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