida this year. My team proved me wrong, and never have I had more desire, more motivation to win for my teammates. This is why we ran all those miles, this is why we did all those stairs. A chance to perform at the highest level of Ultimate, with the best people and personalities in the world. I love you Metroids. Let's go to work.

#10

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Southwest Mixed Regionals 2010 Recap

2010-10-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Regionals this year was different then years' past for several reasons. First, it was held in Southern California for the first time since 2007, second, the mixed division was held on its own, apart from Open and Women's, and third... I was in charge of all the logistics for the entire weekend. Not an easy task for a first-time TD.

The biggest challenge initially was setting up the tournament so that it could essentially run on auto-pilot. Helping run sectionals was already a tall task and the stress and distraction of running it overflowed onto the field and it was apparent that my mind was somewhere other than the game of ultimate. It simply was not fair for my team to be in that state of mind, so in the weeks leading up to the tournament, preparations were made so that once the first pull went up on Saturday morning, logistical matters would be at a minimum.

First off though, a big thanks to all those who helped make this tournament possible. My teammates Spencer, Scott, Keegan, Martha, and Chad, and all those who encouraged me and offered their support. It is much appreciated and I am very grateful for your help.

Now onto the Ultimate....

========

At Stake...

was bragging rights. At stake was the title of "top dawg" in the Southwest Region. 7 Figures was the clear #1, with Barrio, Metro, and MotU rounding out the top 4. The SW had two bids this year... one less then last year, and with bracket 16.2.2 in use, it meant that making the finals simply wasn't good enough. You'd have to WIN the tournament or win out the backdoor bracket to punch your ticket to the show.... so you can imagine, it got harder this year, not to mention that the teams got better in the Southwest Region.

Game 1 vs. Lunch Money

We came out firing against our Sectional counterparts. The first point being the longest point in the game, we simply out played them from the very beginning, with defense being the most defining strength. Simply put, we forced tough throws and allows very little up-field looks which resulted in high stall counts and easy d's. We rolled off a 6-0 run to start the game, taking half 8-2 enroute to an easy 15-5 win. Great start to the tournament, keeping in mind that we wanted to keep our big guns fresh for the difficult games that lay ahead.

Game 2 vs. Love Tractor

This team came out with more fire then the past and we essentially traded with them before going on a huge defensive run that put us up from 3-3 to 9-3. From there... it was just a simple trade-fest and a 15-8 win over a very spirited but overmatched Colorado team. The term coach Frankie threw around was that we needed to "ramp-up" to the Semis and Finals, and from the way we were playing, it was looking good and we were starting to get our offense into the right gear.

Game 3 vs. Killjoy

This was a game where we felt we needed to prove the most to the Region. For weeks leading up to the tournament, all I heard as the TD was that Killjoy should be seeded higher since they beat Metro, or "we beat Killjoy, so we should be ahead of Metro... etc." While in all actuality, they had valid arguments, in my head, I was thinking what BS. We lost to Killjoy by 4 at Labor Day with a injury riddled squad, and the first game of the day. I knew that we had something to prove and we owed it to Killjoy to show them what we were really made of. We pretty much scored 2 goals to their 1 in the first half, going up 7-4 before they closed the gap to 8-6 at half. We continued the pressure and wound up running away with a 14-10 win and despite finishing the season series against Killjoy at 1-1, we had won the one that counted and could silence the doubt and shut up our critics. It was a great win, and meant that we had locked up the 1 seed in the pool and a spot into Saturday finals against B1: Barrio.

Semifinals vs. Barrio

The season series was 1-1. We blew a 9-6 lead at GRUB to lose 10-12, and got over the "hump" with a good win at ECC 13-8. This was the "rubber game," the "best-out-of-three" kind of game that proves to the world who's the superior team. It was only fitting that this winner-take all game was for a berth in the finals. Barrio had won Regionals for several years running, and had beaten us last year in the finals 9-14, but no one cared. We were to elated to be going to the show... we could have cared less about winning the Region in 2009. Things were different this year... as simply making the finals did not guarantee a bid. We knew we had to win out from here to make things easier.

Game time was 3:30pm on Saturday. The sun was sitting kindof low in the sky, but there was a buzz to the game like none I have ever experienced. The other semifinal game was on the far field (in the sun), while our semifinal had a row of trees on one sideline that cast a shade on one side, and of course drew a large crowd. Teams from New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, who had finished their games were out in droves, drinking, fooling around, all while watching this game. It was a great atmosphere. Metro started on D and almost instantly you could tell the energy level was beyond anything we had played at this year. The sideline was on TOP of the o-line and before we knew it, they had miscommunicated and turned a sloppy dump pass for negative yards to no one. It almost felt like being in a loud NFL crowd and inducing a false start. Trogdor quickly jumped on the disc and threw to a wide open Peaches for the first break of the game.

We traded points from there and went up 5-4 before going on a defensive tear and breaking the game open with a 4-0 run to put us up 9-4. From there on, Barrio was only able to get back one break before we put them away 14-10. It was a great feeling going back to the finals, but the celebration was brief, and after the game, the focus was back on because 7 Figures had just punched their ticket to the final with a 15-7 win over BCBC. What this meant was an all LA Final, with a bid to Nationals on the line.

====

We all knew going into the Barrio game that we would be playing 7-Figures if we beat them, barring some miraculous charge from BCBC, no offense to them. It was easy to overlook the Barrio game and look ahead to a matchup with 7 Figs, but I am proud how our team focused on the game at hand and took care of business.

We had dinner at Holly's place, watched Stanford beat USC, and went to bed 4-0 on the day. The next morning was intense. Not in a... omg we're late type of way, but, the anxiety and focus was much more noticeable on 10/10/10 then any other tournament Sunday that I have experienced. People doing yoga, ipods on... focused looks while drinking morning joe. Everyone had the game on their minds. Even though it was a 1:45pm start, it was on my mind from the moment I woke up. A couple of us ended up at I-Hop for breakfast, and I feel like that was the best thing for me. I was with 4 other close teammates and we shared stories, joked around, and as opposed to the intensity and focus in the morning, things were loose, relaxed, and jovial. It was good for us to go into the finals relaxed, after all... ultimate is about fun right?
===

Finals
(#1) 7 -Figures vs. (#3) LA Metro

The last time we played, 7-Figures established that they were the team to beat in the Region. The obvious and deserved #1 seed destroyed us 15-6 in the FINALS of Sectionals. It was ridiculous and a pain that didn't go away for weeks. It ate at me and pushed me to be better... and I know it bothered everyone since all the practices were at an intensity none of us had practiced at all year. It was great and we knew we did what we could to be ready.

First pull at a little before 1:50pm, and the game was underway. We started on D and immediately generated a turn but was unable to generate points. Figs went up 1 before we responded with a huge sky from Barrs "gimme that" Lang. At 2-2, the momentum swung. I am told that momentum usually swings in the middle to later parts of the game but whoever was present at this game knew that right then and there, at two all, we got a jolt of momentum from Trogdor! Simply said, our defense was stifiling and we got them swinging the disc in their end zone and stuck on the front cone. We clamped down hard and a forced dump was met with a quick layout from Trogdor for the callahan break. The energy was up, and before we knew it, we had seized control of the game going up 9-5.

But 7-Figures is a team that we all respect. They have solid players who have much experience, and we were in an all too familiar situation being up 9-5. In an earlier scrimmage, we had been up 9-6, only to be bageled the second half enroute to a 15-9 trouncing. It showed us the potential 7-Figures had if they could get a little bit of a run going, which they did. They went on a 4-2 run to bring it to 11-10, but the difference being that our offensive line of Taz, Gordy, Hammie, Kief, Keegan, Bambi, and Misch responded and the defensive lines kept on rolling to put us up 14-10, game point. We failed to punch it in and at 14-13... we were in need of a dire score. The line of Yugo, Scott, Barrs, Kief, Bambi, Taz, and Misch went on and before we knew it.... we got it done and clinched the win 15-13. Cue the rush, the champagne, tears, hugs... complete elation.

===

The first LA team to win Regionals... wow... it was sweet. Well deserving and in the huddle afterwards, nothing but smiles, joy, and sweet relief. It was a feel good story for us. Being discouraged and dismantled by a very good team in 7 Figures at Sectionals, only to put it all together, adjust, and run the table at Regionals. A perfect 5-0, and the title as the #1 Mixed team in the Southwest Region. It broke everyone's heart to see Barrio beat 7-Figures in the backdoor game, and I know that many Metroids lost their voices cheering our LA friends on. There was an incredible atmosphere present on the sidelines at Freedom Park in Camarillo, CA. Many teams stayed late to watch the finals, with many chanting, heckling, yelling... the sideline was alive at Regionals... and it all amounted to one of the best weekends of my life.

The tournament was successful, people were happy, but above all, we were going to Florida. I took Monday and Tuesday to soak in the moment, but I know that today, the track awaits, the stairs await, and I will hate Ben Bergen after the workout is through.

LA Metro is going back to the show... it doesn't get any sweeter than this. =)

-Hammie
LA Metro #10

Sarasota, Florida

2010-10-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

LA Metro is going back to the show!

5-0 Southwest Regionals Champions
tourney wrap coming soon...

soaking up the moment for now....

Southwest Mixed Regionals 2010 Preview

2010-10-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

I finally have a slight break in the action to sit down and pound this out. My apologies if it is not as thorough as you guys are accustomed to. I'm putting together the last parts of the tournament in addition to the captain's packet + other logistical issues.

-ham
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With AMP, wHagonweel, Mischief, Polar Bears, Bucket, Conspiracy Theory, and Dirty Birds qualifying for the show this past weekend, 9 spots remain going into the weekend. As many of you have now experienced or heard of, the planning for the Southwest Regionals was simply disastrous and resulted in the divisions being split up around the SB/Oxnard area. There has been very little information about the Open division, but for the most part, the Mixed division has been ready to go since early September.

Two bids to Sarasota, Florida. Here is the team-by-team preview:

The Contenders
Here are the "big guns," or the teams that have the complete package to make a run to the show. This of course being the top 4 teams in the tournament, the headliners of each pool, and the teams that have all been there before.

7 Figures, Los Angeles, CA
Here we have the "talented upstarts," the first year mixed team who have proven that they are the top dog in the city of angels. The 7-Figures concept is nothing new. Add one part experienced open player, add another part experienced womens player, turn up the oven and broil for the duration of a season. In some cases, the recipe is wrong and the result is a team that has so much talent but simply can't play with each other. In this case, the result has been golden. 7 Figures has demonstrated over the season that this recipe works and when done with a group of guys and girls who have been playing with each other for years, you get quite a team construct. Winners of Chico, and finalists at Labor Day, they have run away from the rest of the field in the SoCal Section, beating Metro in the finals by 9. They are by far the rightful one-seed at Regionals and know that despite their success, other teams are coming after them.

Barrio, Tucson, AZ
Barrio finds themselves in the awkward position of the #2 seed in the tournament. For the past several years, they have been the perennial favorites to advance to the USAU Championships and despite having a successful year, they have not performed as dominantly as they have in the past. With solid wins over Dogfight, AIR, BCBC, and Golden Spike, Barrio likes to play with everything in balance. They are solid up and down the board and in my experience against them, any one of them can beat you. Of course with Jeff Grobe still playing top level Ultimate, he is still a force to be reckoned with. Barrio is the #2 seed... but watch for them to simply catch fire at the right time and show off that team chemistry they are known for.

LA Metro, Los Angeles, CA
It's been an up and down season for the orange and blue. A 11th place finish at Nationals last year was indeed successful but it left many with a hunger for more. However; with many key losses and a shuffling in the roster, it's been a rollercoaster ride of a season in 2010. Key wins over Polar Bears, Barrio, Dogfight, AIR, offset tough losses to 7-Figures, Killjoy, and Swagger. Injuries have ravaged the team including bouts of mono that have resulted in having incomplete rosters for all tournaments played this year, including Regionals. But Metro is ready, and has proven time and time again that you can't beat a formula that has already proven to work.

Masters of the Universe, Denver, CO
From what I've heard and been told, these are the Cougars from '08 and '09. You can almost expect a mix of ex-open and women's players a la 7-Figures. They have a lot of skill and experience and in the past two years have qualified for Nationals (only attending in '08). They have picked up some new faces and breezed through the Rocky Mountain Section with relative ease. They will be a "tough out" to put it in baseball terms.

The Dark Horses
These are the teams that will simply ruin a top seed's tournament. Brown Chicken Brown Cow and Killjoy are teams that have hung with the best all season but haven't quite cracked the top yet... but that doesn't mean that they aren't poised to do so. I would even put Red or Green in this category.

Brown Chicken Brown Cow (like Metro), has had a relatively up and down season with good wins coupled with very bad losses. Such a result could be caused by the fact that they don't ever have a definitive roster until the day of (sans the Series), in addition to making final cuts 2 weekends before the Series. What this means is that there is a plethora of talent on this team, but chemistry must be produced on site. They lost some players to injury but look them to give MotU all they can handle.

Killjoy is in the same boat. With them as the 6 seed overall, it sets up a rematch against Metro, whom they beat at Labor Day 14-11 for their only win of that tournament. They have solid throwers, and from what I remember, a pretty stingy defense. Red or Green is from New Mexico and from what I am told, they bring a lot to the table. As a humble 10 seed... they are technically in the middle of the pack, but gave Barrio a very good game at Sectionals in addition to some good wins at GRUB. I have never seen this team, but am basing this off of what I've heard/been told. They could wreak havoc in Pool A... or they could pack it in and just have a fun tournament. We shall see.

Middle of the Pack
Teams from ranks #7-->#14 are what I call, the pack. These are teams that have qualified for Regionals because they are good... but don't have what it takes to hang with the top teams in the Region.

Operation Kapow and Swingline hail from the Rocky Mountain Section and are a good example. They have a couple solid handlers and cutters but for the most part, depth is a major issue. In 2009, Operation Kapow made it all the way to the Semifinals, relying on their deep game male handlers, but in the couple games we've had against them, they have a solid top line but simply did not have the depth to keep up for 15 points. Maybe they did not have their full squads out at those tournaments, but it seems like they are in the middle of the pack, with losses to Swingline, Funk, Golden Spike, and really big losses to Metro, 7 Figures, and BCBC. Who knows about this team. Again... depth is an issue.
Party Van and Mesteno were teams who advanced to Quarters in '09. These teams have lost some players over the past year with Mesteno being less deep from what I remember from last year. They both have the potential to play hard against the top teams but again simply do not have the athleticism and depth to compete until the soft cap.

What would make me happy? One of these teams to prove me wrong and play balls out and do something crazy this weekend.

The Happy to be Here's
The bottom two teams in the Regional are the Expendables and LOFT... both from the Southern California Section with Loft advancing because SC6 Fork in the Road was unable to attend. These teams have nothing to lose and have an infinite amount to gain. There are two ways for these types of teams to play Regionals. One, as a spoiler to teams ranked above them to prove the TD wrong... or two, for fun. This would usually involve some drinking and consequently some forfeitures in the later placement brackets on Sunday but it doesn't matter. Ultimate is for fun right? It's great just to see these two teams out and I am very glad they decided to come play.

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It is now 8:55pm, and since my first keystroke on this entry, I've consumed a Pastrami Sandwich from the Hat in addition to two glasses of Merlot that I'm trying to finish before it goes bad. So to say the least, I apologize if this post was not as focused and poised as my previous previews.

I just want to add that serving as the Southwest Mixed Regionals Coordinator for this season has been quite a learning experience for me and I have come to appreciate any person who has had to set up and/or run an entire tournament. It is not easy and with the drama surrounding the venue changes and what not, it has been one wild ride. Thank you to ALL who have offered encouragement and support through the season. I don't think I could have done it all without you all.

T-minus 4 days until Regionals. 4 more days until the most important tournament of the year. 16 teams... all start off with a clean slate at 0-0. In the end, two teams will earn the right to extend their seasons and travel to Sarasota, Florida. Time to realize why we ran all those sprints, all those miles. Why we did all those push-ups, all those sit-ups. Time to realize that all our efforts on the season lead up to this tournament, and that if there was ever a time to leave it all on the field... now is the time. Envision greatness... picture yourself achieving your goals.

It's go time...

-10

Mixed Southern California Sectionals Preview

2010-09-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

First off, my sincerest apologies for not writing up a Labor Day wrap-up. Many of you guys know that I am the Regionals Coordinator for the Southwest so that has taken up the majority of my time in preparations for Sectionals and Regionals. However; I've just finalized the Sectionals schedule so I have some time now to write about the upcoming Mixed Sectionals in Long Beach, CA.

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Pool A

1. 7 Figures
2. Lunch Money
3. Loft
4. Fork in the Road

This pool is relatively straightforward. The big gun in this pool is obviously the top seed overall, 7-Figures from Los Angeles. Their impressive performance at the Labor Day Championships two weeks ago spoke volumes as to how good this team is and what they can do. With wins over Dogfight, Polar Bears, and a near finals-win over Mischief, 7-Figures looks very good going into the Series. Their men have a lot of open experience while their women are all seasoned veterans who bring speed and skill to complement the accuracy that their male throwers possess. They should have no problems in this pool and should cruise into semis.
Lunch Money, Loft, and Fork in the Road will be left battling for the coveted second spot into Semis. Lunch Money brings a lot of youth to the table with many players from the Air Squids in addition to seasoned veterans such as Alan M. who will throw 40 yard hammer bombs at will. They are quick and athletic. Loft, or "left over from teams" brings a gangg of seasoned players from the greater Los Angeles area. Same with Fork-in-the Road. I am unsure as to what these two teams bring to the table, but it will be interesting to watch them play and how they stack up against the #1 seed.

Note: I have also been told Fork in the Road has some sort of over/under beer bet going on with 7-Figures. Fork is going to be playing inspired against 7-Figs. Should be a good game to watch. If this is a over/under on point dif... I'm calling "UNDER."

Pool B

1. Metro
2. BCBC
3. Expendables
4. OCD
5. In-N-Out

With 5 teams in the pool, it was a tricky pool to schedule. LA Metro is the #2 seed overall in the tournament and look to break seed come bracket play, but they will have to first tackle their long-time rivals BCBC as the #3 seed overall. BCBC has thrown "multiple looks" at different tournaments this past year and it will be interesting to see who they actually have for the Series. BCBC suffered a significant loss in Brian Calle tearing his ACL or MCL at Labor Day. They lose one of their stronger handlers and now must rely on more of their cutters to do the disc handling. It will be interesting to see how this experienced team adjusts to this adversity in addition to their team only recently being finalized to their current roster.

The Expendables, OCD, and IN-N-Out are three teams that have been around for a while, but always bring something different to Sectionals. If you recall, IN-N-Out took half against LA Metro last year at Sectionals 8-6 enroute to a 11-13 loss. It was a VERY close game and they really brought it against us, even though we were the #1 seed overall. OCD is a very young team but they're quick and gritty and gave teams trouble last year as well. Their strength will really be their familiarity with each other as they are mostly players who played together on the Chapman College team. The Expendables are another "pickup" team that have experience and veteran leadership pulling for them.

The tricky part of pool B involved distributing round byes at appropriate times. Teams will have to deal with multiple byes, most noticeably IN-N-Out who have a double bye during the 4th and 5th rounds. It is going to be a very fun weekend with 6 total bids to Regionals.

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Open Preview

San Diego is going to roll through pool play and take the Sectionals title with a 15-12 win over the Condors in the finals. Look for 405 to be the "breakthrough" team in this tournament and who knows... maybe they can pull the upset over the Condors in the 3rd round. It will be very interesting to watch the Beyondors go up against the open teams. They made semifinals at Nationals last season and should still have a very strong roster.

Good luck in your preparation! See you all Saturday

-Hammie #10

Labor Day Mixed Preview

2010-09-01T23:14:00.000-07:00

First off, my apologies for not keeping up with the blog as of late. We are in the thick of the season, but my duties as the Southwest Mixed Regionals Coordinator has had be crazy busy so I have been unable to blog about Ultimate. But there's a break in the action, so here's a quick preview for this upcoming weekend. Props to Andy Bandit for the reminder =)

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Pool A
1. Polar Bears(1)
2. Golden Spike (8)
3. Death Star (9)
4. Dirty Birds (16)

This pool features three new teams to the mixed scene with top-seeded Polar Bears, Golden Spike from Utah, Death Star from Davis, CA, and the Dirty Birds from... notsureville. This pool looks very straightforward with the best game most likely coming from the 8-9 matchup between Golden Spike and Death Star. Polar Bears have proven to be very strong this season and are deserving of the top seed overall with a recent semis-finish at ECC. I'm eying the upset by Death Star over Golden Spike in a tight game.

