Feel the Burn

It happens to the best of us. We forget to re-apply our SPF 50. We grease up in the hotel room before we head to the fields, but the excitement of the tournament, the thrill of victory, the pain of defeat, they all distract us and we forget to block those UV rays. The burn is coming whether you are ready or not, though, and in Vegas last weekend it came two fold, the singe of those pasty mid west/east coaster that haven’t seen the sun since Labor Day and the burn from Arizona Sunburn.

I was just as shocked as the rest of the ultimate community, glued to RSD last Sunday. Wisconsin in the finals, yeah, ok no biggy. But Arizona? Did anyone see that coming? Now that the dust has cleared and we have all caught our breaths, it is time to find out who this team actually is. Chris “Shep” Shepard was kind enough to answer some questions of mine and this is what I have on Zona.

Standouts

So who is this squad? Who was reeling in the fantasy points? First and foremost, Shep describes Joe Kershner as “one of the most inspiring players I have ever played with. His creativity and strength really shine on the field”. Joe was a member of the 2004 gold medal Juniors team in Finland, along with greats like Jacob Goldstein, Mike Vandenburg and Will Neff. Despite the fact that he looks like a more masculine version of Jack Sparrow, it is obvious that his talents really inspire respect from not only his teammates, but anyone who he lines up against. Another standout is current captain Erik Gafni. Gafni was Sunburn’s 2007 team MVP and “is also an amazing player who deserves a lot of credit for helping this team to where it is now”. Gafni is one of 5 Arizona players who suited up for Barrio last October at Mixed Club Nationals and it is without question that his experience and talent have really propelled Arizona to unforeseeable heights. In addition to these two standouts, Arizona also has several players who played for Arizona’s Kaos at Junior Nationals in 2003. Ben Gray, Henry Schaff, Gabe Wigtil and Shep himself were all on this Kaos team in addition to Kershner. They also have a young Junior player in Marco Alatorre who played at High School Westerns last year. Bottom line, each one of these kids had a flick well before freshman orientation.

Synergy

I was very curious to know what kind of development this team has gone through and I know I’m not the only one. I think the main benefit that this team has is experience playing with one another. It’s obvious that I like to focus on superstars but if good players play together for long enough, they can/will form a great team. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Most of these guys are in their 4th or 5th years with Sunburn and I agree with Shep when he told me that, “our O line is one of the best in the country”. If every player is on the same page, having played with each other at the Juniors level, the club level, and year after year of sweating it out in Tucson, their offense will be as crisp as the New England Patriots in every month but February. I think, like the Kaos experience, playing with Barrio has really elevated this team beyond a semis/quarters team at Regionals. With open teams getting better and better it is not surprising that a lot of talented men are transferring to mixed. Players like the Smith brothers get the chance to dominate at the national level despite a somewhat “grip and ripe” style offense that would be punished on most elite Open teams. This gives more up and coming college players the chance to get experience at a much higher level than the college series, especially if they never make nationals. With the ability to play against the very best in the high winds of Sarasota and year round commitment to ultimate/conditioning, it is no wonder that these guys came to Vegas ready to ball.

Trouble In Vegas

Before TiV, Arizona was pretty modest. This will be a recurring theme and I really like that. When I asked Shep about his expectations he told me, “as for Vegas, most of the team came in with the goal of making it to quarters, but we were really put into a tough place by the format. So I lowered my expectations to 9th once I figured we would have to play the #1 seed (meaning Florida or Wisconsin) from one of the power brackets in the round of 16”. No ego, I love it. However, their trip to the finals was no cakewalk. Aside from the obvious challenges associated with Wisconsin and Florida, Shep felt that “Tufts was also a very formidable opponent. They played an amazing game against us when we weren’t at our top form. Fortunately, after a timely footblock [on universe point] and some more luck we managed to secure the final point”. This set them up against the reigning TiV champions and this is what Shep had to say about taking out Florida in pre-quarters:

Florida is a really amazing team, we were lucky to beat them. We won the flip and managed to hold serve the whole game. Our O line is one of the best in the country and I place a lot of faith in them, but also our D line did get us a break in the 2nd half of that game.

