Yo,
What have your favorite Lady Gnomes been up to???
High Tide
It's official! We're taking a Women's team to High Tide this year. Currently we are accepting $50 deposits so that we can pay for the bid before the price goes up buy $100 (yuck). Get yo check to Colleen before you leave for finals.
Why am I pumped about High Tide this year? I'm stoked to have to opportunity to play against teams from all over the U.S. Because of our limitations when it comes to funding and such, it's hard for us to get to tournaments outside of our Midwest bubble...which means we play some combination of Loyola, DePaul, Purdue, U of I, and North Park at pretty much every tournament. Not that it's a bad thing, considering they're all in our section, but it'll be nice to see how we stack up against other teams. High Tide is also going to be a good warmup tournament for us. It's 3-4 days of ultimate with a mixture of sun, sand, partying and all of the things the Lady Gnomes love. We'll also be bunking/traveling down with the Men's team so that'll be fuuuun!
Uniforms
We're finally looking into getting a Lady Gnomes design (HOW EXCITING). Don't get me wrong, the Men's Stanley design is sweet as hell, but it's about time we step out with a badass Stella design. I've been contacting people about working on designs over break. If you're interested in sketching a Lady Gnomes design and I haven't messaged/called you lately, please let me know and I'll give you an idea of what we're looking for. Also, if you CAN'T draw and you have an idea of how you want our uniforms to look, feel free to let me know. Don't be scared! I'm open to all ideas! Also, no ideas will be finalized without a lady Gnomes vote first, so everyone's opinion will count!
Additional Tournaments
At the moment the only tournament other than High Tide that we have a bid for is Chicago Invite, which looks like it's going to be pretty awesome this year. Obviously we'll also be attending Sectionals and (fingers crossed) Regionals...maybe we'll throw another tournament in there. I would LOVE for us to go to Midwest Throwdown, but once again, it's held the weekend we leave for High Tide. The other options are Whitesmoke, which from what I gather was run pretty poorly last year, and Huck Finn...which uh...couldn't get enough Women's teams together to hold a tournament. Weird.
What's This Girl up to?
Well...over break I'll be getting a bunch of not-so-awesome dental work done, which will probably result in me drinking my Christmas dinner. Awesome, BUT I am most definitely looking forward to spending the holidays with my family and heading up to Clinton, WI for Christmas. I promise promise promise to have made progress on uniforms. I realize that we'll be debuting them at High Tide, which gives me lots of time to get them together, but I'd rather have them done sooner than later in case we run into any problems (which seems to happen every year when ordering uniforms).
OK! Back to the essays!!!!!!
-Emblebee
(buzzzzzzz)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
What Up What Up What Up
OK.
Ultimate has preeeetty much been out of my life for a couple weeks now, making it difficult to churn out entries for anultimate blog. I will, however, enlighten you all with some recent thoughts I've had...
Season Wrap-UP...What we did, who we are, where we're going.
Truth: I've been captaining this team for quite a while now and I've never left a season feeling more confident in/proud of this squad. I just wrote a little history wrtie up for Catie J. on what ISU has done since my freshman year and it kinda blew me away. Winning never used to be something we did and now...LOOK AT US http://www.upa.org/scores/scores.cgi?div=34&page=3&team=7221. That team that used to get bageled every tournament...sturuggled to win games and went into almost every game already feeling defeated made it to the CHAMPIONSHIP of a tournament. I know I've already spent a post gushing about Glory Days, but I'm still riding that high and I'm probably going to until we play again next season.
What made this season better than past seasons? Why is next season going to be great?
Ultimate has preeeetty much been out of my life for a couple weeks now, making it difficult to churn out entries for anultimate blog. I will, however, enlighten you all with some recent thoughts I've had...
Season Wrap-UP...What we did, who we are, where we're going.
Truth: I've been captaining this team for quite a while now and I've never left a season feeling more confident in/proud of this squad. I just wrote a little history wrtie up for Catie J. on what ISU has done since my freshman year and it kinda blew me away. Winning never used to be something we did and now...LOOK AT US http://www.upa.org/scores/scores.cgi?div=34&page=3&team=7221. That team that used to get bageled every tournament...sturuggled to win games and went into almost every game already feeling defeated made it to the CHAMPIONSHIP of a tournament. I know I've already spent a post gushing about Glory Days, but I'm still riding that high and I'm probably going to until we play again next season.
What made this season better than past seasons? Why is next season going to be great?
- Rookies. Holy cow, we've got great rookies. They're athletic, excited, and catching on faster than any class I've seen (sry sophomores-seniors. haha).
- Work Ethic. We work so much harder at practice than we have in the past. Every scrimmage is played as if it's a real game and more than 5 people show up for conditioning practice (a small victory, but I'll take it). Truth: I attribute a lot of the intensity we get at practice to Adrienne Ohler and Catie Johnson. Adrienne is our faculty advisor, and a total baller. Her presence at practice takes everything up a level. Catie is a freshman, she likes bears, intensity and Ashley more than most things. She yells a lot on the field, but the good yelling. Amy would probably call it "cool aunt" yelling.
- Confidence. I'm not kidding...every single game we've played I have told the team before that game "this is a game we can win" whether we're playing a team we always beat or a nationally-ranked team. I'm also not kidding...no one ever believed me until this season, and it made all the difference.
- People are playing on their strengths. Jessica learned that she's tall, Amy learned that she's faster than most people, Ashley learned that she's a baller handler, I could go on forever.
I'm looking forward to next season. Having Michelle and Brooke back will be KEY next semester and if we can make it to sectionals without any injuries (knock on wood) we could do a lotta good stuff. yeah. good stuff.
What about you Emily? What are you dooooing?
Well...ultimate has definitely taken a backseat to school/work/adventures lately. That's ok though. After the ultimate overload that was Club Nattys 09, it's been nice to get back into the school groove. Actually that's a lie, oooobviously I'd still rather be playing ultimate, but whatevz. BTW...Nice work, CLX, way to represent for the central region. It would have been COOL if you could have won though.
I WANT TO START RUNNING AGAIN. Freshman/Sophomore year I was SO GOOD about running. Granted, ultimate practices weren't quit as intense and I had to keep in shape some way or another and I didn't work...so I had some time on my hands, but believe me, I was disciplined. I miss that. I miss that last surge after plugging away at 5 mile run, I miss the runner's high, I miss having time for just me and my thoughts (I never run with music) and I definitely miss being fast. Sigh. I also want to go into next season in shape. Come sectionals I want to be at my peak and hopefully If I can get there my team will follow suit.
Adventures.
Nashville. Jess and Amy...let's do this. I'm serious. We need to go to Nashville, party with the Backstreet Boys and pretend we're cowgirls. Maybe I'll even break out my Southern Accent (it's so good, just ask Tom Abell).
Rockford. Kate, Courtney and Rita. We are all 21. Let's do fun things in Rockford.........if we can find fun things to do.
Yeah. Kind of a lame adventure list, but you know I'll find more...
OK...enough rambling. Have a great evening.
-Emblebeeeee
Monday, October 26, 2009
Glory Days Recap
Hey All,
Hold on...OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGG
K...let's continue. This past weekend we played in Glory Days. I didn't write a preview because a.) I sort of realized that previews are a wee bit pointless during the fall when it's hard to judge how teams are going to look and b.) I had a feeling the pools would get switched around, which they did.
We went into the tournament ranked 7th out of 15.
Our first game was against Northwestern. During the first cut of the first game poor Jessi Gonzalez rolled her ankle and couldn't play for the rest of the tournament. She did, however, brave the cold weather to cheer us on all weekend. Mad props, Jessi. It was pretty clear that Northwestern was missing a few key players, so we didn't have too much of a problem with them. Also, Ashley Betke got a CALLAHAN. What. A. Baller. Final score: ISU 9, Northwestern 4.