Pool B
1. Mischief (2)
2. 7 Figures (7)
3. Operation Kapow (10)
4. American BBQ (15)

No upsets here. Mischief has been the blueprint for solid mixed-ultimate for the past 6 or so years and they will battle it out with upstarts 7-Figures, 2nd-year team Operation Kapow, and American BBQ. I just don't see any upsets happening here but look for 7-Figures to put up a very tough game for the #2 seed overall. 7-Figures has proven that blending open and women's players into a mixed team can work and their spot-on throws from their men to their female cutters is a very dangerous weapon that they like to utilize. This is Operation Kapow's first trip to Labor Day and should be looking to improve on their team game before the USAU Series.

Pool C
1. Barrio (3)
2. A.I.R. (6)
3. CTR (11)
4. Brown Chicken Brown Cow (14)

I am going to call this the "Pool of Death." You've got Nationals contender Barrio from Tuscon, AZ battling it out against BCBC, who placed 13th at Nationals last year, in addition to solid Bay Area teams in AIR and CTR. This is going to be one exciting pool to watch. AIR and CTR had a less than stellar showing at ECC but are at home in the Bay Area, looking to redeem themselves and put up a solid showing. BCBC are the dark horses at the 14th seed. No one really knows who's going to show up for their team but time and time again, they seem to always pull it together and cause some disruption in the pools. They are solid with women but a big question mark still remains in whether their unfamiliarity with each other will take precedence over their abundance of talent. Barrio takes the top seed going 3-0, with the other three teams just beating each other up. This pool is up for grabs. Should be fun to watch.

Pool D
1. Dogfight (4)
2. LA Metro (5)
3. FunK (12)
4. Operation Killjoy (13)

Pretty interesting to see the 4-5 match up and also the 12-13 matchup in one pool. Last time we played Dogfight, from Portland, OR, We were shut out in the first-half but closed to make it a somewhat "respectable" 8-14 loss. Dogfight is solid with a lot of athleticism and are a worthy top seed in Pool D. FunK and Killjoy are the two teams I am least familiar with. We lost to FunK on universe point at Calstates, but granted it was early in the season with tryouts, and we were resting the majority of our players for that final game on Sunday. Killjoy had a decent showing at GRUB but who knows how much better they've become since then. No upsets here, this pool finishes as is.

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The biggest concern for me this tournament has to be the playing surface. Turf has never been a favorite of mine and although there are no potholes or sprinkler heads to bust ankles on, the trade-off is the fact that the turf is not very forgiving on knees, hips, and shoulders. A big layout D last year dislocated my arm and has caused me to take more steps in mentally preparing to play again on the turf. It's no excuse though and shouldn't alter overall play... but I know the thought of getting hurt is always tucked away somewhere. (MRI on my shoulder coming soon). That said, this tournament is something I am really looking forward to. I'm playing back home in Northern California, the weather is going to be great, and above all, we're just out there having fun playing Ultimate. This is the last tournament before the club series and by now, most teams are hitting their stride and flexing their muscle.

Best of luck to all teams participating this weekend, and good luck to the Irvine club players (Allen, Evan, Iris, Annie, Melissa, Enway), who are participating in the Labor Day Championships this year. I will be in Northern California until Tuesday evening seeing family, so expect a tournament wrap Monday evening or Tuesday morning.

Cheers! Safe Travels

Samuel Chen
LA Metro #10

follow metro at www.twitter.com/metroultimate

Emerald City Classic 2010 Preview

2010-08-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

The pools went up on the USA Ultimate score reporter earlier this week, and by most standards, it was a bit wonky to say the least. I am unsure whether this will be the final format for a 13-team field, but generally the seedings are a bit suspect and I am unsure as to whether the seeding was done on purpose, or if the TD's threw darts at team names on the wall to determine #'s 1-13. Well anyway, I'll be going on what they have up currently.

Pool A
1. AIR
2. Barrio
3. Dogfight
4. Polar Bears

Pool B
1. CTR
2. LA Metro
3. Slow White
4. Ranier Rapture

Pool C
1. District 5
2. FunK
3. Mischief
4. Swagger
5. Psychoplastique

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With 3 of the top 5 seeds from the Bay Area, it'll be interesting to see how this pans out. Personally I believe several teams are ridiculously under-seeded (Mischief, Barrio, Polar Bears), not to mention Nationals contenders Psychoplastique. ECC has always been THE tournament I've wanted to attend in club. Being a young player, I would see the ultivillage tapes of the top teams in the nation competing it out in a "pre-nationals" tournament that would feature... like I said, National-caliber teams. A good example would be to look at the Open side of the tournament.

The mixed division doesn't have the star power the Open or Women's divisions have, but with 5 teams that have participated in Nationals within the past several years, (Metro, Mischief, Psychoplastique, Swagger/Doh', Barrio), there will be plenty of good play. Seeding is still a bit weird for me... as they do not reflect the way teams have been playing in the past several tournaments.

If you look at CalStates and Revolutions, it simply does not fit. Polar Bears won the tournament going 6-0 and they're seeded last in their pool. AIR posted losses to Mischief and FunK and sits on top of the field. It's trends like this that have me questioning the validity of the pools/rankings, but hey... it's still early in the season and who knows how good these teams actually are. The two teams from the East Coast, District 5 and Slow White are looking good. District 5 has only lost once in the past month or so, to perennial Nationals team, AMP from Phily. Slow White has only lost twice all season... both to District 5... so these teams show great strengths early on. Mischief has two losses all season, to District 5 and Slow White. Interesting huh? It'll be pretty neat to see all these Regional powerhouses go at it in Seattle.

We could talk about seeding/rankings all morning... why someone is underseeded, why someone is overseeded, but at the end of the day, it's all proven on the field. We're out of the "pre-season" now and working into the heart of the season. It's ECC, then Labor Day, and then the all important Series. We'll be posting score updates and tournament shenanigans here.

Wish us luck. Hopefully we can make Southern California proud.

-hammie #10

GRUB 2010 Recap

2010-07-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Overcoming obstacles is a staple of any sports team's season. Whether it be struggles with team chemistry, logistics, or strategy; a good team finds ways to overcome and exceed expectations in the face of adversity. Such was so in our first trip to GRUB (Grass Roots Ultimate Benefit) in Boulder, CO. Already going into the tournament without 3 of our main offensive handlers as well as a dominant offensive cutter, we knew that the remaining 19 or so would have to step up our game offensively but after losing our main O-line handler Friday night due to a "freak injury," the cards were stacked that much more against us. Factor in the travel, the altitude, and temperatures in the high 90's... we had the beginnings of a potentially disappointing turnout.

We were seeded 4th overall in the tournament with Colorado's Liver Punch and Pimpin' Hoes, and Arizona's Barrio seeded 1-3 respectively. We already knew that the altitude would be a factor for us sea-level dwellers, but the heat didn't help... hitting nearly 100 degrees in the sun with very little breeze. We knew about the odds we were facing, the adversity, and we knew that it would require every single player to step up his/her game for the team to succeed.

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Saturday

Round 1 vs. Mesteno
Mesteno was a team we faced in Regionals the previous year. They feature a line of athletic cutters and one or two real throwing threats. Biggest surprise to many was the success the O-line had from the get-go in terms of chemistry and flow. We had only 2 practices since CalStates and despite the absence of our top line handlers, the disc flowed without resistance while our defense was a bit slow to figure out Mesteno's offense. We eventually figured out their offensive strengths, forcing them into tough decisions and risky throws which added up to a 15-11 win. We were up big at some point, but definitely showed a lack of poise in allowing Mesteno to steal some easy breaks at the end. D-line closes the door 15-11.

Round 2 vs. Colorado University
We knew we had to improve and play better against the College team from Boulder, CO. In pre-game, we referred to them as "kids" but we all knew that we had to play better than them to merit such judgement. The offense continued to gel and play well together while the D-line worked to contain their deep shot oriented offense. Additionally, this team wasn't very effective at cross-gender flow so the D-line had a field-day exploiting their matchups and forcing risky up-field throws by harassing the throwers on the mark. Metro wins easily 15-9.

Round 3 vs. Operation Kapow
The last time we played each other, a bid to Nationals was on the line with Metro prevailing 15-9. This time around, the stakes were not as high, but bragging rights were definitely desired. We started the game by trading the first couple points. Our women were consistently winning their matchups and it came down to the men working harder to step it up and win theirs. Our hard defense and patient offense began to wear down the team from Denver, and before we knew it, we had taken half 8-4 in the midst of a 9-0 run that put Kapow away 15-4. At half up 8-4, the mood was loose, smiles all around. But every single player demonstrated that they were not satisfied and being up 8-4 was by no means grounds to relax. The defense continued to be relentless. Big D's, hand-blocks, run through D's, we forced Kapow into very uncomfortable situations and dictated their throws rather than reacting. Metro wins 15-4 to take Pool D.

Cross-over vs. Liver Punch
Liver Punch was the #1 seed overall in the tournament with top players from CU as well as Bravo and Box/Rare Air. They really did not have a weakness and was a team that would not turn the disc on their own accord. We went down early, playing flat and uninspired offense as well as "prevent" defense rather than actual defense. Despite only being down 1 break at the half, fatigue and the effects of a long day in the sun were starting to show. Throws were a little bit too far... discs were being dropped, but we were right there. Liver Punch was good but they did not put us away right away and allowed us to "hang around." Losing 12-15 to them might have felt as a relief in being able to go home, but to many it was a bitter defeat. We knew we were good enough to beat them and despite many opportunities to punch in breaks, we were unsuccessful.

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Sunday

Quarterfinals vs. Barrio
Big games require big performances. Whether it comes on the defensive side, or the offensive side... it simply has to happen. Against Barrio, we all knew that the big plays would have to come from the defensive side of the disc. Our offense was playing well all weekend and had the simple assignment of scoring each time. The defense was facing a very disciplined, very well coached team that would not give up breaks easily and whose defense could break us back just as easily. We started on D, and to our surprise, generated a turnover and punched it in for the 1-0 lead and quick break. The next 5 or 6 points or so were very intense with each team's offense moving it effectively and without incident. Barrio then threw a zone and got their break back after a series of bad decision on our part. They had the momentum, and were looking for their offense to continue to trend. But our defense stepped up big time and generated a stop, and not one... but two breaks to put us up 8-6 at the half, on offense to start.

But oh how the wind can change. We pushed it to a 9-6 lead with an offensive gem of a point after half but after the defense failed to make a stop to make it 9-7, Barrio's defense showed their teeth in the form of a standard zone that proved to be our downfall. They scored 4 straight on the zone to bring it to 10-11 and hard-cap on (first to 12 wins) with Metro on defense. We were on Defense trying to force universe, and Barrio calmly moved the disc down for the 12-10. It was a very bitter loss for us. We ALL knew what had happened, and we all knew what we "coulda woulda shoulda" done. Turnovers did us in, and it was a team effort in the loss... and we all knew that things could have been different.

Placement Game (5th) vs. Love Tractor
This could have easily been a "throw-away" game where we just tune out and "let things go." This might have been the case last year, or the year before, but I can vouch for everyone there that not one person wanted to relax and would much rather take their frustrations out on the next game. We came out firing generating 2 or 3 breaks right away behind the solid play from the defense. Love Tractor was a solid team that had formidable throwers and deep threats and we didn't really contain their offense until late in the first half. The offense continued to flow very well behind stellar play from Keegan and Karen Ko who paced the team to a 15-6 win. Throw in a post-game chat and a sudden 20 minute thunderstorm, and we had the punctuation point to a very successful showing at our first ever GRUB.

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We now have two weeks off to rest and relax before a series of practices in preparation for ECC in August. GRUB really served as a barometer for our team in terms of where we stack up in the Region and things look optimistic and bright as we head into the meat of our season.

-Regards
Hammie
LA Metro #10

Twitter

2010-07-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Follow Metro at tournaments via Twitter

http://twitter.com/metroultimate

Off to (even hotter) Colorado today. 5,000+ feet closer to that big ball of flame in the sky.

GRUB 2010 Preview

2010-07-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Pool A

A1: Pimpin' Aint Easy, Boulder,CO

A2: Golden Spike, Salt Lake City, UT

A3: Operation KillJoy, Fort Collins, CO

A4: Midnight Threat Level, KS

Pool B

B1: Liver Punch, Boulder, CO

B2: Swingline, Colorado Springs, CO

B3: Blast Susie, Denver, CO

B4: Red or Green?, ABQ

Pool C

C1: Barrio, Tuscon, AZ

C2: Trollhaveners, San Francisco, CA

C3: The Business, Denver, CO

C4: Love Tractor, Boulder, CO

Pool D

D1: LA Metro, Los Angeles, CA

D2: Operation Kapow!, Denver, CO

D3: Mesteno, Denver, CO

D4: Rule of Thumb, Boulder, CO

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This is the first tournament that we are participating in that will feature our new squad for the 2010 season. The tryout process started way back in May and now in mid-July, our roster has been finalized and we are ready to roll. This is also the first time our team will be attending GRUB (Grass Roots Ultimate Benefit Tournament), which is now in its 19th year (http://gru.org/play/grub-2010).

This tournament will feature some of the top teams from the Southwest Region, most notably perennial powerhouse Barrio from Tuscon, Arizona, and the new upstarts in Operation Kapow as well as some other solid teams from the Denver/Boulder area. I am not familiar with the majority of the teams going to this tournament, but the ones I do know about are the Trollhaveners from San Fran, which are a bunch of BCBC players + friends. Mesteno, Swingline, and Love Tractor were all teams that we played in Regionals in Arizona. They are solid teams and it will be interesting to see how they stack up in the Region. Golden Spike is a team from the Northwest Region that gave us a very good game last year. They were athletic and very skilled in our only meeting at the Labor Day Championships in SF.

Essentially, this tournament is a barometer for our team in the region. We are already slated to play against Operation Kapow, which will prove to be a tough match since word has it that they have been actively recruiting in the Colorado area to improve their already talented team. If you remember, Operation Kapow was the team that we beat in the Semifinals of Regionals last season to secure a bid to Nationals. It was a close game in the beginning but with our team breaking it open with a 6-0 run to pace us to a 15-9 win. I guess it's safe to say that this is a pretty anticipated rematch between the two teams. Although our team won't be at full strength with several key players being absent, this tournament will be an indication to our team identity, our style of play, and what we need to work on in preparation for ECC and Labor Day. Regional Champs Barrio will also be there, and although it might not line up for our teams to play each other, it will be a good thing to have an early gauge on how difficult the road to Nationals will be. We still believe that the road to Nationals goes through Southern California with the likes of Metro, BCBC and 7 Figures, but this tournament will allow us to see what the Colorado and Arizona teams have in store for us.

The altitude will definitely play a role, and I've been running my track workouts with that fact in mind. The air is thinner, the oxygen density in the air is less, and the Colorado teams will definitely have an advantage being acclimated to that altitude for months, while we have mere hours to do so. I'm stoked to play this tournament, and I am anxious to be playing at top level again. Ten more days until first pull.

-Hammie #10

Anteaters on Club teams

2010-06-15T08:45:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to the UC Irvine Eaters who have made the roster for their respective club teams for the 2010 season.

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LA Metro (SoCal Sectionals Champs, Regionals Runners up, 11th place finish at Nationals)*
-Enway Hsu (3rd season)
-Hammie Chen (3rd season)

Metro returns over 3/4 of it's squad but only 3 women, including Enway. After winning Sectionals on universe point, and taking 2nd at Regionals, the Metroids look to make a return to Sarasota and improve on their surprising 11th place finish. The journey starts at GRUB in Colorado where they will see Regionals rivals Barrio and the retooled Operation
Kapow. The roster will be finalized this upcoming weekend with practices starting right thereafter.

San Diego Safari (SoCal Sectionals Champs, 3rd place finish at Regionals, 12th place finish at Nationals)*
-Iris Leung (2nd season)
-Annie Ngo (2nd season)
-Melissa Spalding (1st season)

Safari is ready to make another run at Nationals despite losing many players to Knockout and the Mixed division. They have a solid core of ladies that have plenty of experience and will again have to do battle against Rare Air and possibly the Lady Condors (if it happens), to qualify. Iris and Annie have both improved immensely during their past season here with the Grass Ninjas and look for these two to be solid role players on this team who will be crucial to Safari's success. Melissa is a great addition to the team in that she brings speed and athleticism to the cutting core. Despite it being her first year or so playing, she will learn so much from Safari and I know will develop into a baller player for the crew from San Diego.

San Diego Street Gang (SoCal Sectionals Runner-up, Regionals Runners-up, 15th place finish at Nationals)*
-Allen Lai (1st season)
-Evan Valdez (1st season)

I am so proud of these two guys. They have worked very hard to get where they are and have been rewarded for their efforts with roster spots on Southern California's best open team (atleast for now). Allen and Evan both bring a lot of speed and experience to this already veteran roster and will play important roles in their huck-heavy offense. After a heartbreaking loss in the finals at Sectionals and a somewhat disappointing show at Sarasota despite a very surprising and impressive win over Boston's Ironside, Street Gang has retooled their roster and look to do some damage late into the season. They will face their rivals the Condors, and Johnny Bravo(?), but I have these guys winning the Region this year, if their top players can stay healthy.

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Good luck on the season and hopefully we'll throw the zot-zot-zot at the Polo Fields in late-October.

*-2009 Series results

Hammie #10

Progression of UC Irvine Ultimate

2010-06-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

As the case in most sports, it is really cool to see how a team progresses as the years go by. I've only been playing on an organized team since 2005, 2006ish, and have been part of many teams, most notably UC Irvine, LA Metro, and Frorida/City Wok.

I guess this post is more for my own enjoyment as to see how teams I've been a part of have progressed and morphed into what they are today. I'll talk about UC Irvine today. Metro and Frorida will come another time.

University of California, Irvine

'04: Urban Sprawl
'05-'06: Bone

'06-'07: ICU
'07-present: NightLife

The names we've flown by over the years already demonstrates the progression that this young program has had in the past. In a previous post, I talked about the very beginnings of UCI Ultimate.

It started out in 2003 with several grad students. The first undergrads began to trickle in and a team was formed. We flew under "Urban-Sprawl" and from video, you can see that our play was not very high level and we did not qualify for Regionals. One [suspension] year later, we begin anew with a new freshmen class and the team name, "Bone."

The progression made was not only in numbers, but also in level of play. I believe this was the first year we began running serious practices with strategy and white board sessions. We established a Vertical Stack offense and despite such "organization," we still played a very loose style of ultimate with hammers and gratuitous layouts being very obvious. Our "HUGE" win was over UCLA-B on double game point in the consolation bracket.

Winning over Smaug-B to us back then (ranked #238 in the nation) was like winning Nationals. It's very trivial to look back and see that win as such a huge accomplishment, but I still remember the rush of winning and the joy my teammates and I shared as we celebrated our qualifying for our first ever Regionals, taking the last qualifying spot behind UCSD-B.

2008-2009 saw another landmark, with the first permanent coaching figure at UCI. Under the direction of KG who served as a captain as well as a primary coach, the new team saw it's first rebuilding year as well with the graduation of literally the starting 7 from the '07-'08 campaign. 2009-2010 was another breakthrough with the formation of the first ever UCI B-team, in addition to full-time coaches coaching both the A and B squads.

It is scary to think that after my graduation from the program, there were thoughts that UCI would not survive the next several years, but through th determination of the players, coaches, and alumni, the program is gaining steam and had progressed from mediocrity to a competitive team that is expected to compete with the best in the Region. In addition, Irvine Ultimate is represented on local Elite Club teams such as LA Metro, Monster, Strike-Slip, Street Gang, and Safari by current players and alumni alike. To see Irvine players holding their own on their respective teams is very encouraging in addition to seeing them make crucial plays and not simply ride the bench.

The progression of the Men's program also translated into the establishing and growth of the UCI Women's program, the Grass Ninjas, coached by Allen Lai, this team started out as "Pink Posse" in 2006-2007, not knowing much about the game, and now has morphed into a team with 20+ players, qualifying for Regionals and showing positive signs of growth and player development.

