I love this game, right?

I suppose that most of my writing is bascially a snap shot of where I am in my ultimate career and as I mature my opinions will change, as will what I write about. At this point, the newest lesson and the current issue comes with burning out.

For the last 2 full years, I have managed to play for my college team, then my club team, captain my college team, then captain my club team. That is 4 total seasons spanning close to 24 months. I suppose this is a lot of ultimate. Over the course of this I have been to ~30 tournaments and managed to have my weight fluctuate from a very fatty high of 240lbs to somewhere around 200lb, currently. So what is the problem?

Recently, things as far as disc go, could be better. I am having feelings of impatience, frustration, fear, not to mention physical problems with my plantar faciitis and my shoulder. For weeks I have been thinking constantly about what is wrong with me and what I need to get my game back. After a lot of thought, I think I am just burned out. I think I have been playing so much for so long that I have forgotten why I love this game and what it means to me. I suppose it has become more routine than anything, like getting the paper or coffee in the morning. I feel like why I love this game and what I love about it have become lost. All I can focus on are small modifications and more conditioning. Ultimate has becone more about trimming the perverbial fat from my game rather than just enjoying a sport that has changed my life. Now I don't think conditioning is a bad thing, it is very important and any idiot can see that. But I think an off season or at least a breather is very important in this game. I guess it is no coincidence that I am writing this entry now, seeing that it is July. If you look at the tournament schedule there are only 1 or 2 tournaments in the month of July and none for really elite ultimate programs. I suppose teams are finalizing rosters and starting to work on setting up their offense/defense. Over the next few weeks squads will also be conditioning and bascially planning so that they will be at their best come the series. What they are not doing is pushing themselves to win tournaments and get absolutely everything out of their squads. They'll save that for the fall, now its all about developing the game plan with the team for the year.

I guess I never really understood the lesson in this until now. I suppose I am at an interesting position in my ultimate career, one that I am sure most people are in or have gone throught at some point. You play college for a few years, you get good in college, you understand whats going on, you are more or less set on where you are gonna live year round and you start looking for club ultimate in the off season. However, in my case, you have done this and now you are returning to your club team for a second (maybe 3rd year for some) and the club season is just as big a deal as college and it is necessary to work hard (if not harder) to get the results you want. In this lies the conflict. If players are conditioning all winter to peak at the right time for the college series, I think it is very difficult to hold on to that physical and mental prowess through the summer and into the fall. I think a break, or off season is very important. I remember team mates at UCSD that would not touch a disc all summer because they wanted the break and I never really understood why. Maybe for the better players out there, a skill set is constant and all the matters is the physical shape you are in. However, for me, and hopefully I am not the only one, there is something to be said about peaking mentally and having the game plan to win for a set periond of time. I wish this period of time could be indefinite, but the amount of work that it takes to be good at this game, with the practicing, conditioning, recruiting, training, tournaments, etc...is significant and keeping it constant is pretty difficult. I suppose that is why a break is so important. I guess I never really understood why there was a lull in summer disc in the month of july until now. Pushing a squad to play and practice and work their asses off (with no real compensation involved) is a tall order and a breather is necessary.

So whats the point? Well I feel like 1) people like Dylan Tunnell, Tim Gehret, Kurt Gibson, Zipp, Jacob Goldstein, Oscar Pottinger, Morgan Hibbert etc... are really amazing specimens. To play high level college ultimate and then immediately jump into club ultimate is an extremely difficult task, considering that you are playing year round. 2) Ultimate players are just like regular atheltes in the sense that an off season is important. A time to not play, a time to rest one's body and one's mind from the game is positive. This doesn't mean that you can't play or practice, but it does mean that giving 110% indefintely is bascially impossible. I think a better route would be to remain goal oriented, plan month by month (during the summer or the college season), and work to peak at the right time.

