Big Red Dance Machine

Went to Henlopen this weekend. It's pretty close to being the first club tourney of the summer if it isn't, so there were a lot of teams who were very excited to start sizing up their competition. I went down with Megan and hung out with Big Red Death Machine over the weekend. I'd say it was a great experience overall; a little awkward at first, but as people got to know me things got better (Of course I didn't help this by just showing up at BRDM's practice Wednesday and loitering on their sidelines...).

I'd say I need to learn to be less critical while I'm observing from the sidelines. To be honest, I don't really even remember how I played when I was first starting. It's weird; it's similar to waking up after a long night of drinking and just having black spots in your memory. I mean, I remember the first time my flick worked, the first time I realized the importance of breaking the mark, the light bulb that clicked when I was introduced to the "dump-swing", but I don't really remember the actual process of learning or the games that I played until more recently. All I know is that it's a process. Sometimes it's a long process.

I used to love to huck the disc (well, I still do), but now I do it less. How much less is not an issue, I used to do it every single time a disc touched my hands in the game. The point is that patience is a tough thing to learn, and it's even harder to learn in the midst of a game; and I should not be critical of it, just be aware of it and do my best to initiate a conversation with these players about better possible options in the future. Once I struggled with dumping the disc off, and now I do it quite often. I would say I am a much better player because of it.

As far as fitness goes I am not the most fit player on the field. I would say that I can hold my own, but I am probably never going to be the most athletic out there. However, I do try to increase my level of fitness when my body allows. There are some players that have become comfortable with their personal fitness and they make no visible efforts to change that. This is where I am most critical. I never have understood how anybody can expect to compete at a Nationals or Regionals level living on throws alone. Nobody can compete on throws alone due to the nature of this game. It is ignorant to argue that truth. No offensive player can hide from the defensive side of the disc if they turn it over and no good defender can get by without any offensive skills. That's sort of the hard truth about Ultimate. You can play league play for years without addressing your physical fitness, but 1 point against a Nationals caliber team will leave you sucking for air if you're not prepared. Basically: Prepare for where you want to be, not for where you are.

Another note: WireTap looked good. They should've beat MedMen, and they played Pike in some close games. Cuts haven't really been finalized yet, but they look to be a little stronger than HOV this year. I really hope that works out for them. I really like the two leaders in Jack Kuecker and Matt Babin and I'm sorry that I'm probably going to be really fickle when it comes to Ultimate this summer. I'm just not ready to suffer through another season of injuries. In a few weeks I start my time off in full force!

Anyway, this was basically a bunch of jibberish, but sometimes I just feel like just tossing thoughts on paper. I'm really wishing both of these teams a lot of luck this summer and I hope to be there for some of their big victories. Good luck!

P.S. The title came from some conversation I overheard this weekend. "Wonder what BRDM stands for..."