At this juncture, we have players playing on National level teams in Safari, Metro, and San Diego. These players all play big roles on their respective teams and can be seen contributing on all levels of the game. I had a friend once say to me that it is "easy to spot an Ultimate player who went to UCI." Apparently we all throw the same way and can handle. Irvine's players are slowly making themselves known in the area. It is very encouraging to see our players getting recognized on the club level and even taking up leadership roles in the Los Angeles Ultimate community.

Additionally, Irvine has become a "farm" system for local club teams such as Monster that have recruited Irvine players the past 3 years or so. Despite the somewhat absence of club ultimate in SoCal, Irvine players are starting to put their fingerprints on the teams. Hopefully in the future more players from NightLife and the Grass Ninjas will play important roles on club teams, and/or possibly start up new club teams in the area.

On-field play aside, the culture of Irvine Ultimate is something to behold. The Women's and Men's teams are one cohesive bunch, hanging out with each other all the time, throwing with each other, and practicing with each other. Not many schools get that luxury of having both programs work so closely together and as the years go by, I hope that this is something that won't soon fade from Irvine's Ultimate culture. The video below simply shows that despite the sport that holds us together, Ultimate in Irvine is all about the players and the people. Smiles all around. I love this program. So proud to be an alumni.

zot zot zot!

Hammie #10
UC Irvine Nightlife Alumni 2008

Cal-States 2010 Mixed Wrap-Up

2010-06-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

So go ahead and ignore the post I made with the pools. Slug Ultimate sent out an email with that set-up but it was altered upon arriving at the fields. Instead of a pool with AIR, TWSS, and Classy, we were put in a pool with CTR, Classy, and Dutch Rudder. The schedule had it where the 1 seed and 2 seeds in each respective pool were playing each other first round on Saturday. Which I am honestly not a fan of.

(Note: Cal States did not have anything online regarding scores or pools so this is really just me trying to recollect everything so don't get upset if the score is off).

First round vs. CTR
Came out FLAT. CTR was a talented group of players from the Bay Area. The easy excuse for us in the performance we had the first half would have been that we were trying out new players, but the truth was that we didn't come prepared. People were late, people weren't mentally ready, and we just came out playing tentative and were trying to be "too cute" with the disc rather than power it/move it like we knew we could. We went down 12-5 with CTR simply out-matching us, with the majority of the turnovers being on our miscues. After recollecting ourselves, we began to go on a little bit of a run and actually pulled it to 11-12 after a 6-0 run. However; the run was stopped at 6 and CTR scored the winning goal to win 13-11. Despite the loss, we had our heads up as we definitely brought it the second half and knew that if we hadn't spotted them such a huge lead, we would be right there with them.

Round 2 vs. Classy
Much better play this game with a lot of good disc movement. Last time we played Classy, we got ourselves down in a hole of 1-9 as a #1 seed in Chico. It was terrible and although the game was pretty much decided after 5 points, we continued to push and ran away with the game 13-5(?)-ish. Much better movement, much better decision making led to a much better result.

Round 3 vs. Dutch Rudder
Again, we carried our momentum into this third game and won the game within the first half. We were executing very well and our new recruits were definitely bringing their game, especially the new women who were simply outclassing the opposition in terms of speed, agility, and throwing. Showed us that our play wasn't simply a fluke and that we were able to be consistent in our level of play. Metro over Dutch Rudder 13-6(?)

Pre-Quarters vs. That's What She Said (TWSS)
Since we placed second in our pool, we were not granted a bye into Quarters but had to play TWSS in Pre-Quarters. We came out on fire in the first half with great play by our returning guys in addition to hard harassing defense that generated many turns. I believe we only turned it once in the first half to take a 7-1 or 7-2 lead into half, but kind of let up afterwards, but still winning by a wide margin. I was not pleased with the fact that after we took half, people got distracted, watching other games, screwing around, etc. etc. I know it was an early tournament and we were up big, but the poise begins now. The experience is gained now. Our team has a history of focus issues after generating leads and we didn't capitalize on an opportunity to stay disciplined and focused. Lessoned learned.

End of Saturday
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Quarterfinals vs. (#1)Polar Bears
As I stated in the preview, Polar Bears were the logical #1 seed for this tournament and despite winning their pool, teams that played them said that they struggled a bit in the early going but I am more than sure that their early round struggles were similar to ours in trying out new players, and getting things back into gear. This was a 10:30am start for us and was the featured game after a very great Wolf vs. Condors battle in which the storied club team from Santa Barbara upset Wolf on Double Game point. We were warming up on sidelines and right when that game was over, it was 7 on, ready to go.

Polar came out strong and quickly got a break on us. We had some bad miscues that resulted in turnovers in our own red-zone which (with their throwers) led to easy break scores. After that first break, we managed to break back at around 5's, but quickly lost that break right after half. It was 9-10, with Polar Bears generating a red-zone turnover again and calling time/out to set up a play. This proved to be the turning point in the game with our defense holding the line and Yugo making a very smart and timely poach D. [Insert Transition/fast break offense here] Before we knew it we had worked it down the field on the fast break and scored to tie it at 10's. Big swing of momentum and later on after a couple near breaks for us, we punched in a break to take the lead.

That ultimately led to Universe point, with Metro going up-wind on offense. A lot of people had begun crowding to watching this game, and the final point did not disappoint. We had a stellar line out against their best defensive line and after some calm disc work, Keegan hucks up a break-side backhand huck to Barrs who goes up high and wins the 50/50 for the dgp win. It was a good win for us and we showed a lot of grit and a lot of heart even on the brink of being down two breaks late. Defense won us that game... albeit it was great defense after an offensive turnover. We took a lot from this game, and knew that these adjustments would need to be worked on over the course of the season if we wanted to step up higher into that Elite level of play during the Series.

On another note, I think the mentality was pretty good for the last point. Most of our team had no idea it was dgp until it was over (myself included), and if you think about it, DGP is like any other point really,. Great win for us... and we were "rewarded" with a bye before Semi-finals.

Semifinals vs. A.I.R.
This was a battle. Both teams were very balanced but I felt like AIR integrated their women into their game plan a lot better than we did. We began to fall back into some of our habits and found ourselves down a bit and it was a "trade-points until we ran out of time" scenario. We couldn't generate a break and even times we'd get a turn, we couldn't punch it in, or we'd turn it right back. It was a very intense game and to their credit, AIR has really taken that extra step since the last time we played them in 2009. They have solid throwers, very dangerous deeps, and their women held their own and were very effective. AIR wins 13-11 to advance to Finals vs. Mischief.

3rd place game vs. FunK
In typical Metro fashion, we spotted the team 3 points before rallying back to force DGP at 11's. We fought hard but there were some moments where we just let golden opportunities slip by. They were a solid group of players that matched up well against our crew, but as the heat continued to increase, fatigue definitely became a factor in this game. Early season, no one is quite in shape and it showed as we had some uncharacteristic drops, and some untimely mental lapses. It was a well fought game and we were proud of ourselves after this one with our 4th place finish.

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In all, it was a great tournament for us. We got to see our new recruits show off their abilities and to really get a sense of how our team would be this year and quite frankly, it's looking a lot better than in years previous. Our next tournament is not for another month, so after finalizing our roster within the next weeks, we will be practicing full-time to get ready for GRUB in Colorado. Just wanted to say that everyone played well and all the try-outs were ballers and that the decisions to trim our team to a final roster will be difficult.

Other Notable Results:

Our sister-team from Los Angeles, 7-Figures, also played well this weekend with a DGP win over Polar Bears and a solid showing. Their women were running circles around players and they look poised to do a lot of damage in the very competitive mixed Southwest Region.

Wolf was upset by the Condors in Quarters on double game point. I watched the majority of this game and the Condors played a very sound team-oriented offense. Of course there were the huge bombs put up by Arbiter to a streaking receiver... but other than that, it was a very good win for the Condors who surprised a lot of people with this win.

Open Finals were between Revolver and Street Gang. All weekend these two teams had simply been rolling but the finals was clearly a mismatch with Street Gang's deep game simply not being effective enough against the athletic and skilled Revolver team. The hucks that were hitting receivers open by 15 yards for Street Gang in earlier rounds began to float into 50/50's as the wind picked up. it was a one-sided affair with Revolver pulling away 15-6 for the tournament win.

Till next time,

Hammie #10

Cal States 2010 Mixed Preview

2010-06-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

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

Cal-States 2010 Mixed Preview

2010-06-02T16:27:00.001-07:00

A1:Polar Bears
A2: 7 Figures
A3: Dogfight
A4: Feral Cows

B1: Mischief
B2: CTR
B3: Lunch Money
B4: Dutch Rudder

C1: LA Metro
C2: AIR
C3: Classy
C4: TWSS

D1: BCBC
D2: FunK
D3: Butter
D4: TFT

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Preview coming soon

Hammie #10

All League Awards

2010-05-28T13:15:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Mary-Kate 'Uzi' Hogan (USC) ,and Lindsey 'Screamer' Cross (USC) on being selected to the Women's College All-Region First team.

Congratulations also to Gerene Garcia (CSULB) and Sara Carnahan (Claremont) on being selected to the Women's College All-Region Second team.

Simply put... LA Metro women are ballers.

-hammie #10

SB Classic Preview

2010-05-25T13:55:00.001-07:00

SB Classic 2010. This tournament essentially marks the first club tournament of the year; atleast in the Southern California area. It has always been a fun tournament, a mix of casual and fun ultimate as well as competitive and intense ultimate. This is a tournament that many people go to just finish off the college season, and for others, to earn spots on their respective teams that use this as a tryout. Metro is one of those teams.

This year, we will be fielding two teams. We've never split XY before and this is the first time we've had the numbers to do so. It's the first tryout tournament for this season and although we will be looking to do well, we will be moreso scoping out prospective players and evaluating those who can potentially better our team for the duration of the season. Here is a brief preview regarding each team in addition to predictions.

Pool A:
1. Ambush Paddington, Santa Barbara, CA
2. Brown Chicken Brown Cow, ???, ???
3. LA Metro-Y, Culver City, CA
4. In N' Out, Greater Southern California
5. Roeder's Runners, Irvine, CA

Ambush Paddington
The defending champs, they are a mix of experienced as well as young players from the Santa Barbara area. They have several strong players who have played Condors in the past in addition to women who have experience on the National level in College and in Club. They're a well balanced and athletic team who are deserving of the number one seed, given that they are the returning champs as well as the home team.

Brown Chicken Brown Cow
Our rival friends, BCBC has "graduated" away a lot of players from the SLO area to the Condors but continue to (allegedly) pick up great talent from all over the place (citation needed). They bring a lot of athleticism to the table in addition to a slew of great throwers on both the men and womens side. Despite going 5-1 against this team last year, they always seem to surprise people with their play, and each of their tournament rosters.

LA Metro-Y
The 'Wine' line, as we like to call it, this team is headed up by returners, Kief Z,, Trogdor, Rob Severson, Spencer Barr, and the uncoverable Jeff Chai. They have great talent on this team with plenty of cutters and in my opinion is the stronger of the two Metro teams. We're trying out a whole bunch of people this tournament. Should be a great time seeing who can ball.

In N' Out
This team will outdrink any other team. They are focused on fun and having a great time BUT can sneak up and beat you if you're not careful. At Sectionals last season, this team went up 9-7 on us and had us on our heels. They're a more experienced bunch, and a joy to play against.

Roeder's Runners
This team is made up of current and alumni players from UC Irvine. They are pretty well rounded with great throwers, fast cutters, and deep threats up an down. If they cut deep... their throwers will not be able to resist and you can bet your ass that that disc is gonna be put up deep. I love these people. When I played with them up at Potlatch, we went 7-1. Can't wait to watch them play.

Projected Finish
Ambush Paddington, LA Metro-Y, BCBC, Roeder's Runners, In N' Out

Pool B:
1. Polar Bears (rawr)
2. LA Metro-X
3. Simpler Times
4. Mafia
5. TFT

Polar Bears
The Polar Bears have simply dominated the coed scene ever since they decided to be a serious mixed team a couple months ago. Finishing 2nd place at Lei-Out really got everyone's attention such that their DUI 2010 title came at no surprise. The team bleeds LPC Red and Black as they have a core group of guys who have grown up playing together. Their chemistry is unmatched. Add in several college women who have Nationals experience, you have the makings of a legitimate Nationals contender in the always tough Northwest division.

LA Metro-X
The 'Beer' line, this Metro team is headed up by returning members Yugo, Scott Mahr, Mark Miller Simon Margolis, and yours truly. We're solid up and down with solid handlers and strong tryouts that will be thirsty to impress and pwn. I can't wait.

Simpler Times
I'm not too sure about this team, but my friends have told me that this team is essentially the 'EVIL' team from last year comprised of some core members of the now-defunct Strike-Slip team as well as members from the Condors + Lady Condors. They will be a very tough matchup in that they are all experienced, smart, and have played with each other for quite a while.

Mafia
UC Irvine's annual SB Classic team has undergone a change in that most of the veteran players and alumni are now playing with Roeder's Runners. This has left this team with most of the newer players from the B-team in addition to players from UC Irvine's women's team, the Grass Ninjas. Most of the players on this team are new to the game and have only been playing for a year or two. They'll have their hands full with the competition but I am certain they will be able to hold their own.

TFT
A team hailing from the Bay Area... which is really all I know about them. I have some friends who play on this team but skill wise as a team, I am unsure how they are. All I know is that the two guys that I know on this team love to boost and from what I remember from DUI, they have a good core of cutters and female handlers as well.

Projected Finish:
Polar Bears, Metro-X, Simpler Times, TFT, Mafia

Quarters:
Ambush Paddington vs. In N' Out
Metro-X vs. BCB
Metro-Y vs. Simpler Times
Polar Bears vs. Roeder's Runners

Semis:
Ambush Paddington vs. Metro-X
Polar Bears vs. Metro-Y

Finals:
Ambush Paddington over Metro-Y 15-12

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It's going to be a dandy!

-hammie #10
LA Metro-X

LA Metro Early Season Schedule

2010-05-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

The season is just starting, club players are coming out of pick-up hibernation and starting to hit the track in anticipation for another lengthy club season. LA Metro recently had two pick-up sessions in which we saw over 50 players participate. It is a tough job to be a captain these days, and with the formation of a new coed team in the LA area, good talent is scarce, but I think we will be fine. Here is our tentative schedule for the next month or two.

May 30-May 31
Santa Barbara Classic, Goleta, CA
10-12 teams competing in a warm up tournament for all teams. Metro will be sending two teams of 20 (wowsers). We will be treating this tournament as a tryout for those who are new in anticipation for Cal States, where we will field a much leaner and meaner team.

June 5-June 6
Cal States, Santa Cruz, CA
This is by far my favorite tournament in the Ultimate circuit (minus Nationals). The weather is generally perfect at this time, the field is beautiful, and you get a great view of the ocean. That said, the competition is all but beautiful. This is predominantly every club team's main "try-out" tournament and although teams do not have the full chemistry yet, it's a very high level tournament that we've placed 2nd and 3rd in the '08 and '09 respectively. I'm also looking forward to spending time at home with the parents. Always nice to be back home.

June 12-13 or 19-20
Final Tryout
We will be holding one more set of "official" tryouts in Culver City, CA. After this final tryout, the final roster will be set.

July 17-18*
Grass Roots Ultimate Benefit Tournament (GRUB), Boulder, Colorado
Not 100% confirmed that we are going, but we are in the process of securing a bid to this tournament in beautiful Boulder Colorado in the middle of July. We will be able to size up the competition from our friends in the Rockies and hopefully use this tourney to tune up kinks and develop chemistry among the new members and the returners.

August 14-15
Emerald City Classic, Seattle, Washington
We are interested in attending this tournament, but are not sure as we have yet to hear back from the TD's after several weeks of trying to reach them. Hopefully we'll be able to attend, as this tournament is probably one of the highest level tournaments during the Club Season. Update coming soon.

Other Tournaments:

Discos Calientes, Chico, CA- We hate this tournament, despite winning it last year... we don't like it. So we are putting a lot of thought in this before we decide if we want to go

Labor Day, San Francisco, CA- 2nd place finish last year. Great tournament to prepare for the Club Series. It's always good to play against the powerhouse Bay Area teams: CTR, AIR, Mischief, and this tourney has been a very good barometer for our play in the middle of our season.

Sectionals: Rumored to be in Long Beach. Maybe we'll play BCBC 2 times again?

Regionals: Will be in Southern California. I can guarantee you that much.

Till next time,
Hammie
LA Metro #10

Types of Pickup Players

2010-04-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

In any level of pickup, there will be the "token" ______ guy. The guy who you always find at pickup regardless of level or geography. Here are just a few that I noticed.

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1. The Elder Statesman
Here is the guy that has a 4 digit UPA number. Here is the guy who started throwing hucks and hammers even before you knew about the game. You will frequently hear them talking about the 8th edition rules and gasp when they realize that the UPA is on the 11th edition. They may be older than most of us, but they still can ball. Typically they will bring their shaggy dog with them to the pickup game in addition to 2 or 3 of their young childeren whom at age 5 (sorry to say), tend to have better flicks than we do. Most are handlers who don't move very quickly on their surgically repaired knees (see Braces McGee), but will bomb hucks and 50 yard hammers with stunning accuracy. Poachy defense, and with great spirit, these old dogs are to be respected as they offer so much for the younger generation to learn.

2. Agro Craig
Mr. "Takes it too seriously." Or the guy who simply is too competitive for the level of pickup. We all have seen it... or maybe even assumed tihs role. These guys tend to be the more sour personalities of the bunch and are frequently seen chewing out their team for bad cuts/lack of cuts and/or muttering under his/her breath about how the cutter didn't make that deep S-cut or how the handler simply couldn't throw that inside/out flick break in the wind. Their skills tend not to keep up with their level of expectations from their teammates (although there are few exceptions), but in most cases, the average pickup player will just leave him be in his cloud of Agro-ness. They expect a lot out of other players who are really there just for some nice exercise and sun... and treat pickup much like universe point in the game to go to nationals. Sometimes warrented... usually ignored. Most players will respond to his motivational speeches promoting timed-cuts, hard defenses and marks with a simple reply of.. "Dude it's just Pickup..." Also will D the sh*t out of women.

3. The Newbie
These guys loove to BBQ. Backhand of course. Gear of choice includes and is not limited to a grey t-shirt, board shorts, tennis shoes, and/or a very confused facial expression. These are the guys who are usually brought out by friends, or who are new to the game. They are there to learn, and you have to give them credit for their determination and willingness to try. They stand out on the open side, not sure as to what to do, and when given the disc, they twirl the disc up above their head and throw the famous BBQ Backhand. Give them a couple more pickups... and they'll have the game down easy.

4. The Prespirer
The guy you hate to mark... because he's just dripping in sweat. They don't ever believe in synthetic materials and love to sport the dark cotton shirt that is simply struggling to keep up. It's not a big deal until you have to mark them and they pivot into you, drowning you in the process. They're good players... but for some reason just like to sweat.

5. Braces McGee
(See Elder Statesman). These are the guys that take quite a bit of time to get in the right flexibility/stretchy/warm uppy mode to play. In addition to cleats, players of this category will sport two humungous knee braces usually made of neoprene + velcro, ankle braces that lace up, and or an elbow brace for their curious case of "thrower's elbow." As a result, it takes a good 15-20 minutes for these players to gear up and stretch before playing. Their ankle braces are usually squeeky so it is not difficult to know when your guy is starting to run/cut. Sometimes (God forbid), they will reinjure their braced joint, but only slightly to the point where they retire to their fold out chair and talk about the MLB or NFL.

6. Sir Hucks o' Lot
Like the name implies, these are the good o'l huckers... and many of them simply are NOT huckers. They are solid players, but the huck is lacking. These are the guys that will simply break the hearts of their team... but forcing them to *gasp* play defense at pickup. Their hucks will be either super floaty/hospital, and or line drives that are easily d'd by people simply just standing there in the stack. Occassionally they will huck a nice one to an open receiver but that will simply boost their confidence into throwing something they really don't have. Common quotes include:

"Oh [name]!.... I thought you were going!!"
"Just go DEEP!"
"I totally have that!"
"Sorry guys... I hit my leg before the throw."

