Keeping it in the Family

For the last few years it has been pretty obvious to me that there are numerous families in this sport. Based on the number of responses I got from my initial sibling inquiry, I already know that whatever I write here will be lacking in full brother/sister representation. I want to cover all the families in ultimate, from A to Zipperstein but I cannot and have decided to narrow it down to three sets of siblings that I think tell three interesting yet very different stories. These families are the Valdivia's, the Titcombs, and the Ambler's and I think each story is more fascinating and inspiring than the next.

Hector and Rodrigo Valdivia

First I wanted to write about the Valdivia's. These two brothers are one of the most spirited and committed sets of ultimate players I have come across. The older of the two, Hector, has mainly been a defensive threat and D-line handler for both Wisconsin and Johnny Bravo. He has consistently been a composed player that has not only generated turns on defense but also has been responsible for anchoring his teams' D-line offense.

In contrast, Rodrigo has had a very different sort of contribution to his ultimate teams. According to Hector, Rigo's role has been "team heart always. The spirit of the team. Workout coordinator for Wisco and Bravo, developed the core of the Hodags' current athletic program and drive". Considering that Wisconsin is arguably the most conditioned team in the country, that is saying a lot.

The two are part of the Valdivia family who immigrated from Mexico City (where both were born) to Wisconsin. The entire family is made up of ultimate enthusiasts who have routinely "played summer league in Madison with father and sis - and won the whole thing." Hector started out playing ultimate for the Hodags as a freshman in 2000. Rodrigo would follow 2 years later and when I asked Hector what influence he had on Rodrigo's choice to play he told me, "my desire to have 7 players at practice influenced it, his desire to do everything I did cemented it". As the two grew as players so did Hodag ultimate. They made the finals at nationals in 2002 (Hector's junior and Rodrigo's freshman years) only to fall to the epic Stanford 2002 team. The following year would be all Wisconsin and the two brother's would take part in a truly unifying family experience. I asked them what moment represented the core of their brotherhood connection in ultimate and Hector told me:

Semis and finals in Austin natties '03, watching [Rodrigo] make play after play over JV, Wiggins, etc. I couldn't get enough of watching him come into his own as a rockstar.

After graduating from Wisconsin, Hector made the first of many Hodag migrations to Boulder. Rodrigo would play 3 seasons without his older brother in Madison but he would follow his brother to Colorado. Once they were united again, Hector's role as "role model, advisor, training partner, and strategist" would continue and considering that both are hard core flatballers, they "are in each other's lives fully." Rodrigo told me that his decision to move to Boulder was influenced by his brother because he "invited me to be a part of Bravo, pressured me to leave and be away from parents and to make my own mark on the world." I think this is a fantastic set of circumstances. You have one brother guiding another to make good life choices, with ultimate as a backdrop. I suppose this transition is infinitely easier when you are getting your brother to saddle up with as good a program as Johnny Bravo.

However, like what happened in 2003, these two brothers must once again part ways. After several years in Colorado, Hector has decided to quit his teaching job and move back to Wisconsin for school. While it may be difficult to say goodbye to his older brother, Rodrigo will now have a chance to continue his own development apart from his blood. He told me:

We will miss him but [I] plan on making my stamp in the city outside of his influence, we work well together because we're so different, we complement styles. I am going to to have to make it on my own, as he did for the last 4 years.

As a little brother, I can say that the influence and guidance offered by an older sibling is extremely invaluable. However, without the freedom to utilize those lessons, a continued state of adolescences ensues. I am sure that Hector's departure is hard on Rodrigo but it will also give him the chance to develop on his own. What better way to use the lessons that big bro has offered? In this light it seems that Hector's departure is bittersweet and I am sure they will both become stronger in each other's absence. Lastly, I will say that I think these two have it made because in 3 years of playing together (2 college, 1 club), they made the finals 3 times and won it all in 2003. When I asked Rodrigo about this he simply said "No beating that. We love each other till the end."

The Titcombs

This 5-some of ultimate enthusiast has really set the bar for not only playing ultimate but also for business ventures in our sport. They are the folks behind 5 Ultimate, and despite their incredibly unique names, have offered a product that has been endorsed by the best in the game.

In researching my familes of interest, I realized that something along these lines had already been done with the Titcombs. Rather than get redundant, I thought I would take this opportunity to recognize a fellow ultimate media entity, The Ultiverse. Josh has been doing a great job offering a product very similar to mine but in a different way. He did more or less the same thing that I would have done and rather than write about it here, I thought I would just promote his interview with the Titcomb family. Great work Josh.

I do want to say that I was really impressed with their TiV party. I hear great things of how they dodged some difficult legal bullets. I am not sure what I can/should say here, but I will say that if what I heard is true and I think it is, I am extremely impressed and my hats off to some crafty disc players.

