Never has a 4 day week felt so long. I'm definitely on an end of frisbee season come down and looking forward to the Rawhyde Revolver fun tournament this weekend.
Tuesday-Friday: 3 miles cycling per day.
Also, went to my first Basketball session last night.
Turned up at 8:15 p.m. to my first basketball session in about 8 years (probably). Wasn't sure what to expect, except that I would probably suck.
I really enjoyed the session even though I did suck.
Started with a drill aiming to move the ball between three players in a weave moving up the court trying to take on two defenders guarding the hoop, and if you took the shot you would be the one defender on the basket on the other side of the court against the two players who had just been defenders.
Did another weave/defense/shooting drill and a shooting drill before moving on to games.
I've never played basketball outside of P.E classes at school so I don't know any plays really and didn't get much of the ball whilst on offense, but my aim was just to hussle back on defense and get some rebounds if I could.
I had a lot of fun, but felt pretty inferior to the other players.
Might look up the Basingstoke Flag American football team next! Need something to do this offseason!
Friday, 31 August 2012
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
UKUNationals write up
So it seems that Sunday night drinking and dancing until 2
a.m isn’t helpful with recovery after a weekend tournament, even with the bank
holiday on Monday.
Here’s my nationals recap:
Game 1 vs Cambridge CUlt (15-9 Kapow Win)
We came out playing well, but our defense was struggling to contain two of their returning quicker handlers, who had not been playing when we beat them 15-5 at Tour 3. We got a break in the first half and a few more in the second half and were in control most of the way.
We came out playing well, but our defense was struggling to contain two of their returning quicker handlers, who had not been playing when we beat them 15-5 at Tour 3. We got a break in the first half and a few more in the second half and were in control most of the way.
Game 2 vs Chevron Action Flash (15-11 Kapow loss)
We knew that we had a shot in this game. We started on
offense and held. They held their offense and we traded all the way up to half.
We went into the second half leading 8-7. They took their offense point and
each offense held up until 10-10 when Chevron got the first and second break of
the game to go up 12-10. Chevron never looked back and with momentum their
defense went on to get another two breaks, finishing the game 15-11. We knew
that they weren’t going to give anything away, and despite getting blocks we
couldn’t figure out how to get our defense line into the endzone. A brilliant
game with plenty of exciting plays and lots of people watching on the sidelines
this would be the best Kapow would play all weekend.
Game 3 vs East Midlands Open (15-12 Kapow loss)
Coming in straight off an emotional and hard fought game
against chevvy, we had no time to warmup or run drills before this game. We
started well, going 4-2 up and then they started getting breaks. We never
recovered and could do little to stop their offense, only getting one break
back when they were 14-11 up. A disappointing loss to a quality opposition (EMO
would later go on to qualify for Europeans, taking the 5th spot over
Fusion), meant that to get to Euros we would have to win all of our games on
Sunday.
Game 4 vs Tooting Tigers (15-12 Kapow loss)
We turned up on Sunday morning, and only ever had the lead
for a single point in this game. Tigers played a very quick running style of
offense, looking to break marks and set off running straight away after
throwing the disc. We played man and they would beat us with breaks. Our zone
was slightly more effective, forcing them to throw hammers, blades and other
discs over the top, which turned some of the time and we had a great run of
three points in a row, but Tigers kept their resolve and punched in their O
points and took the opportunities to get breaks that sadly, most of the time,
were due to our errors. This one stung as it meant we were out of contention
for Europeans and could only finish as high as 9th.
Game 5 vs Man Up (15-10 Kapow win)
Out of contention for Euros, we decided to loosen up with
our line calling and allow anyone to play on either line. At the start of this
game it seemed like this wasn’t doing that much good as we were down at the
half 8-5. There hasn’t been a half of a match in a long time that I’ve felt
more frustrated at. I personally was playing pretty badly, was still frustrated
from the three losses before this game and we all knew that this was a team
that we should be beating. Then, suddenly we had a big play (I think it was one
of Timmy’s) and we were a group of mates having a laugh again. We started
playing well and the smiles returned. We put in 5 in a row to start the second
half, going up 10-8 and never let them back in.
Game 6 vs DED (15-9 Kapow win)
DED have been a bit of a rival of ours this season. Both new
teams, in the 6 UK tournaments we attended this year, we have played them 5
times and going in to Nationals the record was 2 wins each which meant that we
were up for this win. We switched back to line calling and we wanted to play
hard. Both teams had been going into Nationals with the aim to qualify for
Euros, and as such, both will be disappointed with finishing 9th/10th
but we still wanted this win and we played this game better than them to
take it. Our shots were coming off and our zones were pressuring their offense.
Our quick start offense was leaving them on the back foot constantly. I had
been switched to the D line for this game to provide a deep threat with the
note that I might be put back onto the O-line if needed. It wasn’t. We lead
this game from start to finish and finished the season with a good victory.
We didn’t qualify for Europeans, and we were all
disappointed.
My predictions were off (mostly), with Brighton and EMO
putting in very strong showings and taking 4th and 5th respectively
and two Euros spots, and DED, us and Cambridge falling down the rankings.
Still, there is always next season. I am going to be a
little relaxed with fitness for a week or two, but will be in the gym, putting
in the work for next season over the winter months.
This week, I will be heading to a basketball practice at the
gym near our flat. I was inspired by the Olympics to try something new and I
always enjoyed playing basketball at school. I see it as cross training for
ultimate as there are a lot of transferrable skills in both. I will also be
going to a tournament in Winchester this weekend with some friends from
(mostly) Southampton Uni which should be good fun and relaxed.