7. Mr. Excuses
Always has a reason as to why things happen or don't happen.

Why did the huck float out of bounds? "My cleat slipped."
What's with the drops? "It's too cold out..."
Why did I throw it straight into the ground? "I didn't warm up."

These guys always find a way to pass the torch of blame to someone/somebody else. I have even heard one guy say "I didn't shave," or even the "Allergies" alibi. I'm still waiting to hear someone say something along the lines of. "Yea, sorry about dropping that perfect throw... it's just the economy... you know how it is... my mind really isn't into it right now."

8. The Coach
Here are the aspiring coaches in the Ultimate world. The ones who want to throw ZONE in pickup... the ones who will demonstrate to newer players or even savvy veterans how to set a force. Everyone is below them, and their knowledge of the game is superior and they seem to want to share it with everyone when it simply doesn't matter or fit for the game at hand. I can see why they do it, why they look to coach their team, but for pickup... it seems a bit ridiculous when they ask a guy who has been playing ultimate their whole life if they know what a cup is... or when they teach an entirely new line of people the complexity of Split-stack, or a box zone. There are unwritten rules in pickup... and being the coach is not something that is looked well upon... especially if one is simply way too serious about it.

9. Add yours here! [comment below]

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till next time,

Hammie #10

LA Metro Tryout Schedule (Tentative)

2010-04-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

For those interested in trying out for LA Metro, here is a very preliminary schedule:

05/01/2010: Pickup, TBA*
05/09/2010: Pickup, TBA*
05/16/2010: Pickup, TBA*
-Pickup sessions will give attendees a better understanding about our team in addition to giving the Captains an adequate idea of who is trying out.

*-tentatively scheduled. NOT Official. Location will be announced soon.

05/29-05/30: Santa Barbara Classic, Goleta, CA
- Roster will include returners from the 2009 campaign as well as those interested in trying out for the team. In the past, Captains have been selective in whom they invite but this is by no means a first cut. SB Classic Roster should be around 20-25, so captains are limited in the # they can bring.

06/05-06/06: Cal States, Santa Cruz, CA
- This will be more so the "official tryout," or at least the official tournament tryout. We will be fielding a team between 20-25 people with a mix of returning players + interested players. This tournament will give the selection committee an idea as to the dynamic of this year's squad in addition to seeing how the new talent stacks up against solid co-ed teams from all over California.
(Past Results: 2008: Runner-up, 2009: 3rd place finish). Cuts will be made after this tournament.

Following Cal States, there may be a full official tryout w/ drills/ scrimmages/ etc. This is not official but there have been talks regarding having this "official" tryout, something that we have not had in the past. Should be finalized soon.

If you have any questions regarding tryouts or are interested in trying out, please contact the captains at metro.ultimate.la@gmail.com

Good Luck!
-Hammie
LA Metro #10

Commentary: LA Ultimate

2010-04-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

LA Ultimate in the 2009 UPA Series:

Coed + Open Sectionals Champs (LA Metro, Strike-Slip)
Top 3 finish at Southwest Regionals (LA Metro, Strike-Slip)
Two bids to Nationals (LA Metro, BCBC)

I guess the term "one-and-done" seems to be pretty applicable when it comes to ultimate here in the Los Angeles area. The decision to dissolve Strike-Slip, the defending Socal Sectionals champs, seems to be a slap in the face in the idea of building a successful long-term open team in LA. I totally understand where the leadership is coming from in terms of the difficulty of putting the team together and running it, but I am moreso disappointed in the idea that players seem to have very little sense of loyalty when it comes to sticking with one team and allowing that team several years to "ripen" and grow into a long-term program.

Instead of simply picking up all the best players they can in one year and flying by the seat of their pants, I feel like teams need to build a solid foundation. This is not a stab at people who are moving on with their lives, attending grad school, or going back home, as it seems like LA is a very fast paced town and people come and go much like the rain here. I've just found that such instability with the population does make it difficult for programs to have a good footing and/or flourish with a core group of players.

Even if you look at pro-sports, most teams who go out and chase down all the expensive and attractive free agents for their team usually find that success does not come for a certain price. Teams such as the 2002 Angels and/or the successful A's teams in the early 00's showed that success can be found through home-grown talent and that development with a common group of people is effective and successful. Of course, us ultimate players do not sign multi-year contracts, and our only source of "commitment" would be that of a verbal one.

This year is one of controlled chaos. Strike-Slip is sadly no more... and many of her leadership has jumped to a new co-ed team... now one of the "big three" in the area along with Metro and BCBC. This calls for a very interesting season in the LA area, that will be dominated not by the news of LA's finest Open team, but of which Coed team will assert themselves as the top contender for Nationals against Barrio of Arizona and whatever team comes out of Denver.

That said, it is safe to say that although I had been entertaining the idea of playing open, it seems like the open teams here in LA can't seem to find a strong enough rooting to stay around for more than a one year at most, so it's difficult to invest time when you see people around you jumping ship at a steady pace. It's kind of sad to see teams come and go like this, with no consistency, and with no long-term purpose. Qualifying for Nationals is the goal of most people in this area, but it can't be done by simply stacking talent on one team for one year. Even if the team is successful, it seems like we're so easily distracted by other shiny new teams that we quickly forget about staying true to one team and developing it into a perennial powerhouse.

Ultimate in LA needs more players who are more loyal to their teams, to realize that teams need time to mature into contenders. I still have faith in the ultimate scene here... that soon some teams will pop up that demand loyalty with a philosophy of building the team instead of forming a "one and done" team. Maybe it's just the town we live in, or maybe it's just the very limited ability for people to meet in a single place without transfering 4 different highways. But change needs to happen before we see another program like the Condors or Monster pop up again. I hate to say it, but LA might need to take at what our friends down in San Diego are doing and take note.

Best of luck to all on the season. Let's hope a new open team pops up this year.

note: This is strictly how I feel about the matter. My apologies in advance for any people I may be offending or "calling out." It is not my intention to do so, but rather to simply address the issue at hand.

-Hammie

LAMetro #10

LA Metro Tryouts 2010

2010-03-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! Time to dust off your cleats, time to run those miles as tryouts begin for club season 2010.

If you are intetrested in trying out for LA Metro, please email the captains (Martha & Keegan Uhl, and Frankie Rho) at metro.ultimate.la@gmail.com

decisions

2010-03-26T15:07:00.001-07:00

Open or Coed?

simple as that

Being Effective in the Rain and Cold

2010-02-01T07:21:00.001-08:00

disclaimer: these tips and ideas come through my expriences playing in extreme conditions. Beware-O 2001 (4'+ of rain and ~40 degrees), SB Qualifier 2006 (~40-degrees), SB Invite (5' of rain + cold), 2008 Southwest Regionals (35 degree start + rain) to name a few. and yes... I am aware that you East Coasters and Midwesterners will say "pshhh You don't know what cold is." But I'm a California kid.... and I'm just passing along words from my experiences. =)

Most of us remember instances when rain didn't mean staying indoors on a Saturday morning. Most of us will remember the first time they played Ultimate in a light shower, or for some of us, in a torrential downpour. Playing pickup in the rain is one thing for those who are brave enough... but being caught or forced to play in the rain at a major tournament is another thing. There are many things one can do to prepare for a weekend tournament and checking the weather is one of the most basic and overlooked tasks. However; when the rain is inevitable and you're not playing on turf, there are ways you can prepare and play that will not only prevent injury, but also allow you to be effective as a cutter or a handler.

1. Dynamic Stretching and Keeping your Muscles warm on the sideline.

Muscles work through a process of lengthening and contracting through myosin and actin cross-bridging. Basically the point is, your muscles require Ca2+ in addition to K and Na to effectively contract and relax so that you can run, throw, jump, etc. etc. This process is also heat sensitive in that "cold" muscles will be more prone to injury if any sudden and explosive strain is exerted (cutting, hucking, jumping). In a wet environment, the rain will most likely soak any ultimate player down to his base-layer and playing with a rain jacket and/or rain pants is not very conducive to the sport let alone your own safety. So there are ways to prepare.

Dynamic Stretching is a way for players to be consistently keeping their muscles loose and warm. What this means is that players need to stretch very well and CONSTANTLY at the beginning of each touranment and game, and while on the sideline. It doesn't make sense to stand on the sideline watching the game. The wetness and the cold will simply lower your core body temperature causing your circulatory system to reroute blood to your core and away from your extremities... consequently reducing blood flow to your muscles and therefore less Ca2+, Na... etc. etc. Basically what this means it that if you're not constantly moving on the sideline, you will be more prone to injury, cramping, and/or ineffectiveness on the field. When you are back on the sideline, you need to layer up with a thermal, jacket, or simply getting out of the rain helps.

Do some lunges with twists, jumping jacks, high knees and butt kicks on the sideline to keep yourself warm and ready to go back into the game. I guarantee that while on the field, you will not feel cold as you will be exerting maximum effort in your cuts. Playing in the game does not concern me... but the sideline activity or lack thereof is what's dangerous and will ultimately alter your overall effectiveness once you DO get in.

tips
- very thorough stretching pre-game
- layer up on the sideline or simply get out of the rain.
- keep stretching and moving on the sideline.
- Find a girl to hug. Girls are warm =)

2. Clothing

Performance baselayers are effective in the cold, but they will still soak through your jerseys and will be detrimental since they tend to retain moisture (supposed to be sweat) and will trap the cold between your layers. The most effective things I've found in terms of baselayering is to be Macruber and to simply wear a trash bag. Punch a hole for your head and arms, and (important). Do not wear the trash bag as the first layer on top of your skin. Polyethylene is NOT breathable and if you do wear it, you will believe it or not, cause overheating and dehydration. Wear the trash bag as the 2nd to last layer (from your skin), right under your team jersey, and on top of another baselayer. This will ensure more breathability for your skin but also will keep the rain out. BIG tip. It's the 2000's... don't wear cotton. It simply absorbes everything and will cool down your core. Cotton is the enemy (Underarmor).

Headware is important. You lose a high percentage of heat through your head so wear a beanie, or a hat at the very least. Who cares about visability or spotting the disc. If it's raining... a hat will pose more of a benefit than disadvantage. Hoods are no good since they ruin your peripheral vision, in addition to soaking through and promoting heat loss.

Multiple layers of socks are good too in addition to a sandwich plastic bag in between them to ensure that your feet stay dry. Be ready to ruin a pair of cleats but keep your feet dry to avoid blisters and "corpse feet."

tips:
-wear a performance baselayer FIRST (underarmor, nike pro, or another jersey)
-NO COTTON
- Trash bag should be the 2nd to last layer (from your skin) directly underneath your active light or dark
- Wear headware to minimize heat loss.
- Multiple socks are suggested but not required. Do whatever feels right for your feet.

3. Throwing and Catching

If you've ever caught a disc on the knuckles on a brisk morning or evening, you know what i'm talking about. The disc is plastic, and will react to the elements much like you. I've had a disc crack entirely in half after hitting a fence because of the cold. The disc becomes rigid and will not "give" like in normal conditions. You, the player, must adjust to the disc. Since the disc never lies.

In throwing, the grip is key. Much like footing in rock-climbing. You need to establish a strong foundation through the grip. I've been told that in the rain, you wanna grip it tighter and stronger to ensure stability, but I found that it is more effective to almost go with what you're used to and to make minimal adjustments. I have a power grip that is very tight, and in the wet it will slip out from time to time... but it comes down to knowing what you can throw too. The hammer in the wet will not really work, but the nice floaty backhand is high percentage. The rain really levels out the playing field and if you can consistently throw "boring" but high percentage throws, you will be effective as a handler. Huge hucks might not work because of a constantly slick disc, so as handlers, it's up to YOU to know what you can throw at a 0.95 clip in the rain. Footing is important as a handler and you have to realize that you probably won't be able to plant you foot further out for hucks or breaks. Know---Your---Limits.

Catching is most difficult. Pancake catches require pressure on the top and bottom of the disc but with the rain, friction is hard to attain and the disc seems to just slip out. Lobster claw and Chicken catches require a bit more skill. I found that wearing long sleeves w/ my jersey gives me a little bit more friction in catching pancake style. I know it's not suggested to catch with your arms, but in the rain, that extra security might be needed. In Colorado, the cold was so bitter that most of my team including myself resorted to football receiver gloves to give us more warmth and friction on our catches. It sacrificed some throwing ability for some of us but hey... atleast we weren't dropping the disc. Cutting will be difficult as well and it comes down to traction. You might have to sacrifice some directional change by taking more steps, but your defender is going to have to do the same so the advantage goes to you.

tips:
- stick to your grip, slightly tighter/looser if needed (practice throwing with a wet disc).
- Know your limits in the rain. Boring and 100% throws will win you games and matchups.
- Long sleeves aid in catching (need practice first)
- Gloves if needed aid in catching + keeping warm.
- Exaggerate the # of steps needed to change direction. More Steps = More Open

4. Miscellaneous

Do not forget to hydrate. Even though there is water all around, your body will be consistently losing moisture to the more saturated air in addition to your body burning through resources to keep your core temperature up. You need to be hydrating and if possible, drinking warm fluids. If I know it will be bitter cold, I tend to bring a thermos with simply hot sugar water and/or honey tea.

Post-game, your team needs to find shelter from the rain/cold if going through a bye. Retreating to the cars is a good idea and/or simply retreating to a tent is just as effective. Just be ready to repeat Section 1 in warming up post-bye. At the end of the tournament, a cool down is needed. For your muscles to be working so hard in the cold and then suddenly just call it a day will cause your muscles to contract and increase the likelyhood of future injury or soreness over the week.

-----------

In all... you just have to be smart when playing in the rain. Exercise common sense and be prepared. I can't describe how many times I've seen teammates that are ill-prepared for such conditions and have them reduced to a shivering mess, refusing to go in and play. You want to be looking out for yourself and if you are prepared, you will be effective and instrumental in your team's success. These are just a few tips that I have learned over my 4 years playing ultimate and if you have any other tips, please leave a comment for other ultimate players to see.

Till next time,
Hammie #10

Club Trouble in Vegas 2010

2010-01-25T07:15:00.001-08:00

"Five years, no deaths, some arrests"

top: StraightJacket, Allen, KG, Jerry, Matt Hennessey, Steve, Box, Biclops, Soren, Jamison, Brandon
bottom: Bob, Hammie, Danny Walters.

Roster:

Andrew Chao (UCLA, TFT)
Mike "Bob" Liu (LPC, Strike-Slip)
Matt Hennessey (Wake Forest, Monster)
Soren Viuf (Chapman, OCD)
Ed "Biclops" Melo (UCLA, LA Monster)
Brandon Gerstle (Cal Poly Pomona)
Allen Lai (UCI, Strike-Slip)
Mike Ng (UCI, LA Monster)
Jerry Yang (UCI, Strike-Slip)
Steven Lowe (UCI, LA Monster)
Andrew "Box" McRae (UCI, LA Monster)
Jamison Gorin (UCI)
Danny Walters (UCI, LA Monster)
Hammie Chen (UCI, LA Metro)

Club Trouble in Vegas 2010 was hyped up to be an awesome 16-team tournament on the normal concrete fields at the Soccer Complex. However; because of the heavens opening up the past entire week, those fields were underwater and Cultimate had to rush to secure a turf-field complex several days before the tournament and send out an email offering refunds to teams that decided to drop. It was a big change in the tournament format for both the Open and Mixed division, and our team also debated not going. However; after several players decided not to travel to Vegas with us, the remaining 12 players decided that we would reprioritize the trip and that it would not be a trip to play ultimate with gambling on the side... but a trip to Vegas, with a bit of Ultimate on the side.

The new tournament site was able to only field 4 full-fields on the turf, meaning that there were 20+ teams trying to play on 4 fields. Consequently, the entire open division was moved to SUNDAY while the Mixed division played the all games up to semi-finals on Saturday, with some pools starting play near 3:00pm. Although it was unconventional, it worked, and it worked even better for us because we knew we wouldn't be playing on Saturday so Friday night was now open for business. IF we made it to Vegas on Friday of course...

We left at 6:30pm from Irvine, CA, the second group left around 8:30pm. In short... our car didn't make it to the Rio parking lot until 2:00am the next morning, and the second car didn't make it in until the next morning around 10:00am. The 15-N was shut down through the mountain pass however our car had made it through the cutoff... so although the highway was technically closed, we were in it and had to get through it at a slow, painful crawl. Let's just say... after hour 3 of stopped traffic, the goose was set loose in our car to alleviate the pain. The car that left Irvine 2 hours before missed the highway pass cutoff by 1/2 a mile and spent the night in Baker... at a very shady motel that issued a "Snake Spotted... please close doors," advisory. Not a good start, and some cars almost debated ditching the tournament in all. Good thing they didn't.

We made it to Vegas finally, met up with some friends and spent the time at the Rio hanging out, drinking, and gambling. It was near 3:00am and it was too late to hit up the strip and by then we were all too worn out to try. It was a nice night knowing we didn't have to wake up the next morning at 7:00 to go to the fields. The entire team slept soundly taht night and the next morning we ventured to the fields to check out the new pools/ schedule as well as watch ultimate in general. The weather was brisk and in the 40's... but it was sunny and there was very little wind. Great weather for ultimate.

We spent all of Saturday hanging out, gambling, watching/heckling ultimate at the fields. Nightcap saw more Vegas shenanigans, gambling, hitting up the buffet, and also going to the Cultimate party. One perk of the trip was that Cultimate got every ultimate player on the VIP list for Studio 54 at the MGM Grand, meaning we didn't have to wait in line AND we got in for free. So there were hella people in the club and we didn't get back to the Rio hotel until near 2 or 3 am. Ears buzzing/ringing... we knew we kindof did ourselves in by staying out late, knowing that we had an early 9:00am start.

===============
Sunday
===============

Here was our pool:

G1: Gunslingers (Boston, MA)
G2: GOP (Carelton College Alum)
G3: Feed the Geese (Toronto, Canada)
G4: City Wok (Irvine, CA)
G5: OHM (Minnesota Alumni)

We had a game at 9:00am, a bye, and then three straight games. We played first against the Gunslingers from Boston who also had Squid alum Venga. After trading the first two points, we rushed them with our defense and janky H-stack and ran away with the win 11-3.

The same happened against GOP. We traded the first couple but then started dominating on defense to win 11-3. This game was won with our pulls. Allen and 808 were consistently putting the disc on the back corner of the end zone causing problems for their handlers as well as forcing them into throwing two callahans, and one near-callahan barring a terrible "I could have leaped 4 feet in the air to get that but you foul'd me" foul call. We were confident, we were playing well but we were in for a reality check against OHM from Minnesota.

They caught us off guard. We were forcing backhand the majority of the day but these guys had great throws and were running harder than we were. They went up I believe 6-2 before we had to claw ourselves back into it. We eventually lost 9-7 to a very solid team on Hard-cap. A difference this game was that our pulls were not falling in at all, giving the teams a healthy yardage boost in addition to the opportunity to run a set play which they beat us deep with repeatedly.

We won the 4th game 11-7-ish I believe and at that point knew that we no longer controlled whether or not we would make the finals. We took a team photo, started milling around but then after checking with the TD's, I found out that GOP had beaten OHM and because of point differential, we had advanced to the finals. Field One, 2:00pm, City Wok from Irvine, CA vs. Ice Holes, aka Wisconsin Hodag Alumni. Oh boy....

The mood on our sideline was kindof anxious. Some of us figured we'd just "score a couple points, go get sushi buffet and go home." The team we were facing was led by a Callahan award winner. They had guys that dominated in the college game. They were big names and it was easy to fall into the "star struck" mentality in the Ultimate game. I think many of us vastly underestimated how good of a team WE were. But we all knew that this game would be the toughest of the weekend... and for some of us, the toughest game we've every played.

We started on defense... pulling down wind and after a nice stop from Slowe on Muffin, he got the bookends and scored deep. Right away, we were up a break, pulling upwind. Not bad at all. Some of us got the feeling that the Hodags were expecting an easier game than we gave them, but there was this calm fierceness that our team exemplified that resulted in calm and collected offense, and controlled chaos on defense. We were converting on their turns, generating turns, and found ourselves up 6-3 at half. Of note was some spectacular play from Allen and Bobby who out of everyone had the most open division experience and had come to play. Credit to the Hodags. They played very well and put a lot of defensive pressure on our offense and we had to work very hard against our matchups to even get open. It was so much fun... and no discredit to mixed... the work ethic and intensity level of this game was something that made me miss playing Open division.

