Haze Love

I've been putting this final post off for a long time for several reasons. First, I said everything that was most important to me to my teammates after we won the backdoor championships at sectionals. Second, I think that after regionals a part of me needed a break from thinking about Haze Ultimate after a continuous four years of doing so. Third, after spilling my guts out to the guys after sectionals and then regionals, it personally became very difficult to eloquently express to anyone, including myself, what the past four years of my life meant. Lastly another part of me also didn't want to admit it was all over for me.

I knew coming into college that Ultimate would be a big part of my life, I wanted it to be. But I never would have imagined that my experiences with you all were going to define my time in college and also how I define myself. Someone who didn't have the pleasure of being on this team may scoff when I say this, but that's only because they do know how this team means so much more than a bunch of guys going to weekend tournaments, just like they may never understand the weight of the words "Purple Haze" "Haze Love" or "Haze." These words don't mean much to an outsider, nor do they mean much in literal meaning. However when I hear those words, I think about every game I've played with this team, every stair run, every huddle had, every weight lifted, party raged, every s-cut drill, and every time I've rushed the field. Obviously, to me, our tournament results are such a small part of what make us a team. A very smart ultimate player wrote:

"What you see on the field, good Ultimate teams winning, is just the tip of the iceberg. Team identity is everything except what you see on the field when you watch a team play. You build toward something with your teammates. On game day you show off that something to the outside world and see if it wins games. Team identity is the building, not the winning."

What do I think about when I hear the word Haze? Blood, sweat, tears, determination, personal organization and control, communication, self sacrifice, stairs, stairs, and more stairs.

Screaming "HAZE!" at the top of my lungs is not just what we yell when we go super saiyan, nor is it just a cheer to end a workout/huddle, it serves as a reminder of why we're sprinting our hardest, laying out and sacrificing our bodies and personal comfort. We work our hardest for "Haze," for our teammates and we know they are going to do the exact same thing for us. It is truly a beautiful thing to dedicate yourself to another person or team and have complete trust in them to do their very best to work towards the same goal as you.

When a group of friends get together and work hard and dedicate themselves to each other, only good things can happen, and only smiles can be had. I, for one, cannot help but smile when I look back at these photos, which capture the proudest moments of my life.

I cannot thank you enough for this season. I hope you all know how much it meant to me.

It was an honor to share the past four years of my life with this team and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Being on this team has helped me through some tough times in my life and so have the people on it. I've found my best friends by being on this team, had my happiest moments, and I hope that those of you who continue on will experience the same.

Haze on three. One. Two. Three…

Always,

Quinton

Mini recap

Here is just the body of a quick email I sent to Charlie and Eli about this weekend, during which Haze placed 7th in our region after being seeded 16th....I'll probably write more about the weekend and my last tournament of my college career. Haze Love.

Q

....

Championship bracket:

Pitt- (lost 5-15)- these guys arent the same scrubs we played that fall tournament. heh. they were made up of some real good athletes. all of them had solid throws too and looked to break us alot. however i think we should have been closer point wise. we were pretty close in reality however with 5 or so drops early on, it was difficult to reel back in points when they had a lead. it was in the high 80's and we definitely were hurt by this. being used to different conditions

Backdoor Bracket:

Georgetown- (Won...15-11 i think) these guys weren't anythign special but didn't make too many mistakes. had only one star (not that awesome though). we got broken some but broke back. glad we won that one.

Queens-REALLY happy to win this. (Won...15-10..11? check later)- they were like rutgers in that they do nothing other than work it underneath on in cuts, and it was odd b/c for the first half or so we couldn't stop this. they have NO ONE special, however were very good at timing and knowing their offense. they worked thru their handlers and those guys were really squirrly. but we decided to win and we did.