Will keep doing write-ups of anything I feel like as I’ve
enjoyed keeping this blog. I get ripped at every tournament I go to because of
it, but who cares, I do it to keep track of things and because I enjoy it!
Friday, 24 August 2012
UKUNationals Predictions
I have already predicted the top 5 spots in my UKUNationals Preview, so here's my shot at predicting the rest of the Open teams (6-16):
6. DED
7. Brighton
8. Tooting
9. EMO
10. Wessex
11. Cambridge
12. Devon
13. Man Up
14. Burro
15. Vision
16. Cardiff
Now my thoughts for the Women's Division:
1. Iceni
2. Bristol
3. Leeds
4. Brighton
5. SYC
6. Punt
And lastly Mixed:
1. Bear Cavalry
2. Thundering Herd
3. BAF
4. Bristol
5. Ltd Release
6. MXU
7. The Brown
8. ABH
I'll just say that for these rankings I'm not going by Tour finishes or nationals finishes from last year or anything, it's just my gut on this one.
6. DED
7. Brighton
8. Tooting
9. EMO
10. Wessex
11. Cambridge
12. Devon
13. Man Up
14. Burro
15. Vision
16. Cardiff
Now my thoughts for the Women's Division:
1. Iceni
2. Bristol
3. Leeds
4. Brighton
5. SYC
6. Punt
And lastly Mixed:
1. Bear Cavalry
2. Thundering Herd
3. BAF
4. Bristol
5. Ltd Release
6. MXU
7. The Brown
8. ABH
I'll just say that for these rankings I'm not going by Tour finishes or nationals finishes from last year or anything, it's just my gut on this one.
UKUNationals 2012 Preview
A pretty interesting preview of the division overall has been written by "The Secret Frizzer" here.
It puts us finishing in fourth behind Clapham, Fire and Chevron.
Here's my take:
Game 1 vs Cambridge
We've played Cambridge once this season. It started with me scoring a callaghan on the first point and finished with a 15-6 victory and entry into the top 8 of UKUTour3 . This game was a real statement game for us, our defense put big pressure on and our offense only had one turnover the entire game. This game will be a great way to start nationals. Cambridge will be gunning for revenge, and, after taking the 7 ranking based on the 3 tour events, will see our 7th seed going in as where they deserve to be. The weather prediction (according to the BBC) is for rain and wind, which will mimic our tour 3 victory over cambridge. Cambridge finished second in their region to a restrengthened EMO meaning EMO goes in ranked 6th and Cambridge go in ranked 10th. This game ultimately doesn't doom the loser to the bottom 8, but will mean that the loser will be battling against higher ranked teams most of the weekend to get into the Top 8 and stay there. I see Ka-pow coming out strong in our first trip to Nationals as a squad under our resolve to take a European qualification spot and our confidence at beating Clapham in the scrimmage last weekend.
Game 2 (assuming a Ka-Pow win) v Chevron
Essentially, this could be our quarter final. Chevron have been the runner up at Nationals and at the Tour for the last two years and will be gunning to finally break Clapham's 11 year streak. Two years ago, Clapham dominated Chevron in the final 15:5, and last year Chevron took Clapham to 15:12. After beating Clapham in the UKUTour2 final this year, Chevron will see this as a huge chance to dethrone Clapham (as they must do every year). Ka-Pow would LOVE LOVE LOVE to take some scalps and if we play our game I can see us pushing Chevron into a close game, and there shouldn't be any reason why we can't take it.
Chevron took the 2nd place at Tour this year as well, even though they were missing some stars to GB and it certainly seemed like at Tour 3 the GB stars propelled the teams that they returned to (Ka-Pow included).
The winner of this game is guaranteed a shot at the final, again the loser can finish as high as third due to the nationals tournament structure, but can also drop out of the top 8 altogether. Conventional thinking would give this game to Chevron meaning Ka-Pow would finish the Saturday with a game against either EMO, Wessex or Fire.
I really hesitate to predict any further because I really think Ka-Pow have a genuine chance against Chevron.
Our aim is to qualify for Europeans. I really see us taking a spot but every game will be a battle. We need to have our offense firing liking it was at UKUTour3 and our defense converting breaks like it was at UKUTour3 and in our friendly game against Clapham.
The games to watch this weekend according to "The Secret Frizzer" are:
Tooting v Fusion in the first round: I agree, this will be a hard fought contest in which I see Fusion winning in their attempt to climb the rankings and set up a second round game where they will be gunning to knock Clapham off the top spot.
EMO v Wessex in the first round: Despite the result at Tour2 which saw Wessex beat EMO and eventually finish in the Top 12, EMO have got GB Open players back and come in off winning their Regionals over Cambridge and Wessex coming in over qualifying in the third spot from theirs. I see EMO winning in a close one.
DED v Brighton in the second round (quarterfinal): I see this being closer than contests over the Tour season with Brighton having several veterans returning. I'm not sure I can be confident calling this game but if I had to I'd go with DED after their very strong season, but it'll definitely be a close one.
My games to watch:
Ka-Pow vs Chevron (reasons discussed above)
All games on Sunday. There are bound to be a few upsets along the way and we may see some strange finishing positions. Northern regionals was surprising enough.
My predictions for the European qualification spots (Conservative):
1. Clapham
2. Chevron
3. Kapow!
4. Fire
5. Fusion (People seem to have forgotten that Fusion have been to Semi's and European's before)
My predictions (Aspirational):
1. Clapham/Kapow!
2. Clapham/Kapow!
3. Chevron
4. Fire
5. Fusion
The only thing left to say, but good luck to all teams this weekend and I'm sure the UK will represent well whoever goes to Europeans in each of the Elite and Challenger divisions.
It puts us finishing in fourth behind Clapham, Fire and Chevron.