Game #2 was against Kalamazoo. We played our rookies a lot, including two all-rookie points. Our rookies impressed me SO MUCH this weekend. We really have a solid group of newbies. Kalamazoo was very spirited and a lot of fun. We like them. Final Score: ISU 13, Kalamazoo 0
Game #3 was U of Chicago. This is a team that has, in the past, bageled us. We gave them a little scare at sectionals last year, but had never beat them. Well, we started off the game with a 4-0 run. It felt pretty good. At half the score was 7-2, but in the second half they started to make a comeback. We held it down and managed to pull out the victory. Final Score: ISU 12, Chicago 7
Our last game of the day was against Xavier. They are a brand new team and this was their first tournament, but you would never had guessed it. They had possibly the most solid handler we saw all weekend and they gave us a fight every point. Final Score: ISU 13, Xavier 3
That's right, we went 4-0. It was AWESOME...and the next day we didn't have to play 'til 11 sooo we celebrated Saturday night...A lot. haha.
The next day we had to play the winner of the Beastly (Eastern and Bradley's hybrid team) and Depaul play-in. Beastly won and we played them in the first round of the championship bracket. They scored an upwinder on us right off the bat and went up 2-0. We came back and did the same thing...a few times. We took them to half 8-3. The wind made each point take extra long and the game ended in cap. I was very impressed with Beastly! I really hope that both teams can get enough girls together for sectionals next Spring. Recruit, recruit, recruit! Final Score: ISU 9, Beastly 4
Our second game was against Loyola to decide who would play in the championship. We've always had a friendly rivalry with them, but we had never beat them before. The wind really picked up and thankfully we won the toss. No upwind points were scored that game and we ended up winning. I really would have liked to play them in a game with less wind, but hey...a win is a win. Final Score: ISU 10, Loyola 9
Championship Game
The championship game was the Lady Gnomes of ISU v. Gung Ho of Norwestern. Sunday they had some of their vets return, so this wasn't a rookie-dominated game for them. The wind was still pretty bad for the first half of the game and they won the flip (bummer). The game was basically just the two teams exchanging down-winders until the most wonderful thing happened. We worked the disc up the field and Colleen threw an upwind hammer to Jessica which gave us the break! This was definitely the pivotal point in this game. The sideline woke up, there was a lot more talking on the field and everyone was AMPED. After the point was scored I somehow managed to pull it just into Northwestern's end zone (uh WHAT?!). We got down there and after a brutal point Northwestern worked it up for an up-winder. After that the wind died down, which made a huge difference. Unfortunately the score was high enough that Northwestern managed to reach 15 before we could make our come back. Final Score: Northwestern 15, ISU 12
SECOND PLACE! When I put in our bid to Glory Days I told people that I believed ISU had a shot a winning the tournament and people laughed at me! Doing so well was HUGE for us. Everyone is finally starting to play to their potential and it's really showing. I look forward to next season because I feel that our team will finally have the confidence we've lacked for the past couple years. Now when we go up against teams that have beat us, even BAGELED us in the past I hope the Gnomettes will believe me when I say "We can win this game". I'm so proud of every girl on my team. The Vets did a great job of showing the rookies how WE play and the rookies stepped up and proved that they belong on the field.
Other highlights from the weekend...
Abby's 2348932480 handblocks
Catie Johnson bringin' it in the rookie game
Liz, Jess and Colleen not wearing pants for a game or two
Two 1st round byes...yeeah
Sam Dimmig's baller layouts coming off an injury
Amy being unstoppable in the Championship game...scoring the most points and RUNNING them deep.
Liz turning 20!!!
Overhearing someone on another team saying "wait...THEY'RE in the championship?!" referring to ISU. That's right! ha!
Becky's sticky hands...that chick does not drop the disc
Ashley's baller handling...I had a lot of people tell me how impressed they were with her. ALL STAR.
...I could seriously go on forever. BRING ON SPRING!
Sadly my reoccurring knee injury has crept up on me and it looks like I'll be taking a couple months off to go through physical therapy so I'm running at 100% by spring (fingers crossed). This was our last tournament of the season. Soon we'll start conditioning and working hard to get ready for spring. I have a good feeling about this team...
-Em Flan
http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=34&id=6704
Hold on...OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGG
K...let's continue. This past weekend we played in Glory Days. I didn't write a preview because a.) I sort of realized that previews are a wee bit pointless during the fall when it's hard to judge how teams are going to look and b.) I had a feeling the pools would get switched around, which they did.
We went into the tournament ranked 7th out of 15.
Our first game was against Northwestern. During the first cut of the first game poor Jessi Gonzalez rolled her ankle and couldn't play for the rest of the tournament. She did, however, brave the cold weather to cheer us on all weekend. Mad props, Jessi. It was pretty clear that Northwestern was missing a few key players, so we didn't have too much of a problem with them. Also, Ashley Betke got a CALLAHAN. What. A. Baller. Final score: ISU 9, Northwestern 4.
Game #2 was against Kalamazoo. We played our rookies a lot, including two all-rookie points. Our rookies impressed me SO MUCH this weekend. We really have a solid group of newbies. Kalamazoo was very spirited and a lot of fun. We like them. Final Score: ISU 13, Kalamazoo 0
Game #3 was U of Chicago. This is a team that has, in the past, bageled us. We gave them a little scare at sectionals last year, but had never beat them. Well, we started off the game with a 4-0 run. It felt pretty good. At half the score was 7-2, but in the second half they started to make a comeback. We held it down and managed to pull out the victory. Final Score: ISU 12, Chicago 7
Our last game of the day was against Xavier. They are a brand new team and this was their first tournament, but you would never had guessed it. They had possibly the most solid handler we saw all weekend and they gave us a fight every point. Final Score: ISU 13, Xavier 3
That's right, we went 4-0. It was AWESOME...and the next day we didn't have to play 'til 11 sooo we celebrated Saturday night...A lot. haha.
The next day we had to play the winner of the Beastly (Eastern and Bradley's hybrid team) and Depaul play-in. Beastly won and we played them in the first round of the championship bracket. They scored an upwinder on us right off the bat and went up 2-0. We came back and did the same thing...a few times. We took them to half 8-3. The wind made each point take extra long and the game ended in cap. I was very impressed with Beastly! I really hope that both teams can get enough girls together for sectionals next Spring. Recruit, recruit, recruit! Final Score: ISU 9, Beastly 4
Our second game was against Loyola to decide who would play in the championship. We've always had a friendly rivalry with them, but we had never beat them before. The wind really picked up and thankfully we won the toss. No upwind points were scored that game and we ended up winning. I really would have liked to play them in a game with less wind, but hey...a win is a win. Final Score: ISU 10, Loyola 9
Championship Game
The championship game was the Lady Gnomes of ISU v. Gung Ho of Norwestern. Sunday they had some of their vets return, so this wasn't a rookie-dominated game for them. The wind was still pretty bad for the first half of the game and they won the flip (bummer). The game was basically just the two teams exchanging down-winders until the most wonderful thing happened. We worked the disc up the field and Colleen threw an upwind hammer to Jessica which gave us the break! This was definitely the pivotal point in this game. The sideline woke up, there was a lot more talking on the field and everyone was AMPED. After the point was scored I somehow managed to pull it just into Northwestern's end zone (uh WHAT?!). We got down there and after a brutal point Northwestern worked it up for an up-winder. After that the wind died down, which made a huge difference. Unfortunately the score was high enough that Northwestern managed to reach 15 before we could make our come back. Final Score: Northwestern 15, ISU 12
SECOND PLACE! When I put in our bid to Glory Days I told people that I believed ISU had a shot a winning the tournament and people laughed at me! Doing so well was HUGE for us. Everyone is finally starting to play to their potential and it's really showing. I look forward to next season because I feel that our team will finally have the confidence we've lacked for the past couple years. Now when we go up against teams that have beat us, even BAGELED us in the past I hope the Gnomettes will believe me when I say "We can win this game". I'm so proud of every girl on my team. The Vets did a great job of showing the rookies how WE play and the rookies stepped up and proved that they belong on the field.