SO HAPPY TO WIN b/c they make AWFUL CALLS, like i fouled a guy on a fake, he calls it, and then throws itaway to Berk for a callahan and then it goes back b/c he said i fouled him on the fake and then he threw it away (turn) then he changed his argument COMPLETELY and said i fouled him on the throw instead.....BS...frustrating team, but happy we won

Penn State (loss- 12-15?: honestly i like playing these guys, not happy we lost, but they're good spirited mostly and good natured, and run their asses off. worked thru their handlers, some real athletic cutters, but basically we just traded O points all day. they looked tired and so we got a break on them, held it til 10-9 or somethign then they broke back and then broke once more and ended up trading points. O-line was like a machine. Happy with them and as usual proud of D line for tiring their team out

WDYPU 9- it's been a while

The Greatest Weekend of my Ultimate Career

I wish we had video from this weekend, because it was the most important 2 days of my Ultimate life.

Haze rolled into Middletown, NY early friday night while watching Mighty Ducks on the bus. Quack quack quack mister ducksworth. The Hampton Inn was swanky as usual and I was happy with my room, however there was no hot tub (which is fine since all I take are ice baths now...) Both Haze and Femmes had their respective team meetings in their respective captains' rooms. To be brief, my speech quickly reviewed our goals for the weekend (no open unders, no breaks) and then I continued on to express how much confidence I had in every single one of our players. I told the guys how I honestly believed us to be the deepest, most talented, and hardest working team in our section (still believe it). This meeting of course concluded with me revealing I too would be joining the mohawk crew. Wes Wong got out the clippers and Paras hooked me up with a sweet hawk. We arrived early enough for some of us to watch D2 (dvd set!) in the Lu Wang room. Some of us got hungry so TGIF!!!!!!! Got myself some mozz sticks and mashed potatoes.

Saturday morning didn't come quickly enough as I could tell Haze was hungry for wins. I was glad to have a high seed and have 11am games:

First up: SUNY Purchase (W: 15-2): Almost bageled these guys, I was pretty angry we didn't. I caught a casual Callahan (my first ever), which was later followed by VP scoring a sick layout Callahan after baiting his man in. I of course put myself on the line after to try pulling and getting the callahan. Anyway, nothing important happened until I threw a huck to double covered Larry, who laid out out of bounds and was landed upon by an opponent and injured his arm....my fault. I take responsibility for such a crappy decision. I promised him under my breath I'd get it back for him by making regionals.

Ramapo (W: 15-6)

This game was scar for me because when we were up 7-4, I thought we were 4-7. This game shouldn't have been this close at all and I was pissed. Most of the weekend was pretty upwind-downwind, and so I'm happy with our wins and D-line who got breaks at will. D-Line Love. Ramapo was frustrating because they worked well thru one main player but after we shut him down with some Zone variations, they pretty much crumbled. After the game they were good spirited/cheered us and gave Chris Nelson a present.

Columbia (L: 8-10)

This game was great but of course had a shitty outcome. I wish we could have beaten these guys Saturday and had an easier road to regionals, but in the end I feel more accomplished battling through Sunday to take the 2nd bid. These guys are good. Kerry/Milo combination is frustrating to shut down and Izzy is frustrating because he's so quick and reads everything so well. Columbia was the one team I was not looking forward to play b/c I knew they'd pose problems for us. Kerry was great at drawing fouls on basically every one of my marks, and Milo has sick throws. There's only one guy I really disliked on their team, but overall I can't be too upset with how we played. All we needed was an early break upwind and we would have had this game. Oh well

Saturday night: ice baths, rented out a conference room and Anne's mom organized Pizza/pasta/wings/drinks/dips/chips to be delivered. Vurple Faze bonding time rocks.

Sunday:

I had 2 dreams Saturday night. One was of a rat biting me on the finger and me flinging it on the ground (I interpreted this as Columbia beating us and me being like "fuck that") and the 2nd dream was of me point blocking Alex Nord twice during a game against Sockeye. That felt great and I was so happy when I woke up. I knew that Sunday was going to be a good day. I knew that Haze was going to win.

Princeton (W 15-9): I was so happy going into this game against a team I never liked because I'm positive they're responsible for 5 of my lost discs this season alone. I made a shitty call against them, and retracted it (after waiting for Bergman to stop yelling at me). Adlai, #1 on their team, made me love him more by retracting a foul call on Lu, when Lu laid out into his back but Adlai decided it didn't stop him from making a play on the disc. What a stand up guy. I see him being a star on that team/in our section soon.