Here's my take:
Game 1 vs Cambridge
We've played Cambridge once this season. It started with me scoring a callaghan on the first point and finished with a 15-6 victory and entry into the top 8 of UKUTour3 . This game was a real statement game for us, our defense put big pressure on and our offense only had one turnover the entire game. This game will be a great way to start nationals. Cambridge will be gunning for revenge, and, after taking the 7 ranking based on the 3 tour events, will see our 7th seed going in as where they deserve to be. The weather prediction (according to the BBC) is for rain and wind, which will mimic our tour 3 victory over cambridge. Cambridge finished second in their region to a restrengthened EMO meaning EMO goes in ranked 6th and Cambridge go in ranked 10th. This game ultimately doesn't doom the loser to the bottom 8, but will mean that the loser will be battling against higher ranked teams most of the weekend to get into the Top 8 and stay there. I see Ka-pow coming out strong in our first trip to Nationals as a squad under our resolve to take a European qualification spot and our confidence at beating Clapham in the scrimmage last weekend.
Game 2 (assuming a Ka-Pow win) v Chevron
Essentially, this could be our quarter final. Chevron have been the runner up at Nationals and at the Tour for the last two years and will be gunning to finally break Clapham's 11 year streak. Two years ago, Clapham dominated Chevron in the final 15:5, and last year Chevron took Clapham to 15:12. After beating Clapham in the UKUTour2 final this year, Chevron will see this as a huge chance to dethrone Clapham (as they must do every year). Ka-Pow would LOVE LOVE LOVE to take some scalps and if we play our game I can see us pushing Chevron into a close game, and there shouldn't be any reason why we can't take it.
Chevron took the 2nd place at Tour this year as well, even though they were missing some stars to GB and it certainly seemed like at Tour 3 the GB stars propelled the teams that they returned to (Ka-Pow included).
The winner of this game is guaranteed a shot at the final, again the loser can finish as high as third due to the nationals tournament structure, but can also drop out of the top 8 altogether. Conventional thinking would give this game to Chevron meaning Ka-Pow would finish the Saturday with a game against either EMO, Wessex or Fire.
I really hesitate to predict any further because I really think Ka-Pow have a genuine chance against Chevron.
Our aim is to qualify for Europeans. I really see us taking a spot but every game will be a battle. We need to have our offense firing liking it was at UKUTour3 and our defense converting breaks like it was at UKUTour3 and in our friendly game against Clapham.
The games to watch this weekend according to "The Secret Frizzer" are:
Tooting v Fusion in the first round: I agree, this will be a hard fought contest in which I see Fusion winning in their attempt to climb the rankings and set up a second round game where they will be gunning to knock Clapham off the top spot.
EMO v Wessex in the first round: Despite the result at Tour2 which saw Wessex beat EMO and eventually finish in the Top 12, EMO have got GB Open players back and come in off winning their Regionals over Cambridge and Wessex coming in over qualifying in the third spot from theirs. I see EMO winning in a close one.
DED v Brighton in the second round (quarterfinal): I see this being closer than contests over the Tour season with Brighton having several veterans returning. I'm not sure I can be confident calling this game but if I had to I'd go with DED after their very strong season, but it'll definitely be a close one.
My games to watch:
Ka-Pow vs Chevron (reasons discussed above)
All games on Sunday. There are bound to be a few upsets along the way and we may see some strange finishing positions. Northern regionals was surprising enough.
My predictions for the European qualification spots (Conservative):
1. Clapham
2. Chevron
3. Kapow!
4. Fire
5. Fusion (People seem to have forgotten that Fusion have been to Semi's and European's before)
My predictions (Aspirational):
1. Clapham/Kapow!
2. Clapham/Kapow!
3. Chevron
4. Fire
5. Fusion
The only thing left to say, but good luck to all teams this weekend and I'm sure the UK will represent well whoever goes to Europeans in each of the Elite and Challenger divisions.
Thursday Yoga
Went to Yoga again. It was being run by the instructor who I'm not as big a fan of.
It seems to me like she's rushing through certain positions in order to get a large variety in. Some were new and good poses providing a good stretch, and she included some plank and squats as well which will be good for strengthening but I still don't think she's as good an instructor as the other.
It seems to me like she's rushing through certain positions in order to get a large variety in. Some were new and good poses providing a good stretch, and she included some plank and squats as well which will be good for strengthening but I still don't think she's as good an instructor as the other.
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Tuesday Training + This week
3 miles cycling on Monday
4.5 miles cycling on Tuesday and went to Ka-Pow evening training.
Didn't do any fitness yesterday as I had the day off for my birthday
and will be doing 2 miles cycling and Yoga today.
Lots of throwing whilst everyone was turning up.
Then started off the training with the Ka-Pow super secret team multi-disc concentration drill (Patent Pending) which I can't really talk about... Shhhhhh!
Did a warm up and started with some 3 v 4.
The idea behind this is that the Offense has 4 players and the defense has 3. It is aiming to teach D players to be reactionary and it is good for zone awareness. On the offense the idea is to break marks and move the disc to players through a zone quickly. The pitch is short and thin but the endzones stretch infinitely out so it's harder to cover all the players with a man down than if they were all cramped into a mini size pitch. If the defense gets a block within the pitch then they get a chance to score which means they need to move the disc quickly after a turn and cut well and break marks.
We then ran the end zone patterns for quite a long time as it still needs a little fine tuning before the weekend, but if we can get these right this weekend then it should be a great boost for us.
Then ran a drill that focussed on breaking a straight up mark, forcing, hucking, and cutting. Warmed down to finish.
Really looking forward to this weekend.
Tournament preview coming tomorrow.
