Tour 3 Wrapup (Kapow! Undefeated) Edited

My predictions were pretty much correct, except with Ranelagh dropping through the rankings after losing to DED in the Saturday games (they finished in 8th position after starting in 3rd). DED eventually finished 4th. This has been a great inaugural season for DED, considering they are mostly a re-branded Team Shark whose Tour standing from last year was 13th overall.

Saturday Games

vs Burro (Kapow Win 15-8)

Bit of a slow start overall. Offense looking mostly good, defense playing mostly well. Comfortable win overall and we weren't ever at threat of losing.

vs Devon (Kapow win 13-9)

After a good warmup, we are approached by a Devon player telling us we are warming up next to the wrong pitch. We start slow and trade points for a while before turning the defense up a notch and finishing comfortably.

vs Wessex (Kapow win 15-5)

This was our first statement game of the weekend. So psyched up for revenge after Tour 2 we came out hard and played some crisp offense and stifling defense which would be our default for the rest of the weekend. Our O line didn't get broken throughout and our D-Line got the turns and converted. I scored my first callaghan of the weekend on one of my few defense line points after strong defense pinning Wessex in front corner of the the endzone going upwind. Wessex were down after a loss to Devon, and we took advantage early and often building a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Wessex are better than this and will be a tough opponent at Regionals next weekend and Nationals later in August which I have no doubt they will qualify for.

Sunday Games

vs Cambridge (Kapow win 15-6)

Our second statement game. This was the game to break into the Top 8 of open tour for the first time this season. A stacked D-Line was called for the first point, again we pinned them in their endzone going upwind and with more stifling defense I set up a layout interception off a swing pass for my second callaghan in two days. I don't recall getting a single callaghan at a Tour event before (though I think I might have), let alone two or even a single one at a moment anywhere near this important. Cambridge fell flat and we converted defense points time after time. Our O line only got turned over once and we got it back and scored the point any way. A real dominant performance and Kapow proved that we are meant to be in the top 8.

vs Brighton (Kapow win 13-12)

A tough game. Our O was clinical for the majority of the game. We were up 12-10 after the d-line got a couple of breaks and our O-line was broken twice to set up sudden death. We originally had a goal scored but it was called back on an offensive foul on an upfield cutter. I turned over on a huck that went out of bounds in sudden death but we got the disc back through great defense. We then played quite messy offense but did enough to score and take the win.

vs Fusion (Kapow win 15-13)

This was our toughest game of the weekend. We had lost to Fusion in the last game at Tour 2. Both teams last time had been missing some GB stars and both had spent Tour 1 and 2 playing below the Top 8. At Tour 2 Fusion came out on top, this time we traded for a while, got a break up and held the lead all the way to the end. Our offense was strong but got broken once or twice but our defense managed to grab some breaks of their own. EDIT: Around the point where either team could have taken half time, Pichler came up with two huge blocks on defense which were converted for us to go up two breaks into the half (he also got a third block against Fusion which I don't remember but was very important indeed). We held the lead the whole game and ground out a good win.

Overall, I think everyone was happy with the weekend. At times our offense was scoring with what seemed like no pressure on it at all and our defense produced blocks, callaghans and plenty of incomplete passes.

In terms of my personal performance I feel like I played pretty well. I was handling for a lot of the time and produced a lot of break throws to get our offense moving. I threw away too much on long throws though and put us in a position to lose the Brighton game. I have to be more composed about my deep shot selection in the future, especially in sudden death. I also had a bad couple of points against Fusion where I threw away twice in two throws. I attribute this to the toughest marks of the weekend being in that game, but I came back from it well. If we're going to reach the highest levels at nationals and challenge at europeans then I will need to break tougher marks than those I faced this weekend so this is another aspect I will need to improve my consistency on. I caught a few goals, but didn't have any big grabs in traffic or big layouts, mostly because I wasn't needed to. I ran the patterns fairly well, especially from a dump position, and overall was happy with my performance on offense.
I only played a limited role on defense. Getting two callaghans in one weekend was terrific and both were turning points in their respective games. The first one however could have been caught by anyone doing a good job marking the dump as it was the upfield pressure and a poorly executed throw that made it. The second I could see coming and set up the layout, but again was generated by upfield pressure and a good pull. Other than that my role on defense was limited, though I'd like to think my forcing has improved recently. Taking the "Pressure hand and Anticipation hand" approach to forcing really seemed to work and I got my mark to stall 8/9 multiple times.
Bring on Regionals this weekend! First road to Europeans!
Kapow!

