Rhythm

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.