4.5 miles cycling on Tuesday and went to Ka-Pow evening training.
Didn't do any fitness yesterday as I had the day off for my birthday
and will be doing 2 miles cycling and Yoga today.
Lots of throwing whilst everyone was turning up.
Then started off the training with the Ka-Pow super secret team multi-disc concentration drill (Patent Pending) which I can't really talk about... Shhhhhh!
Did a warm up and started with some 3 v 4.
The idea behind this is that the Offense has 4 players and the defense has 3. It is aiming to teach D players to be reactionary and it is good for zone awareness. On the offense the idea is to break marks and move the disc to players through a zone quickly. The pitch is short and thin but the endzones stretch infinitely out so it's harder to cover all the players with a man down than if they were all cramped into a mini size pitch. If the defense gets a block within the pitch then they get a chance to score which means they need to move the disc quickly after a turn and cut well and break marks.
We then ran the end zone patterns for quite a long time as it still needs a little fine tuning before the weekend, but if we can get these right this weekend then it should be a great boost for us.
Then ran a drill that focussed on breaking a straight up mark, forcing, hucking, and cutting. Warmed down to finish.
Really looking forward to this weekend.
Tournament preview coming tomorrow.
Monday, 20 August 2012
Saturday Training
Turned up on Saturday to blazing sunshine (the hottest day of the year so far) and started to train. We had a good turnout which was really useful the weekend before nationals. We started with some throwing and a cone demo of the new zone (our third different zone) which we will be using next weekend. We then walked it through to show people how the movement of the various positions would look and what to do if the offence tried to break it in different ways. After this we ran a full warm up and went into an a new offensive structure.Without giving anything away this was an interesting adaptation to one of our structures using a similar principle and similar roles, and it was based around the idea of getting the disc moving quickly after a D. We then went into a game to 8 using the new zone and offense that we had just learned.
Either side of our lunch break we did some practice on the sideline and end zone offence which we have been focussing on heavily. We know that to be successful at Nationals we will have to have these fundamentals working for us.
After working on our end zone offense after lunch we went into another game to 8. This would be our warm up for a pre-nationals friendy game against Clapham Ultimate.
Clapham had started showing up at around 1 and had been playing some 3 v 3 when they found that the ultimate pitches were occupied by us, SYC (London women's team) and a sunday league football match.
We had a few people leave during the day so at the start of the Clapham game we had 13 or 14 players and Clapham had 11/12. We knew neither team was at full strength but knew this would be a great test of, firstly our new zone and offensive structure, and secondly our readiness to face the top opposition in the UK next week at nationals.
First point in the game and our defense steps up and gets a block and converts it to go up 1-0 for the first break of the game.
Up until half both teams' offense held apart from one more break for us and one break for Clapham, so Kapow would go into half time leading 8-7 (the same half time scoreline from regionals).
We would go on to convert our offense to start the second half and held the 2 point lead for a while, until 13-11. The game had been predetermined to be first to 15 points and clapham, like at regionals, would not go down quietly taking two breaks and and offensive score to our one offensive score to tie it at 14-14 with Kapow on defense going into sudden death.
Already this was a better position than at regionals when we had lost by two points. We had a chance to take this game and, with it, a huge boost of confidence going into nationals next weekend.
We were tired, they were tired, we pulled and chased down the pull aiming to play man defense and earn a block.
I don't remember the turnover by Clapham but it happened and all of a sudden our quick turn offense was starting to move the disc down the field.
A huck went up (a pretty bad one) and there were 3 Clapham players and one Kapow player underneath it with one Kapow player behind the pile to back it up. Mentally I prepared myself for more defense to grind the win but we came down with it to take the win.
Throughout this season, Kapow has built an identity. We have the flashiest kit on tour, and we have developed an offensive gameplan that is different to the vast majority of what is in the UK at the moment. We have zone defenses that we have learned (read: stolen) from watching top European clubs and top national teams. We have brought together players from all over the top of the UK Tour, from a lot of different clubs who have come together, put in the hard work and progressed as a team under this awesome new brand that has been created this year.
Kapow is already a success story after our undefeated Tour 3 and I have no doubt that trials next year will be super competitive and it won't before Kapow becomes a well known entity in European and maybe World Ultimate club championships.
But the real test comes next weekend. It's time to step up and grind out a bid to Europeans like we know we can, we know we want and we know we deserve.
Either side of our lunch break we did some practice on the sideline and end zone offence which we have been focussing on heavily. We know that to be successful at Nationals we will have to have these fundamentals working for us.
After working on our end zone offense after lunch we went into another game to 8. This would be our warm up for a pre-nationals friendy game against Clapham Ultimate.
Clapham had started showing up at around 1 and had been playing some 3 v 3 when they found that the ultimate pitches were occupied by us, SYC (London women's team) and a sunday league football match.
We had a few people leave during the day so at the start of the Clapham game we had 13 or 14 players and Clapham had 11/12. We knew neither team was at full strength but knew this would be a great test of, firstly our new zone and offensive structure, and secondly our readiness to face the top opposition in the UK next week at nationals.
First point in the game and our defense steps up and gets a block and converts it to go up 1-0 for the first break of the game.
Up until half both teams' offense held apart from one more break for us and one break for Clapham, so Kapow would go into half time leading 8-7 (the same half time scoreline from regionals).
We would go on to convert our offense to start the second half and held the 2 point lead for a while, until 13-11. The game had been predetermined to be first to 15 points and clapham, like at regionals, would not go down quietly taking two breaks and and offensive score to our one offensive score to tie it at 14-14 with Kapow on defense going into sudden death.
Already this was a better position than at regionals when we had lost by two points. We had a chance to take this game and, with it, a huge boost of confidence going into nationals next weekend.