Rutgers (W 11-6):

We came out too friendly and the first few points took a good 10 minutes each (so it seemed). Way too many turns, granted their poachy endzone D was effective against our planned offense (so we switched to fast break plays and quick upline cuts by yours truly for scores). D-line generated breaks and O-line did their job.

TCNJ (backdoor finals) (W 15-8):

TCNJ, aka Greg Owens and #22, weren't enough to trouble Haze. This was the first game all weekend I lost the flip in and so we started going upwind on D. Finkel had a sick upwind pull and ran it down to catch the first pass, and the starting line scored upwind to start the game...this made our win so much easier...

I think the O-line only allowed 1 break upwind but we furiously broke back upwind right away and sealed the break after. D-line won this game for us though, with I think 3 breaks in a row before half? We came out of half with a quick score and continued to exchange downwind points (they hucked to Greg Owens, while we worked it downwind and took shots when we needed to or saw openings). In the end, TCNJ was gassed since they really worked thru 2 players who couldn't physically shut down our entire team.

This entire weekend, the team played as a unit. Both lines ran their asses off for each other. Individual plays were made, but were overshadowed by a true sense of teamwork. I will never forget this weekend and like I said to the guys in our final huddle, I cannot thank each of you enough for leaving your hearts out on the field and getting us to regionals. I'm so proud of each and every one of you and am not ashamed of the tears I shed on Sunday on that field.

Haze Love.

Regionals 2010

Haze Love.

2010

Every year around this time, I usually send out super long pump up emails to Haze about how we need to step it up this season or talk about individual players and how they're going to dominate this weekend or how this is our time to prove ourselves. I usually send out or post videos on my blog to get the team in the highlight making mindset or give some sort of advice to the team about what we're going to do exactly...
This year I have nothing to say. (of course "nothing to say" means this will be only "relatively shorter than years past)

I found myself in the same situation at this week's last practice, which I was happy to see deteriorate into fun and laughter, because that's what our sport should always be in the end. I had little to review or teach the new guys, who have shown so much heart on the D-line this year and likewise I had little to tell the O-line and rest of the team who have heard me repeat the same things for the past 4 years.

Of course I love winning. But I play this sport for the emotions, relationships, and memories I experience with all of you. I love to celebrate with all of you after a win and if that means destroying Columbia and Vassar this weekend, so be it.

Femmes, you're going to rock out this weekend, I know this for a fact. You have so much talent you don't even know and if you play with confidence this weekend, no one can stop you.

Haze, I've already told you all that we need to accomplish to be successful against any team in our region. You've heard me preach basically 3 things all season:
1) Do not allow any open side in-cuts.
2) Do not allow anyone to break your mark.
3) Have your teammates' backs: cut hard for each other, clear out for each other, communicate, rush the fucking field when they score for you, because if they score they're not doing it for themselves, they're playing for you.

Haze, if you all play with the belief that I have in every single one of you, we can do amazing things. A big part of me regrets going abroad last fall because this season has been the most fun I've had on any Vurple Faze family. I have all of your backs and I'm going to leave everything on the field for you this weekend.

I love you all.
Thank you.
Quinton Rampage Ma

Psychology

Read it, Haze.

A Video Interlude

After this weekend, I'm confident our O-line is Regionals/Nationals quality.

2nd place at Roll Call isn't enough for me.

More to come, once I decompress a little...and sleep? One thing is for sure, I will never forget this loss in the finals.

Kingdom Come

Message to Haze

1) Lu and I feel that some people need to step up their sense of urgency. There are less than 3 weeks left til Sectionals (18 days) and it's shameful when people aren't coming to practices/conditioning. We need everyone to step it up and make everything they can because when you don't show up, you're not letting yourself down only, you're letting the guy who got his ass out of bed to make it to a rainy day of ultimate practice, your brother.

