Southern California Sectionals Wrap Up

"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.

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Saturday
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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.


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SUNDAY
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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.


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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.

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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
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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

Labor Day Recap

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.


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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.

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Sunday
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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.


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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

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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)

Discos Calientes Preview

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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

Cal States 2009 Wrap-Up

Ahh Cal-states. The forecast had called for 30% for rain/isolated thunderstorms but when we arrived at the fields at 7:00am on Saturday, we all knew that we were in for a partly-cloudy, 65 degree day. Perfect weather for Ultimate.

For LA Metro, this tournament was the first "official" tournament where we would finish up our rounds of tryouts and also gauge where our team stood against the best from Southern Cal and NorCal. As stated in the preview, we were seeded 4th out of a field of 12, with games against Brown Chicken Brown Cow, TWSS, two byes, then wrapping up the day against GNT and CTR. 

Keegan's keys to the tournament:

-Start strong, offense needs to score the first 3

-Minimize turns to x<10

-Boring red-zone offense

-Disc movement near the end-zone 

-AMP it up on D

----SATURDAY----

  Last year we had to wait until the finals of the So-Cal Sectional to play our rivals Brown Chicken Brown Cow. This year, the TD's wasted no time and scheduled us with a first round, 8:00am game against our rivals from the city of angels. The game started out in our favor, with BCBC making several early mistakes and calling a time out with us up about 4-1 or so. It was a good time-out as they went on a run of their own, tying the game at 4's. From there it was very close with our team gutting out the victory 10-8 on hard cap. Our offense was pretty sloppy all game, and our defense was sluggish, but it was a feel-good win and we knew that if we wanted to play well this tournament, we would have to step up our energy. We suffered a big loss this game when our captain, Keegan, went down with an injury catching the game-winning goal. We knew that with him out, we would have to play even better and that huge hucks would be more evenly matched. LA Metro wins 10-8 hard cap.

       We then played TWSS n a relatively close game that featured breaks back and forth as well as some sloppy zone play. At this point, most of us had our legs under us so we were running well, but we were not taking care of the disc. We were definitely winning the battle of the sexes as our women were dominating and showed great poise in zone as well as in cutting for the disc. It was a quick round, LA Metro wins 12-9. 

(insert two round bye here + lunch, Strike-Slip vs. Street Gang, quick nap)

Next up in round 5 was GNT. We had been soundly beaten by this team last year in Chico 13-6 and 

we were looking for redemption. GNT ran a quick offense with their movement based solely on handler movement with the disc. This movement definitely gave our defensive line trouble as both men and women alike were constantly being beat up the line and/or letting of easy resets off the dump. It was frustrating trying to stop this, but we knew that although they were effective in the beginning, their handlers would eventually tire out and their strategy would not be as effective; which proved to be true. We began to wear down their offense, forcing up difficult throws, or long hucks at high stall counts. It was still a closely contested game but the defense did its job and got several key breaks. LA Metro was sitting pretty at 3-0 on the day with a 12-9 win over GNT. 

Last round of the day was the battle of the unbeatens. CTR vs. LA Metro. CTR had cruised through their rounds and was looking good. CTR ran a very effective verti cal stack, using their women very well and also had the deep hucks to stretch out the defense. Their defensive zone also stiffled our offense as we would work it up 3/4 of the field very easily and then get stuffed or be forced into a bad decision whereupon CTR would jack a huge 70+yard huck for the score. It was a frustrating game for us as we could not figure out a way to break through. We did get our scores in however the game was not as close as the final score dictated. The offense frequently stalled and there was very little flow through our horizontal stack and even so in our vert. Barrs did make a spectacular lay out callahan snag to keep it close but CTR proved to be too fundamentally sound for us this time. CTR wins the pool with a 12-9 win over LA Metro. 

Turns killed us the first day. We turned it atleast 20+ times in the first 4 games that we played. Although it was an early tournement, even that stat was unacceptable. We were lucky to be sitting at 3-1 going into Sunday. We knew that if we wanted a shot at playing against Mischief or at CTR again, we would need to clean up our offense. It was really frustrating watching our offensive lines struggle, just sitting there with Scott, Barrs, and d-liners... just anxious to get in and earn that break. Our defense was the highlight of the day, with great all around play from our ladies and our men after generating turns. We had a lot to work on and think about but we knew that we could turn it around. 

LA Metro goes 3-1 on Saturday. Currently 2nd in the pool. 

 ---- SUNDAY ---- 

First round bye, so our game started round 2 against S.F. Rush. You think we would clean up the offense for this game, but it was not the case. Rush ran a pretty good zone defense that we managed to break through several times. But we frequently turned it about 5-10 yards from the end zone while the zone was still in effect. This game became a battle of the defenses. Both team's defenses were completely owning the opposition's offense. At one stretch, defenses scored 3 straight for each side. It was kindof of hilarious... but also sad knowing that our offensive lines, which are designed with scoring in mind were finding themselves playing defense most of the time while the defense did the bulk of the scoring. It came down to 8's, game to 10 but at 9's, hard-cap blew and universe point. Both teams had multiple posessions on universe before our ladies finally worked it through the zone for the goal. 10-9 Metro. Yay us! It was a good game for the defense, but continued to demostrate the flaws in our offensive execution. With the win, we advanced into semi's against Mischief.