We were tired, they were tired, we pulled and chased down the pull aiming to play man defense and earn a block.
I don't remember the turnover by Clapham but it happened and all of a sudden our quick turn offense was starting to move the disc down the field.
A huck went up (a pretty bad one) and there were 3 Clapham players and one Kapow player underneath it with one Kapow player behind the pile to back it up. Mentally I prepared myself for more defense to grind the win but we came down with it to take the win.
Throughout this season, Kapow has built an identity. We have the flashiest kit on tour, and we have developed an offensive gameplan that is different to the vast majority of what is in the UK at the moment. We have zone defenses that we have learned (read: stolen) from watching top European clubs and top national teams. We have brought together players from all over the top of the UK Tour, from a lot of different clubs who have come together, put in the hard work and progressed as a team under this awesome new brand that has been created this year.
Kapow is already a success story after our undefeated Tour 3 and I have no doubt that trials next year will be super competitive and it won't before Kapow becomes a well known entity in European and maybe World Ultimate club championships.
But the real test comes next weekend. It's time to step up and grind out a bid to Europeans like we know we can, we know we want and we know we deserve.
Friday, 17 August 2012
This week and next
Very quiet week this week. Just the one fitness session on Tuesday, was going to go to the gym today but woke up at 4.30 a.m. with pain and stiffness in my middle back.
3 mile cycling today to finish the work week.
Got Kapow training tomorrow.
Will try and do a bit more next week so I'm not out of shape before nationals, but won't do too much as I want to be fresh. Week should look like this.
Monday: 3 miles cycling
Tuesday: 8 miles cycling and Kapow training
Wednesday: Day off
Thursday: 3 miles cycling and Yoga
Friday: 3 miles cycling
In other news, Kapow has an infant website in development. Not much there at the moment, but keep an eye on it for hilarious bios, pictures and other fun stuff.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Tuesday fitness
There's nothing like building up a sweat in your girlfriends parent's garage on a hot summer night, having a cold shower and then having village butcher's burgers for dinner.
2 km rowing
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
10 minutes cross trainer
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 10 sit ups
2 km rowing
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
10 minutes cross trainer
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 10 sit ups
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Saturday training
Turned up to training and there were more people than usual there. Started with a lot of throwing then moved to working on end zone play. Made some improvements and had some discussions about how to do it right and was good to run through it with people who haven't been to training as much.
Then moved on to working on sideline play like on Tuesday. This seemed to be running smoothly but we drilled this for quite a while with a few variations.
Next week we will be adding another zone and another sideline play to our tactics as a lot if or opposition seems to have learned our play and adapted their tactics as any good team would. Means we will have new looks for nationals and should give us another way to beat teams.
On holiday this week, but at my girlfriend's parents who have a rowing machine so will try to get in some fitness.
Friday, 10 August 2012
Friday Gym
2km rowing
stretching
3 * 10 Bench Press (52.5 kg)
3 * 10 Standing Upright barbell row (32.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 5 Squats (82.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 10 Captains chair hanging leg raises (bent legs) (info)
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 lunges (30 kg)
Foam rolling to stretch
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Wednesday and Thursday
Wednesday: 3 miles cycling
Thursday: 3 miles cycling and Yoga at lunch.
Yoga today was taken by a different instructor to usual. She
wasn’t as good as the normal instructor in terms of explanation of the poses or
leading you through the session but some of the poses she did that the usual
instructor doesn’t were tougher than the usual poses.
Overall, not a bad session.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Monday Fitness and Tuesday Training
After a small hiatus from the gym, I figured I might as well get back to it after a very successful Tour 3 and a pretty successful Regionals.
Sunday, no fitness apart from a lot of walking around the Olympic park after watching some Hockey.
Monday: 3 miles cycling and lunchtime gym session:
5 minute run and stretching to warm up
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 bench press (52.5kg *increase*)
3 * 5 squats (80kg)
3 * 10 standing upright barbell rows (30kg)
Foam rolling to stretch
Tuesday:
1 mile cycle to work, 3.6 miles cycling to/from watching the Olympic Triathlon in Hyde Park and miles cycling to/from training. Total cycling: miles.
Tuesday Training:
Started with a lot of throwing as usual before moving on to a warm up.
After that, because Pichler wanted us to improve our sideline offense whilst tired we did 10*50m sprints with 8 seconds recovery between each.
We then ran sideline offense 3 v 3 for a while, switching between offense and defense for about 5 minutes 6 times.
We then moved on to a hucking/mark breaking drill.
We would look to huck to a cutter running straight away around a straight up mark, then look to break the same straight up mark hitting the cutter coming back on a slanting cut. After that we would shuttle 5 metres with 3 press ups before doing this again for the next cutter.
Sunday, no fitness apart from a lot of walking around the Olympic park after watching some Hockey.
Monday: 3 miles cycling and lunchtime gym session:
5 minute run and stretching to warm up
3 * 10 pull ups
3 * 10 lunges (30kg)
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 20 sit ups
3 * 10 bench press (52.5kg *increase*)
3 * 5 squats (80kg)
3 * 10 standing upright barbell rows (30kg)
Foam rolling to stretch
Tuesday:
1 mile cycle to work, 3.6 miles cycling to/from watching the Olympic Triathlon in Hyde Park and miles cycling to/from training. Total cycling: miles.
Tuesday Training:
Started with a lot of throwing as usual before moving on to a warm up.
After that, because Pichler wanted us to improve our sideline offense whilst tired we did 10*50m sprints with 8 seconds recovery between each.
We then ran sideline offense 3 v 3 for a while, switching between offense and defense for about 5 minutes 6 times.
