17 because tumblr isn't working

2010-09-13T00:53:00.001-07:00

I took my NYU friends out to BID the other night because they wanted to party. Although I don't normally party, and I don't even drink, I wanted to show them a good time while they were here.

The last time I've ever even set foot on College Ave at that time of night was the first day of sophomore year. I found myself wandering into the Lambda fraternity house and before I knew it I was inside an unfinished basement with green neon lights, loud music, and a stripper pole.

Not my scene, I know.

I've really had bad impressions of college parties in general ever since that time, but it is exactly what it is, which is the complete opposite of everything that I consider fun.

I don't drink, I think it's something to enjoy with friends rather than abusing and getting wild with.
I don't dance/grind/hook-up with girls, I'm way too shy for that and I think it's like using girls for your own entertainment. If anything, I like to just get to know people at parties.
I don't smoke weed, self-explanatory.

This goes to say, Friday night was a pretty crazy night for me. Met up with Steve and Alan first, then Jayson, Nik and their two friends, Stacy and Roya. Showed them my suite, showed them Kathie's apartment, then head out to College Ave when we met up with Jesse and Jon Liu. Bus was packed as usual, and so was the BID house. Although it was a toga party, I got everyone in without one, and only Nik and Jayson had to pay.
I wasn't uncomfortable or anything at the frat house, because I knew almost everyone. Had some talks with some of the guys from the team, and then checked up on everyone every now and then. I was really bored at some times, because in reality, there isn't much for a guy like me to do at a frat party. I felt bad for Stacy and Roya at certain times too because they didn't drink either, and sometimes they looked kind of bored as well.

Went down, danced around with everyone, even though the rest of the party was just sucking face and hooking up with each other. Not a surprise, just a little disgusting. Watched Nik and Alan get cheated in a game of pong, and then more dancing and me just wandering around the house finding people to talk to.
We finally left, the guys seemed like they had a really good night. We head back on the bus, which was really crazy with a million drunk people all piled on. Gave the girls our seats, and then attempted to resist the teetering drunk people who could have easily crushed us. Headed back to Kathie's apartment, ordered pizza, and then I walked back to my suite to grab sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets. As I was walking the entire 20 minutes, I had a little time to reflect on the night, and even though I had pretty much played dad the entire night, I was at least a little content with the fact that my friends had a good time, and that made me happy.
Everyone fell asleep pretty quickly, and I helped clean up for a while. Washed dishes, put trash away, threw away Nik's puke... it was blue. Found a spot on the couch and just dozed off really quick.

A night to remember, definitely. It was great seeing Nik and Jayson again, and got to meet Stacy and Roya who were two really chill and cool girls. Also, Squeev finally showed himself after 3 weeks at Drew. Yeah, I didn't drink, yeah it was kind of boring and awkward for me at times, and yeah I had to clean up a lot of crap, but in the end it was definitely worth it because my friends had a great night.

RU Rah Rah

2010-04-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

1st Team:

Milo Snyder (Columbia)
Isaiah "Izzy" Bryant (Columbia)
Lu Wang (NYU)
Husayn Carnegie (NYU)
Zack Finkelstein (NYU)
Frederick "Frecka" Brasz (Princeton)
Greg Owens (TCNJ)

2nd Team:

Kerry Chang (Columbia)
Chris Gebhard (Hofstra)
Ryan Schultz (NYU)
Bruce Reed (Rutgers)
Glenn Poole (Rutgers)
Jake Berzoff-Cohen (Vassar)
Jackson Kroopf (Vassar)

Freshmen of the Year (Tie):

Adlai Felser (Princeton)
Brian Li (Rutgers)

I guess I'll have to settle with FOTY for the Section haha
Gonna work hard to get more RU players on that list.

Wait... What?

2010-04-24T13:18:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'm back. Yeah, I haven't posted on this blogspot for a while, mostly because I've been posting most of my Ultimate stuff on my TUMBLR. (hell yea, useless advertising)

Anyways, the Ultimate season for Machine is pretty much over, so it's time to start training and getting ready for whatever I'm doing in the summer.

My lifting this week. Only consisted of two days because of schedule difficulties and also Sender and Eric trying out for POT this weekend.

Max Effort Upper Body
Working up to a 1rep max on Incline Bench Press (maxed at 140 lbs, weaksauce I know)
Triceps Death (Full bench max reps, half-way max reps, 1/4th (overloading tricep portion of the bench) max reps) 2 sets
super set
a DB Rows 3 sets of 12
b DB Delt Flyes 3 sets of 12
DB Shrugs 3 sets of 12
Zottman Curls 3 sets of 12

Upper Body Repetition
55% of 1MR Bench Press, Max reps
super set
a Lat Pulldowns
b Scarecrows
Lateral Raises
super set
a DB shrugs
b Hammer Curls

Progress

2010-02-18T22:19:00.000-08:00

Yeah, haven't been posting here much, been writing a lot on my tumblr though.
Anyways, I've been seeing a lot of progress from my workouts.

This was my workout for the past two weeks, except a change in reps or sets.

DAY 1: UPPER BODY WORKOUT
1. Bench Press: 75% x 7, 80% x 5, 85% x 3 or more
2. Off-set, Alternate Med Ball Push-ups: 2 x max reps
3a. Seated Cable Rows (Double-D handle): 3x10
3b. Lying DB triceps extensions: 3x10
4a. Cable Face Pull (2 second hold): 3x10
4b. Zottman Curls: 3x10
5. DB Complex (front squat, swings, unilateral curl+press, squat jumps): 4 *ascending
sets. Rest 60 seconds between sets. *1st set perform 7 reps of each exercise. 2nd
set perform 8 reps of each exercise. 3rd set perform 9 reps of each exercise. 4th set
perform 10 reps of each exercise.
DAY 2: LOWER BODY WORKOUT
1. Kneeling Jumps (holding med ball or w/ barbell on back): 5x5
2. Squat or Deadlift: 75% x 7, 80% x 5, 85% x 3 or more
3a. Supine Hip Thrust (shoulders & feet elevated): 3x15
3b. Stability Ball Plank (Ball Under Arms, Feet On Bench): 3x45 seconds
4. DB Reverse Lunge, front foot elevated: 2x12 ea leg w/ same weight as last week
5. Tabata-style Jump Rope: Jump rope as fast as you can for 20 seconds and then take
10 seconds off. Repeat this 10-12 times.
DAY 3: UPPER BODY WORKOUT
1. Chin-ups (total reps) = chin-up max + 60%
2. Rest-Pause, 3-Second Eccentric Front Lat Pulldowns (Wide, overhand): x1
3. Standing DB “Modified Arnold Press”: 3x8
4. Blackburns: 4 Positions, 20 Seconds each x 2 sets
5. Cable Curls: 3x12
6. Core Circuit: x 2
A) V-ups x 20
B) Hip-ups x 20
C) Alternating Toe Touch (i.e. Right hand to Left Foot, etc) x 15ea side
7. Bodyweight Complex: 5x through, rest 60 sec. b/t sets
A) Mountain Climbers x 30
B) Push-ups x 20
C) Groiners x 10
D) Burpees x 5

Progress:
Instead of not being able to do a single natural glute-ham raise, I've progressed to being able to push out 4. My vert has increased a little bit, although I haven't measured it yet. Mass-wise I've gained a little bit of weight but still have a long way to go. My chin-up max has increased by 2-3, and my max bench press has increased by 5 lbs.

I haven't really been playing much recently, but I can just say that this season I will do whatever I can to get better. No limit to the amount of work I can do. For every dead lift and every squat, is another man that's just waiting to get layout d'ed or skied.

Pumped for the next tournament.

Team Workout

2010-01-21T21:22:00.000-08:00

Pretty hard night. But it's not enough yet.

20 Low Box Heel Touches
20 Box Jumps
20 Stair Lunge Jumps
20 Step Ups
20 Pogo Jumps

Circuit
30 seconds at each station, no breaks, 3 sets
Burpees
Mountain Climbers
Planks
Side Plank
Vertical Jumps
Split Jumps
Wall Sits
One Legged Hip Thrusts
Faking/Throwing Pivots

Geoff's Circuit
50 Pushups
50 Lunges
50 V-ups
50 Squats

Did some stretching at the end, but overall it was a good workout.
Max-Effort Lower Body tomorrow

Werblin

2010-01-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

Getting back on track with my schedule
Lifted with Mike Sender and Eric Huang.

1. Bench Press: 100 lbs x 6, 110 lbs x 4, 12o lbs x 3
2. Incline DB Press: 25 lbs 2 x Max Reps
3a. Bent-over 1-Arm DB Rows: 40lbs 4x10 ea arm
3b. Triceps Rope Pushdowns: 27.5 lbs 4x10
4. BB Shrugs (2 Sec Holds): 135 lbs 3x10
5. Barbell Complex (deadlifts, bent rows, hang cleans, push press, back squat): 4 sets.

ASDFZVCBXCFASDFAVCBXCVBDSFASDF!!!!

Rehab

2009-12-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

straight chillin right now... whatttss goooooodddd

Wouldn't it be ridiculous if I actually spoke like that?

Haven't wrote anything in here for a while since I've had bronchitis for a while. Been pretty rough on me, didn't go to the last few weeks of practice and have been on an inhaler for a good month. School is good, got my last final tomorrow, if all goes well I should be able to come up with a 3.3ish GPA by the end of this semester.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to hanging out with the WH kids this break, and just relaxing and getting some workouts in that will help be bounce back from this sickness.

1. Bench Press: 100 x 8, 110 x 6, 120 x 6
2. Flat DB Press: 30, 2 x Max Reps
3a. DB Shrugs 40: 3x15
3b. DB Lateral Raises: forgot the weight I did 3x15
4. Barbell Complex 60 lbs x 10 (deadlifts, bent rows, hang cleans, push press, back squat): 2 sets.

Almost killed myself with the push press because I started coughing once my arms went up.

Didn't have access to any cables so wasn't able to do those, but the barbell complex was pretty tough, noting the fact that it was my first time doing hang cleans, so had to get used to those as well.

I don't expect to do any running anytime soon, due to my breathing problems, but I'll try to get some sprints in as soon as possible, as well as a long run or two.

Way Overdue

2009-10-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

So it's been a long time since I've posted on this. Strange thing is that a lot happened, too.

So I'm at Rutgers University now, playing with Machine. It's nice playing with some familiar faces on the team like Glenn, Andrew and Sach. Some of the things that I improved on during the first couple of weeks were field awareness as a cutter, and laying out on D for deep throws. I used to have a lot of fear laying out for deep throws because they would normally be very high and I didn't exactly want to land on the receiver either.

I wasn't able to go to Regionals with Roots of Rhythm because I got really sick, and then afterward I wasn't able to play Ultimate for a good two to three weeks. When I did come back, I was not happy to find that I had lost my endurance as well as my vertical and speed. I was still having trouble breathing and could not keep up well in some of the scrimmages. My defense switched from being aggressive to being more able containing my cutter, which in some cases, isn't that bad but I need to find when to be aggressive and when to contain.

However, I have been attempting to get back into shape recently, and have been showing up to practice a bit more. I was pretty disappointed to find that my throws were not nearly where they were before. My hands felt weak holding the disc after such a long time of not touching plastic. Today I threw a couple of turnovers, including one to a very open Greg Yen. One could argue it was rainy, but the moment I had the disc in that backhand position my grip was already sloppy. However, I ended up getting a layout D and bruising my side. Other than that I haven't really accomplished much recently.

My goal for now is to work on my throws and get back into shape.

Wildwood

2009-07-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

Went down to Wildwood last weekend for the first time to participate in the Wildwood Ultimate Tournament. I went down with Nikhil, Jayson, Amanda, Annie, Fran, Alan, Charlie and Sean. On Friday I drove down with Nik, Alan, Sean and Sachin in my car, which was pretty fun since they kept me from being bored while I was driving. When we got there, we had a little bit of trouble with the people at the cabin registration, who wouldn't let Annie's parents just come in and drop off her stuff. After sorting some stuff out we unpacked and tried to get a fire going outside.

Later on me and Jayson drove over to the Bolero Hotel to register our team. After seeing a bunch of other people I knew, I then noticed that there was a huge party at the hotel. I was greeted by Bill Sanborn and a slightly tipsy Thales at the entrance and then I proceded into the hotel by myself since Jayson didn't have ID with him. When I went inside there was loud music, dancing, and flashing lights everywhere. Not knowing where to go, I followed the Rutgers guys around only to realize that they had already registered and were just here to party. After figuring out where I was supposed to be, I situated myself into the line which was moving at a rate of 0. I waited on this line for about an hour and a half, and somewhere within that time the two girls in front of me started making out, which occupied me for a good 30 seconds. Jayson decided to get into the hotel somehow and joined me in the line. When we got to the registration desk, the woman told us that she had emailed us and told us that juniors could register tomorrow. There was never any goddamn email, however, so I spent the entire ride back to the cabin cursing and screaming in anger.

I slept pretty badly that night, trying not to move and disturb the girls since my bunk bed was noisy as hell, and at one point during the night, Alan started cursing off Fran in his sleep, and couldn't recall it the next. The guys kept everyone up for a good one to two hours by screaming.

The next day we woke up early to get to the registration tent, at the time we were SUPPOSED to register. We then found out that there were only 5 teams in the juniors division therefore we would not play on Sunday.