Other highlights from the weekend...
Abby's 2348932480 handblocks
Catie Johnson bringin' it in the rookie game
Liz, Jess and Colleen not wearing pants for a game or two
Two 1st round byes...yeeah
Sam Dimmig's baller layouts coming off an injury
Amy being unstoppable in the Championship game...scoring the most points and RUNNING them deep.
Liz turning 20!!!
Overhearing someone on another team saying "wait...THEY'RE in the championship?!" referring to ISU. That's right! ha!
Becky's sticky hands...that chick does not drop the disc
Ashley's baller handling...I had a lot of people tell me how impressed they were with her. ALL STAR.
...I could seriously go on forever. BRING ON SPRING!
Sadly my reoccurring knee injury has crept up on me and it looks like I'll be taking a couple months off to go through physical therapy so I'm running at 100% by spring (fingers crossed). This was our last tournament of the season. Soon we'll start conditioning and working hard to get ready for spring. I have a good feeling about this team...
-Em Flan
http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=34&id=6704
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
No Wisco Recap
Ahhh first Lady Gnomes tournament of the semester. I was so excited Friday night that I could barely sleep. We left from Colleen's at appoximately 4:45am to head to the fields and oh hey...we got there EARLY (I believe this is a first for the Gnomes).
Summery:
Pool play probably could have gone a little better. Minnesota beat us pretty convincingly, although I don't think the score showed how we played. For the first game of the season we did pretty well. We honestly spent most of the game working the kinks out, and I'm ok with that. Our second game was against Mizzou. We played really well that game and won 13-5 (and I got my first callahan...hollerrrrr). Our last pool play game was against Black Cat. We lost...my opinion of them remains the same...that's all I've gotta say. Our last game Saturday was a bye due to a team not showing up, so we wandered around, watching some of the mens' games and eventually headed back to the hotel.
Party: We didn't win free uniforms. bummer.
Sunday we played Grinnell first game after a frost delay. They took us to half 7-4. My halftime talk: WAKE THE FUCK UP. It worked! Ha! We went on a 7-0 run and won 13-10. Our next game was against St. Olaf. In the first half we were going point for point with them, but they took the lead in the second half and we were never able to get it back. I probably should have given my "Wake the fuck up" halftime talk again. haha. maybe not. They sang to us afterward though, so that was cool. Next we played Lake Effect, Minnesota-Duluth's team, who we shared a hottub with the night before. We were up 7-4 at half and cap was about to sound, so we played a rookie point and called it a game. Winner: Gnomes. Our last game was against St. Olaf again, we played a game to 7, they won, and they sang to us again.
Overall for having half our roster, and some of our best players sick/injured we had a good tournament. I really enjoyed playing with the rookies and I'm looking forward to Glory Days. Pools are up, so I'll probably have a preview posted by tomorrow or Thursday.
MVP's
Spirit: Kelsey Hoover
Defense: Kelsey Oswald
Offense: Amy West
-Em Flan
Summery:
Pool play probably could have gone a little better. Minnesota beat us pretty convincingly, although I don't think the score showed how we played. For the first game of the season we did pretty well. We honestly spent most of the game working the kinks out, and I'm ok with that. Our second game was against Mizzou. We played really well that game and won 13-5 (and I got my first callahan...hollerrrrr). Our last pool play game was against Black Cat. We lost...my opinion of them remains the same...that's all I've gotta say. Our last game Saturday was a bye due to a team not showing up, so we wandered around, watching some of the mens' games and eventually headed back to the hotel.
Party: We didn't win free uniforms. bummer.
Sunday we played Grinnell first game after a frost delay. They took us to half 7-4. My halftime talk: WAKE THE FUCK UP. It worked! Ha! We went on a 7-0 run and won 13-10. Our next game was against St. Olaf. In the first half we were going point for point with them, but they took the lead in the second half and we were never able to get it back. I probably should have given my "Wake the fuck up" halftime talk again. haha. maybe not. They sang to us afterward though, so that was cool. Next we played Lake Effect, Minnesota-Duluth's team, who we shared a hottub with the night before. We were up 7-4 at half and cap was about to sound, so we played a rookie point and called it a game. Winner: Gnomes. Our last game was against St. Olaf again, we played a game to 7, they won, and they sang to us again.
Overall for having half our roster, and some of our best players sick/injured we had a good tournament. I really enjoyed playing with the rookies and I'm looking forward to Glory Days. Pools are up, so I'll probably have a preview posted by tomorrow or Thursday.
MVP's
Spirit: Kelsey Hoover
Defense: Kelsey Oswald
Offense: Amy West
-Em Flan
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
No Wisconsequences: Preview
Hey All,
Here's my preview for No Wisco this weekend...
With a slew of injuries/sickness hitting the Lady Gnomes, it looks like we'll be taking a fairly young team to this tournament. 3 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 3 Sophomores and 6 Freshmen. That gives us 8 returners and 8 rookies. Initially there were 24 of us playing this weekend...good thing we've got a sizable roster this year. This will definitely be a learning tournament for us. What's good is that everyone will get to see a lot of playing time and hopefully by Glory Days we'll be able to pull some people off the DL list!
Game #1: Minnesota
This will probably be our hardest game of the day. We've never played Minnesota before, but we can expect a tough game because at Exit 69 they took 2nd, losing to Iowa in the Championship.
Game #2: Missouri
Definitely a game we can win. Again, we've never play Missouri, but it looks as though they went 0-6 at The Manhattan Project. They do, however, have a tournament playing together under their belts, which we don't, so it'll be important to not come out flat-footed for this game.
Game #3: UW-Milwaukee
Oh Black Cat...
No one can forget our game against Black Cat last fall at Hucktoberfest. Ugh. As I recall they were very unspirited. Rather than calling fouls/violations, they yelled at us and even called one of our girls a P****...?!?!!? That game literally brought a couple of our girls to the brink of tears and that's the only impression I have of that team. What I remember about the game was that we took them to half, had a 4 point lead and they can back and won. We need to play hard and win this game the right way, by staying spirited and playing a solid game of ultimate without letting memories of that awful game last year effect us.
Game #4: Crossover
If we hold seed we play North Park. The last time we played North Park they beat us 13-10 in a very heated game at Chicago Invite. The game prior to that they beat us 13-1 at Western last fall. Obviously we showed huge improvements from semester to semester and I would love to play them this year to see how we'll do.
Sunday begins bracket play. Get excited, girls! This is going to be a great tournament!
-Em Flan
Here's my preview for No Wisco this weekend...
With a slew of injuries/sickness hitting the Lady Gnomes, it looks like we'll be taking a fairly young team to this tournament. 3 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 3 Sophomores and 6 Freshmen. That gives us 8 returners and 8 rookies. Initially there were 24 of us playing this weekend...good thing we've got a sizable roster this year. This will definitely be a learning tournament for us. What's good is that everyone will get to see a lot of playing time and hopefully by Glory Days we'll be able to pull some people off the DL list!
Game #1: Minnesota
This will probably be our hardest game of the day. We've never played Minnesota before, but we can expect a tough game because at Exit 69 they took 2nd, losing to Iowa in the Championship.
Game #2: Missouri
Definitely a game we can win. Again, we've never play Missouri, but it looks as though they went 0-6 at The Manhattan Project. They do, however, have a tournament playing together under their belts, which we don't, so it'll be important to not come out flat-footed for this game.
Game #3: UW-Milwaukee
Oh Black Cat...
No one can forget our game against Black Cat last fall at Hucktoberfest. Ugh. As I recall they were very unspirited. Rather than calling fouls/violations, they yelled at us and even called one of our girls a P****...?!?!!? That game literally brought a couple of our girls to the brink of tears and that's the only impression I have of that team. What I remember about the game was that we took them to half, had a 4 point lead and they can back and won. We need to play hard and win this game the right way, by staying spirited and playing a solid game of ultimate without letting memories of that awful game last year effect us.