We then moved on to a hucking/mark breaking drill.
We would look to huck to a cutter running straight away around a straight up mark, then look to break the same straight up mark hitting the cutter coming back on a slanting cut. After that we would shuttle 5 metres with 3 press ups before doing this again for the next cutter.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Regionals Roundup
Couple of surprises coming out of Regionals this weekend:
Scotland (1 Spot): (Nothing on Britdisc yet but I don't see any other result having happened) 1. Fusion - No surprises here.
Northern (3 Spots): 1. Chevron, 2. Man Up, 3. Vision - The Brown didn't enter which threw my predictions off straight away. LeedsLeedsLeeds will be out of Nationals for the first time since their inception (as far as I can tell). Considering in 2005 they were national runners up and in 2007 were tied 3rd, they have fallen quite a lot. Leeds has a good history to their team and no doubt will be looking to bounce back next season.
Midlands (2 Spots): EMO won and Cambridge came second. Lemmings challenged for qualification, finishing third like last year, but this region went to seeding. BAF didn't enter and JR didn't do very well so it looks like this region wasn't as hotly contested as I previously thought it might be.
South West (2 Spots) (Nothing on britdisc yet, here was my prediction): 1. Devon, 2. Cardiff. This seems likely as Devon and Cardiff are the only two teams from the South West registered as submitting entry to Open Nationals and Bristol are registered as entered to Mixed Nationals.
South East (3 Spots): 1. DED, 2. Brighton, 3. Wessex. Again, this went to plan.
London (5 Spots):
Kapow started their day against Flump. We won 13-2 (I think) and moved on to Fire 2. We psyched ourselves up, started on Offense and didn't look back. We won out 13-5 through good defense and solid offense. We wanted to prove a point and though the offense wasn't quite as fluid as it was at Tour 3 we definitely made a statement.
We were then in the 1-4 group and had guaranteed nationals but we weren't done. We had a semi final against 11 time national champions Clapham. We played offense well and the D-Line turned them in every point, and Kapow finished the half 8-7 up.
We traded all the way up to 10-10, and then Clapham really turned up their defense breaking us twice in a row to go up 12-10 game to 13. We brought it back to 12-11 before Clapham decided to play their best offense of the game, patiently finding the endzone to end our hopes of dropping the 11 times national champions to starting at 7th seed at nationals. Clapham as a unit didn't have an off game as such, but their Offense definitely made some uncharacteristic mistakes. Kapow's defense was good at creating the turns, and if they could have converted maybe 1 more the result may have been different. We were happy with our performance nonetheless and moved on to our 4th game without a break to finish the day.
Our last game was against Tooting Tigers. We started slow and they were pumped. Their offense was pretty good and held against our defense who was probably a little tired after the clapham game. I found their forces to be the strongest I attempted to break all day so that was tough for our Offense and they broke us one more time than we broke them and we were down at half 7-5. By the end of the game we had won in sudden death 11-10 but we had our backs to the wall for a lot of it, and Tooting had chances to win. We didn't play our best which was a shame coming off our strong performance against Clapham, but still managed to take the win and 3rd place at Regionals. We will have tough games at Nationals and if we want to qualify for Euros we can't afford to come off strong showings in tough games and not play our best in the following games. We will need to beat some top teams in order to qualify and Nationals will be a step up from this season so far.
We've accomplished what we needed to, to put us in a good place for Euros qualification, but our toughest challenge is yet to come.
Final placings:
1. Clapham
2. Fire 1
3. Kapow
4. Tooting Tigers
5. Burro (another shock, who could have predicted they would pick up the Australian Junior Team coach for Regionals and beat Fire 2...)
Biggest drops this year:
Fire 2: 2011 Tour ranking - 6th, Nationals Finish - 11th, 2012 Tour ranking - 15th, Nationals - Did not qualify
LeedsLeedsLeeds: 2011 Tour ranking - 10th, Nationals Finish - 9th, 2012 Tour ranking - 14th, Nationals - Did not qualify
The Brown: 2011 Tour ranking - 16th, Nationals Finish - 14th, 2012 Tour ranking - 19th, Nationals - Did not qualify
Bristol: 2011 Tour ranking - 23rd, Nationals Finish - 12th, 2012 Tour ranking - 30th, Nationals - Did not qualify (presumed)
Scotland (1 Spot): (Nothing on Britdisc yet but I don't see any other result having happened) 1. Fusion - No surprises here.
Northern (3 Spots): 1. Chevron, 2. Man Up, 3. Vision - The Brown didn't enter which threw my predictions off straight away. LeedsLeedsLeeds will be out of Nationals for the first time since their inception (as far as I can tell). Considering in 2005 they were national runners up and in 2007 were tied 3rd, they have fallen quite a lot. Leeds has a good history to their team and no doubt will be looking to bounce back next season.
Midlands (2 Spots): EMO won and Cambridge came second. Lemmings challenged for qualification, finishing third like last year, but this region went to seeding. BAF didn't enter and JR didn't do very well so it looks like this region wasn't as hotly contested as I previously thought it might be.
South West (2 Spots) (Nothing on britdisc yet, here was my prediction): 1. Devon, 2. Cardiff. This seems likely as Devon and Cardiff are the only two teams from the South West registered as submitting entry to Open Nationals and Bristol are registered as entered to Mixed Nationals.
South East (3 Spots): 1. DED, 2. Brighton, 3. Wessex. Again, this went to plan.
London (5 Spots):
Kapow started their day against Flump. We won 13-2 (I think) and moved on to Fire 2. We psyched ourselves up, started on Offense and didn't look back. We won out 13-5 through good defense and solid offense. We wanted to prove a point and though the offense wasn't quite as fluid as it was at Tour 3 we definitely made a statement.