EDIT: WE ARE SO SEXY IN OUR COMPRESSION SHORTS!!!!

Open Tour 3 preview

In our pool this weekend we have Burro, Devon and Wessex.Our team is gaining strength again this weekend. Returning is 1 GB Open player and 3 (I think) GB Masters players. We still won't be full strength but it is still good to have more players to develop tactics and plays around.
Saturday games:
vs Burro: Ka-Pow beat Burro at Open Tour 1 with a skeleton crew, missing many players (myself included). Burro then went on to get relegated into the B-Tour. They came 2nd at B-Tour at Open Tour 2, losing in the final to Blue Arse Flies. Burro hasn't seemed as strong this year. I know they have been missing at least 2 players to GB Masters, but we shouldn't be losing this game to start the weekend.

vs Devon: We remain undefeated against Devon this year, having played against them at the Fog Lane cup and Open Tour 1. Devon are pretty unpredictable though and can beat a lot of teams if they really turn it on. If we play our game we should grind a win, but we have to be on form.

vs Wessex: A rematch of the game to break the top 12 at Open Tour 2. In pre-season (at the Thame Warmup tournament) we beat Wessex, but we have a 1 win - 1 loss record against them at Tour this year, beating them at Open Tour 1, but losing to them at Open Tour 2. If all goes to seeding, this will be the battle for the top of the pool, and the easier Top 8 crossover. Wessex have had an interesting season, playing themselves down into a relegation spot at Open Tour 1 (they didn't go down due to a B-Tour to A-Tour promotion team dropping out of Tour 2 (I think)) but played up to the Top 12 at Open Tour 2, beating us along the way. They have a 0 wins - 2 losses record against Devon this season (including the Fog Lane Warmup tournament) so they could slip up there. Either way, Ka-Pow are hungry for playing a better game than the loss at Tour 2. With our strengthened squad and the chance for revenge, I am hoping for a Ka-Pow victory to take top of the pool, 9th seed and secure a 8 v 9 crossover to start Sunday.

Sunday:
If we want to qualify for Europeans we need to looking to win games like our crossover and finishing in the top 8, as close to 5th as possible (5th being our highest possible finish this weekend). The pool we will cross over into looks like this:

1. Chevron
3. Ranelagh
6. DED
8. Cambridge

We would love a shot at knocking DED out of the Top 8 after 4 tough games against them this season. We have a 2 wins - 2 losses record against them, but our 2 wins came in pre-season. In the Tour season we are 0-1 against them, though that was with the skeleton squad on the Saturday of Tour 1.
I would expect Chevron to win the group above with Ranelagh coming second. Not knowing who we will be crossing over against (as long as we finish 1st or 2nd in our pool on Saturday we will have a shot at top 8), we should be expecting to win this to put us in a good place mentally to take a Euros qualification spot at nationals and to get some more practice against the sort of opponents we will need to be besting in order to get there.

After that, it'll be quarters, semis and a final (ideally in the top 8).

I see the Top 8 at the end of the weekend being:
Clapham vs Chevron in the Final (whoever wins take the Tour)
I see Ranelagh making Semis (but not beating Clapham or Chevron), but I can't predict who I see them facing off against in the 3 v 4. For the sake of having a good pedigree I will put Fire 1 in the 3 v 4 against Ranelagh, now that their GB Open, Mixed and Masters players are returning.
That leaves (my prediction of) DED, Ka-Pow, Brighton and Tigers fighting for 5th place.

Looking forward to this weekend! Should be a good one!

Thursday Yoga

Yoga instructor decided to break out the big boy exercises today. Focussed on balance and muscle strengthening the session included:
Tree Position
Wall sits
A position which I can't find the name of but which was essentially doing straight arm plank with my legs about 1.5m up the wall.

Was good and definitely felt it working this week.
Finished up with the customary 10 minute nap!