Game #4: Crossover
If we hold seed we play North Park. The last time we played North Park they beat us 13-10 in a very heated game at Chicago Invite. The game prior to that they beat us 13-1 at Western last fall. Obviously we showed huge improvements from semester to semester and I would love to play them this year to see how we'll do.
Sunday begins bracket play. Get excited, girls! This is going to be a great tournament!
-Em Flan
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Stats and Gnomette Love
Hey all,
In the past the Lady Gnomes have never kept stats, but that's allllll about to change. [Truth: most of these were stolen from another ultimate blog. I reeeally want to give this guy credit, but I can't find it! Sorry for being a thief!] I've set up a stats spreadsheet for this year. The spreadsheet will cover the Following:
OFFENSE
Goals
Obv. Funny story though...after creating the spreadsheet I realized that the only stats I left out were goals and assists. Go figure.
Assists
Also pretty obv...this is goes to whoever threw for the score.
Throws to Advantage
This will measure break throws or hucks - basically fancy throws that give us a big advantage
Throwaways
Crappy throws. Hucks that go out of bounds, turfed throws, those extra floaty dump throws that wind up getting D'ed, ect.
Unforced Drops
The name pretty much says it.
Forced Drops
Drops that occur not because a defender got a hand on it, but possibly got in the way or caused a "phantom d".
Contested Catches
AKA Sick grabs. Catches in traffic.
DEFENSE
Blocks
Smack dat
Interceptions
Caught D's
Forced Turnovers
Turnovers caused by great positioning. Examples would be if the thrower gets stalled or has to throw it away due to a high stall count.
K That's all I've got for stats. I'm not doing this to determine the weaklings or anything like that. Any good coach/captain knows that a someone's worth on the field can't be determined on paper alone. Since we've got so many girls this year I'm using stats to help me pinoint additional things for us to work on at practice that I might otherwise overlook. After No Wisconsequences I might try switching to throw completion-style stat-keeping, but for fear of overworking the stat-keepers (I'm lookin' at you Michelle, Sam and possibly Brooke), I'll keep it fairly simple for now.
Let me know if you have any other ideas for stat-keeping!
One last order of business:
Practice on Monday, 10/5 was one of the most intense, engery-filled practices I've ever seen the lady gnomes take part in. Everyone worked extremely hard and even stuck around for an extra half hour. You girls make me more and more proud every week and I can't wait put all of our practice into action next weekend. Keep up to good work, Gnomettes!
-Emblebee
P.S. Ok so I lied about that being the last order of business. I'm playing in my first regional this weekend with Prion. WE GET TO PLAY CLX AND I'M STOKED! Keep checking in on score reporter to see how we're doing! I know Pete will!
In the past the Lady Gnomes have never kept stats, but that's allllll about to change. [Truth: most of these were stolen from another ultimate blog. I reeeally want to give this guy credit, but I can't find it! Sorry for being a thief!] I've set up a stats spreadsheet for this year. The spreadsheet will cover the Following:
OFFENSE
Goals
Obv. Funny story though...after creating the spreadsheet I realized that the only stats I left out were goals and assists. Go figure.
Assists
Also pretty obv...this is goes to whoever threw for the score.
Throws to Advantage
This will measure break throws or hucks - basically fancy throws that give us a big advantage
Throwaways
Crappy throws. Hucks that go out of bounds, turfed throws, those extra floaty dump throws that wind up getting D'ed, ect.
Unforced Drops
The name pretty much says it.
Forced Drops
Drops that occur not because a defender got a hand on it, but possibly got in the way or caused a "phantom d".
Contested Catches
AKA Sick grabs. Catches in traffic.
DEFENSE
Blocks
Smack dat
Interceptions
Caught D's
Forced Turnovers
Turnovers caused by great positioning. Examples would be if the thrower gets stalled or has to throw it away due to a high stall count.
K That's all I've got for stats. I'm not doing this to determine the weaklings or anything like that. Any good coach/captain knows that a someone's worth on the field can't be determined on paper alone. Since we've got so many girls this year I'm using stats to help me pinoint additional things for us to work on at practice that I might otherwise overlook. After No Wisconsequences I might try switching to throw completion-style stat-keeping, but for fear of overworking the stat-keepers (I'm lookin' at you Michelle, Sam and possibly Brooke), I'll keep it fairly simple for now.
Let me know if you have any other ideas for stat-keeping!
One last order of business:
Practice on Monday, 10/5 was one of the most intense, engery-filled practices I've ever seen the lady gnomes take part in. Everyone worked extremely hard and even stuck around for an extra half hour. You girls make me more and more proud every week and I can't wait put all of our practice into action next weekend. Keep up to good work, Gnomettes!
-Emblebee
P.S. Ok so I lied about that being the last order of business. I'm playing in my first regional this weekend with Prion. WE GET TO PLAY CLX AND I'M STOKED! Keep checking in on score reporter to see how we're doing! I know Pete will!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Mixed Split
***First off, comments are especially welcome to this post. I would love to hear input from other teams and what the mixed split was like for you.
When I joined ISU's ultimate team my freshman year the program was still considered "mixed" aka coed. We were one student organization that used one bank account and attended mainly mixed tournaments. The Men and Women did EVERYTHING together. Seriously...we were attached at the hip. the first practice that 10 girls showed up to was a BIG DEAL. We had a lady 5 vs. 5 scrimmage and I was that freshman who insisted on handling. Yeah...I was that girl. If I met my freshman self now I guarantee I would roll my eyes at wee Emily.
The first Women's tournament we competed in was Fall Out '06. I can remember every single game of that tournament and most of the little details in between...catching my frist point against Purdue off a huck from Jackie, Basia sitting out because of a nasty case of mono, meeting Jennie G. and Mel for the first time, wondering if I'd ever be a baller like Nikol, Jackie pulling a u-turn and boasting about her car's great "turning uterus", almost being left behind Sunday morning, losing to North Park in universe...it honestly seems like it all happened a month ago, not three years. We lost every game that tournament...but did I care? PSH no way! I had the time of my life!
Freshman year I learned a ton about ultimate culture and started to shift from high school soccer jock to ultimate junkie. With that came the start of the Women's team. After at couple drinks at Huber's apartment one night I had a heart to heart with the Men's captains. I remember saying something along the lines of "ummmm we've got a bunch of baller girls...Fall Out was the best thing everrrr... I want to make this Women's team happen!" After a bunch of paperwork, lots of help from Gnomie vets (Pat, Jackie, Ryno, Basia and several others) and a drive to make this club happen...we had a Women's team! My goal was to send the team to Western Classic and Sectionals that semester. Well...Western's tournament was canceled and I couldn't generate enough interest to send a team to sectionals, so instead I studied what the men did (on the ultimate field! I swear!). I had a lot of respect (still do) for all the hard work Ryan put into that program to make it what it is today.
Sophomore and Junior year is when the split started becoming complicated. My sophomore year we had 2 mixed practices and 1 women's practice a week. This was good because I definitely did not know enough about the sport to run practice at the time and we also had trouble getting enough girls at practice to scrimmage. I will say that Choz played a big role in teaching our newbies during the 07-08 season. What an awesome guy. Both years we still had a lot of interaction with the men at practice and at parties on the weekends. It was a good balance and life was good.
This year things are a little different. Mixed practices aren't feasible anymore. We've got 25 girls (give or take a couple) on the team and uhhh I'm going to estimate close to 40 men. There simply isn't a location big enough to hold us all. Last semester mixed practices became more of a distraction and were pretty counter-productive, so even if there was a place big enough to house all of the Manly and Lady Gnomes, it would be very hard to conduct a solid practice where everyone got an adequate amount of touches on the disc. At the beginning of the year a lot of girls asked me what we were going to do about mixed practices. I tried to think of a way to make them work, but deep down I knew it wasn't going to happen. We practiced with the men a couple times before Stanley Cup, but that was it.