On Sunday, we couldn't even hold down a full sized field and had to play mini. That's effing BS. You can't let your friends down like that. Maybe you had a rough night the night before, so did a lot of us, but I scheduled practice sunday also b/c you can't expect to be 100% on the Sunday of a tournament. We played in shitty cold and misty/rainy weather without you and I am glad I did b/c it really simulated having to play men down and in crappy conditions (both personally and environmentally). It's tourney sunday, you're not going to be freaking fresh as a daisy, you're going to be hurting and so will everyone else. What counts is how you overcome these feelings of fatigue, sickness, pain, etc.

Lu had a lot more moving stuff to say that I can't remember word for word, since it didn't really apply to me since I make all the practices. In summary, step up your sense of urgency, both mentally and physically. Our season is about to get real.

2) We have 2 more practices this week (about 8 practices total until sectionals). Tonight I set two VERY simple goals for this week. And everyone must comply by them. They are both defensive:

A) Do not get beat in to the open side--this is the primary option of nearly every team in the nation and it is your job to not let that be a viable option this week. I dont care if you get beat deep Wed/Thurs, but you WILL NOT get beat in to the open side. Front your man, or stay even with him, do whatever it takes to stay in between him and the disc on an open side in cut. Ultimate is pretty simple. Teams have a primary option (open side incut) and secondary options (throwing deep/break side) and we WILL shut down this primary option this season and force teams to fall back on their secondary options.

B) Do NOT get broken while marking. You should keep a mental tally if this happens in practice (I will be trying to break the mark lots when I have the disc) and we'll talk about the count at the end of practice.

3) Husayn made a good point: all of you should be thinking about Ultimate constantly now. When you have a chance to get to practice early, talk to your teammates about Ultimate (our zone d, problems you're having, etc). Talk to those more knowledgeable. Read up on anything Ultimate related

-Here're two sites I read or have read in the past and recommend:

- http://www.the-huddle.org/

- http://www.brown.edu/Athletics/Mens_Ultimate/zipstips/ (this is for fun but it has some great advice from, in my opinion, one of the best players to ever have played the sport of Ultimate

Cya all Wednesday/Thursday night 7:30- @Grand Street.

Love,

Q

PS: Workout tonight, for those that missed but have asked to know what we did so they can do it tomorrow:

-3 sets of stairs (with double bunny hops instead of one leggers

-3X raichu abs (15 each), but instead of planks, during the "resting period" between ab sets, we did as many pushups as we could in 30 seconds, so use a watch/stopwatch

-marking drill

-5 suicides (free throw line, back, half court, back, repeat= 1 suicide)

-BREAK: over the fence, back over the fence plyo stretches to the top of the key/3 point line

-another suicide

-BREAK: toe touches to top of key and back

-another suicide

-BREAK:lunges to top of key and backward lunges back

-another suicide

-side shuffles half court and back followed by suicide (without repeat, so just free throw line/back/half court/back)

-repeat side shuffle (facing other way) + suicide

-repeat side shuffle + suicide

-REST

-repeat again facing other way

-REST

-3 suicides

-be tired

-speech about the next 3 weeks, think about ultimate

PPS:

Vassar has been practicing at 6am, four times a week this season. Although I absolutely despise that team, that shows dedication to me.

Step it up, Haze. Every one of us has to come to practice and work their ass off. We will reap the benefits during tournaments.

We have what it takes to be great. So every day and every practice, ask yourself "what can I do to help my teammates?"

~Q

Sorry Charlie- tourney recap

Big shout out to our brothers abroad.

My blogging has been lackluster to say the least. Sorry

Summary: In my opinion, Rutgers went fairly well. There were lots of great plays followed by silly turns, which I somewhat expected being a first outing this spring for City College B. We went 2-1 with wins over Princeton/Rutgers and a loss to Columbia.