We first played Westfield, a game that was somewhat close but we had full control of the game the entire time. A lot of the points were skies or layout scores by me from Jayson's long flicks. A couple of the scores were nice floaty flicks out to space by me, Jayson, and Charlie that we just had to run down. We ended the game winning by two points. Our next game was against a Lower Merion juniors team, but at that point we were all lazy as hell and had no motivation to play. We decided to mess around and throw hammers, resulting in a huge loss. Next we played Get Your Disc Wet, who was a pretty bad team that even though we didn't take them seriously, we dominated them by at least 10 or 12 points. After that we played another juniors team that obviously hadn't played real ultimate before, so we won 18 - 0 or something like that.

We hit up the beach after that and then later on that night we went to the boardwalk. I saw Noah, Principi, Bode and a couple of the other Roots kids as well as some of the Rutgers guys there. We walked around for a bit, getting smoothies, ice cream, and fried oreos. It started raining incredibly heavy after that so we headed back to our cabin to make smores by the campfire. That night we slept a lot better since I was on the floor, therefore allowing me to sleep without worrying about the creaky bunk bed and waking anyone up.

Woke up in the morning around 8 AM, and headed over to the beach. We walked around for a bit to see if anyone wanted to play us, but NYU, Rutgers, and Stuy all had games going on. We went up to the boardwalk again and got more smoothies while Annie, Fran, Amanda, Sean, and eventually even Charlie got on some rides. We all went to the beach afterwards and Nik's jersey eventually got swallowed by the ocean. We lay on the sand for a bit while Sean tried to catch a bird with a towel. After, we went back up to the boardwalk to go to the waterpark, but it started raining really hard and therefore the rides were closed. We decided to just walk around on the boardwalk a bit more then we watched the finals and headed back to the cabin.

The drive home was a pretty peaceful one. We conversed and stopped at a certain point so I could take a rest and grab some food. Afterwards, we headed back and it started pouring like crazy again. Thankfully, we got back to Warren in one piece.

Rhythm

2009-07-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

So its been a really long time since I've wrote in here, even though there's been a LOT going on in my Ultimate life. So, I wasn't able to do YCC's this year due to VBS, so I joined a club team called Roots of Rhythm, which is comprised of mostly Pennsbury players, and a couple of other players from different teams. I must say, playing with them is definitely one of the best experiences I've had in Ultimate. Playing competitive high level Ultimate is a lot different from playing with Watchung, where I was sort of the go-to guy. With Roots I'm most certainly not the best player so it feels really comfortable when I'm playing with players who are a lot better than me.

I've been playing MCUDL with Roots for a while and took down Illuminati twice and the CHS alum team although not many of them actually showed up. I've been learning a lot during the whole process too.

This weekend, I went to Philly Invite in Allentwon with Roots. I didn't really have a ride so I went with Kahyee, Lu, Cori, and Glenn. Kahyee, Lu, and Cori were on Zoji, and Glenn was on Philly Mob. The ride to Allentown was a lot shorter than I expected, and since Zoji had a first round bye, I arrived near the end of the Roots vs. Big Floppy Clocks game. Yeah, I don't know what was up with that team name either. Anyways, upon my arrival, Roots rolled them 13-5, and then had about an hour until our next game against Philly Love, so I went and watched the Zoji game.

Our game against Philly Love was full of bullshit calls from Love and us screaming back at them. I played mostly D, having not entirely grasped the full concept of ho-stack yet. I got a layout D on a handler going upline, and then got up and realized that there was a huge rip in my shorts. Luckily, I had an extra pair of shorts so I ripped the other pair apart and used it to tie up a wound on my knee. My highlight of the weekend was Noah telling me to take one of the handlers and to get down there as fast as possible. Noah rips a huge pull and I get the layout d on the first throw, pumping my team up. Felt really good to finally contribute something to the team. We ended up finishing Philly Love off 13-7.

Our next game was against RIO, a team from Rhode Island. I don't remember much from this game or the next against Bear Proof, but we beat them 13-5 and 13-7.

That night I stayed with the Zoji team at a really nice hotel. We chilled at the pool and the enormous hot tub, which was incredibly relaxing and did a wonder for my muscles. We had Dominoes for dinner and went to Friendly's afterwards. I got to meet a couple of the players on Zoji which was really cool. Zoji seems like a really fun team to play with. After watching Lu, Glenn, and Kahyee duke it out in the weight room, we headed back up to our room and called it a night after watching some poker on ESPN. Glenn was beat out of the bed, Cori took the couch, and Kahyee and Lu shared a bed, which was pretty funny.

Woke up at 7 even though me and Glenn had a first round bye. The breakfast at the hotel was amazing, and after a wrong turn and a missed exit, we got to the fields at around 9 in time for Kahyee, Cori, and Lu to cleat up and play against Muffin Men, and me and Glenn to watch them until our game against each other.

Our first game against Philly Mob was pretty bad. We lacked energy and ended up turning it over due to their poach defense. Our defense had trouble shutting down their cuts and I myself got roasted a couple of times upline or deep, which frustrated me pretty badly. We ended up losing that game 13-7.

Since that game was still pool play, we ended up having to play Philly Mob again right after for the finals. We came out pumped up and playing tighter defense and cleaner offense. There were some nasty plays such as Jordan layout skying the shit out of his defender, and Fred Tsai and Alex making HUGE layout D's in the endzone. I got a better grasp on handling in the endzone and had an assist to Bode who spiked the disc, pumping us up again. Bechis ended up roasting any defender on him for numerous goals, and a final flick to Mike Principi won us the tournament 15-9.

Philly Invite was one of the best experiences in Ultimate I've ever had, and it was great being a part of one of the first tournaments Roots has won. Looking forward to more MCUDL games and Wildwood with team STD.

Overdue

2009-06-03T06:51:00.002-07:00

I don't know whats been keeping me away from writing in this blog, maybe its been the sheer fatigue from having six tournaments in a row, or maybe it was the obsession in the amount of fun that I was having every day at practice and at tournaments with the team, but all I know is that I feel the obligation to write about what this season has been all about.

Two weeks ago, at the UPA New Jersey State Championships, Watchung Hills took second place with a 11-15 loss to Columbia. For years, my dream been to place first at States. It's hard to believe that in my four years of high school ultimate, I have never achieved it. With my senior year of school coming to an end, I have finally realized that I no longer have that chance to finally take that dream.

That leaves me to the question of, "what does ultimate frisbee mean to me now?". For the longest time I have had no second thoughts about doing that extra sprint, lifting that extra weight, and injuring myself at every tournament, because it was for my team. But recently I have lost my motivation for anything, whether it be working out or even simply finishing my homework after school.

But I remind myself that graduation means nothing. No matter where I go, Rutgers or NYU or wherever, I will still be a part of Warrior Ultimate. That is my reason for my thirst now to be an even better ultimate player. When people ask me where I played, I will proudly say "Watchung Hills". Whatever team I play on, Watchung Hills will be represented.

So yeah, I know its a little late, and I apologize for being so, but I think I can finally say a proper good bye to Warrior Ultimate, because I know in truth that it doesn't matter if I'm out on the field or I'm out somewhere miles away, I will still be a part of Warrior Ultimate.

Peace out from your captain

Brian Li
Warrior Ultimate
Captain 07-09
Rookie of the Year 2006
MVP 2008

Born2Dive

2009-04-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

time to find my body's limit and then go past it

Spring Break Training

2009-04-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Monday

Barbell Floor Press
70lbs x 3
90lbs x 3
110lbs x 3
130lbs x 3
150lbs x 1 (assisted)

B. Pull-Ups

BW x 12
10 lbs x 10
12 lbs x 8
15 lbs x 6
BW x 10

C. Face Pulls

D. Barbell Shrugs
120lbs x 15
130lbs x 15
140lbs x 15

E. Barbell Curls

60lbs 3 sets of 12

F. Blackburns

Tuesday

A. Vertical Jumps

B. Bulgarian Split Squats
40lbs x 6
60lbs x 6
80lbs x 6

C. Hanging Leg Raises

D. Forward Sled Drags
Prowler + 90 lbs

E. Prowler Sprints

Friday

A. Deadlift

110 lbs x 3
150 lbs x 3
170 lbs x 3
190 lbs x 2
230 lbs x 2
250 lbs x 1
250 lbs x 1

B. Reverse Lunges

40lbs x 12
100lbs x 12
100lbs x 24
100lbs x 24

C1. Swiss Ball Single Leg Hip Bridge

C2. Abdominal Circuit

D. Backward Sled Drags
140lbs x 3

E1. Farmer Walks
140lbs x 3

E2. Prowler Sprints
Prowler + 90 lbs x 3

Next tournament is Hiphoponpop.
Main problem right now is my confidence.

One

2009-03-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Radnor Invitational

Radnor Invitational from Brian Li on Vimeo.

Having a first round bye really didn't help much since the adrenaline had me up until 3 AM the previous night, and I had to wake up at 7 AM to get ready and pick up Gilly. After getting to the school, I was horrified to see that the usual yellow bus that we frequently ride had shrank into 1/3rd of its original size. Apparently the baseball team had copped our big bus and had left us with this small thing to work with. After a giving the bus a look of disdain and a hearty "HAIL NA" I got on the bus and sat in a pretty small seat with Wes, later to move to a larger seat with Jake. 20 minutes down the road we noticed a certain Is Ulaj was missing. Apparently he had heard "be at school at 8:15" as opposed to the actual departure time of 8:00. Fortunately, Mr. Pak picked him up and he was later escorted to the field late.

1st Game: Cardinal O' Hara
We came out nice and fresh in our new white jerseys against their black and yellow jerseys which had been our colors last year. Making some stupid turnovers in the first couple of points caused them to score a couple of points, but the entire time we had full control of the game with a layout D immediately from Scott Hampton, and plays like the Gillsta cherry picking my bad huck then throwing the crappiest turn the page forehand to John Barnum, laying out and getting his camera time on the reel. We took half easy by working it up and a couple of occaisional deep shots including a perfect huck from Steve Silva to me in the endzone. After half, we split up into O and D lines, which unfortunately were incomplete due to absences by Is who had not shown up yet and Charlie Lian. O line borrowed Steve Silva and scored the first point quickly. D line struggled with a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers and lazy defense. Letting a couple of points go, we quickly stopped the bleeding a finished the game 13-4.

2nd Game: Lower Merion
Coming out in black jerseys, we immediately took full control of the game by playing aggressive D and shredding their zone defense with handling from Steve Silva and Wes Pak and popping with me, Jake and Scott. Letting a couple of hucks go due to misreading or off positions, we let a couple of points through, but not before getting it back on D with huge layout Ds from Scott and John Barnum, as well as a huge backhand to Jake in the endzone making a layout catch for the point. The game ended with me throwing an upline to Scott who made a bid past his defender for game point.

3rd Game: Cheltenham
Shredding their zone defense just like Lower Merions, we came out first point gaining the entire field for the first point. An uncharacteristic drop from Wes Pak allowed them to quickly huck it deep and gain back the yardage but our defense shut them down at the endzone and a quick huck from me to Barnum ended the first point. I vouched not to play for the rest of the game and let the juniors do their thing. Cheltenham probably mistook our intensity for unspirited playing, so they decided at one point to retaliate with one of their defenders intentionally smacking the disc down as hard as possible, warping it. Unfortunately for them, they don't know that when you play unspirited with us, it only makes your defeat come quicker. In the next couple of seconds Jayson Lian layout D'ed that player and got up, waving his finger at him. I only had to play one more point that entire game and we easily took the game 9-3.

Finals: Haverford
Haverford had beaten us pretty badly last year at Hip Hop on Pop. During the first couple of points we came out pretty slow, allowing them to get ahead 5-3. Then with a wise timeout call from T, we upped the intensity with aggressive defense, shutting down their cuts and uplines and layout D's at every opportunity. HUDA was complaining about our aggressive defense but their coaches told them that what we were doing was not fouling. HUDA played a very spirited game and knew the rules very well, so mad respect to them for that, but in the end we came through with huge hucks from me and Steve to Jayson and Sean Wang and sick grabs by Barnum and Sean for the score of 13-7.

Watchung Hills takes 1st place at Radnor Invitational
Next up, Westfield and Born to Dive.

Captain's Practice

2009-03-12T14:41:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness.

We're going to rock you.

yawn

2009-03-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

No practice today

30s!?!?!?
30 squat jumps
30 leg extensions
30 extension squat jumps
had to stop for a few seconds in between each...
ridiculous.

one legged calf raises
30x4

ive been waking up at 10:30 every day this week. feels so good, haha

First Practice

2009-03-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

Cardio needs some work

We did a lap around the school, which includes some downhills and uphills, and I think all in all its close to about a mile.

1st time - 6:30
2nd time - 6:40

Not exactly the best times, I know. My bronchitis has been pretty annoying for the past 2-3 weeks, although you probably don't want to hear this, but my throat keeps filling up with mucus every time I run. Gross, I know.

Did four down and backs in the gym with push ups and then 8 pull ups.

Then we threw around a bit and played some hot box, which I was pretty lazy in, but I was already cramping up. Bad, I know

Got home, did some plyos

20s
20 squat jumps
20 push up extensions
20 push up extension squat jumps

Calf raises
30x3
each leg

I'm pretty beat right now.

Holla

2009-02-26T14:43:00.001-08:00

Last day of membership at the gym

Legs
Box Squats
185 lbs - 10x3

One Legged Box Squats
35 lbs - 10x3

Weighted Calf Raises
200 lbs - 15x3

Chest and Tris
BURN OUT
105 lbs until failure
85 lbs until failure
65 lbs until failure
45 lbs until failure
1 push up. FAIL.