Wisco made a bit of a run to bring it to 9-8 with Hard Cap coming on soon. We were on offense... going slightly up wind and it was the first point of the day where an actual line was called. On the line... Biclops, Hammie, Bobby, Matt Hennessey, Jerry, KG, and Allen (?). They had been running zone on our handlers for the first 5 throws so as the pull came down, Biclops, Kg, and myself worked it around the handles for 5-6 throws and as they transitioned, hit them hard. We swung up field to a wide open Jerry who saw Matt Hennesey, who was a deep, burning his guy who was still in the midst of transitioning to man defense. He hucked it and it was not a throw we knew was a sure thing. Matt was running really hard and the rest of us all held our breath as we watched the disc sink lower... lower... lower... and then it was caught with about 5 inches to spare. No lay out... just a calm catch by one of our new additions to the team. We had done it. With a 10-8 victory... we had just WON vegas. We rushed the field and congratulated each other before shaking hands with the Hodags, who played very well as well and gave us the best game of the weekend. They were very disciplined in their play, and their players were all very talented, athletic, and experienced. Great play.

With the win, we won free chipotle dinner, and a Champions banner that the team graciously allowed me to keep. The uknown team from an unknown city (Irvine+LA), had just won Vegas. It was one of the best feelings to have organized this team and to see us gel in a way that brought us the title. Everyone contributed to the effort and I can say that had we lost any one person on this team, we would not have done what we had done. I am proud of this team, and have my sights set on submitting a bid to Fool's Fest in late March.

Frorida is now 2-0 in tournament wins... 11-1 overall in our one year history. Props to the Irvine crew for anchoring the team, and a big thanks to the LA guys that joined our team. We could not have done it without you all.

And last but not least...

opposing sideline: "They're backing everyone! They're backing!"

Biclops: "Duh... we're all short and asian!"

observer: "The guy with the red socks [brandon] is running and getting open but he keeps on getting looked off...

observer's friend: "Maybe it's cuz he's white.... the other white dude isn't getting the disc either..."

"KICK SAM OFF! KICK SAM OFF!"
"Get- Box - Laid!! Get - Box - Laid!!"

Till next time,
-Hammie #10

Leiout 2010

2010-01-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

update coming soon

Run through the disc!

photo credit: Daniel Tjoe

chuck is a beast

-----

♫~Gonna find my baby gonna hold her tight gonna grab some afternoon delight...~♫

Sky Hammers in Flight, Afternoon Delight. (6-3 overall. A2 Division Champions!)

-update soon

hammie #10

Santa Barbara Qualifier Summary

2010-01-11T10:07:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, I traveled to UCSB to coach the new B-team from UC Irvine. Of the 15 players , most were new to the game while a handful of players were 2nd or 3rd year handlers who had played with UCI the past couple seasons. As a first time coach, I didn't know what to expect from the team as we only had 2 full practices before this tournament.

Overall it was a very fun but challenging endeavor. I have captained teams before and tried to make necessary adjustments, but the most difficult part was figuring out the best way to communicate positive adjustments to the team and through the captains. I believe that yes although I am a coach, that most of the tweaking and motivating comes from the captains who did a top-notch job at leading through example. The captaining core of Scott Lem, Travis Lee, and Adam Silver surpassed my expectations and there were many times where Steve and I wouldn't have to say anything during a time-out or post-game because the three of them, including Perry covered it all eloquently and succinctly.

In addition to gaining valuable experience through game-time experience, the members of the team also had a lot of fun off the field and most felt like it was the most fun tournament they had played in at UCI. (Woo hoo!). Things that I want to continue to work on are situation adjustments, or non-adjustments, reading overall team attitude, and to maintain professionalism and respect for my players as well as those on the other team. I don't want to be the "bad guy' coach that relies on discipline to get my players to do what I want to do. I'd rather have the guys do things on their own motivation while showing me the same respect that I show to them.

This will be a huge learning experience for me and after one weekend of coaching, I'm already viewing Ultimate in a different light.

In other results, NightLife-A (UCI), rolled their way to the finals only to be taken out by Chico State 12-14. I hear that it was a very heated game with many calls and what not, but despite being a very disappointing result, I felt like NightLife played very well and show a lot of potential to grow during the course of the year.

On the women's side, the big surpise was San Diego State. The 6-seed overall going into the qualifier, they rolled off big wins over UCLA-Y (13-3), Stanford-B (13-5), and Davis-B (13-2). They also won over a very suspicious UCSB-"B" 14-8, only to lose in the finals to Sonoma State. They seem to have a stable but ever-growing program that has shown recent success on top of a very good year last year. I'm sure having my buddy Spencer Barr coaching them has something to do with the recent and sustained success. Although they missed the SB Invitational by a couple of points, look for them to make some noise at College Trouble in Vegas and then in a very difficult women's section and region.

update: Women's division winners Sonoma State has chosen not to accept the free bid to SB Invite. SDSU will now be going. Congrats! [updated 1:30pm]

5 days of work... and then LEI-OUT 2010, Santa Monica Beach, CA.

Till next time,
-Hammie #10

January 2010

2010-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

This will probably be the busiest month for me... in terms of just weekend activities and "ultimate" related business. Here's a rundown as to what I'm up to this month.

===================================

January 9th-10th
Santa Barbara Qualifier, Goleta, CA

This year I have the honor of coaching the UC Irvine-B team. This is my first coaching gig and quite honestly, despite being excited for the opportunity, I am also pretty nervous and anxious for the upcoming season. I have never coached anything related to Ultimate before, and I feel like I still have so much to learn and understand myself and fall short in adequately teaching these young college players the strategies and skills neccessary to become successful ultimate players. We had our first B-team practice this past monday and I felt like it was a success and the kids are excited. I guess since I am coaching now, you faithful readers will now be treated to new posts discussing strategies, failures, and successes. It will be an exciting tournament that will hopefully give the kids a lot of experience. On top of that, I'll get to see my jie and my SB friends =).

January 16-17th
Lei-Out, Santa Monica, CA

The biggest beach tournament west of the Mississippi, this tournament is gonna be off the hook. This year I am playing on a team called, "Sky Hammers in Flight, Afternoon Delight," organized by my club teammates Jeff Chai and Karen Ko. My team features ballers from LA Metro as well as many others from the surrounding area and Santa Barbara. Typically I don't like playing beach, but playing beach league up in LA made me a believer and I feel like my quick give-go offensive style bodes well on the sand. I think we're in the A-bracket... but I'm hoping for just sunshine, seeing a lot of friends, and a great weekend of disc. People from all over the country are flying in for this shindig and this year should be one of the biggest turnouts in the tournament's history.

(www.leiout.com)

January 23-24th
Club Trouble in Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

Now this is the tournament I've been waiting since November '09 for. Trouble in Vegas is one of the craziest, outrageous, and memorable tournaments I've been a part of. I have only been to the past two College TIV's, and this will be my first trip to Club TIV. I had the honor of putting together a team for this tournament and I am excited to see how my team will fare against the high level of competition. Back in April of '09, my friend box, also the TD for the Irvine Invitational, needed a 16th team for the tournament and asked me to organize a community team. I recruited several alumni from UCI, UCLA, and surrounding schools to make a team that flew under the team name "Frorida" (Too asian to be "Florida"). We had matching custom hand made jerseys and despite a terse warning from the TD NOT to win the tournament, we just had to and trounced LPC 15-7 in the finals.

So the same crew is back... but this time with the addition of other players from Orange County and Los Angeles. We are flying under the name "City Wok" and even gained a corporate sponsorship from City Wok Restaurants to help cover costs for our jerseys. Our competition is tough with the likes of Wisconsin, ISU, Colorado, and GOP Alumni playing in our division. Here is our current roster, with College and current club team:

Samuel "Hammie" Chen (UCI, LA Metro)
Steven Lowe (UCI, LA Monster)
Jerry Yang (UCI, Strike-Slip)
Allen Lai (UCI, Strike-Slip)
Matt Khosh (UCI)
Jamison Gorin (UCI)
Brandon Gerstle (Cal Poly Pomona)
Andrew "Straight-Jacket" Chao (UCLA, TFT)
Ed "Biclops" Melo (UCLA, LA Monster)
Danny Walters (UCI, LA Monster)
Simon Margolis (Cal Poly Pomona, LA Metro)
Matt Hennessy (Wake Forest, LA Monster)
Barrs Lang (Notre Dame, LA Metro)
Andy Curtis (Cal Poly Pomona, LA Metro)
Scott Mahr (Claremont, LA Metro)
Andrew "Box" McRae (UCI, LA Monster)

A lot of people from the LA/SD area will be traveling to Vegas this weekend... and I know that it will be one for the ages. We are looking to place well in this tournament and I feel like we have the personnel to do so. Vegas here we come!

(http://cultimate.com/tivclub2010)

January 31, 2010
UPA Coaching Clinic, Malibu, CA

Attending a coaching clinic in Malibu at Pepperdine University. The course will be taught by none other than Alex Korb, whom I respect a lot as a player and especially as a coach. I'm excited to learn as much as I can and hopefully my experience will be beneficial to the program at UCI.

----------

January is PACKED! And I am so looking forward to it. Great start to 2010. =)

-hammie #10

Beware-Ho the Sombrero 2010

2010-01-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

I flew home on New Years Day for a family event that lasted all for two hours on Saturday. It was pretty nice to see the family and all, but after being home for a week before during the Christmas holiday, it was kind of weird to be back so soon. However; because of my quick weekend home, it gave me the opportunity to play at Beware-Ho, a local hat tournament that has been going on since the 90's despite changing TD's once or twice. This year it was at the Hayward Adult School, hosted by the guys at LPC.

Hat tournaments are always a blast. People sign up and "rate" themselves on a pre-determined scale, and the TD's sort out the teams so that an even number of skill levels are on each team. Typically, one would usually find oneself on a team with an entire group of strangers sans maybe one or two other players.

The team I was on was a conglomeration of players with playing credentials from all over the country. We had players from Ug-mo and Pie Queen's (Cal), Rutgers, Pepperdine, Sonoma State, and even players who had played club with the likes of Chain Lightning, and End Phase. Overall on paper, it looked good but as most hat tournaments go, it comes down to overall team chemistry rather than just talent.

In the end, our team finished up at 3-3, winning the Beer Bracket soundly with a win over Sai, Nguyen, Diesel, and StraightJacket's team. There were many great players at the tournament, and although all I had to go off were the jerseys representing their respective teams, it was an array of very high level talent.

Beware-Ho was actually my first tournament ever as an ultimate player way back in 2002. I was a sophomore in high school with no idea how to flick or pivot, in a huge tournament that was rainy and muddy. I will always hold a special place for Beware-Ho, which is why I always try to make an effort to attend. Sure the tournament has gotten smaller since the YR guys had taken over, but it is still going strong and I sincerely hope that everyone gets a chance to play in it one day. Bay Area ultimate is a whole different beast than Southern Cal. It was great to be home playing again and seeing familiar faces on and off the field.

Scott Roeder(UCI) goes up for a disc against Albert Tsai(Rutgers).

missed it...

but Hooray for Coed!

Team "Falidew!" 3-3. FIVALS winners

photos by: Christine Laszlo

http://christinelaszlo.zenfolio.com/p219050529

till next time,

hammie #10

Year in Review

2009-12-31T08:41:00.000-08:00

It's been nearly a month and a half since I last posted anything on this blog. To those who read my blog, I apologize. I really needed some time away from Ultimate to focus on other things, on top of being a bit burnt out after a long season with Metro. My "sabatical" finished... it's time to get back and crackin' on this thing.

Year 2009 in Review (from an Ultimate standpoint)

This year was quite eventful in terms of what was accomplished in the Ultimate community, and also on an individual basis. The biggest event was obviously my first trip to Nationals on a competing team. I guess partly why I did not write up a tournament summary for Nationals was that my words would probably not do justice to the actual experience as a whole... and also because I was very frustrated and annoyed with how things went on the field both in results, and with the team. It was a great tournament with many great memories, but in the end I felt a bit burnt out and simply needed a couple weeks from discussing and writing about Ultimate.

But I digress... back on track.

Off-Season

Participated in my first Lei-out tournament on the Santa Monica Beach with "Team Pikachu." We were a conglomeration of UC Irvine, UC Davis, and Cal-Berkeley players who had no idea how to play with each other, let alone the art of beach ultimate. It was overall a fun tournament with the best game actually being a scrimmage between our team and NICE, in which DTB also joined. As well as 4 other teams.

This was my first season removed from playing College Ultimate. It was tough playing only once or twice a week as opposed to 3 or 4 with track workouts in between. Fitness level definitely dropped a bit; weight... hah let's not say. It was very weird watching NightLife play at sectionals. The guys I've been playing with for the past 2 or 3 years on their own... without the super-senior class. They did well and despite being a rebuilding year, took the last spot to Regionals by beating UCSD-B.

POTLATCH

Probably the most fun I've ever had in a non-competitive tournament. I went with "Roeder's Runners" which was a mix of mostly Cal and Irvine players. Not only was the camping fun, we had great success (enter borat joke), on the field going 7-1 on the tournament and finishing in the B-bracket after starting in the D-bracket. Not bad huh? From shivering in the tent the first night, to the first drunk point, all the alcohol, the party, AJ high-fiving 500 people, to the final flight back home, Potlatch was awesome and I definitely want to go again. I'm already saving up $$ and vacation days. =)

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZb4BVFlB9g

Club Season
Where to start?

By late-Feburary, I was still undecided as to whether or not to play open or co-ed. I had pros/cons written out for both sides and various friends contributing their thoughts. So in all it was a difficult decision. Strike-Slip was a brand-new team that ran a handler heavy offense that I was told would fit my game perfectly. The tryouts were difficult and it almost seemed in my mind that I would play with them, but there was just something about Metro that I couldn't give up. After a lot of thought and conversations, I made a final decision and stayed with Metro for the 09 season. Good decision? You betcha.

Not only was it a kick-ass season, I felt that there were many definining moments that really shaped me as a player and us as a team.

- Beating rivals BCBC in the first game of the season in Santa Cruz. We had played them a total of TWO times last year and were 1-1. To start off against them and to get the monkey off our back and establish the rivalry early I felt calmed tensions between the teams.

- Going down 1-9 to Classy and eventually losing 7-15. We were cocky, and we knew it. We went into that game thinking that the win would come naturally to us. But sitting in a 1-9 hole against a team we had previously beaten handidly... it was a huge reality check. To me... this single loss was the best thing that happened to our team. It put things into perspective, and it helped us develop that mental toughness to start strong and to finish strong. We eventually won the tournament though... albeit we were dead LAST in our pool after Saturday.

- Placing 2nd at Labor Day. We had placed 9th last year with losses to AIR, CTR, Mischief, Chewy Defense, and AIR (again). But this year we had great wins over Golden Spike, DUC, AIR, and CTR. We showed a lot of grit (beating AIR after being down 2-7), and a lot of heart. I think after this tournament, we developed some self-confidence in that we were a good team. Not some weak team from the Southwest that couldn't hang with the Northwest.

- Winning Sectionals. Previous to playing Metro, the best finish I've ever had at any sectionals of any kind was 5th or 6th. I don't think I've even had a winning record at a sectionals tournament. It was a round-robin format and we rolled through everyone, the biggest wins over BCBC, both universe points. The win ensured us a higher seed for Regionals and a better road to claiming a bid to Sarasota.

- Callahans. I don't usually talk about these... but I got 2 this year, both with style =) One vs. Classy (lay out), and one against BCBC in the Finals of Sectionals (keegan's handblock tip). I'm hungry for more and hopefully they keep me on the D-line so I have more opportunities.

- Making Nationals. Probably the biggest highlight of my Ultimate career. Rolling our way through pool play and quarters to play the favored Kapow team out of Boulder, CO. We go on a 6-0 run and never look back and Keegan hucks to a wide open Mark Miller for the score. I've never heard a sideline roar so loudly as we did... I've never seen a sideline run as fast as we did to the end-zone. I've never seen tears shed on the Ultimate field until this moment, and I've never had to wipe tears of joy from my own eyes until this moment. I will remember it for the rest of my life... and I will remember each person I hugged (27 in total) in that moment. We made Nationals! (crosses off #4 on my to-do list).

My Ultimate Bucket List (constantly updated)

Paganello

Potlatch (2009: Roeders' Runners)

Nationals (2009: LA Metro 11th place finish)

Worlds

Lei-out (2009: Team Pikachu)

Wildwood

Kaimana Klassic

Hats Hops and Hucks

not a bad 2009 huh?

2010 Outlook

The biggest change for me has been that I am now officially coaching the UC Irvine Men's B-team. Irvine has somehow found enough people (don't ask how), to split into A and B squads. It will be a new experience for me, something that I see has an honor, as well as a challenge. I will definitely show signs of inexperience, as the only other thing I've technically "coached" was actually a chamber music group at Orchestra camp back in 2002-2004.

Challenges
In the beginning of each year, I try to think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year. Last year, it was "make nationals" and to "develop a better flick huck." I've done one of those, so the flick huck goal will just have to carry over to 2010. Here's a very short and brief list of what I want to accomplish (realistically).

Stop pretending that I can flick huck and actually develop one.
Continue to promote and develop Ultimate in Orange County through networking and potential organization of a hat tournament based in Orange County.
Mature as a leader on/off the field.
Take better physical care of myself.
Get a MRI/MRA scan on the shoulder.

There you have it. My first post in over a month. I will continue to post ideas and what not in the coming weeks, but my apologies for disappearing for the past period. I am looking forward to a great year of Ultimate, a year of change, and a year of fun. After all... my jersey number now matches the year. =)

Happy New Year!

Hammie #2010

UPA Club Nationals 2009

2009-11-04T07:48:00.001-08:00

LA Metro finishes 11th out of a field of 16 with wins over Tau, Slow White, and Bashing Pinatas and close losses to D'oh, Slow White, One Trick Pony, and eventual champions Axis of C'Ville.

Wrap-up will be posted by the end of this week.

top: kk, chai, chad, rob, andy, yugo, trogdor!!,spencer, kief, uzi, mark miller, frankie, screamer, gerene, holly.

bottom: welsh, simon, martha, hammie, saraV, keegan, zip, barrs, carny, enway, scott.

-hammie #10

UPA Nationals 2009

2009-10-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I apologize for not writing up my usual tournament preview. In all honesty, I don't know anything about the teams we are facing other than their geographical origins so on top of being really busy, there was nothing for me to really analyze or explain.

However; we are leaving for Sarasota, Florida in 2 days... and we have set up a Nationals twitter so that you can follow our progress.

www.twitter.com/metroultimate

Various team members will be updating and all my normal posterous updates will be forward to this twitter page.

It still hasn't really hit me that I'm leaving on Wednesday, but as the day gets closer, the more excited I get to really play at the highest level Ultimate has to offer. Wish us luck! Time to nut up or shut up!

-Hammie
LA Metro #10

UPA Club Nationals Seeding

2009-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mixed Division Seeds

1. Mental Toss Flycoons* (Missoula, Mt.)
2. AMP (Philadelphia)
3. The Chad Larson Experience (Ames, Iowa)
4. Axis of C’Ville (Charlottesville, Va.)
5. D’oh! (Seattle)
6. One Trick Pony (St. Louis)
7. Slow White (Boston)
8. Barrio (Tucson, Ariz.)
9. Psychoplastique (Edmonton, Alberta)
10. Bucket (Atlanta)
11. Jukebox Hero (Jacksonville, Fla.)
12. METRO (Los Angeles)
13. TAU (Triad Area, N.C.)
14. Quiet Coyote (Cambridge, Mass.)
15. Bashing Piñatas (New York City)
16. Brown Chicken Brown Cow (Los Angeles)

Pool A
Mental Toss Flycoons
Barrio
Psychoplastique
Brown Chicken Brown Cow

Pool B
AMP
Slow White
Bucket
Bashing Piñatas

Pool C
The Chad Larson Experience
One Trick Pony
Jukebox Hero
Quiet Coyote

Pool D
Axis of C’Ville
D’oh!
METRO
TAU

--------------

Preview Coming soon.