• Our O really suffered when it comes to dump resets and when we do get those working, our cutters weren't good at recognizing break opportunities or deep opportunities. Lots of work to do on that.
• Our zone D is quite good. I've worked on our cup with ryan/zach a bit and it works quite well in windy Metro East conditions, but it's not perfect yet.
• Our man D is what won our games. Every team we played brought way more players than us (I think we had 14 to Princeton's 25? Columbia's 17ish? Rutger's 30?) but I think we were better conditioned b/c our man defense would shut teams down when it needed to (except against Columbia)

1. Princeton (13-10): This win should have been by a bigger margin. This team really worked through 3 throwers, one of which seems to be a transfer or grad student from Williams who had some nice hucks. Burgman, aka whiny mcwhiny pants, had some nice downwind hucks as well. However, once we started backing them their offense wasn't so effective b/c we were faster and could cover their incuts. I clearly remember 3 turns that were the dumbest things I've ever done: one scoober behind husayn, one bad swing to chris, and one horrible dishy to a crashing Schulz in which i took two steps from a standstill and then threw it right to the Princeton cup apex....whatever, I knew my first tournament game back in 7 months would be rusty, I'll fix it. When the disc is ours on the sideline, what they like to do is force straight up on the mark and have the dump defender force upline or even, while all the cutter defenders would front our downfield cutters, something we actually thought of doing and maybe will in the future? Nothing much else to note, we are faster than these guys and if we can improve our marks and clean up our O (my O) i think we'll do well against them in the future.
2. Columbia (10-12): This was a tough loss. The final score was close, but it didn't feel like it. Their O, which works through Izzy, Milo and some random asians I dont know (Carey wasn't there, but they didn't seem to hurt by this fact), broke our zone too easily. I was pissed about that. Furthermore Zac seems to have taught them a nice D which works very well in windy conditions when the disc is on the sideline. They seem to have used a 2 man trap cuppy thing while manning the dump. This gave me headaches b/c i felt very trapped and couldn't even huck it b/c the wind and large man in front of me (damn you zac roy- in retrospect, seeing as we didn't adapt to said trap cuppy thing, I should have just boosted it deep on an early count instead of trying unsuccessfully to throw to guarded incuts), but eventually we learned to get the disc off the line faster, but we didn't fix this fast enough in the end and Columbia pulled out the wind. Izzy, who really doesn't amaze me played well for being injured and Milo frustrated us with some nice throws. They have talent and we gotta tweak some things to nullify that. We could have beaten Columbia had I made some conscious changes earlier on (they would have beat us by a larger margin had we not made any changes)...In all, i never felt like we were in this game, even when we broke to take the first score...or am i making that up?...Anyway, yeah the score was close in the end, but I felt like we were down the whole time.
3. Rutgers (15-13): God this game should have been a blowout, but in regular Haze fashion we let them claw back from a 8-4 (i think? we were up like 4 breaks) half time score. Our zone d got shredded a few times by over the top scoobers/hammers. I think it wasn't windy enough for it to be super effective, then again I may be remembering said scoobers b/c we threw zone on them working downwind too :P Anyway, we know these guys well. A bunch of them are friends, so it was a little fun playing them. My friend from Cal is playing his 5th year is joining this years' Rutgers squad which has some reals threats in Joe, Glenn, Frenchy, Greg, Brian Li. It felt great to layout over my friend, Albert, for the score though...he's a much better cutter than me and I dont score goals much. I'm glad he's such a good sport about it too.

• VP-Defensive MVP: I think VP got like 10 layout D's on incuts. If that number isn't right, he definitely got the most on the team. Furthermore, he had some major skies for big scores during the day too, def touched rim.
• Hus- had some phenomenal bids as usual- but we should be throwing better so he doesn't need to make such huge bids. In my opinion, Hus could be All-Region (college or club) with his talent and athleticism. I saw one great sequence of events in which he caught in incut, turned to see a Schulz streaking deep, actually decided to huck it to him for once, but got footblocked (huge thud, which the rutgers sideline followed with a roar-Hus, you released your huck at your hip...), had his man cut deep on him and I could see in Hus' eyes that there was no way he wasn't getting the disc back for us and him, so he caught up to the trailing edge of the huck to his man and prevented a Rutgers score. Honestly I know he has the throws, mark, speed, field awareness to be great, but I think now he's gotta learn to play smart and conserve his energy on offense to make the most damaging plays necessary for our team to win. Furthermore, I'm not sure how to explain it better than saying he needs the confidence to take over games not just as a receiver but as a thrower/leader too.
• Schulz-played most points as usual. The Schulz/Hus power cutting combo should work better than it did this day. Gotta think why, since these two cutters are definitely the fastest players in our section and top cutters in our region.
• Me- too many turns when teams threw crappy zones on me-1 lay out D in the redzone against princeton and 1 layout score
• Chris Nelson- played some great D on the day, definitely is the scrappiest rookie right now, and one of the most in shape players on Haze
• Kyle- had the prettiest dishies which resulted in a goal
• Lu- got open at will and had some nice hucks to open the field up
• Zach-he's good, couldn't connect with Schulz on our pull plays though
• Kahyee- I know we have him handling but I'd like to see him cut deep sometimes like he does on me when I guard him in practice.
• WesW-needs to play more aggressively for his size on O and D