Tris and chest hurt for like 20 minutes and couldn't lift them

Seated Dip
80 lbs 15x1
90 lbs 12x2

I know it doesn't seem like a lot but that burn out was incredible.

Spring season on monday. Predicting hill sprints and long runs.

Bronchitis

2009-02-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

Yeah so my bronchitis came back.

Anyways...

Legs
Squats
180 lbs - 6x2

Box Squat
135 lbs - 10x1
180 lbs - 6x2

Bis and Back
Triangle Pull ups
10, 8, 7

Lat Pull Downs
120 lbs - 12x2
130 lbs - 10x1

Curls
15 lbs - 30
20 lbs - 24x2

T-bar Rows
45 lbs - 15x2
better form
35 lbs - 15

I feel like I'm missing something...
and I just realized I didn't do abs today :[

Homecoming

2009-02-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Had our first practice/scrim today, due to the amazing weather that we had. We started out with some butterfly cutting, but with the lack of discs, it didn't go as effectively as I would have hoped. We scrimmed a bit, with just enough people for a 7 on 7 and subs. I focused mostly on cutting and playing aggressive defense in this game, which turned out pretty well because I gained yardage and got disc a lot more often. On defense, I shut the majority of cuts down, but have yet to get back into that mindset of baiting people for the in-cut so I can get a layout D.

There were some pretty good highlights that game:
Me hucking to Nik, who skied an out of position Wes, but the catch itself was pretty insane.
John Barnum getting the layout D on Jake's continuation pass to me
Wes laying out AT the disc and saving a crappy flick throw that would have turfed
Me picking up the garbage and skying a crowd, only to land on my ass and hurt my back
Crazy handler flow between me, Sean and Alan
Scott had a pretty nice D on Nik but it got called back because of something that I don't remember

To sum it up, I think we're off to a good start.

Basment Jaxx

2009-02-10T20:35:00.001-08:00

Nobody went to the gym with me today :[
So I worked out at home

Bench Press
115 lbs - 6x3

Incline Bench Press
85 lbs - 12x3 (wtf how come I can do these at home but not at the gym)

Skullcrushers
50 lbs - 10x3

Squats
150 lbs - 12x3 (seriously, I put on ALL the weights that I own...haha, meaning I only own like 100 something lbs not including the bar)

Calf Raises
30x3 per leg

Practice after school tomorrow, and long weekend after. Going to Soho on Thursday, church retreat on Friday. Life ain't all about ultimate, you know.

Fuego

2009-02-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

Abs
Veritcal Leg Lifts w/ Resistance
15x3

Oblique Incline Sit Ups w/ Medicine Ball
15 lbs - 15

Incline Sit Ups w/ Medicine Ball
15 lbs - 15

Legs
Plyometrics
15 Squat Jumps
15 Leg Pushup Extensions
15 Extensions to Squat Jumps

Bis and Back
Pulldowns
100 lbs - 15
120 lbs - 12
130 lbs - 10

Alternating Curls
20 lbs - 30
25 lbs - 24 x 2

Pyramid Curls
50 lbs

T-bar Rows
45 lbs + w.e the thing was - 15x3

Mini-Scrim

2009-02-08T12:23:00.001-08:00

Played some ultimate for the first time yesterday. There weren't many people available, so we played a game of 4 on 4. The turf field had a lot of snow left on it, but the weather itself wasn't really cold, so I could suffice.
It started out as me, Sach, Rich and Jake verses John, Jayson, Sean, and Srinjoy. I focused mostly on cutting and playing aggressive defense in the beginning, but time to time I naturally started staying back for the dump, which is something that I want to stray away from in the spring season. I did a pretty good job getting open and shutting down some cuts in the beginning, but I got lazier on when the scrim became less serious.
Sach threw some out of bounds throw that I had to toe the line for, and I landed right into a huge puddle of slosh and water. Then, later on John got open on a deep cut but had a pretty crazy failed layout attempt... into another puddle. I had a layout D and I scraped my knee, but I didn't think about it until later I realized that it was purple. That was about when I decided to stop playing.

Good times tho.

Amherst

2009-02-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Watchung Hills has been accepted into both the Open and Girls division for Amherst Invitational.

...YEAH THATS RIGHT. COME SEE ME.

Overkill

2009-02-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

Worst freaking day ever.

Abs
Vertical Leg Lifts
15x3

Incline Crunches w/ Medicine Ball
15 lbs - 15x1

Oblique Crunches w/ Medicine Ball
15 lbs - 15x1

Weighted Seated Crunches
100 lbs - 10x3

Tris and Chest
Bench Press
115 lbs - 6x2
120 lbs - 4x1

DB Flies
30 lbs - 10x3

Dips
16lb Assist - 15x3

Seated Chest Press
90lbs - 15x3

Chord Flies
35 lbs - 20x3

Legs
Squats
185 lbs - 10x3
205 lbs - 10x3

Weighted Calf Raises
180 lbs - 25x3

Wallball cool down. A lot more running than racquetball, haha.
Two scoops whey with milk.

Planning to go running tonight.

Edit:
Went running around the neighborhood.
Two laps, pretty tiring.
5 uphill sprints for half of my street

Wishing For a Snow Day

2009-01-27T22:47:00.000-08:00

Good gosh, its late.

Decided I can't just let my strength leave like that even though its midterms, so I had to do something, even if its not much.

Pushups
50x2

Diamond Pushups
25x2

Squat
1 min.x2

White jerseys are in, they run a bit larger than the black ones since the material is different and lighter.

Cockiness in Ultimate

2009-01-23T07:08:00.000-08:00

Confidence is powerful but subtle, while cockiness is often based on an inflated or false sense of your own abilities.

Confident players in Ultimate bring out the best in the other players. A confident player is someone whom when the disc goes up, the team can trust him to come down with it. Confidence allows a player to believe in himself to make the right decisions that are best for his team, and not for personal glory.

Cocky players, on the contrary have a tendency to make harsh, illogical decisions. Cockiness is usually from an overabundance of confidence that may or may not be in proportion with ones abilities. Cockiness in Ultimate leads to bad hucking decisions, half-assed offense, and especially half-assed defense.

Our team has been very cocky lately. Pre-season hype is useless. Head your heads out of the clouds and hit the weights. Theres no reason for us to be arrogant until we take that trophy at NJ. So how about we stop with the smack talk and work on our game.

Slow Startoff

2009-01-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Getting back on track, started out with a day of just free weights, not that much work...
Had some peanuts and an arizona herbal tonic beforehand

Abs
Vertical Leg Lifts
3x15
Cable Push Downs
160 - 15
170 - 12
180 - 10

Legs
Squats
180 - 3x12

DB Flies
25 - 7
30 - 7
35 - 7

Bench
120 - 3 FAIL (haha, definitely should have benched first)
115 - 6

Tricep Pull Downs
60 - 15
70 - 12
80 - 10

Incline Bench
65 - 6 (too light)
75 - 6
85 - 6

Yeah, light day, I'm not really tired but its a good start off. Two scoops of whey.

Lifting With Alumni

2009-01-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

Not much work today, mostly arms

Legs
Incline Leg Press
420 lbs - 15x3

Calf Raises
180 lbs - 15x3

Backs and Bis
Individual Curls
15 lbs - 30
20 lbs - 24
25 lbs - 20

Pyramids
50 lbs

Lateral Pull Downs - Front
90 lbs - 15
100 lbs - 12
110 lbs - 10

Lateral Pull Downs - Back
110 lbs - 15
120 lbs - 12
130 lbs - 10

Reversed Flies
75 lbs - 15
90 lbs - 12
105 lbs - 10

Axel Row
90 lbs - 15
110 lbs - 12
120 lbs - 10

Tried a max out today for fun. Didn't really warm up, but it turned out to be 135. Pretty much the same as like a year ago.

In other news, I have another bio test coming up. Sleep deprivation, booyah.

Blegghghghgh

2009-01-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

So even though I have been working out recently, I haven't been updating lately.

So here was yesterdays workout

Legs
Leg Press
370 lbs - 15
380 lbs - 12
390 lbs - 10

Weighted Calf Raises
160 lbs - 30
180 lbs - 25
200 lbs - 20

Tris, Chest
Bench Press
100 lbs - 6
110 lbs - 6
120 lbs - 6

Assisted Dips
Lvl 6,4,2

Seated Bench Press
90 lbs - 15
105 lbs - 12
120 lbs - 10

Flies
90 lbs - 15 x 3

Cords Circuit
30 lbs - 10 x 3

Tris/Chest Circuit
30 lbs
40 lbs
50 lbs

Need more ultimate.

2008-12-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Daymn I'm Nervous

2008-12-20T20:33:00.001-08:00

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

2008-12-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

You know who you are, haha.

"Studies have shown that the optimum amount of sleep a person should get each night is seven to eight hours. Many people have trouble getting this amount of sleep. Between work, family obligations, and household chores, too often a person gets only a few hours of sleep a night. What effect does sleep deprivation have on people?

Sleep deprivation has a definite effect on learning, memory, and the ability to think clearly. If a person is not able to get a full night’s sleep after learning something new, he will not remember the new knowledge well. He will not fully assimilate the new ideas or task until he is able to go through a complete night of uninterrupted sleep cycles.
Different parts of the brain are rested and regenerated during different phases of sleep. During some phases of sleep, the neurons in the cerebral cortex regenerate. If sleep is interrupted so that this regeneration cannot occur, speech may be affected, since the temporal lobe of the brain is what controls speech. People who do not get enough sleep often have slurred speech. There is also measurably less activity in their temporal lobes than in those of well-rested people.
During REM sleep, memories are consolidated and categorized by the brain. New synaptic connections are also formed during REM sleep, aiding learning. If REM sleep is cut short, long-term memory may be affected and new knowledge might not be retained. Conversely, short-term memory might be better in the sleep deprived person because the part of the brain that controls short-term memory has never gone off-line, and the memories are still fresh.
Sleep deprived people are much more accident-prone than well-rested people. This is partly due to the person being groggy or sleepy due to lack of rest. It is also partly due to the fact that sleep deprived people tend to fall into sleep for very brief periods at unforeseen times. These brief periods of sleep are the body’s way of making up for its lack of sleep the night before. This is especially serious if the person is driving a car or operating a piece of machinery.
The person deprived of sleep will find it difficult to concentrate. This will affect his performance at work and at household tasks. The person will also experience a lack of energy. He might not have the energy to complete everything he has to do during the day. The sleep-deprived person is likely to be quite irritable. This irritability is likely to damage both personal and business relationships.
Lack of sleep has several physical effects also. People who are chronically short of sleep have a tendency to gain weight. This weight gain can cause or exacerbate heart disease and diabetes. The body of a sleep deprived person produces less growth hormones, meaning that a sleep-deprived child might not grow and develop as he should. The immune system is weakened since the body has not had the chance to rest and repair itself.
After several weeks of severe sleep deprivation, a person might start seeing hallucinations. People have died of severe sleep deprivation in as little as four to five weeks. Sleep is as essential to the body and the mind as air and water."

Interesting article I found since I'm in school right now, running on 3 hours of sleep. Fell asleep for about 5 minutes during biology. No gym today, back to the hospital to see the nephrologist.

Sooner or Later

2008-12-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

It all comes crashing down.

Legs
Incline Leg Press
340 lbs - 15
350 lbs - 12
360 lbs - 10

Weighted Calf Raises
140 lbs - 30
160 lbs - 24
180 lbs - 20

Abs
Weighted Crunches
100 lbs - 15
110 lbs - 12
120 lbs - 10

Obliques
120 lbs - 15
130 lbs - 12
140 lbs - 10

Tris and Chest
Assisted Dips
4 - 15
3 - 12
2 - 10

Seated Chest Press
90 lbs - 15
105 lbs - 12
120 lbs - 10

Seated Dips Machine
80 lbs - 15
90 lbs - 12
100 lbs - 10

Chords Machine and Yoga Ball Circuit
35 lbs + 20 seconds - 3 sets

Chord Flies
30 lbs - 2 sets of 15
35 lbs - 1 set of 10

Skullcrushers and Chest Press Circuit
30 lbs - 15
40 lbs - 12
50 lbs - 10

2 Scoops of Whey + Milk

Stressed Out

2008-12-15T10:53:00.002-08:00

If I had a brain tumor, I'd call it WHRHS.

Stress Effects on the Immune System

"Does stress damage the immune system? That question can only be answered by first discussing the difference between acute (short-term) stress and chronic (long-term stress). While acute stress causes responses in the body that include boosting the immune system, chronic stress may impair the immune system.

Better questions are “Does stress damage the immune system on the short term?” and “Does stress damage the immune system on the long term?” The body’s response to acute stress (a real or immediate threat such as a confrontation with a burglar) which is sometimes called the “fight or flight” response includes changes in all the systems of the body. Since the question is “Does stress damage the immune system?”, then we will focus on those responses to acute stress that are temporarily boosting the immune system during this flight or flight scenario.

The most noticeable initial response to the burglar’s appearance is an increase in heart rate. Your body is preparing itself for the possibility that you will need to run. The increase in heart rate triggers the spleen to discharge more red and white blood cells. The red blood cells increase your oxygen supply, while the white blood cells will be necessary for boosting the immune system, in case you fall or the burglar attacks you. Portions of the brain trigger the production and release of cortisol, a primary stress hormone, which dampens less important parts of the immune system, so that white blood cells and other infection fighters can be directed to the areas of the body where injury or infection are most likely to occur, namely the skin, bone marrow and lymph nodes, thus effectively boosting the immune system temporarily. Once the immediate danger has passed, the body systems return to normal.