Website up and running

2009-10-09T11:08:00.001-07:00

LA Metro now has an official website!
Includes tournament results, wraps, and scores, as well as player profiles.

http://sites.google.com/site/metroultimate/home

Enjoy!
-Hammie #10

Southwest Regionals Recap

2009-10-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

The season came down to one weekend. All the tournaments before including Sectionals were considered "tune-ups" to the task at hand. Scottsdale, Arizona and Barrio played host to the UPA Southwest Regionals, hosting 9-Open teams, 15-Mixed teams, 8-womens teams, and 6-masters teams. So in all, there were several hundred ultimate players in town playing on most arguably the best grass in the Southwest.

LA Metro was seeded 2nd in the tournament behind top seeded Barrio. Operation Kapow, Cougars, and Brown Chicken Brown Cow rounded off the top 5. The situation was simple. Top seeds at the end of pool play would play a crossover to determine placement into the Championship Bracket with two wins on Sunday earning a bearth in the finals and a guaranteed bid to Nationals. A loss in quarters or semis would automatically send you to the backdoor bracket, and a harder road for that final bid.

We had been working all season for this. I remember the first practice we had after we had completed the tryout process. Our captains had set the bar high for this season; to qualify for Nationals. I remember thinking that it would be tough and questioned whether the team or I had the mental stamina to do so. The regionals loss to Cougars in 2008 had left a scar on our team and the returners knew how difficult it was to come so close to achieving every ultimate player's goal. However; as the season wore on and the more our team began gelling and playing well, the more I began to believe and the more I realized that we had the potential and the ability to be a Nationals-level team.

The time was now. And every win was not enough. As it has become a battle-cry for our team, "not enough" was on the minds of every member going into Scottsdale. We had won sectionals, but that alone was not enough. We were riding a 12+game win streak, but that too was not enough. We were hungry, we were amp'd. We had our sights set on a goal, and boy did we want it.

-------------------
Saturday
-------------------

Round 1 vs. Swingline
The first game put us against the 3rd ranked team in our pool, Swingline out of Colorado Springs. The goal of this game was to get us checked in and focused on playing our very best right out of the gate. We played very well going up 4-0 from the get go and then went on a 6-0 run at 7-3 to win 13-3. We played well this game with only 3 turns to show for it but we knew that we weren't playing at our best. Early round slowness definitely showed with many of our players and we didn't have the intensity or energy that our captains demanded.

-------------------
Round 2 vs. Love Tractor
The wind began to pickup and it became a straight up and down game with a lot of zone play. We used this game to tweak and groove our zone defenses and were successful in generating easy turns deep in the offensive zone, including a great callahan by Lindsey. Fun game, we went on three 4-0 runs to take the game 13-4.

-------------------
Round 3 vs. Mesteno
A very solid team, these guys were the first team that made us work for what we wanted. Although the score-sheet showed us leading the entire game, it was a lot closer and a lot more heated than expected. They ran a lot harder and were more skilled than the previous teams and showed a very formidable deep game. We resorted to playing hard defense against this team and essentially scored two scores for their every one. Breaking up wind, yielded an easy turn/D and thus a down-wind goal. Metro runs away with the win 13-7.

-------------------
Cross-over vs. Brown Chicken Brown Cow
It seems like we can't seem to avoid playing these guys. We've played them at nearly every tournament we have entered.

Calstates (W 10-8)
Stanford Revolution (L 8-11)
Discos Calientes (W11-8)
Sectionals (W 9-8*)
Sectionals (W 11-10*)

*-universe point

We had a 5-1 record against this team with the combined score standing at 49-45 in our favor. It is a CLOSE rivalry. Two universe wins at Sectionals, and no win margin greater than 3. So when our team found out that we were playing BCBC, it was no surprise and we knew exactly what we would be up against. Someone on RSD put it pefectly. We could practically call each other's lines whenever we played each other.
The game slotted at 4:30pm after a 2 hour bye so it would test our ability to refocus as well as recover. Apparently we were in good shape as we shot out with an early break with a great play from Trogdor, and then dumped on 3 more to find ourselves up 4-0, taking half at 8-4. BCBC scored 3 breaks from 7-12 to make it 10-12 but we scored the next 3 of 4 points to win 15-11. This game was very intense with both teams showing off their deep guns. It felt like a Sectionals game with members from LA Merge, Strike-Slip, Monster, Lady Condors, and OCD all watching the matchup. We scored the last goal as it was getting dark and with it knew that the win would eliminate the possibility of a potential matchup with powerhouse Barrio before Finals.

We were 4-0 on the day, feeling great as we ended the day at Rays Pizza, and a nice swim in the hotel pool.

-----------------
Sunday
-----------------

Waking up at 7:00am, there was a certain focus as people got ready, getting their gear together and arriving at the fields. I can honestly say we were probably the first team running our warm up jog around the entire complex in complete silence, focus, and poise. We knew what we had in front of us. Two wins to Nationals.

-------------------
Quarterfinals vs. Party Van
From those who played with Pleasuretown, we learned never to take teams lightly. That was something I believe we had improved on over the course of the year. The addition of seasoned veterans with Nationals experience has given the team more mental toughness, poise, and swagger to complement our youth, grit, and energy. We established our dominance with two quick breaks behind the D-1 line and then a 3-0 run to bring it to 8-3 at half. After half, Party Van began putting their offense together and we traded points to bring it to 11-7. Enough was enough, and after a quick timeout and a "wtf let's go" talk by the captains, we went on a run to put it away, 15-9. It was a good win for us and allowed us to work on playing at a higher level than the game before. This was neccessary because we all knew how important the next game was going to be. We watched the last couple points as Kapow beat Cougars in the other quarterfinal to set up the matchup most of RSD wanted to see. On the line was a bid to Nationals.

-------------------
Semifinals vs. Operation Kapow
Ultimate is a game of runs. That's what I was told waaay back when I had just started playing competitively, but the more I played, the more I realized how true the statement was in addition to how much a team can feed off of the energy from those runs and how it can turn the tide in a game. Thus was the story with our Semifinals match against Kapow.

We started this game on Defense going up-wind and generated the turn. We worked it up wind very well but turned the disc to one of their huckers on the goal line who promptly hucked it to a streaking receiver for a downwind score. 1-0 Kapow. We were a different team than last year. No heads went down to the ground, no worried looks on our faces. We knew that we missed a golden opportunity but didn't let it get us down. Our top offensive line came on and calmy scored to make it 1's and Kapow then worked it downwind as well to make it 1-2 Kapow. From there our defensive lines turned it on and we went out for a little run.

At 1-2, our offense scored easily with a Kief-Barrs deep connection. Our D-line on was put out and we generated a turn about 10 yards out of their end zone on their handler set. Before their defense could set, we quickly picked up the disc and punched it in for the all important upwind break. Counting that score from 1-2, we went on a 6-0 run to increase our lead to 7-3 and took half at 8-4. Our intensity was up, our offensive line was clicking and our D-line simply could not be dealt with. We were playing well, but we knew that we had to keep up the intensity in the second half.

It was still a straight-up and down wind and despite some messy plays and bad turn overs, we had better efficiency through the zone looks and down-wind offensive points. Kapow had to work against our defense even in the down-wind points while we were able to huck at will to open, streaking receivers or work it under with our women. Before we knew it, we were up 14-9 pulling on defense. Game Point. After a Kapow errant huck, we begin moving up the field. We moved it up about 30 yards with some great handler motion and a stop disc left Keegan with the disc a couple yards behind mid-field. We worked the disc across the field with some quick movement between Trogdor, Holly, and the cutters until Keegan gets the disc back and sees Miller streaking deep.

He throws one HUGE pump fake and freezes the deep-deep (Beau's little brother) who isn't sure if Keegan will throw the huck upwind. I remember seeing a smile come across Keegan's face as he put up a HUGE backhand huck that simply floated into the end zone with no one but metro orange and blue under it. We all knew that that was it... and before we even heard Miller clap the final goal, the humungous sideline that had supported the team the entire game spilled onto the field in a full sprint to the end zone.

We had done it., and the feeling was incredible. As I sprinted onto the field, yelling on the top of my lungs along with teammates as Miller clapped the last goal... I could hear the loud yell from the team as Metroids came from all sidelines. We mobbed each other at the goal; hugs, tears, smiles and laughs. We had accomplished what we had been working for all year. We were going to Nationals. Seeing all the tears in people's eyes, the joy that people had, it didn't sink in until afterwards, huddling up with the team. We talked about how much this meant, and that even though we had another game, we should be proud of ourselves and to soak in the moment. The sun was out, it was beautiful, and standing there in a circle with a team full of smiles, beaming with pride, there was no better feeling. The next 10 minutes were a blur. We were calling friends, texting family, giving each other hugs. In a sense most of us still couldn't believe it. The feeling didn't sink in with many of us, and I'm sure it still hasn't for some of us. In our second year of existance, we had qualified for Nationals. The biggest win so far in my Ultimate career.

Metro advances to Regional Finals vs. Barrio
-------------------

Finals vs. Barrio
We let up after our big win over Kapow, and went down early 1-5 to the #1 seed. After a smart time out by the captains, we recovered and began trading and going on mini-runs and lost in the end 9-14. We knew that we didn't play to our best, and with several injuries, we didn't have our full roster playing. Barrio played well and simply out-worked us for the disc. Their handler set was very sharp and we seemed to be playing on our heels the entire game. Nonetheless, we settle for a 2nd place finish in the 09 Regional, one place better than last year... but oh what a difference that made.

------------------
*big sigh of relief*

Ask anyone on the team in the week leading up to the tournament, no one could get anything done. Whether at work, at school...everyone's mind was on the tournament, what it would bring and what had to be done. By game time on Saturday morning, everyone was mentally and physically ready; standing behind our leadership, our role players, our playmakers, and we got it done.
In a nutshell, we accomplished everything as a TEAM, with contribution coming from every single member on this 27 person squad. I am proud to be part of this team, this group of friends, and this family. Our season has brought us closer together off the field and the relationships can be seen through the way we play with each other on the field.

I just want to thank everyone for their encouragement, their support, and well-wishes for me and our team. In the next several weeks, we will be practicing hard and ironing out the kinks in our game. Flights are being booked, Hotels are being reserved, and more track workouts are left to be run. It's been a grueling season, but it's not over yet. Let it be said...

LA Metro is going to Nationals, proudly representing Southern California in Sarasota, Florida.

Sounds like something I could get used to. =)

Till next time,
Hammie
LA Metro #10

Southwest Regionals 2009 Preview

2009-09-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

This is it.

This is the tournament that teams have been preparing all year for and are preparing themselves to leave everything out on the field. For teams who have been here before, there's a certain mystique to it. Club Regionals is drastically different from collge regionals not only in the level of play, but also in the level of passion and desire people display. Not to put down the college scene, but club is as good as it gets and the expectations are greater.

With the Southwest Mixed Division receiving a recent growth bid to bring their allocated natties bids to 3, it changes up things in the SW. I'll put in my two cents in terms of predictions at the end, but as usual, I'm just gonna do a bit of individual team previews, atleast for the top guns in the region.

----
1. Barrio
Barrio has been and is the perennial favorate out of the Southwest Region. Their impressive performances at Nationals also shows that they can hang with the best. Although they have lost several key players from their 2008 squad, look for Barrio to benefit off of home field advantage in the heat in AZ as well as display their experience and poise when it counts. They've been here before and there's a reason why they are the unanimous #1 seed going into this tournament. Other than that, not much is known about the team. They haven't played many tournaments and had a rough outing at ECC with a good win over Chewy Defense. We'll see!

2. LA Metro
We're hungry. The 2008 season saw our squad losing in the game-to-go to Cougars 15-8. It was a tough loss, but at that point of the tournament, at that point of the season, we were simply out matched and out-played. We were in it. We had a chance to make it but it just wasn't our time. This year's mentality is to just run and gun, and settle for nothing less than a tournament win. I believe we're stronger this year, I believe we're mentally tougher this year, and I know that if we play to our strengths, we have the potential to run the table.

3. Operation Kapow
A new team from the Boulder/Denver area, they bring speed, athleticism, and experience to the table with numerous players who were ballers for their college teams or have multiple years of college experience. Although they have not played many games outside of their section, they feature big name players like Enessa Janes as well as the top handler/playmaker from Cougars last year. We've never seen these guys play, but their scores show that they are one of the elite. They breezed through the Rocky Mountain Section with relative ease with an easy win over Cougars, and also beat Golden Spike twice.

4. Cougars
Another team from the Boulder/Denver area, this team simply out played us last year in pool play and in the game-to-go. They bring a lot of athletic guys (including a 6'7" handler), as well as experienced women. They like to huck, they like to run, and they have the throws to back it all up. I've heard that they lost several players including their stud to Kapow, but they're still dangerous and have the capability to pull off upsets. They seem to be a "series only" team and their scores reflect that with green squares across the board except for a finals loss to Kapow.

5. Brown Chicken Brown Cow
Based off playing them twice at Sectionals, their offense mainly runs through Chuck with his big hucks as well as Lafite. They have several key girls that will continuously run their defenders but a lot has changed with this team since last year. I feel like their offense runs moreso through their men now as opposed to their 3-4 offense last year, but they still have all the required skills and personel to make some noise at Regionals. I see BCBC upsetting Cougars in pool play and taking over the D1 ranking going into the cross-over and bracket play.
----

The tournament set up has 15 total teams, with 3 total bids to Sarsota, FL. There's a 4th round cross-over on Saturday evening at 4:30, and if ALL the seeds hold, would put a matchup between A1: Barrio vs. C1: Kapow, and B1: Metro vs. D1: Cougars. That could be interesting as the cross-over will determine which side of the bracket the teams will start on, all assuming of course the 1 seeds hold their seeding.

Basically the game is this. If you MAKE the finals, you automatically clinch a bid to Nationals. There is no backdoor for the second bid but the rest of the teams are then left out to fight for the 3rd and final bid. Having that 3rd bid really changes things but the team mentality here in LA is that nothing has essentially changed. We still have a very difficult road ahead of us and there is no way we will take any of these teams lightly. They are ALL at regionals for a reason and have exemplified that they are all great teams and they all deserve to be here.

It's been a great season, but we're not yet satisfied. Time to go, time to work, time to show people what we can do and represent LA Ultimate.

Keep track of LA Metro on posterous: hammie10.posterous.com

Good luck to all teams,
-Hammie
LA Metro #10

===========

Southwest Predictions

Open-Bids to Nationals
- Johnny Bravo
- Strike-Slip

Womens Bids to Nationals
- Safari
- Rare Air
- Lady Condors

Growth Bid!

2009-09-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

Southwest Region + = 3 BIDS TO NATIONALS

Here we go Metro!
-Hammie #10

1up

Thoughts

2009-09-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever been in a place like this before. I'm sitting here in the analytical lab at work, days away from flying into Phoenix for the Southwest Regionals in Scottsdale, AZ. As the thoughts race through my head, "what am I gonna do this weekend," "what shouldn't I do this weekend," "what do I eat this week to prepare..." the most prevalent and overpowering thought is that we have the potential to do something special.

For those of you who know my frisbee pedigree, I came from "humble" roots. I started playing ultimate on the front lawn of my high school at lunch, somewhat of an outcast and found solace from all the stress of AP's, SAT's, and social strain in throwing a disc around with people I barely knew. I "red-shirted" my freshmen year at UC Irvine and by my second year was committed to playing with the upstart college team who was coming off a year-long suspension. It was a rough process trying to learn the game from my peers and teammates without a real "coach" figure. We struggled in the beginning, beating most B-teams here and there and it took us two trips to regionals to earn our first win, albeit on the last game on Sunday on the second try at regionals. I guess what I am trying to say is that although playing with NightLife will always be one of my greatest memories and joys in my life, we never put ourselves in a position to do something extremely special.

I remember our first universe point win, our first regionals game against the powerhouse Air Squids, the first tournament win, and of course, just the team chemistry and friendships I made. After placing a disappointing 6th at the 2008 Southwest Regionals in San Diego to close my college career in a year that was supposed to be Irvine's breakthrough, I thought that was it for me. I thought that was as good as I was going to get and wanted to get. Injuries had been a big factor in my career and many cautioned me to hang up the laces to save what I had left.

A year and a half later, I look back and thank God I didn't make that decision. The past two seasons with LA Metro have pushed me to a level I never thought I could go. The level of play is much higher than the level of college and consequently I have needed to demand that level of play from myself.

In just 4 days time is the 2009 Southwest Regionals. The team mentality has definitely changed since last year from "let's see how well we can do," to expecting to do well and to push ourselves to that next level. I've never credited myself to being part of any "exceptional" teams (except maybe Frorida), but I must say that the team that I am a part of right now is something special. I get very anxious just thinking about the weekend, about how it'll turn out, about how I will do... but I know that that's not the proper mentality for me at this point. A level of confidence, of swagger, of pride must be maintained. Trust in my teammates, trust in myself. I've been playing Ultimate for almost 4 years now... and I can say that this past year has been the most challenging for me, but the most rewarding. But the season is not over. We've got more work to do, starting with this coming weekend. All I know is that whatever happens, whatever the result, I am going to take the most I can away from my experience, and that it will make me a better player, teammate, and person; on and off the field.

Tournament preview will be up as soon as the schedule is updated on upa.org.

Until then, Thanks for reading

-Hammie
UC Irvine Nightlife Alum '08
LA Metro #10

Southern California Sectionals Wrap Up

2009-09-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

-Vince Lombardi

The UPA Series finally rolled around with Sectionals in sunny Long Beach, CA. The all too familiar campus hosting the Open and Mixed divisions which looked to provide great matchups and tough battles. We had been here before being ranked #1 going into Sectionals back in 2008 but we all know how that turned out. A close loss to rivals Brown Chicken Brown Cow in the finals left us wondering of what could have been, but in the end it didn't matter. This Metro team was different from last year. Most of the roster was intact from '08 yet the overall attitude and swagger of the team had changed. It was our time to show everyone what we were made of.

----------------------
Saturday
----------------------

LA METRO vs. Lunch Money BYE BYE Cancun BCBC OCD

We set out to finish this game quickly and that was exactly what we did. We ran through our defensive and offensive looks against the 7th seed in the tournament and made quick work of this game winning 13-0. It was not a time for screwing around, it was not a time to let off the pressure. We knew that our mental stasis was just as important as the physical part and our captains emphasized poise and pushing through to the finish of the game. Good start to the tournament

----
LA METRO vs. BYE BYE Cancun BCBC OCD

As the #1 seed in the tournament, it is usually customary to be awarded a more favorable schedule such as a first and/or a last round bye. However; such was not so and although we did not vocally express our frustrations with the TD's or coordinators, giving a top seed a quick first round game followed by a nearly 4-hour lay-off was very unprofessional and unexpected. No one was definitively angry, but a lot of frustrations swirled on our sideline as other teams reaped the benefits of "perfect" schedules with "perfect" fields. We took it in stride, using the lay-offs to work on focusing in, and playing high level disc post byes. So in a sense... it was a blessing in disguse.

----
LA METRO vs. Cancun BCBC OCD

These guys were good. Mostly consisting of college students from UCSD, they established a great deep game and were able to score very efficiently by hucking to their tall guys as well as their women. They had experienced players from the recent Air Squids National team from '09 and definitely played very well throughout the first half. We were able to put it away after taking half 8-5 and cruised onto a 13-7 win. The ability for our team to adjust and realize our female matchups were much more favorable gave us the versatility we didn't have quite enough of last year. Good win for us after a long layover.

----
LA Metro vs. BCBC OCD

The A1 A2 matchup proved to be all it was hyped up to be. We came out strong with a first-point break and jumped out to a 3-1 lead but they settled down to tie it at 3's. After trading for 4's we go on a bit of a run to take half 7-4. Points were long, gritty, and tiresome with many great defensive stops and/or contested throws. Soft cap came on shortly after the second half began with the game going to 10. We are sitting happy at 8-4 thinking that we had the luxury of 1 for their 2 scores. Our problems began right after half and they rattled off 4 straight points (3 breaks) to tie it at 8's. Hard Cap blows, universe point, on offense. We don't lose faith, we don't get worried, and before we know it, the disc is in the endzone and they never had a shot at winning it on universe. Our O was chilly and led us calm and cooly to a 9-8 universe point win.