I/The teams needs to learn to use time-outs more effectively and to our advantage....not sure how, since I'm not great at it, but that should happen. We need someone to keep score, b/c I suck at that. Also, people need to start cutting deep off dump swings....and whenever I have the disc...everyone seems to cut in when I have the disc...I HAVE NICE BACKHAND HUCKS TOO GUYS....GAWD...also, our dumps suck. I'm looking at VP, Larry in particular.

Gotta get some sleep. Goin to work early tomorrow. Spring break starts at 1am Friday night for me.

Georgia on my mind,

Rampage

An oldie but a goody.

Central Regional Finals - Hodags vs. CUT from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

Another favorite.

Animal's handler D/bookends for the win and to go to 2008 Nationals as top seed. I want this feeling. Time to hit the weights. (animal....rampage...i've got the nickname, now all I gotta do is get a D like that and cut deep and hope someone will huck it to me)

...also time for Spring Break....I need some sun and some people to destroy

I like this video

ECC 2007 - Rhino from luke johnson on Vimeo.

Oops...

Why did I schedule the tentative, impromptu outdoor disc practice at a time I cannot make...? My bad...UGHH

img from: scaughtyphotography.smugmug.com

Captaining/Quinditioning

It's a weird experience for me to be captain this year because when running the conditioning practices (Quinditioning) or figuring out how many extra sprints the team is going to do after disc practices, I am base my decision on "how many more can I do before my body gives out"....and then since I know some of teammates can outrun me, I add to that number and consequently we all do those extra sprints/stairs...

...thanks Haze, you're my extra push.

Busy

I'm so busy doing captainy crap and being a nice to people that I have no time to rant about people being bitches and not coming to practice.

Otherwise, good running tonight Haze.

Updated Spring Schedule

Bolds are "for sure" (since I doubt we'll be turned away from Roll Call)

Hellfish Bonanza- (Feb 20-21)

Battlefield Brawl (Feb 27-28) --http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=18&id=7266 (open- luthch01@gettysburg.edu) http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=34&id=7267 (women- luthch01@gettysburg.edu)

Spring Break (March 13-20)- maybe want to leave friday (12) night

Roll Call (March 27-28)--

Yale Cup 2010-(April 3-4)-- http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=18&id=7273

Sectionals April 17-18 (rain date: April 24-25)

Regionals May 1-2

Spring Schedule 2010

First official Spring meeting next Thursday (Jan 21st) at 7pm, 7th floor Kimmel. We will use this as just a quick hello and review of our schedule/goals, but it shouldn't take more than like 20 minutes. At 7:30, after the meeting, I'll be going to Coles and I expect everyone to come with for an informal session of lifting and stairs. It'll be the end of the first week of classes, so you shouldn't have work. Thursday will be 30 days before our first planned tournament (Hellfish Bonanza where we placed 5th last year) so if you've been slacking off and if you've been telling yourself you're going to step it up...this should be, at the latest, Day One.