So, the answer to “does stress damage the immune system” on the short-term is “no”. Acute stress activates the body’s natural defense systems and while this results in boosting the immune system temporarily, it does not “damage” the immune system. Chronic stress, however, is a different story.

Does stress damage the immune system on the long term? It can, if persistent stressful situations, such as a high-pressure job or an unhappy relationship, do not allow the body to return to a normal relaxed state. Instead of boosting the immune system, chronic stress appears to blunt the immune response, increase the risk for infections and impair a person’s response to immunizations. Studies have shown that people under chronic stress have lower than normal white blood cell counts, are more vulnerable to colds and other viruses, take longer to recover from them and experience worse symptoms than people who do not have high stress levels."

Legs (easy day)
Incline Leg Press
340 lbs - 15 reps
340 lbs - 12 reps

Weighted Calf Raises
160 lbs - 30 reps
180 lbs - 25 reps

Hamstring Curls
115 lbs - 15
125 lbs - 12
135 lbs - 10
somethings definitely wrong with these numbers

Abs
New Weighted Crunches
100 lbs - 15
110 lbs - 12
120 lbs - 10

Obliques
130 lbs - 15
140 lbs - 12
150 lbs - 10

Leg Lifts - 3x15

Biceps and Back
Pyramids - 50lbs

Curls
15 lbs - 30
20 lbs - 24
25 lbs - 20 (awful form, had to push through these)

Lateral Pull Downs - front
90 lbs - 15
100 lbs - 12
110 lbs - 10

Lateral Pull Downs - back
110 lbs - 15
120 lbs - 12
130 lbs - 10

Rotating Axis Machine (bis and back)
80 lbs - 15
90 lbs - 12
100 lbs - 10

Not much motivation today. No gym tomorrow, audiology test.

Owned My Bio Quiz

2008-12-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

At least I think I did.
Celebratory work out day, haha.

Didn't run today, ankle has been hurting. I took a pre-workout shake that came with my whey protein, but all it did was give me an energy rush then dehydrate me. Also it tasted awful.

Legs
Leg Extensions
165 - 15 reps
175 - 12 reps
185 - 10 reps

Incline Leg Press
320 - 15 reps
340 - 12 reps

New Seated Leg Press
320 - 15 reps
330 - 12 reps
this new machine made everything really easy so I switched back

Old Seated Leg Press
320 - 15 reps
330 - 12 reps
340 - 10 reps

Weighted Calf Raises
140 - 30 reps
160 - 24 reps
180 - 20 reps

Abs (Machines still missing)
Vertical Leg Raises
3 sets of 15

Weighted Crunches
100 - 15 reps
110 - 12 reps
120 - 10 reps

Triceps and Chest
Fly Machine
75 lbs - 15 reps
90 lbs - 15 reps
105 lbs - 12 reps
120 lbs - 10 reps

Assisted Dips
Lvl 6 - 15 reps
Lvl 5 - 12 reps
Lvl 4 - 10 reps

Chest Press
90 lbs - 15 reps
105 lbs - 12 reps
120 lbs - 10 reps (struggled)

Tricep/Chest Cycle
Skullcrushers, then bench press
30 lbs - 15 reps
40 lbs - 12 reps
50 lbs - 10 reps

Chords Cycle
2 High and Low Flies on the chord machine/ 20 second plank on the yoga ball
35 lbs - 3 reps of 10, 20 seconds

New whey protein. 2 scoops with milk.

Play Ultimate

2008-12-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

Play Ultimate - a blog dedicated to the furthering of highschool ultimate, unfortunately resulting a forum of sorts where ultimate players can heckle and talk shit about other teams without having to deal with the consequences that may take place in real life conversation.

I think I might just go start fights on Playultimate comments.

It's Been Lovely, But I Have to Start Screaming Now

2008-12-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

Back on track. Bis and back today.

Need to work on more flexibility. I can't throw that insanely gratuitous low splits forehand anymore.

Legs
Seated Leg Press
320 - 15 reps
340 - 12 reps
360 - 10 reps

Incline Leg Press
320? (it was 270 + whatever the thing weighs) - 15 reps
345 - 12 reps
some guy stole the leg press then took a nap on it so I couldn't finish. Literally sat there, and took a nap.

Weighted Calf Raises
180 - 15
190 - 12
200 - 10

Biceps and Back
Pyramids - 50 lbs

Alternating Curls
15 lbs - 30 reps (15 each arm)
20 lbs - 24 reps
25 lbs - 20 reps

Pull Downs (front)
65 lbs - 15 reps
75 lbs - 12 reps
85 lbs - 10 reps
95 lbs - 10 reps (added this one because I felt the 85 was too easy)

Alternating Bicep Pull Down Machine
45 lbs each arm - 30 reps

Pull Back Machine
70 lbs - 15 reps
80 lbs - 12 reps
90 lbs - 10 reps

Pull Downs (back)
95 lbs - 15 reps
105 lbs - 12 reps
115 lbs - 10 reps

"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." - Tyler Durden

Recovery Day

2008-12-10T18:44:00.000-08:00

Doctor wasn't at the hospital. No audiology test for me.

Tomorrow is bis and back, hope the machines are replaced.

My Goal by End of Winter

2008-12-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

Workouts

Gym took away like freaking half of the ab machines
Did half a mile while watching some really bad soccer on ESPN2

Abs
Weighted Crunches
100 lbs - 15 reps
110 lbs - 12 reps
120 lbs - 10 reps

Vertical Leg Lifts
3 sets of 15

Legs
Incline Leg Press
250 lbs - 15 reps
260 lbs - 12 reps
270 lbs - 10 reps

Seated Leg Press
320 lbs - 15 reps
340 lbs - 12 reps
360 lbs - 10 reps

Weighted Calf Raises
180 lbs - 15 reps
190 lbs - 12 reps
200 lbs - 10 reps

Squats
185 lbs - 15 reps
195 lbs - 12 reps

Tris and Chest
Bench
100 lbs? - 3 sets of 6

Tricep Machine Curls
60 lbs - 15 reps
70 lbs - 12 reps
75 lbs - 10 reps

Assisted Dips (lower level = less assist)
Lvl 4 - 15
Lvl 3 - 12
Lvl 2 - 10

Tricep and Chest Circuit
30 lbs - 15, 15 reps
40 lbs - 15, 15 reps
50 lbs - 8, 8 reps (struggled a lot with this one)

Cord/Ball Circuit
30 lbs - 10, 20 seconds
35 lbs - 8, 20 seconds
40 lbs - 6, 20 seconds

Almost done with my syntha-6 protein. Maybe then I can actually buy some whey. Can't go to the gym tomorrow, have to go to the hospital for a hearing test; my hearing has actually been deteriorating and my blood tests haven't been all that great so I still have to get tested for Alports Syndrome pretty frequently. Pray to God I don't have it.

Controlled Chaos

2008-12-08T15:14:00.000-08:00

Legs, Biceps, Back

Did warm-up jog on the treadmill on speed 10

Legs
Diagonal Leg Press
250 lb - 1 set of 15

Horizontal Leg Press
295 lb - 1 set of 15
315 lb - 1 set of 12
335 lb - 1 set of 12
395 - 2 sets of 12

Weighted Calf Raises
100 lb - 1 set of 30
120 lb - 1 set of 24
140 lb - 1 set of 20

Abs
Weighted Crunches
90 lbs - 15 reps
100 lbs - 12 reps
110 lbs - 10 reps

Horizontal Leg Lifts - 3 sets of 15

Biceps
Pyramids - 40 lb

Individual Alternating Curls
15 lb - 30 reps
20 lb - 24 reps
25 lb - 20 reps (struggled a bit at the end)

Machine Curls
60 lb - 15 reps

Back
Back Raises (or whatever they're called)
40 lbs 15 reps
45 lbs 15 reps

Didn't get to finish the last set because someone stole my weights

Bicep/Back Machine
45 lbs each arm - 30 reps

Bicep/Back Machine 2
45 lbs each arm - 15 reps
50 lbs each arm - 12 reps
55 lbs each arm - 10 reps

Finished up with a tough game of racquetball. I still suck, haha.

Workout Day... Whatever

2008-12-07T13:08:00.001-08:00

Triceps and Chest

Played racquetball as my cardio and warm-up, should probably do the half a mile next time instead

Lightweights, didn't want to do anything extremely strenuous today
Bench
110 lbs
3 sets of 6

Assisted Dips
40 lbs 15
30 lbs 12
20 lbs 10

Chest Press
90 lbs
3 sets of 15

Triceps and Chest Routine (stop only between raising weights)
15 lbs
30 Triceps Press
15 Bench Press
15 Close-Grip Bench Press
20 lbs
24
12
12
25 lbs
20
10
10

Weighted Calf Raises
80 lbs - 30 raises
100 lbs - 24
120 lbs -20

Although I spent nearly 3 hours at the gym, I wasn't too motivated to workout today; played racquetball for the remainder of the time there. Took my crappy syntha-6 protein later on.

Things that I should work on more during the next gym session (which will probably be tomorrow)
Biceps, Back (well that's already assumed)
More leg work: Leg press, squats, calf raises, running definitely, plyometrics, and probably give a shot at one legged squats

Orrrr I might as well just do Air Alert or the Plyometric Bible

RU Grease Trucks Classic Recap

2008-12-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

Week 1:
Notice I said week 1 because our tournament was split into two weeks because of the weather.
Game 1: Stuyvesant
We opened up the game going on a 3-0 run, throwing hucks into the heavy wind, but coming down with them nevertheless, then playing aggressive D with a layout D by John Barnum. After that, we allowed Stuyvesant to come back with a 2-3 point run. After that, we exchanged points with Stuy by allowing them get a couple of hucks off of our straight up mark. We had a sick sky by Jake Price, skying two Stuyvesant players, then throwing the disc into the air to pump up our sideline. During the last point, Steve Silva got a poach D, and then threw a 30 yd flick into the endzone, where I layed out over my defender for the game point.
Game 2: West Windsor Plainsboro North
Taking our anger from last year at States, we came down hard on WWPN with a four man cup, pushing them into the wind, which they could not throw into. We then responded by using their offense against them and scoring with quick breaks into the endzone. The weather and wind became worse and worse throughout the game, but we simply worked the disc up and skied most of the deep looks. With Steve Silva with his hucks into the wind we kept the disc close to their endzone, and eventually, the weather became so bad that we took the victory.

Week 2:
Game 1: Tenafly
A relatively new team, we played straight up against them, forcing them to throw sloppy hucks into the wind. They had one thrower, and most of the time we got the D on his hucks. Took the game 13-2.
Game 2: Stuvesant
Stuyvesant came out missing a couple of players, and we quickly received two Calahans in the first half. With a couple of deep shots to Jake, we quickly took control of this game, unlike the last week where we exchanged numerous points with them.
Game 3: CHS
We came out into this game unmotivated and lazy, and nobody was moving much, so not only was it hard to move the disc, but we were making too many stupid mistakes and letting hucks off of the straight up mark. Usually a cutter, I began to handle as a last resort, but to not much avail except a successful huck or two. We forced many throws which caused us to lose the game.

Winter workouts at the Eclipse gym for the next three months. Working on upper body, core, and legs.

End of Fall.

We Hate PADA

2008-10-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Tournament was postponed to Sunday, so a lot of teams never showed up.

West Windsor and Scarsdale, who was supposed to be our first game dropped out due to the schedule change so we ended up at the fields at 10:30 with a bye until 1:30. Luckily, we found a team called Mofo that agreed to play us so we would have something to occupy us until so.

Game 1: JR Masterman
Opened up pretty slow, kind of a new team. We ended up taking this game pretty lazily, and although we were pretty much destroying them, our O and D wasn't exactly the greatest. Won the game 13-3 or 4, and then we got pumped up for our game against Cardinal O Hara.

Game 2: Cardinal O Hara
One thing that Watchung Hills has improved on most is spirit. And I don't mean like gay, SOTG spirit, I mean team spirit. Screaming defense on every turn, and making the sideline loud as possible really helped to get ourselves pumped up. The game opened up pretty well with us playing really hard, aggressive D and quick efficient O. We scored the first couple of points simply by running and throwing precisely, and when they attempted to put a zone on us, we crashed it and had multiple give and goes for points.

Game 3: JR Masterman
So somehow MOFO beat everybody in their pool. I don't know how that worked out either, but shit happens. Once again, we shut then down pretty well, they scored 4 points the entire game mostly through hucks that got past our straight up marks. But we ended the game pretty easily, 13-6.

Finals: Radnor
Getting into the finals, we came out pretty spirited. We started the first point on D, where I quickly had a layout D on an upline and then I proceded to pick up the disc and immediately huck to Jake, who, as usual, skied his defender and passed to Scott for the first point. We went on a 3-0 run, then they tried a zone on us, which caused some turnovers not due to their defense but us just making stupid turnovers. Eventually they brought the score within a 1 point range, but we then shredded their zone with crashes, and razors or scoobers over the cup. Most of the points they scored were off of hucks, so when we realized that straight up was effective, we broke away and took half 7-5. One thing that we always mess up on is letting our guard down during the second half. Not this time. Playing with the mentality of 0-0, game to 6, we quickly scored more points, with big hucks from Steve Silva to me, and a short huck to Scott Hampton who made a sick layout for the point. I began to have cramps through all my muscles so I sat out for the last two points. Watchung Hills takes 1st place 13-6.