Tuesday

5 miles cycling from Waterloo to Regent's park (taking an interesting route (read: guessing my way there))
Kapow training:
Started with a lot of throwing followed by a very comprehensive warm up. Long jog followed by dynamic stretches and sprints.
Then moved on to breaking a straight up mark to someone running behind it. This meant a focus on throwing and forcing. I got a point block which I was pretty happy about but my throwing was slightly off a couple of times.
Finished with some skying work aiming to take the disc at it's highest point and coming in to attack it rather than waiting under it.  I thought I was quite good at this throughout but misread a few discs which means I still need to work on this a bit.
Then warmed down. Was a good training and I felt I worked really hard. Sun was out all the time so I trained the entire time with my shirt off (sun's out, guns out)!
Then guessed my way back to Waterloo on a different route which was 4 miles. So 9 miles total cycling.

For Wednesday, I will just be doing 3 miles cycling. Thursday will be 3 miles cycling and Yoga and Friday will just be 3 miles cycling so as not to overexert myself before the weekend.
Open Tour 3 preview will be written when the schedule is released.

Sunday fitness

Missed training yesterday and this week is going to be a little quieter in the buildup to Tour 3 next weekend. This meant that I felt like I should do something extra in terms of fitness today.

0.7 mile run
45 Minutes hucking:
15 minutes back hand huck practice
15 minutes fore hand huck practice
15 minutes hammer and scoober long throwing practice
0.7 mile run

Stair session (17 steps)
3 * sprint straight up
3 * two footed jumps - one step at a time
3 * sprint
3 * two footed jumps - two steps at a time
3 * sprint
1 * two footed jumps - two steps up, one step down

3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups

Did all this without any break between any of the activities and had a chocolate milk afterwards :-).

Then had a couple of hours rest before doing the following core workout:

3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 thoracic spine mobilizers
3 * 10 squats
3 * 10 supermans
3 * 30 seconds plank
3 * 30 seconds side plank (either side)
3 * 30 seconds straight arm plank

Rest of week looks like this:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Midweek Kapow training and some cycling
Wednesday: Cycling only (maybe a light gym workout)
Thursday: Cycling and Yoga
Friday: Cycling only

Will do a Tour 3 preview towards the end of the week as well.

Friday

Hit the gym today at lunch and had a good session as work was not as busy as the rest of the week:

4 minute row to warm up
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 Bench press (50kg)
3 * 5 squat (80kg)
3 * 10 standing upright barbell row (30kg) *new*
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 Captain's chair hanging leg raises (bent legs) (Info)

Foam rolling to stretch

Wednesday and Thursday

Couldn't make it down to the gym yesterday AGAIN. Another busy day at work.
Wednesday: 3 miles cycling. Then when I got home:
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 10 sit ups
3 * 1 minute front plank.

Today though has been better:
3 miles cycling
Managed to leave my desk to do Yoga over lunch.
I feel like Yoga always makes me more mentally tired than physically tired. It's still only the third time I've done it so trying to think about breathing and the different movements whilst doing what is essentially a core workout combined with deep stretching always takes a lot of concentration. Not sure whether I'm becoming Zen due to Yoga but almost fell asleep during the 'relaxation' part at the end. That or I was properly meditating.
Also did Gym near my flat when I got home:
3 * 10 push ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 bench press (45kg)
3 * 5 squat (75kg)
3 * 10 lunges
3 * 10 push ups with feet on a 55cm swiss ball

Will definitely hit the gym tomorrow as Friday is always quieter than the rest of the week. Not going to be at training this Saturday as I will be watching the Olympic torch and then heading to a friends birthday party. So I will do some training on Sunday. Thinking a combination of throwing drills, hill sprints, stair exercises, core work or sprints.

This week so far

Started off the new week a little light on Monday. Had a lot of work so couldn't make it away from my desk at lunch to go to the gym so did 3 miles cycling and then when I got home I did 40 press ups in one go, and then 20 sit ups.
Today I did 3 miles cycling and was going to go to training which was cancelled as no-one could make it so I went home and then did a 0.7 mile jog before doing 35 minutes hucking practice. I did the 0.7 mile jog back before doing a stair workout in the stairwell outside my flat.