The bottom line is that we've got two teams (well, actually 3 since the men have eough for two teams) that both have ambitious goals that we can't accomplish as a mixed team. There's no mixed series in college and from my expereince as a captain if you want to go anywhere (regionals, nationals) as a college ultimate team you have to do it as a Men's team or a Women's team.
Sometimes, though, I still think with that mixed team mentality. Yes, Women's Ultimate is our own organization with our own officers, bank account, captains and practices, but there's always that looming "I wonder what the men's team is doing..." thought. This thought, I believe is the source of most tensions between the two teams. The girls spend way too much time worrying about what the men are doing and the men spend way too much time worrying about what the women are doing. These days, we don't make all the same decisions, it doesn't mean either team is making the wrong decisions, it just means that we're establishing our own identities. Does this mean we can still both be the Gnomes? Um...of course is does! Do you always agree with everything your brother/sister does? Prolly not, but you still (usually) love and (usually) respect them.
In general, I think ISU has handled the split pretty well. I remember talking to a guy on U of I's team my Freshman year and saying "Oh hey! One of your women came to pickup last week". His response was "oh...I don't know any of the women. We don't really talk to them"...and I was totally shocked. I genuinely hope it never comes to that for ISU. The Gnomes really have something special rooted back to Stanley the gnome, the founders of the latest reincarnation of ISU ultimate, and a love for this crazy sport.
Unfortunately Fall Out, the first Women's tournament this year was canceled. We'll be heading to No Wisconsequences on the 17th and 18th and Glory Days the following weekend. I'm itching to play with the Lady Gnomes...I know it's going to be a great year for both the men and women.
Good Luck at Western this weekend, Manly Gnomes!
-Emblebee
Lady Gnomes...Fall Out '06. I'm the one with the beard.
When I joined ISU's ultimate team my freshman year the program was still considered "mixed" aka coed. We were one student organization that used one bank account and attended mainly mixed tournaments. The Men and Women did EVERYTHING together. Seriously...we were attached at the hip. the first practice that 10 girls showed up to was a BIG DEAL. We had a lady 5 vs. 5 scrimmage and I was that freshman who insisted on handling. Yeah...I was that girl. If I met my freshman self now I guarantee I would roll my eyes at wee Emily.
The first Women's tournament we competed in was Fall Out '06. I can remember every single game of that tournament and most of the little details in between...catching my frist point against Purdue off a huck from Jackie, Basia sitting out because of a nasty case of mono, meeting Jennie G. and Mel for the first time, wondering if I'd ever be a baller like Nikol, Jackie pulling a u-turn and boasting about her car's great "turning uterus", almost being left behind Sunday morning, losing to North Park in universe...it honestly seems like it all happened a month ago, not three years. We lost every game that tournament...but did I care? PSH no way! I had the time of my life!
Freshman year I learned a ton about ultimate culture and started to shift from high school soccer jock to ultimate junkie. With that came the start of the Women's team. After at couple drinks at Huber's apartment one night I had a heart to heart with the Men's captains. I remember saying something along the lines of "ummmm we've got a bunch of baller girls...Fall Out was the best thing everrrr... I want to make this Women's team happen!" After a bunch of paperwork, lots of help from Gnomie vets (Pat, Jackie, Ryno, Basia and several others) and a drive to make this club happen...we had a Women's team! My goal was to send the team to Western Classic and Sectionals that semester. Well...Western's tournament was canceled and I couldn't generate enough interest to send a team to sectionals, so instead I studied what the men did (on the ultimate field! I swear!). I had a lot of respect (still do) for all the hard work Ryan put into that program to make it what it is today.
Sophomore and Junior year is when the split started becoming complicated. My sophomore year we had 2 mixed practices and 1 women's practice a week. This was good because I definitely did not know enough about the sport to run practice at the time and we also had trouble getting enough girls at practice to scrimmage. I will say that Choz played a big role in teaching our newbies during the 07-08 season. What an awesome guy. Both years we still had a lot of interaction with the men at practice and at parties on the weekends. It was a good balance and life was good.
This year things are a little different. Mixed practices aren't feasible anymore. We've got 25 girls (give or take a couple) on the team and uhhh I'm going to estimate close to 40 men. There simply isn't a location big enough to hold us all. Last semester mixed practices became more of a distraction and were pretty counter-productive, so even if there was a place big enough to house all of the Manly and Lady Gnomes, it would be very hard to conduct a solid practice where everyone got an adequate amount of touches on the disc. At the beginning of the year a lot of girls asked me what we were going to do about mixed practices. I tried to think of a way to make them work, but deep down I knew it wasn't going to happen. We practiced with the men a couple times before Stanley Cup, but that was it.
The bottom line is that we've got two teams (well, actually 3 since the men have eough for two teams) that both have ambitious goals that we can't accomplish as a mixed team. There's no mixed series in college and from my expereince as a captain if you want to go anywhere (regionals, nationals) as a college ultimate team you have to do it as a Men's team or a Women's team.
Sometimes, though, I still think with that mixed team mentality. Yes, Women's Ultimate is our own organization with our own officers, bank account, captains and practices, but there's always that looming "I wonder what the men's team is doing..." thought. This thought, I believe is the source of most tensions between the two teams. The girls spend way too much time worrying about what the men are doing and the men spend way too much time worrying about what the women are doing. These days, we don't make all the same decisions, it doesn't mean either team is making the wrong decisions, it just means that we're establishing our own identities. Does this mean we can still both be the Gnomes? Um...of course is does! Do you always agree with everything your brother/sister does? Prolly not, but you still (usually) love and (usually) respect them.
In general, I think ISU has handled the split pretty well. I remember talking to a guy on U of I's team my Freshman year and saying "Oh hey! One of your women came to pickup last week". His response was "oh...I don't know any of the women. We don't really talk to them"...and I was totally shocked. I genuinely hope it never comes to that for ISU. The Gnomes really have something special rooted back to Stanley the gnome, the founders of the latest reincarnation of ISU ultimate, and a love for this crazy sport.
Unfortunately Fall Out, the first Women's tournament this year was canceled. We'll be heading to No Wisconsequences on the 17th and 18th and Glory Days the following weekend. I'm itching to play with the Lady Gnomes...I know it's going to be a great year for both the men and women.
Good Luck at Western this weekend, Manly Gnomes!
-Emblebee
Lady Gnomes...Fall Out '06. I'm the one with the beard.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
LADY GNOMES FALL 2009 TOURNAMENTS
HI!!!!
We've finally got the complete list of tournaments the Lady Gnomes plan on attending this fall.
Stanley Cup III
Normal, Illinois
September 19-20
Hellz yeah home tournament!
FallOut
Rantoul, Illinois
October 3-4
No Wisconsequences
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 17-18
Glory Days
Lowell, Indiana
October 24-25
Girls, please respond to the email I sent out this morning letting me know which tournaments you can make it to this semester.
Get ready for some Lady Gnomes domination...
-Emblebee
We've finally got the complete list of tournaments the Lady Gnomes plan on attending this fall.
Stanley Cup III
Normal, Illinois
September 19-20
Hellz yeah home tournament!
FallOut
Rantoul, Illinois
October 3-4
No Wisconsequences
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 17-18
Glory Days
Lowell, Indiana
October 24-25
Girls, please respond to the email I sent out this morning letting me know which tournaments you can make it to this semester.
Get ready for some Lady Gnomes domination...
-Emblebee
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Mmmm Whatcha Saaay....
HEY! I'm still alive!
My sincerest apologies for my lack of posting. In the past couple weeks I've been doing a lot of coaching/teaching for the Lady Gnomes and let me say...watch out. We've got a good looking squad this year.
The new girls, most of which have never played before, have been picking up Ultimate very quickly and they also really seem to be enjoying it! They're a lot of fun and the newbies and the returners seem to be meshing really well. We've even got a couple girls who have played before. Hollaaaaa!
Tournaments are Still tentative as of right now while we wait for U of I to announce the dates of Fall Out. I'm hoping to be able to post the list by tomorrow or the end of the week at the latest. I know U of I is meeting with their field scheduler today to figure out dates. Sa-weet.