RRI hops us up to 8th in the nation.
Next tournament: Rutgers Grease Trucks Classic

Fall Brawl Recap

2008-10-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Day 1:
Pretty shitty day, in my opinion.
It wasn't too cold when we arrived, but underarmour was a necessity. We started off playing Pennsbury B, a team that had stole several of our discs at Born to Dive last season and persisted on saying a whole bunch of crap while we played. It was windy as hell, but that didn't seem to bother us too much. I did happen to throw a couple of floaty throws that resulted in a couple of turnovers. But, easily enough, Pennsbury B didn't bother us that much and I was able to sit out the most of the game, ending it 13-0.

The second game was against a team we had played recently. Westfield came out moving the disc pretty quickly with a lot of dishies, but just never connected the throws enough to score points. At one point, me and Steve Silva pushed their handlers to the back of their endzone, and although we never actually got the callahan, they ended up turning it over in the middle of their endzone, which we converted quickly for the point.

The third game was probably the toughest we had. Although it was easy pickings in the beginning, taking half at 7-3, we fell to our usual habit of getting lazy and cocky, and let them close up the point difference. I was suffering from leg cramps, so jumping and layouts were kind of out of the question, and at one point I got injured with a bloody lip. We worked it upfield finally to win the game 13-10.

Day 2
The only game we played today was Pennsbury A. Probably the best team in the East right now, they came down on us pretty hard the first half, taking it 7-1. I got D'ed a couple of times and the bad wind ended up taking some throws where they should not have been, and caused a couple of drops, for us and Pennsbury. During the second half, we came back with scores from Alan and Jay, and a fast break layout from Steve to me. Unfortunately, we weren't enough for Pennsbury, since they took the game 15-5, but we took solace in the fact that we had been the toughest game they had so far in the tournament.

KitKat on Saturday.
50 something degrees, windy.

Noob Day

2008-09-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

From now on, Mondays are Noob days. Everyone, not just Varsity comes and plays a little Ultimate. These days are pretty relaxing to me because I don't really care what happens and I don't freak out every time we mess up.

I don't feel like I'm getting worse at Ultimate, but I don't feel as though I'm getting particularly better either. Yeah, I'll push myself during the conditions and the drills, but during the scrimmages I feel as though I'm not getting any better by playing against the same people over and over. Call it cockiness or whatever, but I need someone who will make me play 100%.

Improvements? Cutting, I guess. I tend to get open a lot easier now because I'm either cutting harder or I'm being more convincing or whatever. My forehand huck still hasn't recovered to the state it used to be but it's getting there. Backhand huck is still pretty good but I need some more touch on it. Skying? Uhh, I need to play a little more Jackpot, I think. I'm getting the disc but I'm not catching it at my peak of jump. Laying out? I might be laying out a little more gratuitously than before, but my height is increasing with each bid I make. Unfortunately, last Friday I made a bid that was well out of bounds, and when I layed out, I kicked my legs so far back that my body made like a U and overstretched my back. Now my back kind of hurts. And also, today when I caught Steve's breakmark backhand, I ended up smashing my face into the ground so I have a gash under my lip now.

I'm thinking about getting new cleats. I really like the new Speed TDs, but I'm pretty addicted to the lightness of the Talarias I have right now. I might go Mercurial Vapor if I feel the need to.

1st - 2nd Practice

2008-09-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

1st Practice:
Saw a lot of new kids at the meeting. A lot of them looked pretty athletic and decent. Unlike last year, I think a lot of them might actually stick around, cause I think they enjoy it quite a bit. Did some introductions to stuff, still not a big fan of the SPIRIT OF THE GAME = 1ST PRIORITY thing, but whatever, its not like I'm out to destroy SOTG anyways.

Personal progress? Well, a clear loss of athleticism is obvious, but I'm not too far down that I can't quickly get back up to where I was before. Other than one bad throw/decision, the wind didn't effect my game too much yesterday. I tried the spin around forehand huck in a scrimmage, and it worked surprisingly well in the wind. Unfortunately, overpowered it just a little bit and Jay was also running in the rock patch so that wouldn't have been good news. Defense-wise, I played a bit more aggressively than usually, which actually drew out a foul or two, but I also got a layout D out of it. Unfortunately, I had forgotten how hard the field was.

Day 2:
Today was an okay day. Not bad, not great, but wasn't feeling the whole atmosphere of the practice. One of the reasons was because I squatted a 100 something a couple of times in gym so I was feeling pretty weak in the legs. I recruited one of my friends, he's already pretty good but unfortunately he's a senior so he'll only be playing for a year at most. We concentrated mostly on teaching the noobs how to throw today, and teaching our varsity/girls the correct way to throw. i.e. stepping out laterally and getting low. Other than that, we just did some more running and conditioning which is always fun, and then finally scrimmaged.

My team lost once, wasn't so much bad D on our half than it was them not turning it over carelessly. The second point, Sean's and my legs got mixed up during a sky and I called foul. Apparently I was actually the one who fouled Sean, but he didn't contest it, even though I was hoping he would be able to recognize a bad call. We turned it over anyways, but they didn't really convert it well so we put it in for the score. The third point, we worked it up pretty nicely, and then I had a good cut in the endzone for the score. Not my best, but I played pretty efficiently today.

Practice Cancelled

2008-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Practice is canceled today due to lack of attendance

There is still practice this Friday, 9.05.08
5:00 Municipal Fields

Practice - 9.01.08

2008-09-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

Practice today consisted of a total of 3 drills.

One, to warm up, was the typical breakmark drill, with cutters. I didn't have much problem breaking the mark, but the one throw I want to work on is the low IO backhand on a backhand force. I messed around a little, threw some high forehands and scoobers...

The next drill was a hucking drill off a continuation throw. Things I need to work on are timing my deep cuts, and still throwing those long forehand hucks. My broken wrist isn't helping much either. I feel pain whenever I try to put more spin on my forehand. My backhand hucks were on point today though. I've changed my backhand form so it gets the most spin out of the release now and with that, I can add more power. The thing I need to work most on now is stepping out fully.

Skying drill afterwards, I did a lot better than I usually did. I fought for the inside positioning this time and it really helped me get the disc easily.

Did some sprints, ended the day without a scrimmage due to lack of people.

In other news:
I wish kids on Playultimate would shut up. All they do is talk smack about good players because they themselves can't match up to them.

Progress

2008-09-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I've written on this thing, because there are things more important in life than ultimate. Also, by the end of last season I realized what an obnoxious jackass ultimate had made me.

Enough of that though. Progress.

My throws have improved quite a bit. I've been breaking the mark more easily and have also been getting more comfortable throwing scoobers. I've gotten rid of the nasty habit to constantly break high backhand and have gotten used to throwing low backhands. I've been easily breaking marks with my IO forehand, which means that I've either improved or our marks just suck.

My hucks have improved too, but although I've regained touch on my forehand huck, I've lost the ability to pin point where I want it to go. The only exception is my IO flick. Backhand, I just have to worry about stepping out more and still not worrying about smacking my mark in the face. If they lose a tooth or something, whatever, it'll be on the follow through.

Defense. Defensively, I've learned a lot of stuff from YCC and NUTC. Like not turning your hips and getting your body in the way of the receiver. That stuff helps a lot. The one thing I need to work on is still skying. I know I can sky people pretty easily, but in game, I usually have the mindset of avoiding contact during skying. I'll usually run in to box someone out, but then give the position back because I'm afraid of cleating him.

Offensively, I really haven't played in a good vert stack in a while. Recently, I've felt like all my cuts have been wasted because I have noobs running in and out of the lanes in front of me. So, I can't really judge myself on cuts. I've chosen to mostly cut this year and let Steve, Wes, and possibly Jay handle the disc.

Athletically, I've been getting back in shape. Gradually, but its better than nothing.

New blog for the team
www.whrhs.blogspot.com

Breathing Problems

2008-07-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

Can't take deep breaths very well, back on the inhaler

Missed YCC practice today, need to get a little better

Pissed Off as Hell

2008-07-08T17:38:00.001-07:00

So working out seemed like a good idea.
I'm sick with some sort of strep throat/mono hybrid so just worked out until I wasn't pissed off anymore.

Arm Workouts
16 lb curl
3 of 30

16 lb chest spread
2 of 30

push-ups
2 of 50

clap push-ups
2 of 20

Leg Workouts
one legged squats
2 of 10

20 squat jumps
20 down into-pushup position things
20 down into-pushup position then squat jumps

Breakdance Workouts
10 Aerial Cartwheels
10 540 Kicks
5 attempted flares haha
3 Front Handspring
3 One handed front handsprings
Windmills
2 of 5 rotations

Yeah a really disorganized and crazy workout...
Just cause I'm pissed off

Aight

2008-07-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

MaseratiGT89: post something
MaseratiGT89: on ur blog
MaseratiGT89: about me

YCC Practice 1

2008-06-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

This boy is out of shape. Pretty disappointed with my level of play today. My throws felt alright, but today's focus was defense so I'm gonna say I played pretty badly. My mark needs to get a lot lower and active, and the problem I've had for the past 3 years is still there. Skying.

I plan to work a lot harder these next couple of weeks so I can get back into shape. Subscribing for the gym, doing some weight workouts, and the usual running and plyos.

Need motivation? Look no further.

Banquet/Scrim

2008-06-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

Our banquet was held at Tsuki, a Japanese restaraunt in Bernardsville on Saturday. The food was pretty good, but personally, I thought the appetizers were the best. They had stuff like crispy dragon rolls, dumplings and sashimi. So freaking good.

Awards Given:
MVP - Brian Li
Best Offense - Kahyee Fong and Jacob Price
Best Defense - Teddy Ku
Most Spirited - Tommy Bruno
Most Improved - John Barnum
Rookie of the Year - Charlie Lian

Everything seemed pretty right except personally I thought Alan Kwok was the rookie of the year.

Showed the 22 minutes reel that I had made over the past week, and it was pretty much every single tournament we had been to placed next to each other. Long as hell, but I think people liked it.

My co-captain next year is Jake Price, gonna be a good season.

The only two alumni who showed up were Jon Lin and Art Yeh, the hells up with that. I expected some Dan Baik there or at least some Lu Wang.

Afterwards, went home, cleaned up a little and headed out to a scrim in about 90 degree weather. Sucked so much. Either it was the weather, or my endurance and cardio have gone down like crazy. I was having trouble keeping up and I had to force myself through the pain to make cuts. My throws are still somewhat decent, I've gotten used to using a low backhand to break instead of that wobbly high backhand that I use. I'm trying to get back into the routine of being able to layout at every opportunity, which I had resisted doing this season because I didn't want to get hurt before states, but in the process, lost the feeling of laying out. Mostly on D.

Thus ends my season of '08
Brian Li
Captain 07-08
Starting Line 06-07, 07-08
Rookie of the Year 05-06
MVP 07-08

What highschooler ultimate player has a blog? Ridiculous.

Summer

2008-06-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Turns out I'm doing YCC. Nunez is persuasive as hell.

Recently, I've forgot that I still have another whole year of ultimate to deal with. I don't want next year to be a failure like this year, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and get in as much ultimate as possible before I graduate. I've already completely decided that I'm not gonna play much ultimate in college, not because I've gotten tired of it, but because there are other things that I want to pursue.

Summer schedule for ultimate:
YCC
Skylands (gonna show up when I feel like it, and neglect paying the 40 dollars again)
NUTC Session C, going with Scott Hampton
Gym weight workouts

Taking a Break

2008-06-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

taking a break from ultimate.

need to sort some things out in my life now

St Johnsbury

2008-05-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Open and Girl's Division both got 2nd place, and last place in Spirit scores

Open: 3
Girls: 2.86

I take full blame for our low spirit score, but I regret nothing HAHAHA

Notes from this tourney:
Chaos Ultimate is the coolest team ever
The WH '09 line looks mad beastly
Madison should stop hucking and start playing some real ultimate

Oh Damn.

2008-05-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

CHS takes Easterns.

Jon Lin is a happy boy

NJHSU

2008-05-05T10:08:00.001-07:00

Watchung Hills - After losing a pretty good line from last year, we've gone down a bit in individual skill and also teamwork. Still, individually, we're stronger than most of the teams in New Jersey, but our flow and offense is pretty slow. When I mean individual skill, I mean we'll probably break/sky/layout D you, but our offense is a little stand still.

West Windsor North - A team with somewhat athletic guys. Their throws aren't too great but they know what they're doing. Run a typical stack and offense, but from our game with them in the Fall, their dump cuts are the thing that you can easily capitalize on and shut down.

Westfield - Improved a lot since last year when we beat them 13-2. They've developed a good system of handler motion with lots of dishies and upline cuts, but they still lack receivers and good handlers. Their offense mostly depends on lucky hucks across the field. Put on a strong straight-up defense.

Tenafly - a team that's pretty athletic and isn't bad for a group that's learned offense, defense and throws in a couple of weeks.

Ridgewood - Will update on this later. We played them last year and took them out 13-1. I don't sense much threat.

Kittatiny - Has anyone ever even heard of these guys?

Princeton - A huge drop in level from last year. Our JV took them to universal point, so that's saying something. But I'm impressed that they've still managed to keep a team together. After graduating Kinsey and D-backs, they need to raise up some handlers and receivers.