Cyle told me had a costly drop at 4-3 allowing for some significant momentum shift, but either way, Arizona’s ability to match the Gators explosive offense really says a lot for their team.

Fast-forward through Cal and Harvard and Arizona was in the biggest game in their program’s history. Arizona actually had a surprising level of confidence going into this game due to “previous success against them. Two years ago they beat us 10-8 in the quarterfinals after breaking us once. This year our D-line is better and we are a deeper team with a lot more experience”. I think a lack of intimidation is the only thing that will allow teams to challenge the Hodags this year and like CUT, Arizona is not afraid of the baby blue. I suppose things like Shep’s scoobers show a lot of poise and I think a 12-11 final expresses some serious offensive ability against the best defensive team in the country. Despite the cap controversy, Shep seems very content with the way Vegas went down. This is what he had to say about the situation:

I can see that from an outsider’s standpoint they might feel like we’d been robbed. Especially since we were on a 6-4 run since half, but most of our guys aren’t that greedy. We don’t know whether we would have won that game or not and we might have had Wisco on the ropes, but we were very satisfied with our performance and accomplished our goals of getting into Stanford and Centex. Essentially we feel like we won that game.

Listen up folks, this is what fall/winter tournaments are for. Get the experience and credibility you need to set yourself up to challenge the best in the country when it matters. I could not have said it better myself and Shep and the rest of Arizona’s focus clearly articulate why they are the team to beat in the Southwest.

Tournament Schedule

After having done exceptionally well not only at TiV but New Years Fest, Arizona has a few more chances to shine before the series. They are making their usual trip out to Pres Day in San Diego this weekend where they will have a chance at the Squids, UCLA Smaug, some sort of Tide team, Texas, Arkansas, and whoever else makes the trip to La Jolla. In a few weeks they will get another chance to face the best in the country again at the 3rd NCUS tournament, Stanford Invite. They could be looking at a #1 seed if they continue their success at Pres Day and at the end of the month I will have the chance to see what they have at Centex. I believe this is their first trip to Austin and I really hope they are ready. Unlike Vegas, these 3 tournaments are not going to offer a home field advantage. It is not surprising that a desert team did well at a desert tournament and Shep told me that Vegas is “very similar to Tuscon” and that he feels that “Cultimate with TiV has really done a great job brining quality teams to our doorstep”. I doubt the desert offers any significant advantage peripheral to travel distance, but I will say that their ability to play and win so many tough games in such a short span will really help them in Van Auken style tournaments.

Closing Thoughts

I really like seeing some new faces in the southwest and I hope to see Arizona and my Alma Matter make it out of the region. Arizona has never made nationals and it is their primary goal, not unlike most teams. I think this team really deserves all the attention they are getting, but I think of any team, they will need to really stay focused. This is definitely a topic Arizona is prepared for though. One of the really intelligent things Shep told me about his team was that they changed their leadership from Kershner to Gafni and himself. This has “allowed our best player to focus on playing”. As a captain, I can say that playing and leading is really taxing and can really hurt your personal performance. I am really impressed with the modesty of this team and I really like their style. They remind me of the New York Giants. Not a mainstream powerhouse, very under the radar, but when you really pay attention, they have had the pieces all along and can take it to the best in the game. This is their time to shine, but they aren’t popping the Andre yet. When I asked Shep about Vegas and if this Arizona team is the best ever, he said “this is our best tournament performance in the 5 years that I have been here” but as far as the best Sunburn team ever he simply said “talk to me in May”. Hopefully you guys will be in Boulder and I’ll get that chance.

match diesel

PS Sorry this is lacking in the hyperlinks, but I wrote this in transit to Kaimana and I wanted to get it up before Pres Day.