----
LA Metro vs. OCD

Last game of the day against an energetic, scrappy team that had nothing to lose against us. They played well in the beginning, pushing us around a bit, getting good D's and solid movement with the disc however we never looked back after taking half at 7-3. A combination of zones and hard man pushed the score up and we ended the day 4-0 with a 13-3 win. Emphasis for this game was focus, and we showed that despite fatigue and exhaustion, we could maintain that high level of play.

----------------------
SUNDAY
----------------------

LA METRO vs. Merge In N' Out Finals

Horrible start to the game. First throw off the pull was turfed and Merge jumped out with an early break. We recovered well and found our stride and took the lead 4-1 on the backs of our defensive lines. We generally played well, and better than we had before against this very well-rounded team. It was difficult to maintain focus and intensity against Merge because they are practically our sister team. Almost everyone knows each other on the two teams and although the captains demanded our seriousness and intensity, it was both fun seeing our friends from LA and playing a fun game together. We cruise to a 13-6 win.

---
LA METRO vs. In N' Out Finals

These guys were fun. They had a lot of my friends whom I play pickup back in Irvine with, and also had a bunch of young runners who could move the disc. This game was the biggest mental breakdown for our team as they went up 6-4 and then took half on us 7-6. The halftime demeanor was just stunned silence. It was as if we just expected to waltz into this round and beat them up and move on, but In N' Out played great, inspired ultimate as they moved the disc very easily through our lines. Refocus... deep breaths... here we go. We come out strong in the second half and score 6 in a row to 12-8, and win 13-9. We were definitely not in "championship mode" and In N' Out deserves all the credit in the way they played. Great job guys.

---
FINALS
LA Metro vs. Brown Chicken Brown Cow

After the In N' Out game, we had some time to refocus, refuel, and rest. It was already assumed before the tournament that to win the Section, a team would have to beat us twice. So after all round-robin games had been played out, it came down to (no surprises), a rematch between BCBC and LA Metro. The previous year, the finals of Sectionals had been the first meeting between the two teams but the finals this year would be the 5th. Both teams were very familiar with each other and knew what we were both capable of. The last game had come down to Universe point, and we both knew that the winner would be the team that showed the most passion and desire for the title.

We start out on defense with our top D line, and their best O-line. The point literally lasts 10 minutes as both teams have chances to score but the defense would find a way to put up a stop. Their O-line finally scores but it was hard fought. D looks good. Offense goes on and boy do we look rusty. First O-point results in a bad throw-away. BCBC converts. Second O-point results in a bad drop. BCBC Converts. Sitting in a 0-3 hole, things don't look good. We refocus our lines and before we know it our O-line finds an easy score and our D-line converts on the next two to bring it to 3's. We then trade to 5's with both offenses looking fluid against formidable D-lines. At 5's, Jeff Chai comes up with a HUGE play, a full tilt lay out grab of a disc that was inches from the turf. Sick grab. Next point the disc slides out the back and they start on their end line. Keegan on the mark, I'm on the dump D. Keegan gets a deflection on a point block and it deflects quickly by me. Out of complete reflex and reaction, i stick my left arm out to try to tap the disc down but without even seeing the disc... I somehow find myself standing in the end-zone with the frisbee in my left hand... with a complete look of disbelief... staring at keegan who had the same expression. Everyone on the team had the same expression... and then it hit us.

Callahan or as my friend Tom Hall puts it... "callahandblock." 7-5 Metro takes the lead.

My teammates mobbed me... Keegan was still standing there with his hands on his head... eyes wide open, jaw dropped in disbelief. I felt the same way. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Keegan deflected a backhand throw about 5 feet away from me and it deflected towards me and i somehow had the reflexes to snag it as it zinged past me. Wow... one of the best plays I have ever made.

We were on D again... same Line. And this time Keegan comes up with the HUGE layout D and as the opposition is on its heels, Barrs goes for the juggular and Keegan puts him perfectly in the back of the end-zone for HALF at 8-5. Sick Nasty turn of events.

But BCBC wasn't done. They are a great team with veteran players and great leadership and they found a way to claw back into the game with two straight breaks after our Offense scores the first point to bring it to 9-5. Our offense comes out flat and we found ourselves holding onto a lead with the time simply not going by fast enough. At 10-8, softcap blows and it is game to 12. BCBC scores the next two and again it is Universe Point with Hard Cap blowing. We started on offense, with our top guns out there. But BCBC's defense calls our raise and my buddy Bacon makes a ridiculous lay out D that amazes both teams and all spectators. But we get it back. On a jumbled offensive play, we then turn it again on an errant throw, only to be bailed out by a mis-thrown Huck from BCBC. We call time-out and set up the offense. After some FRANTIC end zone offense. Linsey Cross has the disc with no open dumps. Stall 8, stall 9... puts it up floaty in the back of the end zone. Who's there? JEFF CHAI. He skies for the disc... falls to the ground... and we've escaped.

We can finally breath again as we rush the field for a final cheer and the Sectionals Crown. It was a hard fought game that showed what both teams were made of. We had given up a 9-5 lead, but we had escaped with yet another Universe point Win.

LA Metro wins the 2009 Southern California Mixed Division Sectionals
-----------

In the post-game huddle, we talked a lot about heart, about poise, swagger, and about focus. We stressed "championship-level play," consistent focus, and playing our game. True we had gone undefeated, but we had so much more to work on. Regionals is in two weeks and we learned so much about our team, what we're capable of, and what else we need to work on. I want to thank everyone who was out there watching us, supporting us, heckling us. It's been a long season and now is the time to step up and play championship level ultimate.

Full week of punishing my body with workouts and sprints, practice over the weekend, and then a full week of rest before what will probably be the biggest tournament of my ultimate career.

Till then,

Hammie
#10 LA Metro

Exhilaration and Defeat

2009-09-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

"Game-Winner."
Open Division Finals
Strike-Slip vs. Street Gang

photo by: Adam Newon

Ultimate is beautiful in many ways. Congratulations to Los Angeles Strike Slip, Your 2009 Southern California Open Division Champions.

-Hammie

Southern California Sectionals Champs!

2009-09-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

We finished the tournament strong with another Universe Point win over rivals Brown Chicken Brown Cow 11-10.

Final Results
1. LA Metro
2. Brown Chicken Brown Cow
3. Cancun
4. Merge
5. OCD
6. In N' Out
7. Lunch Money

-----------------

A BIIIG friggin congratulations to LA STRIKE-SLIP. Going undefeated in the tournament and capping it with a 15-13 win over San Diego Street Gang to take the Sectionals title. Great work! Making history in that this is the first time the title has come back to LA in almost a decade.

A little bit of Irvine Boasting... all 3 Sectionals champs in all 3 divisions were well represented by Night Life and Grass Ninja Alum. =) Safari (Annie, Iris), Strike-Slip (Jerry, Allen), and LA Metro (Enway, Hammie). So proud of everyone for all their hard work. But there's still a lot left to be done. Regionals in 2 weeks.

FULL Sectionals update coming soon.

-hammie #10

Southern California Sectionals Initial Results

2009-09-19T23:39:00.000-07:00

Win vs. Lunch Money (15-0)
Win vs. BYE
Win vs. BYE
Win vs. Cancun (13-6?)
Win vs. Brown Chicken Brown Cow (9-8 hard cap)
Win vs. OCD (13-4?)

Who gives the #1 seed in the tournament the worst schedule in the tournament? Seriously... not cool.

Tomorrow:
1st Round BYE
2nd Round vs. MERGE
3rd Round vs. In N' Out

Bracket play

-Hammie #10

Southern California Sectionals 2009 Preview

2009-09-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, CA

A1: LA Metro
A2: Brown Chicken Brown Cow
A3: Merge
A4: Cancun
A5: In N' Out
A6: OC Disorder
A7: Lunch Money

Bids to Regionals: 5

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Format for this tournament is again round-robin with a championship game the final round of the second day. Similar to last year, Metro and BCBC take the top two seeds in the tournament followed by the up-start Merge team. Top 5 teams gain bids to the Southwest Regionals in Scottsdale, Arizona in two weeks. I am pretty disappointed that Southern California was unable to field more teams as there are numerous quality ultimate players in the section. Round-robin format is not neccessarily my favorite format, but then again it allows us to play every team in the tournament. Should be a great tournament and a crucial tune-up tournament for us.

----------------------------------

A1. LA Metro
We field our biggest roster ever with the full alloted 27. Point taken... we will probably have the biggest/loudest/obnoxious sideline at the tournament. This will be the first tournament all season where we will have everyone not only present, but healthy. Aside from the normal wear and tear from the long season, we're looking close to finally having everyone on the active list. That's a big pick-me-up and having a full amount of subs makes breathers more frequent resulting in harder cutting. It starts here for us.

A2. Brown Chicken Brown Cow
Another typical preview for this team... No one will know anything about this team and who they have until they get there. All I know is that they bring a consistent small core of players from last year as well as some very talented/athletic women to the table and are always a threat to run away with it all. They're a very good team and their veteran leadership as well as many years of experience tells the tale.

A3. Merge
I love this team. Not only are they the new, fun, upstart team in Southern California, they're good. They surprised everyone with their performance at Chico and have the parts to make some noise in the Southwest just like Inferno did last year. They've got solid handlers in Diesel and Mark Hartford and if I remember correctly, have a whole slew of fast women who have many years of experience. Their core group of players did well last year at Sectionals and broke seed at Regionals so who knows how well this team wil do this year. Metro <3's Merge

A4. Cancun/A7: Lunch Money
This is where the ambiguity for me begins. These two teams are out of San Diego and are pretty much teams that haven't really played all season but are put together just to compete at Sectionals and potentially Regionals. If I can any kind of scoop on these teams, I'll let you know. All I have heard about these SD teams is that they are a mix of current UCSD Air Squids + Psycho players which means we all know they can play. They're gonna probably rely on their youth, speed, and athleticism. I always find these unkown teams the most dangerous. You have no scouting report on them at all... and then all of a sudden you find yourselves greatly underestimating them. Can't do that with these teams. Gotta show them respect.

A5. In n' Out
Playing this team will be very different for me. The majority of this team I have played pick-up with on Mondays and Wednesdays in Irvine with a group called "Rocketsauce." They're a fun bunch of players with a lot of years of experience playing the game we all love. This will be a fun game although the guys who are playing on this team have been smack talking me all month about marking up on me. I know that my demeanor come tournaments is very different than pickup in terms of intensity. I'm looking forward to this matchup and to play against my friends from pickup. =)

A7. The OC Disorder (OCD)
More friends from pickup in Irvine! Well... only one or two, but the majority of this team plays for Chapman University and also playe dat last year's Sectionals in Oxnard, CA. They're a pretty athletic team but are less experienced. Don't know much more about this team other than they have several key ballers that are able to match up on anyone in the tournament.

Predicted Mixed Results
1. LA Metro
2. Brown Chicken Brown Cow
3. Merge
4. In n' Out
5. Cancun
6. Lunch Money
7. OCD

===============================

Open Preview

There are 14 teams in the Open division and the teams are still TBA as of today. The top 4 teams will most likely be Strike-Slip, Street Gang, Condors, and Monster. However there is a new Masters team in the SB area (Beyondors) that has a very impressive roster and should matchup well against the open teams.

Strike Slip
LA's finest has had a very up and down season. The loss of AJ, Keith, and potentially several others to injury hurts the young squad and it will be interesting to see how they will respond. They recently scrimmaged the Condors and Beyondors and emerged 2-0 with 13-9 and 12-11 wins respectively. They had a disappointing showing at Chico in letting teams sneak back into the games late but their latest scrimmage results are optimistic. It's all mental for this team. They have the weapons to break out and win the Section, but it all comes down to mental toughness and if cool heads can prevail.

Condors
As I posted previously, they are a very young team that returns only 2 players from the Nationals team in '08. They are relying heavily on youth and athleticism and after seeing them at Chico, looked surprisingly good. Jeff Silverman is still a beast in the cutting lanes and with no other clear superstar, they have and will have to be more "team-oriented" in moving the disc. As a good friend of mine put it... this is the first sectionals in which the Condors aren't the clear favorite in over a decade.

Street Gang
I haven't seen them play since CalStates, but by then I was already impressed by how they played. They had a rough going at Labor Day beating only Rhino, but their early wins over Strike-Slip, Sub-Zero, and Truck Stop show that this team has what it takes to be Elite. Put this team in a section like the Bay Area, they would struggle against the likes of Jam, Revolver, and End Phase, but against the (sorry to say) softer Southern California Section, this team has what it takes to lock up the sectionals title.

Monster
aka... "smaug-vine," these bunch of guys have the "surprise" factor in their back pocket. Mostly a mixture of current or recent college players from UCLA, UCI, and CSU Long Beach, they have a simple offense, a simple defense, but run it well. In addition to the local players, they've managed to pick up some other key players from various college programs, some with multiple years of college nationals experience. They've had up-and-down success, the biggest highlight being a loss to Strike-Slip at Chico 11-12 on hard cap. The biggest strength of this team will be their motivation to ruin teams. When they're good... they're good. When they're down... they're iffy. They're a young team with mostly college experience and will find that although it's not enough at the elite club level, they’ve still got many players who have club experience as well as the motivation to mess you up if underestimated. Go Monster! I'm gonna be on their sideline most of the day.

=========================

Predicted Open Standings
1. Street Gang
2. Strike Slip
T-3. Condors
T-3. Monster (only because I love you guys so much)

Labor Day Recap

2009-09-07T22:35:00.000-07:00

At the end of the 2008 Labor Day tournament at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, I remember sitting around with the team just reflecting on a tournament where we only won one game. and lost maybe 5 or 6. It was a very difficult tournament in that we had a shortened squad, but there was no excuse as to how we played. We showed very little heart, a lot of nerves, and pretty much let down the Section and the Region that we represented.The team has changed a lot since last year but the veterans from '08 knew that we had to step it up this year and prove to ourselves that we could achieve all we set out to do.

-------
Round 1 vs. A.I.R.

Not a good start as AIR came out firing on all cylinders and had us down in an early 2-7 hole. Our offensive lines could not find a rhythm and we had some key drops and turns in our own end zone that led to easy scores. One key time-out later and a hungry defensive line finally got on the field and closed the gap from 2-7 to 7-8. Good way to end the half but we were still down, starting on D. We began to develop some "swagger" as Matt Welsh put it, and started dictating the game and closed strong after trading from half till 11's. Game to 13, we take the last 2 points of the game to win 13-11 and complete the comeback victory. AIR was, no pun intended, pretty deflated after that game as it was a very gutsy win for us avoiding another repeat of Chico and coming back to win from being down 4 breaks.

Round 2 vs. Denver Ultimate Club

We had a dreaded BYE the second round and I don't know if it was a factor, but we started flat again going down 0-2 but then begin to set the pace of the game. DUC played well, but we were able to contain their H-stack as well as run our offense efficiently. We threw a lot of counterpunches in transition D-->O and took care of the disc a lot better than we did in the previous game. We take half 8-4 and then storm up to 12-4. We took our foot off the gas near the end and take the game 13-8. Our offense feels a lot more fluid but our defense was still a bit sluggish. Good win after a bad start in the first round.

Round 3 vs. Night Train

I have no idea what happened this game. We currently had a 3-0 lifetime record against Night Train and I felt like we didn't take them seriously at all as they went up on us 2-6 quite easily. Our defense seemed soft and our offense confused and we simply could not establish a rhythm on offense and/or generate D's on defense. It was frustrating to watch them take the game 15-10, but our 20 throwaways told the story. We didn't play well at all and Night Train deserved the victory as they ran a DEEP H-stack that opened the entire under-lane for easy in-cuts that we neglected to respect. As our captain put it... it sucks to lose when we don't play well.

Round 4 vs. CTR

This was a friggin awesome game from the start. Both teams running their respective offenses well. CTR ran a standard vertical stack and relied on two main handlers to facilitate the offense and open up the deep game. We were in it from the start despite giving up an early break. We trade until 9's and then we go on a run to win it 13-11. We played this game with a lot of desire, and Barrs went crazy this game. It was wet, cold, foggy, and the last round, but we showed a lot of resilience against a very good CTR team and showed that despite the elements and a disasterous loss in the previous round, we could recover and bounce back, play our game and win.

3-1 on the day... went to sleep upset about the Night Train loss... in addition to the pain from partially dislocating my shoulder again on a lay-out D against DUC.

------------
Sunday
------------

Game 1 vs. Mischief

How do we even start with this one. We got pwned... nuff said. Mischief played a very sound game with minimal throw-aways which made our margin for error even smaller but we managed to give the game away right on the get go. We came out super flat at 8:00am and were never in it. These guys are a solid team... even at 8:00 in the morning. We are a great team... but we need to strive to be a team that's great whenever we take the field.

Game 2 vs. Golden Spike

Golden Spike is a good team. Well rounded with solid cutters, handles, and deep game, they surprised us out of the gate and went up 5-2 with relative ease. It was a very heated game with arguments, disputes, and finger pointing going on from both sides but that aside, it was a very intense and fun ultimate game. We had great offensive flow as did they, but our defense stepped it up and from 10-8, we go on a 5-0 run to take the game 13-10. This game had a lot of heated moments, but it was good to see our team keep our cool and work things out in a way that was both spirited and true to the game. Birthday boy Mark Miller catching the final score for the win through a defender was pretty sweet as well. Our ladies played well and made some pretty grabs. Great play all around. Great team win.

Game 3 vs. White Wedding

We STILL spotted them a 0-2 lead! There was a lot of wind in this game and we found ourselves on the field that had a straight up and down wind so a lot of zone was implemented (atleast from our side). We worked on zones and transitions and also played great offensive transition. This team was very short on numbers but it was very admirable to see them play the way they did against such great competition.

--------

In all, this tournament was very successful in that it helped us gauge where were and where we need to be for the series. We have one full practice before Sectionals, and then two practices until Regionals. It's the heart of the season right now, and when it all counts. Time to finish healing up injuries (in my case), to hit the track, to eat healthy, and to be in top shape because when you're in the game to go to nationals, you don't have a second shot. Life then goes point by point until a winner is decided. Overall it was a great tournament for us outside our two losses. We showed heart, grit, and passion with every point we played, every deficit we clawed back from, and every game that we won or loss. Sectionals in Long Beach in a week and a half.

Till then,

Hammie #10

------------------

Elite-Mixed Final Standings

1. Mischief (6-0)
2. LA Metro (5-2)
3. A.I.R (5-2)
T-4. CTR (4-3)
T-4. BCBC (4-3)
6. Golden Spike (3-4)
7. Night Train (2-5)
8. White Wedding (1-6)
9. DUC (1-6)

Labor Day 2009 Preview

2009-09-01T00:29:00.001-07:00

1. Mischief, San Francisco, CA

2. LA Metro, Los Angeles, CA

3. CTR, San Francisco, CA

4. Golden Spike, Salt Lake City, UT

5. BCBC, CA

6. Night Train, Davis, CA

7. Denver Ultimate Club (DUC), Denver, CO

8. White Wedding, Eugene, OR

9. A.I.R., San Francisco, CA

Format: Round Robin

---------

This year's Labor Day Tournament takes us away from the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park to a new all-weather turf in Oceanview, about 10 minutes south of downtown San Francisco. The move brings groans from the non-turf crowd, but also makes those veterans of the Polo Fields happy. (Worst fields in Ultimate). I saw a field last year at Labor Day with 5 or 6 hazard discs.

This year's format is also a round robin, instead of pools and bracket. We will be playing the same number of games, but this format allows for teams to play teams from other regions and allow for more variety. Our current schedule has us playing all the teams in the bunch EXCEPT for BCBC but this could change with placement for finals, etc.

---------

1. Mischief

Probably one of the most well-balanced teams I've seen in the co-ed circuit. They have great leadership, discipline, as well as poise that explains why they are so successful. They did struggle a bit at ECC, but look for Mischief to continue their success as they gear up for another Nationals run in the always difficult Northwest division.

2. LA Metro

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3. CTR

They've established themselves as a surprise contender and a solid #2 in the Bay Area behind Mischief. They surprised everyone and made finals at ECC and from when we played them, showed a lot of talent and athleticism drawing talent from Cal and the the rest of the bay.

4. Golden Spike

No one knows anything about this team. Myself included. All I know is that they play/practice at altitude. Probably going to be running harder than anyone out there.

5. BCBC

What team will they come up with next?