CHS - No need to talk about these guys. Another win at States again, I predict.

Home Tournament

2008-05-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

Tournament at school today!

Beat Tenafly, a team that I really enjoyed playing because they're pretty cool, and I know someone on their team. We played pretty lazy for the first half, exchanging three or four points with them, but then pretty much shut them out the second half. Last point, they ISO'd me and I started an in-cut but surprised to see that the huck had gone off. I sprinted to the endzone and got a really lucky layout (caught it with two fingers, miracle that I didn't drop it when I hit the ground) for the win. Then played West Windsor South who was really tired from playing our JV (who lost 6-8) so we went on an easy 11-2 win.

For the rest of the game I spent the time hanging out with the team and some guys from Tenafly and heckling the Westfield vs JV game. I know it may have made me seem like a jerk, but I really don't like Westfield. They probably know my jersey number now and will probably tackle/foul me at states like last year, but I'd just like to let you guys know that you're pretty obnoxious.
Side note: There's something called disc space, respect it.

Enjoyed heckling on the sidelines with a double chocolate frappachino.

This tournament pretty much made my day

Middletown Invite

2008-04-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=121&id=4565

Damn we suck.

Spiking is fun though.

Born to Dive

2008-04-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

I had the liberty of playing on the JV team this weekend for Pennsbury's Annual Born to Dive. Why? Because we submitted our JV team to the B division, and then some complications turned up and we ended up sending our JV team + me and one more starter over there.

Monday:
1st Game, Princeton. I'm impressed that Princeton has pulled a somewhat decent team together this year. Not too good, but it's a lot more that what I expected. We played some shitty defense and offense, but in the end they beat us on universe point. Ironic how Watchung has never actually beaten Princeton.
2nd Game, CHS B. We traded points for a while, which was due to lazy offense and defense again, and then we took them on universe point and beat them.
3rd Game, Pennsbury B. They don't know what the fuck they're doing. Doing random shit like fouling us and actually grabbing onto our jerseys and then saying "chill out" when we call the fouls. Played lazy again and beat them down. Afterwards, 4-6 of our discs were missing. Alright, whatever suits you, guys.

Tuesday:
1st Game, Wissahickon. What is an A team doing in the B division? Played some shitty offense, let a lot of hucks through our straight up defense, and with the wind we got nothing, losing.
2nd Game, Pennsbury B. Same as last time, some random shit that shouldn't have happened, then putting it in for the win.
3rd Game, CHS B. With the wind helping us, we put on some Zone D and they crashed, making sloppy throws and catches. With the hard cap on, we won this game by a big gap and then headed over to watch the finals with CHS against Pennsbury.

Commentary? CHS is sick. Although I couldnt' stay for the entire game, the number of layout D's that CHS got was ridiculous. Hitting Bryan Walter in the endzone never failed, and eventually CHS won 13-8 or 15-8. Halfway through the game, some CHS kid got four of his teeth knocked out and they spent a good 20 minutes searching for them in the grass, which is about the time when I left.

Would've liked to watch the entire game.

Hip Hop on Pop

2008-04-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what to say.

We played like shit this tournament, and went 2 for 2.

We were missing three of our starters, but that shouldn't be an excuse.

I wasn't too disappointed from Haverford beating us, because they are definitely a very good team, but the loss to Lower Merion was complete bullshit. And I still haven't gotten over that last point. I keep replaying it in my head and I just can't believe that shit happened.

When it comes to these kind of tournaments, sometimes I just find it really hard to enjoy Ultimate.

Weekend

2008-04-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hip Hop on Pop?

We're playing two easy teams in the beginning, and then I predict we play either Wissahickon or Beacon, which will be a pretty intense game. Taken we win that game, I predict we'll be meeting YHB in the finals, which is why we've been working a lot on straight up defense this week to contradict their horizontal stack.

Sectionals?

My predictions for Sectionals doesn't mean anything but I predict the following:

Princeton
Rutgers
NYU
Etc.

Damn, this section needs to get better.

Now, moving away from my constant bashing of Rutgers and the Metro East, I'm sensing a lot of straight up defense at this weekend's tournament. The weather is going to be complete crap, from what I've heard. Pretty warm, but possible showers and thunder. So once again, I'm thinking about working on our straight up defense, and also possibly playing some zone.

Although its been a slow process, our team is adjusting pretty well to playing offense under a straight up mark. Maybe it might be because Watchung has weak straight up D, or weak defense in general, but so far we've been moving the disc around pretty effectively, and then looking for a good huck. But again, today there wasn't much wind, perhaps it'll be a little harder to break the mark going up wind.

Newfound injuries. It turns out my pulled quad hasn't fully healed from YCC yet, and sprinting my fastest causes it to hurt. Also, my hamstring is having a hard time dealing with the pressure that I put on it, and is also hard to stretch.

Should fix these things.

Ultimate Fitness

2008-04-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Monday practice, Porter decided to bring in some excercises from that Ultimate fitness video by Brian Doo from DoG.

My opinions on it? Logical, but probably ineffective for the team. The concept that they use, breaking down speed and quickness into the small motions, arm pumping, foot pushing, etc. is not a bad idea. I could definitely see the benefit in training speed step by step, but as a team, doing the excercises they give us are probably not going to work. Why? Because first, as a team, we have a set number of reps that we have to do. When training, you should determine your reps and sets based on your own physical ability, not the average of the team's athleticism, which I am sorry to say... sucks ass.

Secondly, not enough time. I'm pretty sure there's more excercises that Porter had not used because given the amount of time we have at practice (2-3 hours) there's not really much we can do before we have to move onto a drill or scrim.

So in my opinion, if you're going to use Ultimate Fitness, do it by yourself or with a partner. You'll probably see more improvement out of individual work.

Hip Hop on Pop this Saturday. First game with Neshaminy. No idea how this team is, but I plan to destroy them, crush them, humilate them, rape them, own them, whatever the hell you want to call it.

SPIKE IT

Updates

2008-04-05T20:03:00.001-07:00

Lost to CHS on Thursday 17-6. Quite a hard and striking number, yeah, but CHS is a sick team, whom which I have much respect for. I injured myself yet again on a layout D, and now my right quad feels like someone charlie horsed me with a mallet. I have to start taking care of myself, or I'm going to break something before states, and/or YCC.

Sectionals next weekend. My prediction? Princeton or Rutgers taking it, which makes me realize exactly how weak this section is. Makes me wonder what level of Ultimate I'll be playing when I get to college.

Radnor Invite

2008-03-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

Watchung Hills goes 3-0, taking 1st place at the Radnor Invite.

Easterns

2008-03-28T20:44:00.001-07:00

Didn't make it.

Won't lie, I'm pretty upset about it.

Pre-Tournament Thoughts

2008-03-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

First tournament this Sunday in Philadelphia. I'm not entire sure on the level of play that will be at this tournament, but no matter what teams we play, we gotta bring everything we got. No matter what kind of game you're playing, or what team you're playing, remember that you're representing your school.

Thoughts on our Offense:
Watchung should take more deep shots, but SMART deep shots. Not the random "pick-up the disc and huck to Jake Price" shit that we did in Fall. You work it up, chilly with the handlers, and instead of throwing huge 60 yard hucks, you can throw a long 40-50 yard pass that your receiver probably won't have to sky for, and instead, can simply run it down.
Look at the dump at stall 4. Don't depend too much on your in-cuts and end up making a stupid decision. Ace, know when to come in if the dump clears up-line.
And cutters, I know this may seem weird, but DON'T WAIT FOR THE PREVIOUS CUTTER TO CLEAR OUT. Cuts are either open, or not open. They don't gradually become more open as they continue. If you see that the previous cutter isn't open, don't wait for them to get out of the lane, immediately begin your cut, because by the time you've made your cut, the previous cutter will already be out of the lane.
Cutters, you have to realize that 8 out of 10 times you WON'T get the disc. And when you do get the disc, normally your job is to gain yards. That's it. Don't always look upfield immediately, because your handler might run up to get a quick dish-y from you.

Defense
Everybody needs to guard their man in a fashion that you can see the thrower AND the reciever. If we have a force, back your man and let him have the in-cut. By NO means should your man go deep on you, but keep yourself at a distance so that you can sprint in and perhaps get the layout D.

Get fucking pumped. Be a team. Don't be mellowed out like in the Fall. When we get a point, the sideline should rush to congratulate the seven that were on. Games become so much more intense when you have the team behind your back. When we're on defense, be loud as possible. On offense, chill out.

Own this Sunday.

Progression

2008-03-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

Our first tournament will be next week, in Philly, PA.

Radnor Invitational. Let's mess some bitches up.

Thinking from the beginning of freshman year, no, even before freshman year, I've made a lot of weird changes Ultimate-wise throughout the seasons.
Freshman year, I started off with what I thought was a good forehand; it was nice and flat, not too wobbly, and I could huck it pretty far. Little did I know I was harboring the "asian flick" and was releasing about an inch away from my body, plus had low to high or accuracy on the throw. Most of my playing time on the team was spent clearing out of the lane back into the stack, and when I did get the disc, it was immediately sent back to a dishy for Glenn.
Sophomore year, I corrected most of my flick, but my definition of a low to high forearm consisted of extended all the way out, holding it, and then throwing an ankle forehand that had hardly any spin on it. Getting used to laying out, I developed an awful habit of laying out gratuitously, and sometimes failing to get the disc. Second half of sophomore year, I changed my forehand grip to a hybrid of the power grip, curling my fingers under the rim. This proved effective and I used it up until Junior year.
Junior year, I got rid of all of my bad habits, but a couple of injuries forced me to change my forehand and backhand style, but for the better. My forehand grip has now changed to a straight fingered power grip due to my jammed middle finger, and although I still apply the same amount of wrist and snap, I put more arm into it, giving me more power on my hucks. Backhand, I got rid of the pop (but still save it for certain cases) and break the mark using a low backhand or a quick release backhand.

But yet, there's still so much to work on...

CHS vs Rutgers

2008-03-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am highly impressed with how CHS plays. They play conservatively, moving the disc up and down the field, but also they're not afraid to make some deep shots. Individually, they're strong too. I saw some pretty sick skies and a nasty layout by Bryan Walter.

Rutgers, on the other hand, yeah.

Me, Lu and Kahyee were forced to play on the Rutger's B team against CHS B. After getting a layout D, I felt somewhat bad so I decided to stop playing. I also heard Swerdlow scream "BRIAN, GET OUT OF THERE" from across the field.

Stayed put and watched the rest of the Rutgers and CHS game, and then hit up the Cluck U Chicken. Hell yeah.

Tryouts

2008-03-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Tryouts in my opinion, make the team seem more organized and elite, but are honestly, useless.

I pretty much know all the people on the team and how they play; it was also reflected at tryouts, so it doesn't really make a difference.

A little disappointed in my 40 yard dash, though I don't really know how accurate it is because I only got 5.1. I broke 5 last year, and although I feel faster, apparently it didn't show up on the stopwatch.

More things that I have to work on.
Attacking the disc and not letting it come to me.
Also, I have to work on not getting broken as much.
Still more backhand, had a pretty shitty throwaway today that was somewhat unforced.
Not spiking every time I get the layout point. I caught the disc today and the adrenaline just forced me to spike it and I probably warped the disc.

Still need some work, but slowly, I'm getting there.

More Blood

2008-03-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Worked on dump and swing today, also some butterfly cuts.

Wind is still a big factor to my throws, and definitely a big factor for my hucks. I find it odd that I have more control over my forehand than my backhand; I have yet to gain the amount of control that I have for my forehand in my backhand.

A somewhat productive practice, I won't speak much besides let you know that the band field has done a terrific job in cutting and bruising me three to four times in one week. Today I fell down in a skying crowd, and later I noticed a fine cut in my left hand, causing blood to come out in a steady stream as I ran downfield.

Got blood on my white YCC Jersey. Kind of pissed.

Dynasty

2008-03-10T15:06:00.001-07:00

So we didn't use the Woodland field again. But today, I was okay with it because we actually got a somewhat legit practice in. Started off with a long run, which I found that if I push myself a little, I can keep up with the faster kids on the team. Then we moved onto doing 25 backhands and forehands, which I quickly finished off, then moved onto hammers.

Ever since I've changed my forehand grip, I've only to throw blades: hammers that don't really flatten out. Before I could throw nice cross field hammers that didn't go too high and flattened out at the receiver, but now... they're just blades. I don't know how I'm going to adjust it to flatten out with this new grip.

Dynasty, baby. Me, Wes and Steve Silva handling gets us some pretty sick flow. Things us three need to work on...
Me: Don't be lazy, even when I'm sure I can easily break the mark, because if I throw a lackadaisical forehand, it'll turn to crap.
Wes: Look at the dump more, don't forget about it.
Steve: Good leads, but see that your receiver can catch up to that open space.

So I sort of slid into the only section on the field that had ice. This ice was thin and broke easily, so when it broke, it cut up my knee. It wasn't until after our dynasty that I noticed how much blood was on my leg.

Oh, it doesn't looko bad now, but that line on the left is deep as hell. Also, the caking of mud helps stop blood too.

Wonderful. One can never have enough protection when playing Ultimate.

3.7.08

2008-03-07T16:14:00.000-08:00

Today, I actually did not enjoy playing Ultimate.

Band field is crap, and it was rainy as hell. I forgot my underarmour, so I was really cold and my fingers got frozen. I had some pretty good handler motion, but I regret saying that I really couldn't throw anything else than a backhand because of how cold I was.