Gwen and Tenise Ambler

The last pair of family flatballers are the reason I had this "siblings in ultimate" article idea in the first place. One of them happens to be a good friend of mine and the other has been a huge inspiration to me and is a staple in the development of fans in this sport.

Gwen is the older of these two sisters and went to Stanford for undergrad back in 1999. As a former soccer and basketball player in High School, Gwen searched for athletics in college and lucky for her, Stanford Superfly had just come off their 3rd National Championship in a row. As a taller player she quickly developed into a deep threat but she worked on her throws, especially with her little sister Tenise, in the Winter and over break. She made the finals at college nationals 3 of the 4 years she was at Stanford, winning it all her senior year (2003). Soon after playing college ultimate she decided to play with the local club team, San Francisco Fury, in 2001. In her 8 years with Fury she has played almost every position from deep cutter to D-line handler and has won 3 national titles, including last year, earning Fury a bid to World's in Vancouver.

Gwen encouraged Tenise to play ultimate, at first by making her throw during breaks. However, the main drive appeared to be when Tensie "recognized that I was having more fun playing ultimate in college than I had playing either [basketball or soccer] in high school", two sports that they both played in their teens. Like her big sis, Tenise decided on an ultimate powerhouse for undergrad and attended UCSD. Her ultimate career was accelerated quickly with a national title her freshman year (2002) and repeat appearances at nationals in 2003 and 2004. She has also been very active in the Women's club scene playing for Boulder's Rare Air and San Diego Safari. Her primary role has been D-line handler which combines her speed as well as her disc skills and exceptional throws. Despite the fact they have always played on different teams, sharing ultimate has been been a great experience for the two for many reasons, one being that it is a "perfect way to see each other on a regular basis while we live in different cities".

The main reason why I have been interested in this family is because of a single game that these sisters played against one another in the Spring of 2002. Unlike the Valdivia's, Gwen and Tenise have always played high level ultimate on different teams and never was this difference more prominent than the Women's College Finals 6 years ago. Gwen came into this game the experienced junior. She had played in the finals the previous year in Boston but had lost to Georgia's HoDawgs. Tenise was the big eyed freshman who was playing in her first college nationals. Rather than heighten the emotion in this tumultuous experience by lining up on one another, they made a pact:

We made an agreement not to guard each other that year. We figured there was no need to add that extra competition to our teams' rivalries. That pact has actually persisted for the most part through our entire ultimate careers.

Expectations were high for Stanford who had upset Colorado in a come-from-behind 17-15 win in semis. The finals would start off exciting with UCSD up a single point 8-7 at half. However, the second half was all UCSD and they rattled off 8 straight points and won 15-7. I find this game to be incredibly interesting because the "young and dumb" (no offense) freshman little sis came into big sis' world and took the golden disc. Tenise tells me that the entire situation was more overwhelming than anything else and she only realized how epic the situation after it had come and gone. "It was my first year playing ultimate, we were in the finals, I was playing against my sister. It was just a lot for an 18 year old to grasp." In contrast, Gwen told me that:

Our dad was there watching and he kept saying how it was "win-win" for him during the finals. However, in some ways having her win made it harder for me because I felt like she was able to just fall-into a medal that I had been working so hard to get but hadn't.

Gwen would have her chance and won Nationals the following year. She has also dominated in the club scene but she is incredibly proud of her sister. She tells me that her proudest moment came when she saw her sister earn and win her team's MVP in Sarasota back in 2006. Despite going head-to-head for most of their careers, they have only suited up with each other once. However, as far as a more permanent playing situation, this is what Gwen had to say about it:

I keep trying to convince Tenise to move up north so that we can play together, but she always responds that I should move to San Diego instead where the weather’s better. I would love to play together more, but so far the only chance we’ve had was at club Trouble in Vegas in 2006. Miranda Roth and I put a women’s team together for the tournament of a bunch of players that we had played against in college and wanted the chance to play with for a change. Of course, Tenise was my number one pick. That was a lot of fun, so I’m hoping we get to repeat it more often in the future.

Closing Thoughts

My brother and I have had a mixed relationship over the last 20 years or so. We used to hate each other and now we get along great. Sports has always been a unifying force in our lives and his influence is one of many reasons why I have chosen to play and write about ultimate. I don't need to encourage anyone out there to get their little brother or sister to start throwing a disc around but I can say that those that share a sibling bond in ultimate are extremely privileged. While I may not have an actual sibling that plays, my cousin Alex has more or less been a little brother to me his whole life. His decision to play ultimate has meant a great deal to me and one of my proudest moments was seeing him come out to Wildwood to play for my team. Nothing made me happier than to see him dominate on the field and at the party. My teammates were skeptical about having a newcomer on the team but after the first day they were all as happy to see him there as I was. After winning our division my team captain, Jake, gave Alex the team trophy and that was an emotional experience I still cannot put into words. We now share many friends in the ultimate community and I always love talking about him with those mutual friends that I come across. Nothing has meant more to me than to play with him and I look forward to more of those experiences. I love you Al and it has been a great honor to cleat up with you.

just my thoughts

match diesel

Sockeye/Bravo Finals Thoughts

Now that Rob has posted the Sockeye/Bravo finals, I had a chance to take a peak and I had some thoughts about it.

