Daymn I'm Nervous

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YCC Practice 1

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

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

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

taking a break from ultimate.

need to sort some things out in my life now

St Johnsbury

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.

CHS takes Easterns.

Jon Lin is a happy boy

NJHSU

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

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

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

Damn we suck.

Spiking is fun though.

Born to Dive

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easterns

Didn't make it.

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

Pre-Tournament Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Room 81 for the Ultimate Frisbee meeting

Start recruitin'

STJ Invite

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

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

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

Let's see where I'm at.

Read

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

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.