17 stairs:
5 * sprint up
5 * two footed jump one stair at a time
5 * two footed jump two stairs at a time
5 * sprint

Then had a quick shower before making myself an awesome 4 egg omelette!
Hitting the gym tomorrow, yoga on Thursday and the gym again on Friday. If yoga is cancelled again I will do some core work in the gym instead.

This weekend

Had a pretty good start to the weekend, with a couple of friends round on Friday night we watched Chasing Sarasota. It's a great documentary of the 2011 season of the Ultimate team out of Portland, Oregon with a focus on the build up to Sectionals, Regionals and the qualification for USA Ultimate's national championships in Sarasota, Florida. It's a great documentary and gets an awesome balance of ultimate highlights and the development and lives of the players. I would recommend it to all ultimate players, especially if you have seen other movies like it (I Bleed Black comes to mind).

My friends stayed over because we were getting up early to cook breakfast and eat it whilst watching the Open final of the World Ultimate Championships that were being held in Osaka, Japan featuring Team GB! It is the first time GB Open have made it to a World Championship final and they played some great ultimate to get there, avenging their European Final loss from last year against Sweden and beating the Australian open team who as a nation were looking establish themselves across all divisions as one of the top 4. Unfortunately, GB fell a bit flat in the final and lost 17-5, a result which does not reflect on the quality on that team or the hard work that they have put in as a program.

So, buzzing from Chasing Sarasota but a bit flat from the Worlds final, I headed out to training in the rain. Unfortunately, again there was a low turnout, made worse by the fields being almost entirely waterlogged. We did throwing drills for about an hour and a half and I felt the benefit, but it was still disappointing.
We started by throwing in the wind in all directions with the aim to be on specifying every detail of your throw (e.g. Inside out backhand to be caught at chest height on the left side of the receiver) and then visualising what that throw should look like and not be satisfied with a throw that wasn't exactly as specified and visualised. I thought this was pretty beneficial and really made me think about the various aspects at play (throwing motion/wind direction/wind speed/point of release etc) and I had to rethrow a couple of times when it didn't come out perfect.
We then moved on to a drill where we were aiming to throw the disc to the chest of a static receiver, but throw as hard as we could. This would be a throwing and catching drill, with the throws being beneficial in windy conditions and the catching would be beneficial for receiving those throws and also to train an decrease in reaction time. It was also useful in practicing our forcing skills so was a really good adaptation to a standard break mark drill.
We then did a similar thing looking at breaking a straight up mark with a throw as powerful as we could get which would be beneficial in windy conditions against a zone or on the end zone line.
After this we moved on to a disc reading drill on a floaty huck which we have been focussing on for a while as well.

I returned home muddy and wet but satisfied with the drills from training, even though I was disappointed with the turnout.

Sunday I took off to rest.

Friday Gym

Yoga was cancelled yesterday and unfortunately I hadn't brought my trainers (expecting to do yoga) so I couldn't do anything in the gym. On top of that, it rained in the afternoon so I only did 1 mile cycling yesterday as well. Did 3 miles cycling on Wednesday though.
Today, already done 1 mile cycling and hoping the weather holds out so I can make it 3 miles.
Also did a core focussed gym workout at lunch to make up for Yoga being cancelled. 3rd time in the gym this week for me which is a new record!

5 minutes run to warmup
3 * 10 Captain's chair hanging leg raises (bent legs) (had to look up what the name for it was, not disappointed!)
3 * 10 Tricep dips
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 thoracic spine mobilizers on each side (info here)

3 * 5 lunges with backhand throwing motion holding a 5kg barbell weight (right handed and left handed)

foam rolling to stretch

Wednesday Gym

Going to the gym over lunch is a nice way to break up the day!

2 minute row to warm up

3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 push ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 push ups with feet on 55cm swiss ball
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 bench press (50kg)
3 * 5 squats (80kg)

foam rolling to stretch

Weight: 12stone 4

Tuesday Kapow training

Finished Monday off with 3 miles cycling.
Tuesday: 8 Miles cycling and Kapow midweek training.