Thought I would just give a quick update...more later.
Heavyweights this weekend with Prion.
BALLER.
My sincerest apologies for my lack of posting. In the past couple weeks I've been doing a lot of coaching/teaching for the Lady Gnomes and let me say...watch out. We've got a good looking squad this year.
The new girls, most of which have never played before, have been picking up Ultimate very quickly and they also really seem to be enjoying it! They're a lot of fun and the newbies and the returners seem to be meshing really well. We've even got a couple girls who have played before. Hollaaaaa!
Tournaments are Still tentative as of right now while we wait for U of I to announce the dates of Fall Out. I'm hoping to be able to post the list by tomorrow or the end of the week at the latest. I know U of I is meeting with their field scheduler today to figure out dates. Sa-weet.
Thought I would just give a quick update...more later.
Heavyweights this weekend with Prion.
BALLER.
Monday, August 3, 2009
I Still Can't Believe They Threw a Tournament in Rockford...
Before I start gabbing about The Rock, I have to give a shout out to Jenga from Beachfront Property. Not only did he let me use his contact solution at Sandblast, but he also found me at the tournament party and told me that he reads my blog, so I promised him a shout out...hey Jenga!
I can't say I was super impressed with day one of The Rock. I've been playing soccer at the Sportscore II complex since I was about 7 years old, so of course I talked it up a little. When we got there I headed to my field...which was off in the middle of nowhere in an area I'm pretty sure they never set up soccer fields. The field was hilly and the ground was about as hard as...The Rock (ha). Also, pool play was set up so that each team played every team in their pool...there were 6 teams per pool...so 5 games to 13...no byes...no breaks. I'm not one to complain about having to play more ultimate, but my team only had 5 girls the first day...which was rough.
The weather conditions were also less than desirable. Wind became an equalizer in Saturday's pool play games and Prion (the team I'm playing with this summer/fall) was having a tough time getting past the zones being thrown. We ended up going 1-4 on the day, 1-6 on the weekend. Rough weekend for Prion, but I've got to hand it to Angelo, he's a great captain and a great motivator for the team. Come fall I think Prion will be a very different team with his coaching.
Despite crappy fields, bad weather on day one, and the lack of winning, I had a great time catching up with all of my ultimate friends, meeting new friends, and playing the sport I love in my home town. Also, the tournament party was unlimited cosmic bowling for $10 with free drinks...what a great idea.
Next weekend...Willy & Michelle's wedding/Jax Hat...gotta love those ultimate weddings!
-Emblebee
I can't say I was super impressed with day one of The Rock. I've been playing soccer at the Sportscore II complex since I was about 7 years old, so of course I talked it up a little. When we got there I headed to my field...which was off in the middle of nowhere in an area I'm pretty sure they never set up soccer fields. The field was hilly and the ground was about as hard as...The Rock (ha). Also, pool play was set up so that each team played every team in their pool...there were 6 teams per pool...so 5 games to 13...no byes...no breaks. I'm not one to complain about having to play more ultimate, but my team only had 5 girls the first day...which was rough.
The weather conditions were also less than desirable. Wind became an equalizer in Saturday's pool play games and Prion (the team I'm playing with this summer/fall) was having a tough time getting past the zones being thrown. We ended up going 1-4 on the day, 1-6 on the weekend. Rough weekend for Prion, but I've got to hand it to Angelo, he's a great captain and a great motivator for the team. Come fall I think Prion will be a very different team with his coaching.
Despite crappy fields, bad weather on day one, and the lack of winning, I had a great time catching up with all of my ultimate friends, meeting new friends, and playing the sport I love in my home town. Also, the tournament party was unlimited cosmic bowling for $10 with free drinks...what a great idea.
Next weekend...Willy & Michelle's wedding/Jax Hat...gotta love those ultimate weddings!
-Emblebee
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wildwood 09
Hi guys, sorry this is a little late, but since returning on Tuesday I've been pretty busy.
We started the trip to Wildwood, NJ at about 8:30 on Thursday night. I can't believe it's already been a week since we left for that trip...time flies. I've never driven through the night before so I was a little nervous, but with the help of Mr. Shane Clapsaddle we managed to survive...it probably helped that he drove through the misty mountains and the garbage pit that is Rural New Jersey. I have to say, Pennsylvania won the award for favorite state to drive through. We took I 70 rather than 80 (the way I went to NYC last semester) and it took us through some awesome mountain tunnels.
After spending ultimately waaay too much time driving through New Jersey (mapquest told us to take a bunch of 2 lane highways and the traffic getting to Wildwood sucked) we finally arrived at approximately 12:30pm on Friday. Reynolds and company weren't there yet to check us into the hotel so Shane, Ashley, Whorehouse and I threw on the beach for a while. Apparently it had rained the night before and since Wildwood's beach is basically a bunch of sand hanging out on slabs of cements the water didn't absorb, leaving the sand almost clay-like with puddles everywhere. The Sandblast snob in my was thinking "omg Montrose is so much nicer than this POS"...which it is, but it soon became obvious that I was dealing with two very different tournaments...both wonderful in their own ways.
Brenton and my CT team arrived later that night. 6ish maybe? I don't really know...I was a zombie from all of the driving and lack of sleep. Luckily I managed to snag a nap in before meeting up with Dethklok (my team) because within moments of setting my bags down in the hotel room the party began. The rest of the night was a blur of boardwalk...go karts...captains' check in party...shot gunned beers...and a variety of other things. Basically it was a great night, but I was most definitely not a champion the next morning...hell, I sucked all day.
The fields were still pretty crappy on Saturday. There were a lot of puddles and the sand was still mushy. Playing, however, was a lot of fun. There were about 100 fields on the beach and 200 teams, so you had a bye between every game. My byes were spent hanging out with the team I traveled to NJ with, eating, exploring and SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN...which is awesome, minus the salt water. Our games didn't go well the first day. It's not that my team played poorly (except for me...I was a very useless waste of space), we just got put in a ridiculously tough pool and went 0-4. boo.
After taking a nap and cleaning up I headed to the tournament party. You can't really go wrong with free beer on the beach. Sadly, the party only went until 10, so Brenton and I hit up the rides afterward, specifically the ferris wheel, where we were lucky enough to be seating in a car with three really awkward non-English-speaking hispanics. This was mainly a problem for Brenton, who was in hyper-talkative mode. It was an interesting sight. haha. After our ferris wheel/boardwalk adventure we went to Reynolds' and company's hotel where we were promptly kicked off the roof. haha, so we headed to the Bolero, the club where tournament party #2 was being held. It was awesome! I was dancing all over the place, meeting lots of East Coast ultimate players, and after bouncing off the walls for about 45 minutes I say down...and fell asleep. That's right, I fell asleep at the bar. Nice. Work. Emily. I figured this meant it was time to go, so I went back to the hotel and I was out by 1am.
The nice thing about being lame Saturday night was that I felt great Sunday! Our games didn't start until 11am so I was finally well-rested and ready to go. The sand was now fluffy and wonderful and I played about 903824 times better that day and...I usually don't like to toot my horn, but I'm going to. In one game a guy on our team, the fabulous Mazur, suggested that I try hucking to him end zone to end zone to go for the 2-pointers. We did this four times which = 8 points. Yup...I felt pretty badass. We went 3-0 that day despite two of our players going to the hospital. If there's one word that could describe how we played Sunday it would be...
METAL
This ended the most eventful parts of the weekend...all in all this tournament receives an A+. Very different from sandblast, but both are great. I definitely plan on going back again next year and continuing Dethklok's reign of terror.
-Emblebee
We started the trip to Wildwood, NJ at about 8:30 on Thursday night. I can't believe it's already been a week since we left for that trip...time flies. I've never driven through the night before so I was a little nervous, but with the help of Mr. Shane Clapsaddle we managed to survive...it probably helped that he drove through the misty mountains and the garbage pit that is Rural New Jersey. I have to say, Pennsylvania won the award for favorite state to drive through. We took I 70 rather than 80 (the way I went to NYC last semester) and it took us through some awesome mountain tunnels.