6. Night Train

Another surprise in the NW, they made finals at Chico, beating the likes of BCBC and BAG along the way. They've got a lot of experience on their side, and Mel is their go-to handler.

7. DUC

Denver Ultimate Club is a conglomeration of Bad Larry and Ripe, two teams that placed in the top 10 at regionals last year. Don't know too much about this team... but like Golden Spike, they live/practice at altitude. Should be one of those run and run teams.

8. White Wedding

I haven't a clue about this team. But if they're anything close to what Oregon Ultimate is known to be, there's no way anyone can take these guys lightly.

9. A.I.R.

Another Bay Area team, these guys gave us a close game up at Stanford, and beat us twice at Labor Day last year. It will be interesting to see how things pan out, and it's scary to think that a team THIS good in AIR is a 9th seed.

Predicted Final Standings

1. Mischief

2. LA Metro

3. Golden Spike

4. CTR

5. BCBC

6. DUC

7. White Wedding

8. AIR

9. Night Train

I will be updating scores and video-blogging on my posterous starting Saturday morning.

See you all in SF, best of luck to those playing in Santa Cruz.

-Hammie #10

Labor Day Championship Team List (mixed)

2009-08-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Air- San Francisco
Brown Chicken Brown Cow- Southern California
Butter - East Bay
Classy - San Francisco
CTR - South Bay
Denver Ultimate Club (DUC) - Denver
Feral Cows - South Bay
FOG - San Francisco
Golden Spike - Salt Lake City
LA Metro - LA
Merge- LA
Mischief- San Francisco/South Bay
Misery Loves Company- Stockton/Central Valley
Night Train- Davis
PieMo- Berkeley
Rush- San Francisco
That's What She Said - Marin County
The Fun Team- San Francisco
Unnamed (BAG?)- San Francisco
White Wedding- Eugene, OR

source: http://bayareadiscassociation.org/labor_day_tournament.asp

I am assuming the top 8 teams will include: BCBC, Metro, DUC, Mischief, CTR, Golden Spike, Night Train, and AIR.

-hammie

Discos Calientes 2009 Wrap-Up

2009-08-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

As day broke on a beautiful Saturday morning in Chico, CA, 21 mixed teams and 10 open teams converged at Community Park, a short stone's throw from the Sierra Nevada Brewery. After several weeks of anticipation and preparation, it was tournament Saturday. The weather wasn't bad. Cool and brisk in the morning with occassional wind that topped out at maybe 10mph at times. Great fields, great weather, but an unusually late start time of 2:30pm.

Most of were already at the fields in the morning watching the Open division matchups between Strike Slip and Monster, or YR and Condors and were treated to very high level ultimate that gave hints as to which team would prove themselves to be superior in the NW and SW divisions. In the Southwest, just from a very early view of things, the team to beat is still Johnny Bravo folllowed by Street Gang, Strike Slip, Condors, and Monster. Early prediction, but we'll see how things pan out.

LA Metro was ranked #2 going into the tournament as the top seed in pool B that included Brass Monkey, Classy, and Bid*well Nuts. We had an awesome warm-up at around 1:00pm, felt confident, looked confident, almost borderline cocky. That proved to be our immediate downfall.

-----------

Round 1 vs. Classy

Talk about a nut-buster of a first half. After trading the first two points on O, a "meltdown" would be an understatement. The wheels fell off early in this game as our O-line struggled to even move the disc off the pull. It wasn't the pressure from Classy running down on the pull, it wasn't their defense, it was just our nerves, our over-confidence, and our lack of heart. We did not work at all during this game. We had 19 turn-overs in this game, with the majority coming from unforced errors such as turfs and drops. No credit taken away from Classy, but they didn't do much to take this game from us other then to just take it from us. We gave this game to them, and it wasn't pretty. Being down 1-7 at half time, and then broken twice after half to make a 1-9 hole called for a huge change in mentality. Instead of winning the game, we focused on simply closing the gap. Small runs that would hopefully give us our dignity back. We closed until the final score of 7-13, but no heads were held high that game. *We embarassed ourselves, our supporters on the sideline, and Southern California ultimate in this game.* There were very few words during the post-game huddle other than from the captains. We were outplayed, and embarassed by a team we had beaten twice already, and it showed on the faces of every single player.

Classy upsets Metro 13-7

-----------

Round 2 vs. Bid*Well Nuts

Mark of a good team: the ability to bounce back from disaster. After a disasterous first round, we changed our menality and began to work with our legs. We ran a 3 vs. 3 handler pre-game drill that would focus on quick movement and hard running which I believe was the main factor in the sudden metamorphosis of our offense from anemic, skiddish movement to beautiful ho-flo and fluid movement. It was an entirely different team out there the second game and our offense led the way to a 13-6 bounce back win. We played harder than these guys and definitely showed the character of an elite team by just having short-term memory and playing the game at hand.

Metro over Chico 13-6

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Round 3 vs. Brass Monkey

Brass Monkey was a reunion team with a lot of experience and skill. I'll keep this short, but the only way to describe this game was that we had our chances to put it away. We had MULTIPLE chances to put away but we let them off the hook (Insert Dennis Green joke here). We were up a couple breaks until their zone stiffled and frustrated our offense and took us to a universe point in which an ill-timed hard cap TO and a almost-heroic hammer doomed our team to a 10-9 defeat. On the upside, we played well. it wasn't a game where we gave them the W on a plate, but we showed a lot of resolve and fight, but they simply made the plays when they had to and we didn't. The focus was now on our decision-making with the disc and overall frisbee-IQ. Tough loss that would have all but sealed up the pool for us. Instead of winning the pool (that no longer had a distinct favorite), we took the B-4 spot. First to worst in our pool. It was kindof numbing that things could go so bad, but we weren't out of it yet. We still had a chance to do well in this tournament.

Brass Monkey over Metro 10-9 DGP

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Round 4 vs. Humboldt

Most fun game of the tournament for me. They played hard and as the sun set and the lights (kindof) came on, we proved to be the better team with a pretty easy 13-6 win. The margin should have been wider, but we kindof let off the gas a bit and made some ill-timed decisions that led to scores.

It was a good way to end the day, but we knew that because of our struggles the first day, we knew that we had a long day on Sunday and that the teams we played would give us quality games. Team Dinner+beer at the Sierra Nevada Brewery after a long day of ultimate. Perfect way to end the day.

LA Metro over Humboldt 13-6

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Pre-Quarters vs. Dutch Rudder

Quarters vs. Bid*well Nuts

We played well this game and opened up the deep game with Matt Welsh and Keegan leading the charge. After our disasterous first round on Saturday, we knew that we had to pick it up this game to prove that as a team, we didn't need a "warm-up" game to get into our groove. We didn't really do that as we started out down a break or two and had to claw our way back. We were down 4-6 I believe before we scored on O, and then two straight defensive breaks for the 7-6 half. We didn't look back from there and opened up the throttle and cruised to a 13-8 win, out-scoring Dutch Rudder 9-2 in the latter half of the game. That set up another match against Bid*well Nuts in which we won out again 13-8 in a very fun and spirited game that was actually covered by the local newspaper!

Metro over Dutch Rudder 13-8

Metro over Bid*Well Nuts 13-8

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Advancing to semifinals meant another match against our rivals Brown Chicken Brown Cow. This was "supposed" to be the Saturday-night Showcase game, but at that point, we knew that this game would be close and that if we wanted to really push ourselves to win, we would need to show a lot of poise, passion, and heart.

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Semifinals vs. Brown Chicken Brown Cow

Both of our rosters were short-staffed. It was apparent as big names from both teams were absent but that was no way an excuse or a crutch that either team could lean on in case of a defeat. We were both good teams that had played each other 2 times in the past already, with the rivalry tied at 1 game-apiece. The game started out with simple trading before our defensive line generated an early break. It was very obvious that our energy level was elevated for this game and that we were running well and hard. Our offense looked very smooth and fluid, with good decisions but several bad executions. Of note was Meesh playing very fundamentally sound defense on BCBC's best woman, as well as our general defense on their ladies. They are one of the few teams that consistently runs a 3-4 on offense and makes us prove that we can beat

their very talented and fast ladies. So we threw a wonky zone at them. And it worked. That was where the tide turned. We were up maybe one break, but after throwing a zone, we confused them, and stopped any kind of flow that they had and went up several breaks for a 10-5 lead. The biggest complaint we had for this game was that we let off a bit at the end because we knew we had this game won (due to time-caps), and pulled out a 11-8 win, when it should have been easily 13-5. It was a hard fought game with huge lay-outs from Keegan and Whitey. Our women played so well and did us proud. Above all though, we played with passion and heart but didn't let the excitement and adrennaline from playing our main rivals force us into "hero" mode. Back to fundamentals, back to working hard, back to Finals!

LA Metro over BCBC 11-8 (hard cap)

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Finals vs. Night Train

NightTrain (to me), was the surprise of the tournament. I had seen them play this past year and didn't think too much of them, but they surprised the A-pool much like Classy did in our pool and beat BCBC in pool play and BAG in semis to advance to finals. They had finished maybe 5 minutes prior to end of our game and were watching us play, almost scouting us. That 5 minutes was probably the difference in that we were able to smoothly transition into the game with our level of play already up. Due to the fact that many of us had to catch flights, the captains from both teams agreed that the game would end at 4:55pm (55-minute round), so that we would have ample time.

We came out on fire with great Ho-Flow and great defense on their ladies. They had maybe one or two handlers that could really jack it deep, but we stiffled them a bit in the beginning and went on a big run to make it a 5-0 game, practically putting the game away early. They did manage to close the gap a bit by working it with their women, but we pulled out the victory 9-5 and the tournament title. Of note from this game was Lindsey running deep and snagging the disc over a guy who was bidding for it, as well as Trogdor's crazy poach Lay-out D on my cutter who had to jump over him as he hit the deck. I liked the offense in this game in that we simply out-worked the opposition through dump swings and short passes which would gradually open up our deep shots from Keegan to our ladies. It was a great feeling to win this game as many of us were fighting cramps, fatigue, and exhaustion.

LA Metro over Night Train 9-5 (time cap)

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So we did it. We started the tournament on a disasterous note, but showed enough poise and composure to slowly bring ourselves together and win each game, one at a time. Going into bracket play as the last seed out of pool play, we had a lot of critics to answer. Many people questioning our team ability, our cohesiveness, our desire to win. I think we did answer a lot of questions this weekend that we also had for ourselves. Could we bounce back? Could we win in more than one way? We learned a lot about ourselves this weekend and the tournament victory tasted so much better than the Sierra Nevada 24-pack that came with it.

As we raced back to the airport to catch our 8:00pm flights, it was apparent on the faces of every single player on this team that it had taken a lot out of each of us. True we were excited and proud that we won, but many of us wore our emotions on our sleeve after that game and displayed faces of exhaustion, fatigue, and above all relief. Coming all the way back to win really showed that we did have what it takes to gut it out but that we have so much more to learn and work on as a team. For every player that was there this week, it was a victory for our team, but it was also a personal victory as each person stepped up their game and brought it for Metro Blue. I am proud to wear this jersey, and I am proud of every single one of my teammates for their commitment to the team, their desire to work for each other, and just the smiles I saw as we earned the title of the 2009 Discos Calientes Mixed-Division Champions.

Great job Metro.

-Hammie

Discos Calientes Preview

2009-08-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

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Pool A

A1. Brown Chicken Brown Cow (1)

A2. Night Train (4)

A3. Classy (6)

A4. Humboldt (8)

Pool B

B1. LA Metro (2)

B2. Brass Monkey (3)

B3. BAG (5)

B4. Bidwell* Nuts (7)

courtesy: upa.org

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The current weather forecast for Chico, CA this weekend is: high of 94 with approximately 30-40% humidity. So actually this isn't that bad compared to last year, although Chico hit 103 yesterday.

Discos Calientes is a tournament I haven't really been looking forward to in that it calls for teams to deal with extreme elements such as heat, UV-index, and insects. That aside, the tournament vibe is very awesome in that you can jump into a 65 degree river after playing and/or visit the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company across the street from the fields. The rankings listed above were posted by Fetch, the tournament TD and are no-way finalized. I just know that I won't have time later in the week to write this up so I'm going to take care of it now with the information I've got.

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Brown Chicken is ranked #1 for this tournament (no surprise) and look to continue proving that putting together a team the week before a tournament from an assortment of in-region and out of region players works. In theory, such a strategy should bring chemistry problems and/or unfamiliarity between teammates, but Calle has done it well and put together teams that are not only more talented then most in the region, but also can quickly gel together and flow seamlessly. They bring a more limited roster to Chico, but which team isn't. It's about the half-way point in the season and I'm sure many teams are stuck with injuries and/or mid-summer wedding obligations. =)

Brass Monkey is back! I was very surprised at this and thought that it was a misprint in that "SF-Rush" was supposed to be slotted at the 3-seed. However I was wrong as it was brought to my attention that this was a Brass Monkey reunion type team. We played Brass last year at CalStates (W:15-12), but outside several handlers and women, I don't know very much about this team. Should be a strong team since they've played together for all those years in the Bay Area but who knows. I know several ex-Brass players have moved onto other teams so numbers could possibly be an issue.

Night Train brings a good balance of handlers + cutters to the table. Through watching them at this year's Calstates or playing them last year at Labor Day, they don't have the huge superstars that a "big market" area would yield, but they are definitely a team with veteran leadership and great fundamentals.

BAG is a team I would love to play for if I had returned home to the Bay Area. The "Bay Area Gangsters," or formerly the "Black Actor's Guild," are mostly comprised of current or recently graduated college students from schools like Davis, Cal, SF State, that rely heavily on handler movement and/or a huge jack into the end zone. They've got a lot of great cutters that also can handle and played relatively well at Stanford with wins over GNT, Rush, and Dutch Rudder. They're a young team, but they have a lot of potential for upsets. I see them breaking seed and more.

Seeds 6-9 are Classy, Bidwell Nuts, and Humboldt. I don't know too much about these teams other then the fact that they cannot be underestimated. Humboldt has a great program up there and they consistently bring very good athletes to the pitch. Classy gave us a good game at Calstates, mounting a run in the early second half to keep it close before we pulled to a 15-9 win. They've got plenty of height and cutters, I just feel that their handling core isn't as strong as other teams in this pool.

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The tournament has been set up so that the Mixed-division is split into two groups; the top 8 in one group, and the rest of the field in the other group. There is also an Open Division with the following pools:

Pool A

A1. Condors (1)

A2. End Phase (4)

A3. Army of Darkness (5)

A4. Buddies (7)

A5. The Pirate Bay (10)

Pool B

B1. Strike Slip (2)

B2. Monster (3)

B3. SCUC (6)

B4. Seduction (8)

B5. Club Sac (9)

This is looking to be a pretty good field for an open division tournament with the tournament debut of the new-look Condors as well as LA Monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like YR has now become "End-Phase," but were called "Sharky" at CalStates. Weird... but the game to watch for the open division seems to be between Condors and Strike Slip, or the latter vs. the new YR team. Look for Santa Cruz (SCUM) to give the top teams trouble. In terms of prediction, it's a toss up for me. I'd like to see Strike Slip take the tournament, with the talent they have, this tournament is theirs to lose.

My blog mostly deals with the mixed division, but if you want a look at the open division, more specifically a look-in with LA's top open team, Strike-Slip, hit up my friend DOT's blog for their tournament previews and wraps.

Once the actual pools and rankings are out, I will update. Till then.

-Hammie

LA Metro 2009 Roster (REVISED)

2009-07-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Ladies

Martha Uhl (c)

Enway Hsu

Jen "Zip" Chen

Holly Schwarz

Mary Kate "Uzi" Hogan

Lindsey Cross

Sarah "Carny" Carnahan

Michelle Andrews

Karen Ko

Gerene Garcia

LA Metro returns 5 ladies who played during the entire 2008 club season which includes solid handlers in Enway, Holly, and Zip. Key losses include Iris, Dara, and Nicole. Key pickups include Lindsey Cross and Uzi who are fresh off of college nationals. We have a lot of new faces on the women's side but all are very talented and each bring a different skill-set to our very diverse team.

Men

Chad Christensen (c)

Keegan Uhl (c)

Simon Margolis

Samuel "Hammie" Chen

Spencer Barr

Scott Mahr

Kief Zangaro

Rob Seversen

Mark Miller

Jon "Yugo" Miles

Barrs Lang

Frankie Rho (c)

Jeff Chai

Ryan "Trogdor" Hunt

Andy Curtis

Todd Krumpe

Matt Welsh

With 11 returners, the captains were faced with a very tough task of streamlining the team with a mix of new and old to yield the greatest result. Before the season started, there was the possibility of losing 4-5 members to other teams however all have decided to return and that means that the core component of our team as well as our role players remain intact. Key pickups include UCLA's Trogdor and Chai as well as Matt Welsh, who brings us a very high level of intensity, athelticism and speed to our team. Look for the new guys to complement the returners, adding in speed, versatility, and energy to our solid core of returning players.

As 808 said, Play time IS over. Time to focus on the Club Season.

Regards,

-Sam

Committing Larceny: Skying people taller than you

2009-07-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

coming soon...

Challenges

2009-06-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

On the eve of a brand new season, there comes a time where I will just think about what I want to accomplish this season. I’ve done this for every college and club season that I’ve been a part of, in addition to individual tournaments and even the occasional pickup games. I constantly challenge myself to push myself and my game to new limits, working on fundamentals such as keeping a solid force on the mark or not getting beat up-line, to things that are more “out-there” such as working on my off-hand throws or high release flicks.

My philosophy is that if you don’t constantly challenge yourself to get better, to work on different aspects of your game, you won’t improve and your game becomes stale and predictable and it’ll show through your play at the local pickup game or at nationals. I have a post-it stuck on my wall, directly in front of me as I sit at my computer that says these simple words:

“Someone is working harder than you--->10/29/2009”

If you haven’t caught on, the date 10/29/2009 is not just Jen “Zip” Chen’s birthday, but also the start of the UPA Club nationals in Sarasota, Florida. For LA Metro, that’s the goal. This will be the last time I talk about Natties here this year, but as a team, our captains have made it clear that we are not only focused on qualifying for it, but also making some noise there.

On the individual scale, my challenges for this year are even harder than what I faced last year. Last year’s goals for the LA Metro ’08 season was to blend in as a reliable and solid role player, and to develop into an elite level handler. I’m not sure if I accomplished the latter goal, but I felt like I did establish myself as a reliable cutter last year, being moved from D-line handler to O-line cutter.

Offense

This year I want to be perfect. That’s saying so much and I know that I’m never going to achieve such a goal (no one will), but it’s a mentality thing. I want to handle the disc and cut for the disc in a way that strives for perfection. This means throwing consistently and accurately, mixing brains with ability and making the right high-percentage decision every time. This doesn’t mean I won’t be hucking or throwing higher-risk passes. The captains have encouraged me to huck more, but with this “clearance” comes more responsibility and restraint. I hope by year’s end I will be a smart and sound handler that can not only distribute the disc accurately and fluidly on the under cuts, but also keep the defense alert with the potentiality of my deep throws.

- 100% throws, minimal turns

- Establish deep game

- Clearing space for others

Defense

I hope this is the year I break out defensively. I’ve been working on my defense this entire off-season with the UCI team, LPC at Sean Ryan, and other tournaments with various teams. The title I really want to earn is the “lock-down defender,” especially on the opponent’s main handler. My goals are to be a lot more physical on the defensive side, to use my body and position to my advantage and to make the offense go where we want them to go. Calstates showed me that I’m still not there in guarding handlers that are significantly bigger than I am, so much work is needed both in my speed/agility, and in the weight room.

- Lock down defender status

- Body the offense. BE MORE PHYSICAL

- Dictate the offense

- Want the disc more than the other guy

- Lay out big, lay out aggressively, lay out safe.

We went into last year with a “let’s see how well we can do” mentality, and we missed a trip to Nationals by 5 points. This year, we’re gearing up for a run that will hopefully take us all the way to November. The roster is being assembled, and track workouts are being run. I was lucky enough to be offered a roster spot on this awesome team, and when it matters, I don’t want to be the one that lets the other 26 down. This is the last time I mention it, but yes, our challenge for this year is nationals. The season starts now, and I couldn’t be more psyched out for what it will bring.

-Hammie