Shadrach: Northwest Mixed Regionals, Bracket Games

Well, I need to finish this post series so that I can move on with the blog and talk about the rest of my life. Also, with the UPA club championships having come and gone, my Regional thoughts are mostly irrelevant especially in contrast with the Amazing Open Finals story and photographs available elsewhere.

I will leave the full write-up behind the break. I mostly discuss my cuts and the rhythm and strategy of Wind Ball (see Joaq's regional post).

Our final Saturday game was against Night Train to decide which team moved onto the back-door bracket. I was very excited, as Night Train was one of the two other teams at Regionals with a Braineater: in this case, Brian Yoxall. Also playing with Night Train were Doug and Bethany, friends of Becky and Mikey, and two UCSD alumni, Chris/Nilla and Dania/Squirt. I felt confident and hungry entering this game---we had not beaten a solid team yet that day and I felt Night Train was in reach. If I remember correctly, the wind was present and noticeable but not a huge factor.

I played great in this game, scoring three points and getting open under. My first score was against their zone, with Doug at deep-deep. Our offense plays two handlers, two wings on the line, two poppers in the center and one deep cutter (that's me). I work hard as a zone offensive deep, coming in and out over and over on cue with the disc movement. This movement tends to pull the deep-deep in and out and gives him or her too much on which to focus. Eventually, the defender gets left out of position after one of my in cuts and doesn't notice that I have stolen separation out. The disc moved to Schuyler on the backhand side and she had an open shot with no cup. Doug noticed too late and could not reach me or the disc. Score.

My next two scores were textbook deep cuts in our horizontal stack. The first was a classic S-cut with Nilla guarding me---he's a great player, but should not be covering a cutter with speed and height on him. A handler threw to Zahlen coming from the h-stack center as I setup into the break side and then came back around for a nice outside-in flick. Score in two throws, maybe three. The second was a nice transition cut for separation on flowing offense. I saw Josh getting open under and I pushed my defender in a few steps before I planted, put my head down and just burst for the endzone. This catch was one of my better ones of the weekend as I did not wait for the disc, but instead jumped in stride to catch high, one-handed as the disc was passing me. Score.

Our victory over Night Train qualified us for an 8AM game Sunday morning against Joaquin's team, Family Style. We were playing the game to go to the game to go to the game to go to the game to Nationals. Unfortunately, the weather decided that we would play Wind Ball instead of Ultimate Frisbee and Family Style beat us 2 upwind breaks to 1. There were a few close moments in there. Specifically, we had the disc at tie game on the endzone line after a timeout to score an upwind break. Jason threw a (lefty) forehand that popped up in the wind over Zahlen, the intended receiver, and then dinked off Schuyler's hand on her second-effort layout. Family Style scored downwind, then we did as well, and then they broke us upwind one last time. Our on-field players were fairly upset about a foul call from FS that gave them the disc back to score on this upwind break but I cannot speak to its validity.

Regardless, I had a great time playing against Joaquin and his team, and I think I learned a bit from this game. First, throw more. Then throw some more. Second, person defense can be far more effective when the offense is going upwind. Family Style covered and poached the in cuts, inviting us to try to break the mark or huck into the gale. Zone actually gives opportunities for easier throws. I am not certain that this lesson holds against all levels of team but I am interested to experiment with it.

And so our season ended. We did not particularly care about our placement at that point, especially when games would have to be played in the continuing wind. Sarah, Ying and I headed over to the grocery store for pasta salad, sandwiches, chocolate and a very important 24-pack of PBR. We returned for gnoshing (om nom nom nom) and cheering for friends and preferred teams. I am quite happy with the Shadrach season, as well as my growth as a player, and I am excited to play again with them next year.