After spending ultimately waaay too much time driving through New Jersey (mapquest told us to take a bunch of 2 lane highways and the traffic getting to Wildwood sucked) we finally arrived at approximately 12:30pm on Friday. Reynolds and company weren't there yet to check us into the hotel so Shane, Ashley, Whorehouse and I threw on the beach for a while. Apparently it had rained the night before and since Wildwood's beach is basically a bunch of sand hanging out on slabs of cements the water didn't absorb, leaving the sand almost clay-like with puddles everywhere. The Sandblast snob in my was thinking "omg Montrose is so much nicer than this POS"...which it is, but it soon became obvious that I was dealing with two very different tournaments...both wonderful in their own ways.
Brenton and my CT team arrived later that night. 6ish maybe? I don't really know...I was a zombie from all of the driving and lack of sleep. Luckily I managed to snag a nap in before meeting up with Dethklok (my team) because within moments of setting my bags down in the hotel room the party began. The rest of the night was a blur of boardwalk...go karts...captains' check in party...shot gunned beers...and a variety of other things. Basically it was a great night, but I was most definitely not a champion the next morning...hell, I sucked all day.
The fields were still pretty crappy on Saturday. There were a lot of puddles and the sand was still mushy. Playing, however, was a lot of fun. There were about 100 fields on the beach and 200 teams, so you had a bye between every game. My byes were spent hanging out with the team I traveled to NJ with, eating, exploring and SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN...which is awesome, minus the salt water. Our games didn't go well the first day. It's not that my team played poorly (except for me...I was a very useless waste of space), we just got put in a ridiculously tough pool and went 0-4. boo.
After taking a nap and cleaning up I headed to the tournament party. You can't really go wrong with free beer on the beach. Sadly, the party only went until 10, so Brenton and I hit up the rides afterward, specifically the ferris wheel, where we were lucky enough to be seating in a car with three really awkward non-English-speaking hispanics. This was mainly a problem for Brenton, who was in hyper-talkative mode. It was an interesting sight. haha. After our ferris wheel/boardwalk adventure we went to Reynolds' and company's hotel where we were promptly kicked off the roof. haha, so we headed to the Bolero, the club where tournament party #2 was being held. It was awesome! I was dancing all over the place, meeting lots of East Coast ultimate players, and after bouncing off the walls for about 45 minutes I say down...and fell asleep. That's right, I fell asleep at the bar. Nice. Work. Emily. I figured this meant it was time to go, so I went back to the hotel and I was out by 1am.
The nice thing about being lame Saturday night was that I felt great Sunday! Our games didn't start until 11am so I was finally well-rested and ready to go. The sand was now fluffy and wonderful and I played about 903824 times better that day and...I usually don't like to toot my horn, but I'm going to. In one game a guy on our team, the fabulous Mazur, suggested that I try hucking to him end zone to end zone to go for the 2-pointers. We did this four times which = 8 points. Yup...I felt pretty badass. We went 3-0 that day despite two of our players going to the hospital. If there's one word that could describe how we played Sunday it would be...
METAL
This ended the most eventful parts of the weekend...all in all this tournament receives an A+. Very different from sandblast, but both are great. I definitely plan on going back again next year and continuing Dethklok's reign of terror.
-Emblebee
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sandblast 09 - The Year of the Globetrotter
First off, sorry for the lack of posing. I ended up not going to Hoosier Hoedown. With Sandblast and Wildwood coming up I wanted to give my knee a weekend off.
This is my third year doing Sandblast and the third year I've come off the field after one point thinking..."shit, did the sand hurt my toes this much last year?!" Yeah, my toes hurt.
This year my team went as the Montrose Globetrotters. Breakmark hooked us up with some sweet jerseys and we wore the red and white striped shorts we "borrowed" from ISU. We looked pretty amazing. Despite our sweet unis, Satuday didn't go terribly well for us. Two of the teams we played ened up in the championship. The first game Brooke Etnyre and her band of Sandy V's beat us, followed by a defeat handed to us by Sun's out gun's out, then some team, and finally a team from California that ended up winning the whole thing.
Highlights:
-Eric Huber Somehow managed to keep his afro wig on all day while playing...I never saw it come off. Scratch that...Jess Kadjo put it on...and she looked almost as good it in. A quote from Pete "Eric has way too many things he can throw off his head on right now" haha. Gnomes know.
-Hey, we weren't getting as many points as we would have liked, but we didn't have some pretty stellar defense.
-After our games were done I wandered over the the spirit division and found the Wedding Party team. They gave me a drink from their open bar. Right after that Jessica's team, Mile High Club, gave me an awesome apple pie shot. It was so great. I got whipped cream all over my face. ha.
-I had my hair in some straight up corn rows all day. I received many compliments and a lot of people didn't recognize me. Props to Amanda Gregorich for hooking me up. I loved them. No hair in my face! Luckily Amanda wants to do them again...but in crazy designs. Get ready, this won't be the last tournament I wear them to.
-Doug being tall. Glad to have you back!
After a rough day of ultimate we headed to Uncle Fatty's for a rough night of drinking, and by rough I mean KUHE)*(UYI#(*HFJE AWESOME. Free drinks from 7-11...HOLLERRRR. I definitely got my dance on and had a great time. This was my first bar-hosted ultimate party I've been to and holy shiiiit it was amazing. I'm not really sure how Jessica, Lauren and I managed to navigate back to the hotel (which was the Hilton Palmer House...um glorious). By that point I had convinced myself that my phone was broken and proceeded to beat it up on the el. Yeah...the battery had run out. When we got back I had difficulties finding the light switch and just kept turning all the lights in our room on and off. I hopped into bed...but didn't stay there very long. Apparently I ended up on the floor and Pete stepped on my face. Thanks a lot, Pete. I also terrorized Doug late into the night. Sorry, man.
Sunday I woke up, felt pretty good, and proceeded to play horrendously in our first game. OH GOD, I was a very pathetic excuse for an ultimate player. Defense didn't happen...throws were terrible...yikes yikes yikes. Fortunately I sobered up for the next game and managed to start playing the way I should have been playing. k. good. We beat the first team, Just the Tip from NY. Their team featured a special appearance from Nick, the Normal/New Zealand dude who's been playing with Status Quo. He was also apparently a champion at the party, nice work Nick! We also won our second game against Loyola folk. sweet....then we rested for 2 hours, ate burritos, played in and out box (RYAN STILL OWES ME ZEBRA STRIPES), took naps, explored, and by the time we came back for our 3rd game we were hella tired. We lost and ended up taking 18th place. woooo way to break seed (20th).
All in all...I give the weekend an A+. Hooray Globetrotters!
And next weekend...WILDWOOD.
This is my third year doing Sandblast and the third year I've come off the field after one point thinking..."shit, did the sand hurt my toes this much last year?!" Yeah, my toes hurt.
This year my team went as the Montrose Globetrotters. Breakmark hooked us up with some sweet jerseys and we wore the red and white striped shorts we "borrowed" from ISU. We looked pretty amazing. Despite our sweet unis, Satuday didn't go terribly well for us. Two of the teams we played ened up in the championship. The first game Brooke Etnyre and her band of Sandy V's beat us, followed by a defeat handed to us by Sun's out gun's out, then some team, and finally a team from California that ended up winning the whole thing.
Highlights:
-Eric Huber Somehow managed to keep his afro wig on all day while playing...I never saw it come off. Scratch that...Jess Kadjo put it on...and she looked almost as good it in. A quote from Pete "Eric has way too many things he can throw off his head on right now" haha. Gnomes know.
-Hey, we weren't getting as many points as we would have liked, but we didn't have some pretty stellar defense.
-After our games were done I wandered over the the spirit division and found the Wedding Party team. They gave me a drink from their open bar. Right after that Jessica's team, Mile High Club, gave me an awesome apple pie shot. It was so great. I got whipped cream all over my face. ha.
