mischief06

Season over

Blog Posted by kitt at 18:56 on 17 November 2006

Well, this ultimate season is finally over.

The season is over, and I find myself struggling with how I feel about it. It's been a great season for the team, losing only six games the entire season, and winning Nationals: a season doesn't get much better than that.

But, it's been a not-so-great season for me. I'm struggling with injuries, my ankle at Labor Day, my back at Grub. I'm struggling with teammates, some I don't like, others whose style of play is the antithesis of our proposed team personality. I'm struggling with a marked lack of confidence caused by the injuries preventing me from maintaining the fitness and skill levels needed to participate fully in our games.

That one is the worst: the lack of confidence. It adversely affects every aspect of my game, from cutting to throwing to defense.

Part of me wants to be done with the sport, find another sport and move on. That part of me is tired of certain personalities on the team, and wonders if my thoughts of quitting ultimate entirely come from not having fun playing with ththose personalities.

Part of me wants to go out on top. I didn't fully participate at Nationals, but I'm on the team that did, and I contributed to that team's success at practice, and early tournaments before the injuries, and organizationally after the injuries.

The bigger part, however, wants to keep playing. That's the part that wants to see if I can double my current vertical jump, if I can learn to throw a baseball sidearm to help my forehand throw, if I can run consistently during the off-season, if I can throw enough to be confident, if I can learn to pivot with Kris-like effectiveness on my fakes.

That's the part that doesn't want to give up on the easy fitness that comes with ultimate, the part that screams, I'm not done yet!

I've talked to Kris about finding a mid-level team where I can be a big fish in a small pond, where I do need to be the go-to person, see if that will help my confidence, as the increased fitness and consistent throwing will.

Yet, I'm not sure. I do know this: I don't want another half-assed year. And there are personalities on the team that I don't want to play with next season. Negatives shouldn't necessarily be a guiding force in decision making, but they can give nudges, I guess.

We'll see. This season just ended. I have lots of time to figure this out.

Third day at Worlds

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 09:45 on 14 November 2006

Third day of play at Worlds and the flies are relentless. They're buzzing all over the place, landing on every body part, exposed or not, and staying there. Kris says they're biting him, which thrills me not at all. Mark discovered the flies will move if a fast moving object, say, a hand, is coming towards them, but not if a slow moving object is coming toweards them. He also learned how to squish the flies moving his hands slowly together, the fly trapped between.

Mark is brilliant.

We won our first game of day three against Joyride, a practicing mixed team from Vancouver, Canada. They were at Regionals, also, and played Family Style to a close win, finishing fifth in the Region, I think. We won 17-8, though, which was surprising for us, actually.

We have the retarded 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM schedule today, so most of the team has gone on a lunch cruise. Kria and I are, as usual, here at the fields, watching games. Kris is anyway. I'm writing this.

We're so predictable.

Second day at Worlds

Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:26 on 13 November 2006, kitt created this:

Second day at Worlds, and Mark is angry at me. What a sucky suck day, when Mark is mad at me.

We beat the China/South Korea team, 17-5, in an incredibly blustery, windy day. We're undefeated in pool play, and will play Joyride, a Vancouver, Canada, team, and I think Osaka Natto from Japan tomorrow, with the retarted 8:30 AM / 4:30 PM schedule.