First off, I think the weather must have been an issue. A friend of mine was there and he said it was really windy. I also heard that Sunday was the first really bad day of wind and teams had potentially not adjusted yet and this game would be not as crisp as previous ones. With that being said I am sure that playing top shelf disc in said weather is difficult, especially offense. However, this is club nationals, this is Sarasota, its always this windy in the finals and these teams are the best. However, considering that they are the best in the world, I don’t think they played like it. This game looked much more like a college finals than anything else, I mean Bravo was down 5-3 and then went on a 4-0 run? Took half 8-6, but lost 15-13? That doesn't happen in the finals at Club Nationals. I wouldn’t call it sloppy but it definitely was not what I was expecting. Now, this is very presumptuous of me to say seeing that I am about 2 or 3 light years from this playing ability but I still have some observations.

When I saw that Bravo made the finals, I was really stoked. They made semis last year, a really good bunch of players, very experienced, very athletic, and so on. However, this was their first finals appearance and it was for the ability to play at World’s. That is a ton of pressure and I think it got to them. You have really stellar play from a lot of great players but there were also some HUGE mental mistakes like easy throw aways and hasty decisions. I don’t want to knit pick a team that just made the finals, but it just did not look like they played their best offense. I mean you have a team throw a callahan AND drop a pull. You look at just those two things, no way you predict Sockeye to win the game. That should be 2 easy breaks, which should be all you need at this level. However, Bravo tossed up some poor spittle and Sockeye made them pay.

This is by no means the end of the world for Bravo and I feel like this sort of loss has to happen for a team to improve. It has got to be damn near impossible to just swoop into the finals and win the first time, especially against a team that is playing in like their 5th finals, their 4th in a row. This is not dissimilar to the GOAT/Boston regional final I keep talking about. A great team has to learn to be great and situations like this teach them. It would be nice if these lessons can be learned verbally but I think that Chicken will be a better handler now that he has had a tough loss like this. I am sure every dump throw he tosses will be perfect from now on and a cutter going up the line better be DAMN open and NOT covered by Mike Caldwell for him to toss that outside in flick. I have had some really poor moments in my career and I can say that events like this really precipitate improvement, they haunt you forever but they make you better. That is how experience is earned and I will say that I think Bravo is going to be the team to beat next year. Sockeye will have to peak twice to win it all next year, something that hasn’t been done by the previous 2 world title holders. I think Jam or whoever else will give Bravo a game next year but the boys from Colorado will have all the tools to win it all in 2008, experience, athletes, and the memory of 13-15 silver medal.

Ok, Bravo lost, way to kick them while they are down Match, dick! Now for Sockeye. This is a weird team. There is so much footage of them so folks like myself have seen them play a lot, despite the 3,000 mile separation. However, they sometimes seem to play to their opponents, not their own game. Take last year for example. The 2006 finals was an extremely well played game. I remember watching the score reporter in lab and seeing that Sockeye had taken half 8-6. At that point I knew Furious was screwed and they were, down a few breaks to a team like Sockeye and your chances of victory are pretty slim. Elite Open ultimate is all about possession, ie not turning it over. These elite squads have the ability to play games with less than 10 turnovers, it is almost expected at this point. With that in mind I think Sockeye really wanted to beat Furious last year, a team that had sprung their proverbial bear trap on the Fish in the past. They played patiently, their cutters were on fire and they took advantage of a few Furious mistakes, not to mention 2 HUGE breaks in a world greatest and the Skippy hammer incident. However this year, not unlike 3 years ago, Sockeye was not playing Furious in the finals and they played less composed and more aggressive. There were many big plays, skies and hucks, but there were also A LOT of turnovers and layout Ds. Layout Ds are really nice, and in college they happen a lot because handlers are not as good. They see a guy and think he is open and a defender either makes up some serious ground or comes out of nowhere. In club though, these handlers are conditioned by years of mistakes so they know when to throw and when not to. In this game however, there were so many layout Ds, I mean watch last years finals and you will see some HUGE bids, but most folks came up empty. Valdivia, Beau, Jolian, Caldwell, JD all made great plays (although technically not a layout D by JD). But the throws that allow these Ds should not have been tossed in the first place. I suppose playing in the North East has made me slightly more conservative and it just amazes me that at this level, a game like this happened. Also, like the Sockeye/Jam finals there were a lot of turnovers, especially on game point. Double game point in 2004, I think each team had 2 chances to score. Last weekend, Sockeye needed 3 possessions at 14-13 to seal the game, and that is 2 too many. I mean Tim's outside in flick to Seth with Beau covering him? Really? On game point? However, considering the composure status of Bravo, its not surprising that they got it back and won the game.