We scrimmed today, and Varsity showed the team how things worked. We held the JV back on their cup, but they got lucky and gained about 20 yards. Then we shut them down with a quick break to the endzone.

Not to be cocky or anything, but I feel as though the rest of Varsity has caught up to me. During the beginning of the season, I could have felt a large gap in skill between me and a good amount of the players, but now I can tell they're pretty much my level, which is a really good thing. A team where everyone's around the same level is perfect.

Guarding Art Yeh really forces me to play my hardest. I literally have to sprint every time I make a dump or upline cut. Unfortunately, I picked Art a whole bunch of times so I had to bring it back a couple of times.

I definitely need to get the mentality of laying out back. I neglected bidding a couple of times today because I thought I wouldn't be able to get it.

I had a nice backhand huck to Scott, but forgetting that the band field is merely 40-50 yards, it went right out the back.

God, I feel like Glenn, haha.

3.6.08

2008-03-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

Fixed my mark today. Art Yeh came by to help us, and happened to come around the time when we were doing the 3 man-marking drill. I broke most of the marks with a low forehand, but I was getting broken most of the time when I was marking. Art Yeh reminded me to keep on my toes and shuffle, instead of lunging all the time. Doing this, I immediately got a whole bunch of hand and kick blocks, so yeah, that's some progress right there.

So Things I Still Need to Work On:
Hucks. Damn, I don't know why the progress of my hucks is such a rollercoaster. Sometimes I have perfect accuracy with my hucks, and sometimes it'll just turn into some awful outside in blade. One of my biggest problems with hucking is that I have to fully prepare for it; I can't just throw a 60 yard forehand without perfectly winding up for it.

Skying. I still don't know why. My vertical has increased by a lot, actually but I still can't read very well. I tend to underestimate the peak of my jump, and not catching the disc as early as possible, or overestimating my peak and watching the disc fly over my hands.

Catching. My hands have definitely gotten worse, because I can't catch everything within my range. I'm still at a straggling 85% chance of catching the disc when it comes to one-handed catches.

Laying Out. I got some of the fear back, so I can't really layout as willingly as before. The good thing is that the height of my layouts has increased up to around chest level, but I need absolute perfect mentality to do these.

3.6.08

3.4.08

2008-03-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Field was wet today so we ran two miles around the school.

Mile 1: Around 8 minutes, didn't put much effort into it, felt really comfortable throughout the entire thing.
Mile 2: Around 6:40, put a bit more effort into it but ran at a hard, yet somewhat comfortable pace and sprinted the final couple of yards.

Played some hot box afterwards. You can't tell much of yourself from playing hot box, but I can tell my hands are getting a little worse. I'd say my range went from catching 90% of things in my range to about 85%. Mostly trouble with my left hand, which is understandable but there's no room for imperfection.

My forehand is in pretty good shape. Due to all the stretching I've been doing, I can get pretty good extension and I can release my forehand a good inch from the ground now. This helps a lot with the inside out I throw now, but I'm not sure where the hell my forehand huck went. My backhand is alright as of now, but I throw the quick release backhand way too often, and therefore I sometimes neglect going the extra mile to fake and throw the low backhand break. My backhand huck is really good off-field, but during the game I tend to forget about how I throw it off-field and end up throwing something somewhat floaty and overly OI. So yeah, a couple of things I gotta work on.

Legs are sore as hell, but it's good feeling.

Stuff

2008-03-01T14:07:00.000-08:00

Essential Throws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCQIy8I4pWo (use this video as reference)
Forehand:
None of that Asian flick crap either. When you huck, you can use that flick, but for 90% of the time, I want you guys to learn the low to high forehand. Nothing else can substitute it. When you throw this, you should get out and low, putting your weight on the right foot (or left, if you're a lefty). If you can throw low to high with the Asian flick somehow, then be my guess. But the moment you get hand-blocked or turf the disc, I'm making you change it. In the video, watch how Moses Rifkin steps out, and releases the disc in a fluid, circular motion. That is how your forehand should look. Oh yeah, Sam Chang, you gotta fix that shit!
+IO Forehand, OI Forehand

Backhand:
No air bounce, please. And I'm not talking about the subtle air bounce that you see most college players use to get their throws nice and low, I'm talking about Lou Bruno/Scott Hampton air bounce. And please, follow through your throw, I don't want a backhand thats completely wrist that slowly withers and dies to the ground. Watch the second half of the video to see how a backhand is correctly thrown.
+IO Backhand, OI Backhand,

High Backhand/Quick Release Backhand:
As a handler, you HAVE to know this throw. You need a quick, fast backhand where you can quickly get rid of the disc. The quick release and high backhand is thrown mostly with the wrist, and there isn't much follow through. The quick release is usually thrown before you even pivot fully, therefore letting you get a fast break on your defender for the continuation cut. Learn it.

Hammer/Scoober
I'd rather you have a hammer, but a scoober is good too. Hammers are thrown just like the flick. If you can't throw a hammer, start learning it by throwing a razor (a vertical forehand) and develop the hammer from there. The hammer is SO useful in the end-zone, and is a great way to get the disc over and past your defenders.

Learn them.
Practice with a throwing partner, at practice, off practice, weekends. Do 200+ throws for each.

Ultimate Meeting

2008-02-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

Had a good day today. Spent the entire day looking forward to the Ultimate meeting, and even though it turned out to be the longest drawn out meeting ever, I had a good time. There's nothing better than being around a bunch of people that love the same stuff I do. I'm already seeing some people who may be a disturbance on the team, but I think I can handle that.

Stayed after the meeting to discuss some tournament scheduling with Porter, Kahyee and Teddy. We're going to be pretty packed this season, and we're definitely sending out a bid to Easterns. I still have to schedule some JV and girls tournaments, but the Varsity seems set right. Plus, there will probably be more tournaments that open up during the season like YHB or the Longmeadow Invitational.

Practice starts on Monday, and we'll be looking at the players on the team to see the division between Varsity and JV. There aren't really many newcomers this season, which I'm a little upset about, so the JV and Varsity will pretty much be the same as last season. The girls got a couple of new recruits, so I'm happy for them.

Practice on Monday. Start of a new season.

GET PUMPED.

Meeting on Tuesday

2008-02-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

Room 81 for the Ultimate Frisbee meeting

Start recruitin'

STJ Invite

2008-02-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Open A
Concord Carlisle, MA
Lincoln-Sudbury, MA
Longmeadow V, MA
PVPA, MA
Scarsdale, NY
Sherbrooke, QC
Watchung, NJ

Don't know why I'm worrying about it so early in the... pre-season, but just thought some of you guys should know about it.

Spring Reign

2008-02-13T17:20:00.001-08:00

http://www.ultivillage.com/Ultimate-Frisbee-Videos/Clip-of-the-Day/Tiina-Booth-at-UCPC.html

Lecture by Tiina Booth during the Ultimate Players and Coaches Conference.

Practice this season?
Things we're going to do:
1. Push ourselves.
No more "nah I'm saving my energy for the scrim at the end". No, at practice we push ourselves to the point so at the end of practice, we're exhausted. Use up all your energy during practice, every drill, every scrim, every day.

2. Have a schedule.
Work on one thing at a time. Things Watchung needs to work on: Everything.
Throws, Offense, Defense, Receiving, etc.
We'll work out a schedule so we'll probably work on offense one week, defense one week, and so on.

3. Stop looking upfield so much.
Stop. Look upfield for FOUR STALL COUNTS. Stop looking to make the huck or the glory throw. You know who you are.

4. Make better judgments on the dump/swing
Its really not that hard to make a dump pass, so stop looking off the dump if he's not COMPLETELY open. Once the dump throws his defender off, even if he's not exactly "open" yet, just throw the goddamn disc with a pop or a quick release backhand. The dump can run to it and get it while the defender is still adjusting his momentum.

5. Stop looking upfield so much

6. Stop looking upfield so much

7. Stop looking upfield so fucking much. WHATS WRONG WITH MOVING THE DISC BACK AND AROUND?!

8. Play more conservatively
In a sense this ties in with STOP LOOKING UPFIELD SO MUCH. Gaining yards isn't as important as keeping the disc in our hands. Now, I'm not saying don't take risks, but on a risk-taking level, Watchung is about an 8. We need to bring that down to a 4 or a 5. So STOP LOOKING UPFIELD SO MUCH.

9. Work an end-zone efficiently.
I'm going to say this bluntly: Porter's end-zone strategy is retarded. Make a diagonal cut to the cone? No. An end-zone strategy is an isolated horizontal cut, if looked off, then one should look to the dump and swing, THEN there should be a diagonal cut to the corner. We're not just making diagonal cuts to the corners like we're playing a fucking full field vertical stack in a small-ass endzone. Excuse my language, but that is retarded.

10. Work hard, play harder.
You're the only person that can make yourself better. If you're not willing to work, then don't expect to get better. Earn your spot on the team, and earn the right to say that you're a good player.

Ah Phuck

2008-02-08T15:14:00.000-08:00

Well, if I keep on playing the way I did today, I might as well just hand over Easterns and NJ States to CHS.

Lets start with the good points of my playing today:
Got a pretty sick layout D
I got some really nice low throws

... that's it. Alright, on to the bad points:
I am still not making full eye contact with my thrower and I'm concentrating on the mark too much, resulting in a crappy breakmark throw. Also, I've taken Ryan's tips in terms of pivoting and putting my weight on my front leg, and it works, but the problem is that... I still have to think about these things during the game. Like it'll take a while for me to have these things come naturally. Also, BRIAN LI NO GOOD IN WIND. My hucks are really good without wind, but if theres a breeze, then it'll probably OI like hell.

If I can sky and layout D anybody, but I can't handle the disc well, that means I've got nothing but athleticism under my belt. For me to be an all around good player, I need a lot more work.

I have to perfect everything before the season even starts. I've got a hell lot of work to do.

Scrim Tomorrow

2008-02-07T16:39:00.000-08:00

Let's see where I'm at.

Read

2008-02-06T14:11:00.001-08:00

After working out at the gym for the past three months, I've increased my ups by at least 50%, but somebody needs to help me read the fucking disc better. I always underestimate how high I can jump, or even overestimate it. Which then in that case I either get boxed out from the outside positioning, or I completely miss on the inside positioning and get skied by the guy on the outside.

Somebody needs to help me.

Bring it Back

2008-02-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

Scrimmed for the first time in a long time today. Predictably, only 10-11 people showed up so as a result, we played 5 on 5.

Things I noticed about how I played:
When I have to get extra low to break a mark, I end up falling over. My forehand, I can deal with it, cause it ends up being like one of those fall-over forehands that Rhodes threw in the Rhino reel. My backhand on the other hand, is probably something I have to worry about. Sure, my low backhand can break the mark, but unfortunately I get fouled someway or somehow. Also, I lose my balance.
My thoughts on that? I've thought about it, and I've noticed that when I extend for my low backhand, the weight of my body is on my pivoting foot, rather that the foot that I'm stepping out with. I don't know if that would make a difference, but I'll try it next time I'm out on the field.

I'm not sure whether I'm making dump cuts correctly. I can make a nice up the line cut that can frequently lose my defender, but when cutting back for the dump, I'm often looked off. Not sure if it's my fault, because I find that I could get the disc if the handler just gave me a simple quick release backhand. But if in any case it is my fault, then I realize that I may have some trouble losing my defender on the cut for the dump/swing.

Over the past two days I've figured out the problem with my backhand huck and now it's gotten a lot better. While throwing around at the municipal field, I realized that I could pull a huge portion of the field, not to be cocky or anything. But today after scrimming I found that I couldn't pull nearly as far, also my pulls were going in less favorable directions. Maybe it's just lack of practice, but a lot of times I notice I'm not able to pull as well during actual games.

Things I noticed about how WE play:
The same problem that it's had for the past couple years, Watchung Hills... does not cut. There's really nothing I can think of as of now that can fix this problem, but just saying... its a huge-ass problem.

Got new cleats again. Why? Because the Nike Vapor Jets bruised my toe underneath the nail. The following is graphic. For a while, my nail was just completely black. When I took a closer look I noticed that a layer of dried blood had completely separated 80% of my toenail from my toe. Since it was the only way for recovery, I cut the nail off. Sounds nasty as hell, but fortunately it's already growing back.

So my new cleats? Mercurial Talaria IIIs. I was a little skeptical buying them because Bryan Walter told me they were bad, but after purchasing them, they're my favorite cleats yet. Sure, I like the cleat pattern on the Vapor Jets a lot more (a lot deeper and sharper) but the Mercurial Talarias are really comfortable once you break them in and light as hell. Also the tip of the shoe is flexible, so I don't have to worry about any more messed up toenails.

Yeah, I'm bringing the blog back.

Workout Schedule: Week 1

2007-07-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday: One Mile, Two 200 Meter Sprints, Modified Air Alert
Monday: Modified Air Alert
Tuesday: Rest legs, Muscle Specific Weight Workout
Wednesday: Run 15-20 minutes, Modified Air Alert
Thursday: Run 15-20 minutes, Muscle Specific Weight Workout
Friday: Selected Variety of Sprints, Modified Air Alert
Saturday: Weight Workout

In case of a Skylands game, the workout for that day will be excluded.

YCC, New Cleats, Updates... Whatever.

2007-06-29T13:35:00.001-07:00

So about a couple of weeks ago, I tried out for the NJHS YCC team. For those who don't know what that is, its the Youth Club Championships. During those tryouts, I feel like I played horribly, and I still think I made the team due to pure luck or due to my current status of junior captain.