Secondly:
SUNDAY 24 JAN: 10:00pm-12:00am: The girls will be taking Sundays nights, but if they are ok sharing Coles for one night, be ready for an indoor disc practice Sunday night next week -- Coles couches @ 9:50 -lights/darks, running shoes, games faces

Thirdly: here is our early Spring weekly practice schedule starting the 25th:
MONDAY, 25 JAN: 9:00pm - 10:30 pm. Novagility/Workout Practice at Coles -- ready to go at couches @ 8:55
WEDNESDAY, 27 JAN: 9:00pm - 10:30 pm. Novagility/Workout Practice at Coles -- ready to go at couches @ 8:55
THURSDAY, 28 JAN: 10:10pm - 12:30 am. Gym Floor Practice at Coles -- meet on gym floor @ 10:10
SATURDAY/SUNDAY: TBD. When weather permits, we will have outdoor practices, otherwise this time will be set aside for pickup or small group track workouts/disc work/scrimmages


Rough Tourney Schedule (keep your weekends open as always- we'll be finding more tourneys to go to as time goes on and if anything we schedule scrimmages with teams in the area- Columbia thinks they're the shit this year):
FEB 20-21: Hellfish Bonanza
MAR 13-20: No practices b/c Spring Break
MAR 27-28 -- Roll Call, Washington DC
APR 10-11, 17-18, or 24-25 -- Sectionals, Location TBD
MAY 1-2 or 8-9 -- Regionals, Location TBD (must qualify)
MAY 28-31 -- Nationals, Madison, WI (must qualify)

Reminders:
-- All weekly sessions are mandatory. We will be figuring out tourney rosters based on performance and attendance. And it is not okay to be late.
-- Fitness: We don't have the luxury of nearby fields like some teams, so we will work in the gym and track to be the fittest team in our Region. All of you should be working towards getting to the best shape of their lives by spring break. You'll feel great, be less prone to injury, have more fun, I promise.
-- Throwing and Catching. Whenever possible, throw: Best way to make buddies and take breaks from studying in the library.
-- Get Pumped. Every time you step onto the field/gym, be excited. Frisbee is awesome, so are layout Ds.
--LATE NIGHT COLES PRACTICES. Late night Coles workouts occur after Coles has closed. We will meet 20 minutes before the activity areas close to warm up, but dont let anyone see you throw a disc while activity areas are still open to the public, we'll get in trouble. It is never okay to be late to practices, but for these there are literally no exceptions -- you will not be granted admission to Coles unless you arrive ontime. Additionally, you are not permitted to leave early, unless you develop an emergency condition that requires hospitalization (again, a Coles regulation). Also, DONT use lockers or towels or anything that requires surrendering your NYU ID -- the facility will have long since closed when we exit.
--WORKOUT PRACTICES. "On time" means changed, ready to go, on the couches, at the scheduled start time.

Disappointment

Aside from a few consistent guys, workouts have been shitty. Step up your game. You have to be willing to work hard if you want to beat anyone this season. The commitment shown over this break has been disappointing. I dont know the new guys well, but some aren't making very good impressions... and returners? WTF? you're better than this- update the spread sheet or I'll be updating it for you.

After a quick lookover, here're people who have been seriously absent from the spreadsheet:

Evan- never

Chris Nelson- nothing this week

Nick Scoulios- never- come on man, you say word is bond, but your word has been worth nothing lately.

Pokey- almost never

Sam Mielnik- never

Wes Cronk - almost never

Zack D- nothing this week

Vivek- I love you man, but nothing for the past 2 weeks-

Paras- greatly lacking- everyone hates running, but that doesn't stop them from trying

Nova- nothing this week, but I have faith you're keeping in shape, knowing you...you're probably still running circles around me.

That's 10 guys.

If you're not working out, you're not only screwing yourself over, but you're letting your teammates down. We aren't anything if we can't trust each other to bust our own asses off in the gym and on the field.

If you're back in NYC and goin to the gym, make sure to send out emails, I know others are back already, so go toss/lift/run/stairs together.

Sorry if this email is a little mean or harsh, I still love you all, BUT the group leaders are being a little too nice to those of you not reporting at all.

I'm not the most athletic dude on the team, by far, but I definitely try to work hard for myself and for you guys, and I expect as much from each of you.

~Q

Represent HK

Threads 2010

I swore I'd never get VC jerseys after experiencing the ugliness that is my freshman jerseys, but I've decided to give those canadians a second chance. I mean, my favorite jersey still is the World Beach Ultimate jersey my brother gave me from Portugal and that was VC...so there is hope that these will turn out to be sweet. Cross your fingers, they're coming, accompanied by shorts.