At games end, Mischief had scored two callahan goals on us. That's the type of game it was. It was very high intensity, very well played game despite the score being 7-15 in favor of arguably the top co-ed team in the n

ation. We didn't have answers for their guys who were schooling us but our ladies held more than their own and were very effective. We went 3-4 at several points and it worked. We did have the help of Matt Welsh, who picked up with us for the last two rounds. He proved to be not only an asset on the field, but also aided in calming the team down and making plays when needed. With the loss, we headed to the 3rd place game against Classy, who got shalacked by CTR in the other semi-final.

Our captains had been awesome all week in terms of leadership, pep-talk, and implementing strategies that proved to be successful, an

d if unsuccessful, adjusting according. We had a lot of great frisbee minds with plenty of "strategery" up their sleeves. For this game, we decided to practice a zone we had been talking about. 3-2-2 zone with just handler sags and poachy defense from the mids. The point was to get the handlers to swing to their hearts delight, and to channel throws through the gut of the defense (to the mids), rather than allow the throws up the sideline. Our women proved to be awesome on their handler marks, with some of our women even fouling male handlers (lolz). We went on a big run again, with our defense proving to be solid and at this point, more impactful than the offensive lines. We played very well, great movement, and although we failed in our bid to get our turn count under ten, we ended up with a tournament-low 

12 turns.

LA Metro wraps up the tournament with a 3rd place finish and a 15-7 bounceback win over Classy.

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What now?

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After this tournament, Metro will be making a first series of cuts to gradually trim our roster down to it's final size. Every single person who was trying out with us played well and I know that the captains will have a very difficult time deciding who makes the roster and who doesn't. We have a lot to fix, but with a 3rd place finish at cal-states after only one practice, things are looking good. We finished 2nd last year, but the field had definitely gotten better and the level higher.

Being the top Southern California team there was a good thought, but I know every single one of us want to be one of the top in the Region if not the Nation. We have natties on our mind and what's gonna take us there is adjusting to our bad tendencies, working hard, and playing as one team with a common goal. I always tell younger players. Don't think you should be the superstar. If the team plays boring ultimate with sound fundamentals and low risk throws. You will win. Every single time. On the defensive side of the disc , if you don't like contact, then you will not win. You have to sacrifice your body for the disc. Leave your feet and get in the offense's grill. Most offensive players don't like being harassed. They're the clean-shirted "wine and dine" crowd. Defense should be there to crash the party, make them feel awkward, take that disc away and then show them how it's done. That's what our LA Metro defense strives to be.

Next up is a series of practices, and then P-Town throwdown (if it happens), and then Discos up in Chico. But yes, till then, rest up, keep on striving for more.

-hammie #10

(all photos courtesy of Simon Margolis)

moments after my lay-out callahan against Cla$$y

barrs skying for the disc

Matt Welsh goes up against Haegen(sp?) for the disc

Pleasuretown Throwdown WRAP

This will be a pretty brief post, as it is already midnight and I have a 6:00am wake up call.

LA Metro went down to San Diego for the 3rd annual P-town throw down. We came ready to tear it up and in short went 4-0 the first day. The first several points of the game were very sloppy with multiple turns from both sides but we eventually cleaned up our game and closed out the team in the 2nd half. The next several games went well and our last game of the day was against Cowabunga, the 2nd seed in the Pool. This bunch was made up of players mainly from Last Call and Safari, San Diego open and women's teams respectively. The game was close most of the way, and saw a pivotal break from Cowabunga via Callahan goal. It was a pretty sick goal with Rookie running down on the pull and laying out for the score off our first throw. We eventually capitalized on several turns and took the game 13-10. We were 4-0 at the end of the first day. woo go metro!


The second day arrived and we played the last seed in our pool winning 13-0 in about 35 minutes. Sunday also saw the arrival of our captain and he pretty much rallied the troops and we responded. The next two games were pretty close in the beginning with teams trading scores. Both ended with our team pulling away with multiple goal runs and winning handily. Wind was definitely playing a factor as we stuck down our zone and were able to generate turns.

So our team has made finals in 2 of the 3 tournaments we had played in, losing to Mischief twice in the finals. This time however; we were faced with a rematch with Cowabunga, which beat blackout in the semis. The beginning was close again with points being traded but then saw our traditional 2nd half run and we raced out to a 14-7 lead. What happened next is something that we won't forget. Cowabunga started going nuts. Before we knew it, they had rolled off a 6-0 run and we were sitting at 14-13. We were downwind and finally put an end to the game with a downwind huck from Keegan to Barrs for the winning goal.

LA Metro wins the first tournament in its short history going 8-0. We are all really excited for our next tournament up at Discos in Chico, and then Labor Day in San Francisco. It's gonna be a sick-nasty club season. =)

Watch out... we're gonna be wearing some crazy jerseys this year!

-hammie














pictures courtesy of Amy "meeko" Chang. thanks meeko!