Anyhow, training for YCC starts immediately once I get back from Canada, which is tomorrow.

My medical condition is off, there's no longer anything wrong with me. My registration got through to NUTC, and I will be attending Session D. Also, I'm on the White team for Skylands again, but haven't been able to attend any of the scrimmages yet due to... well my current location.

New cleats? Hell yeah, new cleats.

These are my new cleats. Nike Vapor Jet, FG. I bought them off of Ebay for about 53, including shipping is around 60. Sure it's a bit pricey, but hey, the store price is pretty much 100.
The cleat pattern is really nice, allows you to cut at ease and gives you complete control over the ground. However, while I wouldn't describe the weight as heavy, I wouldn't say they're too light either. They're not bad, they're lighter than my previous cleats, but... well let's just say they're no Mercurial Vapors. (Which cost 312 in Canada, in case anyone wants to know, heh.)

Oh yeah, while I'm at it, I might as well write a review for my previous cleats. Nike Air Zoom VT.

I can't even find a picture... because they suck so much. Okay, they look like the Nike Air Zoom's, but the cleats on the bottom are turf cleats. So basically, if you try to cut with them on any other surface, you WILL slide, and you WILL fall. And they're heavy as hell. So... don't buy them. In fact, don't buy any of the Nike Zoom series.

I recommend:
Speed TD
Vapor JET
Mercurial Talarias
Mercurial Vapors

They're all from NIKE.

Banquet + Captain?

2007-06-13T06:42:00.001-07:00

So the Watchung Hills Ultimate banquet was last night at Shogun 22 on well... Rt. 22. The restaruant didn't exactly have a banquet hall, but fortunately the section that our team took over had more than enough space and tables. The waiters, waitresses, and the managers showed us great hospitality and helped us out whenever we need them.

The seniors are leaving, and with them, they'll be taking a huge amount of gifts and memories from the team. Along with an awesome framed photo made by my mom, haha.

So Lu and Growney left the captain positions with me, Kahyee, and Teddy. I really don't know what to say, but I'm going to do whatever's in my power to make sure that we're not losing any skill in this team, and like the past couple of years has gone, next year will be better than the last.

Now what I can do for myself has been put on hold as of now. Due to my "medical condition" and my parents' paranoia, I have been restricted from registering to NUTC and Skylands for now. I have also been restricted from doing any excercise with my legs, AKA Air Alert and Plyometric Bible.

It's going to be a long 1-3 weeks.

Summer Training

2007-06-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

My parents have ruined any chance I have of going to NUTC. Because of my "medical condition" which is having absolutely no symptoms on me whatever and might just possibly be a huge waste of time and money, I have to get "cleared" by the doctor before my parents agree to make any registration. Little did they know that registration opened in early February, and by now registrations have probably ended or are filled.

Which leaves me to Skylands. Skylands won't really teach you anything, it'll just keep you in shape and in tact with your throws and stuff. I was really looking forward to NUTC. I'm considering going to JEM for summre 2008.

I've started a modified Air Alert. My version increases the variety of excercises, and decreases the number of reps. I must say, it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. Halfway through the excercise, I realized that there was a huge amount of stress on my knees and ankles. I stopped for a while, and started again, this time increasing the number of weights I was using.

Keeping in shape over the summer is hard stuff.

End of Season

2007-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

So the Ultimate season is over. I can't say that it ended the way I wanted to, even though we got 3rd in NJ States. In complete honesty, I think we could've taken Princeton, if given the chance to play for 2nd. We were unable to play Princeton, and once again we beat JP Stevens on universal point for 3rd.

But did the season end like I wanted it to? No. We ended alot sooner and the season was alot shorter than I expected it to be. I would have loved to play some more Ultimate with the team before alot of the seniors go to their diverse colleges.

But summer is looking good. I've sent in my application for NUTC, which although is only 5 days, I think I'm going to learn alot from those 5 days. It appears I'm going to be the only one going, but it's going to be great meeting other Ultimate players from the East. I'm really looking forward to playing with great players from Amherst, Needham, and Longmeadow.

Also, Skylands registrations are open. I don't remember much from last year's Skyland's league. The majority of my time at Skyland's was spent hanging out on the sideline with Ktae and Kim. This year, I've gotten alot better and I think I'll actually be able to contribute something to my team. I'm not going to make a Watchung team this year, despite how fun it may be. I want to get better, so I think that playing with some college kids and perhaps even some players from CHS will make me a better player.

2007 Fall?
I'm going to have to get accustomed to not have the seniors around, telling me what to do. I realize that me, Jacob Price, Kahyee, and Wes are going to be running the majority of the show around here. It's going to take a while to get used to it, but we can make it happen with the oh-so dedicated freshmen (to be sophomores :D).

Summer is going to be hard, so I'm garuanteed to be in shape for the fall season, unlike this year. The first couple of games and tournaments are going to be tough, but if alot of us step up, we're not going to lose anything that we didn't have this year, and maybe in the process, we'll get even better.

The Rival System

2007-05-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Or what I'd like to call it.

On the ultimate team, there are many situations where two or more players become "rivals". It's sort of like a buddy system.

For example:
Lu and Growney.
Lu is a good handler, nice layouts, and has mad ups when he skies. Growney on the other hand, has a monstrous forehand, his backhand does the job, when he lays out he usually comes down with the disc, and although he may not have as much ups as Lu, his height makes up for that.

Although these two may not be proving the point I'm trying to make, a partner system or "rival" encourages one player to surpass the other, and vice versa. With this in mind, each player will strive to increase his or her skill so he or she can become better than the other. Of course, if the system is successful, then neither of them will surpass each other and the skill will just continue to increase.

Next example:
Me and Jacob Price
My throws? I'd like to call them decent. Not my backhand though. Hucks? My forehand put is 60% good. My backhand? It's only 40% accurate, but when it is, it's really good. Skying ability? None. I have mad ups and height, but in terms of reading the disc and the actual ability of skying, I'm a lost cause. Layouts? I'd give myself a 89%.

Jacob Price? Throws are pretty good, but sometimes he turfs it. His forehand huck is not great, but his backhand huck usually does the job. Skying ability >>>>> mine. Layouts? He doesn't do it much. Jacob Price is also alot faster than me.

Most of the times I compare myself to him and I think he's better. I don't know if he thinks the same way, but it encourages me to be better than him. And when I am better than him, I think he'll strive to be better than me.

Tips for the Froshies

2007-05-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

1. Work on your throws everday. If you're at home, watching TV, doing your homework, kicking the dog, just work on your throws and catches. By that I mean you can just take the disc and pop it back and forth to yourself when you have nothing to do or a free hand. Also, practice catching all ways. Pancake the disc, two hands grab, one hand grab, and I stress practice catching with your right hand and your left hand.

2. Don't be intimidated. When you're on the field, it's good to be calm. Calm, but not relaxed. It's a paradox, I know. But when you're on the field, the best mentality is to be calm, but yet you're still aware of the field and where the disc/or your man is at all times. Don't be intimidated by your opponent, don't hesitate to make those cuts

3. Just like the previous statement, don't hesitate to make those cuts. It is always a possibility your defender may outrun you and either you won't be able to get the disc or you'll get D'ed, but when you stand at the top of the stack, deciding whether you should make that cut or not, it screws up the entire process. Because if you don't make that cut, someone more experienced is going to think, "Man, this guy is taking way too long. I'll just make the cut for him." and coincidentally, that's when you decide to make the cut and you two end up screwing each other over.

4. If you doubt your throws, dump it. You really shouldn't be doubting your throws in the first place, but if you're really unconfident about your upfield throws, simply dump it off to another handler. But I really recommend that you have confidence in your throws more.

5. Work your ass off. Show determination. Show that you want to play this game, and that you want to be good. If you joined Ultimate just for the opt-out, then get the hell off the team. If you joined Ultimate because it sounded fun, stick around and see if it's the sport that you might want to spend time to learn. And if it turns out that you find a liking to this sport, take it and work until you're one of the best.

Other Thoughts:
I heard someone (not mentioning any names) left practice yesterday. First off, I would like to admonish anyone who gave this kid a hard time; nobody deserves humiliation on the team, no matter what level of skill he or she is at. If they're working hard, give them your respect. If they fail or make a mistake, encourage them to learn from that mistake instead of laughing at them.

On the other side, I heard that "someone" complaining that he doesn't get enough respect on the team. You deserve more respect, but I think that if you really want the respect, don't act so cocky and obnoxious. Respect goes to not only someone with skill, but someone who is humble and has a good personality. If you're really good at something but you're an asshole, you're still not going to get that respect.

And by the way, if you're going to quit Ultimate, just know you'll never get that respect that you actually wanted and it'll show that you're too weak to actually work for it.

Peace~
Brian Li 09'

Is 2nd Place Good Enough?

2007-04-29T18:51:00.001-07:00

Middletown Invitational

Recap:
The WH Varsity met at the school at a bright and early 6:30 AM, setting off with the designated drivers of Jacob Katzen, Lu Wang, and Mrs. Wang. After getting tricked by a decietful highway sign, we wasted about 15 minutes, but eventually got back on track. We arrived at the Middletown school sometime before 10, and our first game was against Columbia Highschool B.

Columbia Highschool B was not a team that we would have to worry about, but for some reason, we weren't playing up to par. Compared to our performance at Longmeadow Invitational, this game was nothing close to stellar, even with the win of 11-2, and another spectacular (or perhaps gratuitous) layout by Lu Wang on the first point.

Our next game was against Chase Collegiate. This team was full of very athletic and tall players, and we still had bad mentality and sloppy errors, along with some messy zone offense, which lost us the game 10-5. At one point in the game, two players from Chase were injured badly, and instead of taking their players off the field, they decided to stall out the time limit for almost a good ten minutes.

The following game was against Amity Highschool, a really new and scrubby team that we clearly did not take seriously, and because of that, we let them score six points before we took the game at 11.

Then we had a rematch against Chase. We started playing great and scored the first couple of points, but soon with some sloppy playing on zone offense they quickly took the lead again. Afterwards, they came back with some faulty calls and such and beat us 11-6.

The final game would determine the 2nd place winners in this tournament. Our game was against Fieldston. We came out strong, taking the first two points, but we soon exchanged points over and over and soon enough, they had taken the lead at 10-7. During the first point of this game, Teddy Ku made a catch that was stripped and fouled and nearly suffered a concussion. He sat out for the remainder of the game to heal up. Watchung Hills quickly took the game back and moved up quickly to 10-10, universal point. The final point ended with an amazing sky from Jacob Price, then a Brian Li to Alex Growney (sky) huck for the 2nd place win.

Thoughts (Take Em' Or Leave Em'):
We still need to work on zone offense, there were so many holes in the cup, but if the poppers aren't there, then we've got a huge problem, because the cup from Chase was cheating in on the handlers the entire time.

If your man is going up the line, BODY HIM OUT. Its not a foul if you box him out from moving up the line.

Chase Collegiate spirit score? 0? Yeah? Assholes.

At one point I made an amazing layout catch in the endzone but the disc was stripped from my hands when I landed. There goes my chance to make an epic universal point.

We should definately pay Mrs. Wang back for amazing Mongolian BBQ. SO GOOD.

Westfield Cancelled

2007-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Due to thunderstorms... which evidently NEVER happened. Damn, I get so excited and pumped before a game, and I just got shut down two days in a row.

A guy can only take so much disappointment.

Highland Park Cancelled

2007-04-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

Ah damn.

The JV/Varsity game is still on tomorrow as a scrim.

TURFY TURF TURF

2007-04-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

We've made a couple of modifications to our practice schedule within the past two weeks. From now on, for Varsity practices, instead of playing on that God-forbidden Woodland field (which is pretty much a death trap of rocks for Ultimate players) we get to mooch off the the Warren Turf field.

I don't know how long this phase will last, because I'm still not sure whether any Warren teams will come out before 5 as the season progresses.

Game against Highland Park tomorrow on the WHRHS turf field. Come support maybe?
I'm feeling very confident ever since the Longmeadow Invitational. I feel like our team has reached a new level and from here on out, we're only going to get better if we keep working like we've been doing.

I much as I hate to admit it, I need new cleats.

I wonder where we're going to have our banquet. I was thinking about making a really long movie about our team, sort of like the Mamabird 2005-2006 highlight reel. I could probably put it on a DVD and distribute it throughout the team

JV

2007-04-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

I know you'd rather hear this from someone else, but I'm really freaking proud of you.
No kidding. I respect you. I know my respect doesn't really mean much, but from what I've heard, you guys played amazing at the Oakwood tournament.

I'm not usually proud of people. Why? Cause I'm an ass.

But when I heard how well you guys did in the tournament, I realized that in 2 to 3 years, you guys are going to be running this team. And though you guys might not think so now, in the next following years, you guys are going to be some of the sickest players I'll ever have the honor of playing with, and being able to see you guys grow as players is going to amazing.

John Barnum, Jayson Lian, Sean Wang, Jay Nadkarni (is that how you spell it?), Nikhil Sharma, Scott Hampton, Steven Silva, Alex, you guys are so athletic. Sure, your throws may not be the best, but that will come with time. 2009, you guys are going to be running this team.

Scott Hampton, you are one crazy bastard.

Huh?

2007-04-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

I'll rewrite a better post later, but does anyone know why I can't view other people's blogs?

The only one I can view is Glenn's, and I've gotten comments from numerous people.