Aside from being an ass, my main reason for articulating this point is that I think Sockeye has their work cut out for them at World’s. Japan is a really good team and they are going to take advantage of miscues like the ones Sockeye made on Sunday at nationals. Their defenders are top notch and if Sockeye thinks they can just play their deep game and hope to generate Ds here and there, they have another thing coming. I think they have the personnel, the time, and the motivation to be the best in the world but it is by no means a guarantee. There were a few points in that ECC final where the Buzz Bullets got pretty close to sealing that game and they will be hungrier than ever before next August. With that being said, I think Sockeye will be ready because they know what Japan is capable of. Wiggins exhibited an amazing amount of class and respect when he spoke with Rob after the ECC final regarding Japan. The Fish know their competition, and I wonder what their game plan will be.

Ok, way to bash the two best teams in the world, how about some positive points.

First, I was really impressed with Nord, he had a really great game, something like 2 goals and 3 assists. Over the last 2 years or so I wasn't sure if Nord was playing his best. He is so big, I mean the guy is like 6'5" and he is lanky as all get out. Chase is also tall but he is built like Brian Urlacher and Nord is more like Nowitski. Going into this tournament, I was curious to know if his size was becoming an issue and if he could move the way he used to. I mean if you watch the finals from last year, he just doesn't really make that many plays, which is fine, he was probably covered very well. However, this year, it seemed like he was back to his 2005 status when he had huge performances at regionals and nationals. He made so many great plays in the air and downfield, not to mention that he was just really heads up the whole game. Come on, that snatch and quick toss for a score? Someone was paying attention. I am glad to be proven wrong and it was really nice to see Nord dominant again. Hope that thumb isn’t too badly injured.

Another fantasy allstar in this game was Hector Valdivia. Wow this guy played well, on both sides of the disc. His quick huck score to Beau off a turn was absolutely beautiful, as was his SICK layout D at 9-8. I also like his scoop score from Popiel to take half. I really didn't know who he was before this tournament but I know who he is now. I also like seeing guys that can play all sides of the disc. I think he finished with 3 goals and 2 assists.

Another player that I think had a great game was Mike Caldwell. Over the years the only real thing I can say about Mike is that he isn't Roger Crafts. It seems like they look a lot alike, what with the shaved heads and facial hair. Plus Crafts is #2 and Mike is #20. However, this guy played awesome. He had a great catch to tie the game at 10s (his 2nd goal) not to mention his biggest play, which was saving Sam O'brien's ass getting an EPIC layout D after the dropped pull. I also know for a fact that Caldwell is an insane athlete (watch the celebration after Sockeye won it all last year and you will see him jump like 3 feet in the air) and it is nice to see him kick ass. I wonder if his son will be as good a player as Dad.

I think Chase had an interesting game. Most folks (myself) consider him a deep cutter because of his size but he was putting up hucks left and right. I also like the hammer he tossed to Nord (who skied Seth, his own team mate) for a goal. Interesting to see him throw the hammers in the finals instead of catching them.

I also like seeing Jolian Dahl and Ray Illian play well. I think both have tough situations to deal with in ultimate. Ray was a stud at Washington but didn't really have much of a supporting cast plus he had to compete with all the talent in the NW so he was overshadowed a lot. I think he is a great player and I don't think enough people know that. He had a great game with some great scores, skies and defensive efforts. Jolian is similar in that he has played with Beau for so long and they appear to be similar players, except that Beau jumped over a guy once. I will say that Jolian is straight up filthy. He is a GREAT player who carried Colorado at college nationals and seeing him get that hugtastic layout D on Sammy was really cool.

There were also just a lot of really cool plays to see in this game. Parker's out side in flick score to Whitaker (actually I think he meant to throw it to Beau) was awesome. Chicken's callahan was pretty cool. I didn't think TG would toss something up like that. It also should serve as a lesson to kids to work on their pulls. A back corner starting spot is not fun to work with. Richter had a nice layout score followed up by his patented head spike (I tried to get him to do it at the college nationals showcase game, but he wouldn't). I also like how Sammy quietly threw 4 scores. I also laughed a little bit when Parker claimed a disc was up when it literally bounced off the ground.

All in all this was a really entertaining game. I think many lessons were learned on both teams and I really think that Bravo is taking the steps to really become a giant in elite disc. And can I also say that none of my writing would be possible without Ultivillage. Thanks a lot Rob, you are doing a fantastic job. Aside from buying every UvTv subscription, your DVDs, and plugging you weekly in my blog entries, is there anything else I can do to support your company?

match diesel