We were then in the 1-4 group and had guaranteed nationals but we weren't done. We had a semi final against 11 time national champions Clapham. We played offense well and the D-Line turned them in every point, and Kapow finished the half 8-7 up.
We traded all the way up to 10-10, and then Clapham really turned up their defense breaking us twice in a row to go up 12-10 game to 13. We brought it back to 12-11 before Clapham decided to play their best offense of the game, patiently finding the endzone to end our hopes of dropping the 11 times national champions to starting at 7th seed at nationals. Clapham as a unit didn't have an off game as such, but their Offense definitely made some uncharacteristic mistakes. Kapow's defense was good at creating the turns, and if they could have converted maybe 1 more the result may have been different. We were happy with our performance nonetheless and moved on to our 4th game without a break to finish the day.
Our last game was against Tooting Tigers. We started slow and they were pumped. Their offense was pretty good and held against our defense who was probably a little tired after the clapham game. I found their forces to be the strongest I attempted to break all day so that was tough for our Offense and they broke us one more time than we broke them and we were down at half 7-5. By the end of the game we had won in sudden death 11-10 but we had our backs to the wall for a lot of it, and Tooting had chances to win. We didn't play our best which was a shame coming off our strong performance against Clapham, but still managed to take the win and 3rd place at Regionals. We will have tough games at Nationals and if we want to qualify for Euros we can't afford to come off strong showings in tough games and not play our best in the following games. We will need to beat some top teams in order to qualify and Nationals will be a step up from this season so far.
We've accomplished what we needed to, to put us in a good place for Euros qualification, but our toughest challenge is yet to come.
Final placings:
1. Clapham
2. Fire 1
3. Kapow
4. Tooting Tigers
5. Burro (another shock, who could have predicted they would pick up the Australian Junior Team coach for Regionals and beat Fire 2...)
Biggest drops this year:
Fire 2: 2011 Tour ranking - 6th, Nationals Finish - 11th, 2012 Tour ranking - 15th, Nationals - Did not qualify
LeedsLeedsLeeds: 2011 Tour ranking - 10th, Nationals Finish - 9th, 2012 Tour ranking - 14th, Nationals - Did not qualify
The Brown: 2011 Tour ranking - 16th, Nationals Finish - 14th, 2012 Tour ranking - 19th, Nationals - Did not qualify
Bristol: 2011 Tour ranking - 23rd, Nationals Finish - 12th, 2012 Tour ranking - 30th, Nationals - Did not qualify (presumed)
Friday, 3 August 2012
Regionals Preview
The real season starts tomorrow. Every team competing at regionals will have their shot to make nationals, and from there they will have a shot at punching their ticket to Europeans. Some regions will have clear winners (I'm looking at you Scotland) and others are anyone's guess... so here's mine:
Scottish Regionals (1 Spot):
The one nationals spot WILL go to Fusion. Next...
Northern Regionals (3 Spots):
Chevron will win and the remaining two spots should be mostly uncontested by LeedsLeedsLeeds and the Brown. The only upset I could see is ManUp may be able to pull an upset over the Brown. The Brown have finished higher at every Tour event but you never know what may happen in direct competition with a chance at nationals on the line.
Midlands Regionals (2 Spots):
This region will probably be the most open of all the divisions. Last year saw EMO win with Cambridge second. I see this as being the final again this year and, if EMO get their GB players back, they should sneak the win. Not knowing the format, this could be the final placings and the two spot allocations, but, I would predict that there would be some sort of Game to go. Therefore the loser of the final will probably have to face off against the team that comes out on the top of this pile: BAF (Open Tour 2 B-Tour winners and the second highest finishing Midlands team Open Tour 3), Jest Ridisculous (Open Tour 1 B-Tour runners up, they survived the drop at Open Tour 2 but lost their B-Tour crossover at Tour 3, they were higher placed at Tour 1 and Tour 2 than BAF but because of their drop and BAF's ascent at Tour 3 they finished one place lower in the overall tour rankings than BAF), Leamington Lemmings (an outside shot they finished the season as the 6th ranked Midlands team, behind EMO's second team, but last year they finished 3rd at Midlands regionals and hotly contested the qualification spots) and EMO 2 (probably shouldn't be underestimated but I don't see EMO pulling off a 1 & 2 finish personally).
I see EMO winning the region and Cambridge proving too strong for BAF who I see coming out on top of that second group. But the beauty of Regionals is that upsets will happen. This will be the region to watch.
South West and Wales (2 spots):
Last year, the big story coming out of regionals was Cardiff Storm (who had finished every tour higher than Bristol) being beaten by Bristol in the Game to go to nationals after losing against Devon in the Final (and then Bristol beating Devon at Nationals to finish as the highest ranked South West team at Nationals). I see Devon repeating as Regional Champions as the only team from the South West to finish all three Tours in the A-Tour and finishing 12th in the Overall tour standings. I don't see an upset though this year. Cardiff Storm finished 18th in Tour rankings and Bristol finished 30th and I see Cardiff taking the 2nd Qualification spot.
South East (3 Spots):
This Region should again be tightly contested. DED should be in the final against Brighton and I see DED continuing their great opening season by winning Regionals at the first time of asking. Brighton should come second and then the game to go should be between Wessex and Reading Between the Lines. Reading finished behind fellow South East team Ltd Release in the Tour standings but this was due to them only attending 2 Tours. If they manage to get a team to Regionals I see them making the game to go, but falling short against Wessex who will take the third qualification spot.
London Region (5 Spots):
The standings at the start of this tournament read:
1. Clapham
2. Fire 1
3. Tooting Tigers
4. Ka-Pow!
5. Fire 2
6. Burro Electrico
7-12. The rest...