Ok, so this is me, who cares. I think this does have some implications for elite disc through this years club series and into next year. First off, lets look at Canadian Nationals (sorry I am a huge furious fan). Beginning August 9th, Furious (and potentially GOAT) are going to begin their run for World's in 2008. This means that Furious better be ready to take down anyone in Canada by early august. Their current record is not flattering but I believe that Furious sets the bar when it comes to peaking (just look at Kevin Cissna's interview by Rob after the 2006 Solstice Final on UvTv). So they have to peak (at least somewhat peak) in early august as opposed to september this year. So what does that mean for the Emeral City Classic? Last year Sockeye beat Furious in the finals of ECC 15-12, but Furious went on to beat them at regionals 15-13. So the question becomes, "Is Furious going to better, worse or the same as last year?". Looking at their current record, one might think they are weaker, but they didn't show many signs of life in the summer of 2006, at least none that would have people predicting them in the finals at UPA nationals. However, there is an incentive to improve significantly and early this year because Furious will have to beat a team they have lost to already this year and this game will determine who gets to represent Canada in 2008. I sincerly hope that Furious isn't already popping the champagne because GOAT is a great team and it will take a lot of work to get the 2008 World's Maple Leaf on a Furious Jersey. So lets assume Furious doesn't choke (which I doubt they will do) and are ready to take down GOAT and win Canadian nationals. Does this means they are gonna be ready for ECC, which is scheduled for the following weekend (that is unless they have more work to do before club nationals)? I am not going to pretend to know whats going to happen in Eugene, but I do think that Furious' performance at Canadian Nationals and ECC are going to very interesting. This is all a prelude to Club Nationals in October. If Furious has to be their best a month early, what does that mean for club nationals? Are they going to be able to compete with Sockeye's best, if the fish see all they have at ECC or labor day. I certainly hope Furious can keep a few Aces up their sleeve while still being able to take down GOAT. They managed to do this in 2003 by winning canadian nationals as well as taking down the Condors for the UPA championship, but the Condors are not regional rivals and I have no idea when and if they played during the summer that year. So I think this makes August an interesting month for ultimate.

Another thing to think about is the preparation that Furious is going to have to make when/if they win Canadian Nationals. Assuming they win, they will have to begin the year long preparation for the trip to World's, right? Wrong, World's is in Vancover in 2008. What a bonus if you get to compete in your home town for a world tournament? I can remember when the condors were going around in 2004 trying to raise money for World's in Finland. I have no idea if Furious did the same thing, but they are certainly not having to raise cash for plane tickets or hotels if in fact they are playing in their own back yard. I think that this leaves them open to focus purely on their game and their strategy rather than having to sequestor the necessary fundage and planning that would necessitate a trip of several thousand miles. I suppose Sockeye is in the same boat considering that if they win UPA club nationals they'll only be a ~3hr drive from the world tournament. In my opinion, however, completely neglecting where teams are coming from, I think there is something to be said about extensive preparation. Just like team USA did in 2005 with the whole ebay auctions and competing at Potlatch and Poultry Days preping for world's, teams need to prepare and plan using their country's support for such an important tournament. I think this is good because it will give teams a sense of nationalism, pride and responsibility in doing what they can to represent their fellow citizens.

However, if the two best teams are already a relative stone throw away from the tournament, is this kind of preparation even needed? And if it is not needed is the energy saved better suited for physical and mental preparation? I am not sure a situation like this has ever presented itself in the history of ultimate, but I think it deserves some thought. If the severity of the tournament does not continually manifest itself with work needed to get there, how can it be truely appreciated? Considering that the trip to Club Nationals is going to be an order of magnitide (if not more) harder than world's, are teams going to be more or less prepared. I bet the differences (if any) will cancel eachother out, but I think it is an interesting idea.

I guess I have a few main questions. 1) Will Furious at the 2007 ECC be better or worse than in 2006? (impossible to surmise, I know, because even if they are better, they could still lose to a better sockeye) 2) Can Furious hold onto/maintain their seasonal development through the club series after having to peak 2 months before Sarasota? 3) Is Furious at Canadian Nationals the best they are going to get? If so, can they put up a fight against Sockeye at sectionals/regionals/nationals? If not will they have more to gain after taking down GOAT? 4) Ultimately, if Sockeye sweeps UPA club nationals and then world's will they have the same "hangover" as furious did in 2004? WIll having World's so close to home serve any benifit to the Fish? The monkey? I suppose an interesting stat is that the winner of the last 2 WUGC world tournaments have failed to repeat at UPA nationals the following fall (DoG won in Germany in 2000 and lost to the Condors that October, Furious won in 2004 and lost in semis to JAM two months later). Also, if Sockeye does make a run, Idaho will be the first player (I think) to play at WUGC for two different teams.

match diesel