Started off with some throwing followed by a warmup.
Then did some work on forcing and breaking the mark which is obviously, pretty important to both our offense and defense. We were working on the forcing principles that I and the rest of the GB Under 23 squad had learned from the first UK Elite Skills clinic, from top US players a couple of years ago.
We put this in to practice first in a 3 man break drill and then a break mark drill throwing to players cutting under.
We then played mini (3 v 3) for about an hour, focussing on breaking the mark quickly with only a stall count of 4, but to focus on a hard force on defense. Was pretty happy with the way I played, including a couple of layout scores and one layout D off the first pass in one point.

Gym today!

Monday Gym

5 minute run to warmup

3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 push ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 5 squats (80kg)
3 * 10 bench press (50kg)
3 * 10 push ups with feet on a 55cm swiss ball (*new exercise*)

foam rolling to stretch

On a semi-related note: I have a new favourite pair of Gym/Training shorts!

Saturday Training

Only 4 there. Pretty disappointing. Played hot box for an hour and a half again which was fun. Missing lots of players playing Worlds in Sakai, but still could have had a bigger turnout.
3 weeks until Tour 3
4 weeks until Regionals
7 weeks until Nationals

We need a bigger turnout at training.

Yoga (2nd Week)

Good yoga again. Really felt it working again. Still didn't break a sweat but it's not really that type of exercise. Feels like a mixture of a deep stretching routine with muscle toning compared with the strengthening of the gym.
Still don't get the "relaxation" at the end and we also did meditation/breathing focus. Did make me feel relaxed, but so would a lie down with my eyes closed without trying to focus on my breathing and the "warming relaxation flowing behind the shins..."

Words learnt that I will never use outside of Yoga:
Namaste - (literally "bow to you") Thanks/Goodbye at end of session
Prana energy - (Vital life energy) Energy gained through the beating of the heart/breathing

Mmhmm... At least the workout is good.

Wednesday Gym

2 minutes rowing machine warmup

1*10 Bench Press (45kg)
3*10 Bench Press (50kg)
3*5 Squats (80kg)
3*10 Push ups
3*20 sit ups (*increase*)
3*10 pull ups
3*10 lunges (30kg)

Foam rolling to stretch

Chocolate milk!

Tuesday training

Monday: 3 miles cycling on top of the gym
Tuesday: 4.5 miles cycling and Ka-Pow training.
Only a turnout of 4 so after a good 20 minutes of long throwing practice we moved on to some 2 v 2 hot box.
Everyone was putting in the effort to make quick movements, and throw all kinds of throws to break the mark, so it was pretty beneficial to that, and the conditions were great for laying out (slightly damp and soft ground) so everyone was putting in the effort for every disc as well. I personally got a couple of layout grabs and one layout D but there was a lot of putting our bodies on the line and putting in the extra effort, despite there only being 4 of us. We played five games and they were all close. Good fun training with a lot of good stuff going on.
Rest of week looks like this:
Cycling today and tomorrow, with Gym today, Yoga tomorrow, Friday off. Then training on Saturday and possibly some other fitness of sorts on Sunday.

Monday Gym

2 minutes Rowing machine warmup

3 * 10 Bench Press (50kg *increase*)
3 * 5 Squats (80kg)
3 * 10 push ups
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 sit ups
3 * 10 lunges (30kg *increase*)

Foam rolling to stretch

Saturday Ka-pow training

Warm up then moved on to Hell box.

4 v 4 in a 5m square where the aim is to complete 10 passes without a turnover. Making people concentrate on breaking the mark and cutting in a small space on offense and playing tight man D and putting a tight mark on, when playing defense.

Then moved on to a man marking defense drill which put the pressure on the upfield defenders to use their body positioning to play defense.

Then a throwing break mark drill and finished off with 4 v 4 mini. Was interesting in the tactics that both teams played. We used variations on the full team offense, running adjusted open field and endzone offense over the whole field, and variations on the zones we play, which weren't too successful when playing 4 v 4. We also used other strategies to try and get people thinking like a 3 back 1 isolated player offensive setup. Was pretty good going for just playing 4 v 4.

I had a few bad drops in the 4 v 4 game which I was quite frustrated about but I thought for the rest of training I was ok.