-I had my hair in some straight up corn rows all day. I received many compliments and a lot of people didn't recognize me. Props to Amanda Gregorich for hooking me up. I loved them. No hair in my face! Luckily Amanda wants to do them again...but in crazy designs. Get ready, this won't be the last tournament I wear them to.
-Doug being tall. Glad to have you back!
After a rough day of ultimate we headed to Uncle Fatty's for a rough night of drinking, and by rough I mean KUHE)*(UYI#(*HFJE AWESOME. Free drinks from 7-11...HOLLERRRR. I definitely got my dance on and had a great time. This was my first bar-hosted ultimate party I've been to and holy shiiiit it was amazing. I'm not really sure how Jessica, Lauren and I managed to navigate back to the hotel (which was the Hilton Palmer House...um glorious). By that point I had convinced myself that my phone was broken and proceeded to beat it up on the el. Yeah...the battery had run out. When we got back I had difficulties finding the light switch and just kept turning all the lights in our room on and off. I hopped into bed...but didn't stay there very long. Apparently I ended up on the floor and Pete stepped on my face. Thanks a lot, Pete. I also terrorized Doug late into the night. Sorry, man.
Sunday I woke up, felt pretty good, and proceeded to play horrendously in our first game. OH GOD, I was a very pathetic excuse for an ultimate player. Defense didn't happen...throws were terrible...yikes yikes yikes. Fortunately I sobered up for the next game and managed to start playing the way I should have been playing. k. good. We beat the first team, Just the Tip from NY. Their team featured a special appearance from Nick, the Normal/New Zealand dude who's been playing with Status Quo. He was also apparently a champion at the party, nice work Nick! We also won our second game against Loyola folk. sweet....then we rested for 2 hours, ate burritos, played in and out box (RYAN STILL OWES ME ZEBRA STRIPES), took naps, explored, and by the time we came back for our 3rd game we were hella tired. We lost and ended up taking 18th place. woooo way to break seed (20th).
All in all...I give the weekend an A+. Hooray Globetrotters!
And next weekend...WILDWOOD.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Summer in Blo-No
Hey readers, here's an update on what I've been doing this summer.
Brooke, Michelle and I traveled up to Chicago to scrimmage with Nemesis , Chicago's elite woman's team. Brooke and I ended up trying out and making it to the invite tryouts, but we both ended up dropping out. I really don't have the time or money to play for them next fall and I think Brooke dropped for the same reasons. I'm definitely glad I went to tryouts though. I learned a lot from playing with them which will help my game as well as the way I coach and teach next fall.
I've done two tournaments so far this summer, the first of which was Midnight Dream, a tournament played under lights in Whitewater, Wisconsin. I played with a BAP-assembled team called Huck Buddies and I believe we went 5-1 for the weekend. The team was mostly comprised of corn and discers...a handful of ISU players, a couple guys from Eastern, two from Lewis, two from Loyola and a few others including Andy Stringer, the guy who introduced me to ultimate back when i was in high school. The last tournament I played with him was Cooler Classic when I was 16 years old, so it was really cool to see how much he's improved after play a couple seasons with Johnny Bravo.
The second tournament I went to was Down With the Clown in South Bend, Indiana. I played with Prion, a club team from Champaign, Illinois who is graciously letting me play with them this summer. We went 4-3 for the weekend and took 5th, braking seed for 3 places. Going into the tournament I only knew three people I played with and I really enjoyed meeting everyone on the team. They're a lot of fun and Angelo Ramos, the captain, has a lot of knowledge about the game.
Other than the State Farm league (you have to be a state farm employee to participate), there isn't really a summer league for me to play on down here, so I've been relying on pickup to satisfy my ultimate appetite. I used to organize pickup on Tuesdays, but once State Farm league started I kinda stopped. Prion also practices on Tuesdays so I've been trying to make it to those. I've also made the trek to Peoria to play with the Parrots a couple times, which is always a good time. Too bad Manny is in DC : ( .
I've had issues all summer with an injured knee. I hurt it at sectionals...don't really know how, but I couldn't run on it for about a month. I couldn't get it checked out initially because there was some sort of mix up and I didn't have health insurance for a month...yeah, that was awesome. Hopefully I'll be able to get it looked at this week. I actually went into student heath services right after it happened...and they told me it was fine. hmm...
I've pretty much got my tournaments lined up for the rest of the summer. Depending on how my knee feels and what the doctor says I may or may not go to Hoosier Hoedown with Prion. The following weekend I've got sandblast with the montrose globetrotters, Wildwood in New Jersey with Brenton and company (!), The Rock with Prion probably (I'm very excited about this tournament...it's in my hometown, Rockford, IL), Cooler Classic with Prion....maybe Heavyweights? I dunno...what can I say, I hooked.
Aight, time to smoke some hookah with Josh and Col,
Emblebee Out
Brooke, Michelle and I traveled up to Chicago to scrimmage with Nemesis , Chicago's elite woman's team. Brooke and I ended up trying out and making it to the invite tryouts, but we both ended up dropping out. I really don't have the time or money to play for them next fall and I think Brooke dropped for the same reasons. I'm definitely glad I went to tryouts though. I learned a lot from playing with them which will help my game as well as the way I coach and teach next fall.
I've done two tournaments so far this summer, the first of which was Midnight Dream, a tournament played under lights in Whitewater, Wisconsin. I played with a BAP-assembled team called Huck Buddies and I believe we went 5-1 for the weekend. The team was mostly comprised of corn and discers...a handful of ISU players, a couple guys from Eastern, two from Lewis, two from Loyola and a few others including Andy Stringer, the guy who introduced me to ultimate back when i was in high school. The last tournament I played with him was Cooler Classic when I was 16 years old, so it was really cool to see how much he's improved after play a couple seasons with Johnny Bravo.
The second tournament I went to was Down With the Clown in South Bend, Indiana. I played with Prion, a club team from Champaign, Illinois who is graciously letting me play with them this summer. We went 4-3 for the weekend and took 5th, braking seed for 3 places. Going into the tournament I only knew three people I played with and I really enjoyed meeting everyone on the team. They're a lot of fun and Angelo Ramos, the captain, has a lot of knowledge about the game.
Other than the State Farm league (you have to be a state farm employee to participate), there isn't really a summer league for me to play on down here, so I've been relying on pickup to satisfy my ultimate appetite. I used to organize pickup on Tuesdays, but once State Farm league started I kinda stopped. Prion also practices on Tuesdays so I've been trying to make it to those. I've also made the trek to Peoria to play with the Parrots a couple times, which is always a good time. Too bad Manny is in DC : ( .
I've had issues all summer with an injured knee. I hurt it at sectionals...don't really know how, but I couldn't run on it for about a month. I couldn't get it checked out initially because there was some sort of mix up and I didn't have health insurance for a month...yeah, that was awesome. Hopefully I'll be able to get it looked at this week. I actually went into student heath services right after it happened...and they told me it was fine. hmm...
I've pretty much got my tournaments lined up for the rest of the summer. Depending on how my knee feels and what the doctor says I may or may not go to Hoosier Hoedown with Prion. The following weekend I've got sandblast with the montrose globetrotters, Wildwood in New Jersey with Brenton and company (!), The Rock with Prion probably (I'm very excited about this tournament...it's in my hometown, Rockford, IL), Cooler Classic with Prion....maybe Heavyweights? I dunno...what can I say, I hooked.
Aight, time to smoke some hookah with Josh and Col,
Emblebee Out
Who Am I? What Am I Doing?!
HI HI! I'm Emily Flanders, known to many as Emblebee, known to few as Tigo, and known to no one as b-squared. I've been fortunate enough to captain Illinois State's woman's ultimate team for the past couple years and I absolutely LOVE IT. Heading into my senior year I've decided to start an ultimate blog to share my experiences and shutff...much like RSK did for the manly gnomes...because I like to copy him.
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