I see Burro missing out, I will start by saying that early. I see whoever ends up in the game to go against them beating them.
Our group, before we go into semis and finals, looks like this:
4. Ka-Pow!
5. Fire 2
9. Flump
Flump will lose twice and the group will be decided in the last group game between us and Fire 2. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility to presume that Fire will do an equal split, or at least move some players around in order to ensure both of their teams qualify for Nationals. This will be a tough game, but if we are looking to play Europeans this should be a game we should be winning.
There is a chance that Fire may switch their teams around. Fire 1 has a gimme pool with ABH and If (don't know who they are) in which both games will be guaranteed and they may LOAD their second team with first team players. If this happens, Ka-Pow! will have the chance to make a statement that says we deserve to be in contention for Semis at Nationals and definitely competing at Euros by beating the 3rd ranked team throughout this Tour season.
If we lose, we will qualify but will take the hard route to qualifying for Europeans, possibly being seeded as low as 15th which would mean our first game against Chevron would be a must win to be in contention for Europeans.
Therefore, I believe our pool is a must win and we can't afford to slip up early.
If we win the group, it is all still to play for. We will have a Semi final against Clapham. If we can play them close, pressure them on D and play our systems on offense, there is no reason why we can't beat them. That said, toppling the 11 times national champions and current first ranked team overall from the Tour will be no easy feat.
If we win, we will play either Fire 1 or Tooting in the final, I predict unless Fire stack their second team that their first team will be in the Final.
Therefore, if we lose we will be in the 3 v 4 game against Tooting. Interestingly, there is a possibility that a rematch of this game may be the first game at Nationals, so we should be aiming to make a statement in this game if this is where we finish.
Should be a tough weekend but a good start for Ka-Pow in our aim to finish Nationals in a European qualification spot.
Scottish Regionals (1 Spot):
The one nationals spot WILL go to Fusion. Next...
Northern Regionals (3 Spots):
Chevron will win and the remaining two spots should be mostly uncontested by LeedsLeedsLeeds and the Brown. The only upset I could see is ManUp may be able to pull an upset over the Brown. The Brown have finished higher at every Tour event but you never know what may happen in direct competition with a chance at nationals on the line.
Midlands Regionals (2 Spots):
This region will probably be the most open of all the divisions. Last year saw EMO win with Cambridge second. I see this as being the final again this year and, if EMO get their GB players back, they should sneak the win. Not knowing the format, this could be the final placings and the two spot allocations, but, I would predict that there would be some sort of Game to go. Therefore the loser of the final will probably have to face off against the team that comes out on the top of this pile: BAF (Open Tour 2 B-Tour winners and the second highest finishing Midlands team Open Tour 3), Jest Ridisculous (Open Tour 1 B-Tour runners up, they survived the drop at Open Tour 2 but lost their B-Tour crossover at Tour 3, they were higher placed at Tour 1 and Tour 2 than BAF but because of their drop and BAF's ascent at Tour 3 they finished one place lower in the overall tour rankings than BAF), Leamington Lemmings (an outside shot they finished the season as the 6th ranked Midlands team, behind EMO's second team, but last year they finished 3rd at Midlands regionals and hotly contested the qualification spots) and EMO 2 (probably shouldn't be underestimated but I don't see EMO pulling off a 1 & 2 finish personally).
I see EMO winning the region and Cambridge proving too strong for BAF who I see coming out on top of that second group. But the beauty of Regionals is that upsets will happen. This will be the region to watch.
South West and Wales (2 spots):
Last year, the big story coming out of regionals was Cardiff Storm (who had finished every tour higher than Bristol) being beaten by Bristol in the Game to go to nationals after losing against Devon in the Final (and then Bristol beating Devon at Nationals to finish as the highest ranked South West team at Nationals). I see Devon repeating as Regional Champions as the only team from the South West to finish all three Tours in the A-Tour and finishing 12th in the Overall tour standings. I don't see an upset though this year. Cardiff Storm finished 18th in Tour rankings and Bristol finished 30th and I see Cardiff taking the 2nd Qualification spot.
South East (3 Spots):
This Region should again be tightly contested. DED should be in the final against Brighton and I see DED continuing their great opening season by winning Regionals at the first time of asking. Brighton should come second and then the game to go should be between Wessex and Reading Between the Lines. Reading finished behind fellow South East team Ltd Release in the Tour standings but this was due to them only attending 2 Tours. If they manage to get a team to Regionals I see them making the game to go, but falling short against Wessex who will take the third qualification spot.
London Region (5 Spots):
The standings at the start of this tournament read:
1. Clapham
2. Fire 1
3. Tooting Tigers
4. Ka-Pow!
5. Fire 2
6. Burro Electrico
7-12. The rest...
I see Burro missing out, I will start by saying that early. I see whoever ends up in the game to go against them beating them.
Our group, before we go into semis and finals, looks like this:
4. Ka-Pow!
5. Fire 2
9. Flump
Flump will lose twice and the group will be decided in the last group game between us and Fire 2. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility to presume that Fire will do an equal split, or at least move some players around in order to ensure both of their teams qualify for Nationals. This will be a tough game, but if we are looking to play Europeans this should be a game we should be winning.
There is a chance that Fire may switch their teams around. Fire 1 has a gimme pool with ABH and If (don't know who they are) in which both games will be guaranteed and they may LOAD their second team with first team players. If this happens, Ka-Pow! will have the chance to make a statement that says we deserve to be in contention for Semis at Nationals and definitely competing at Euros by beating the 3rd ranked team throughout this Tour season.
If we lose, we will qualify but will take the hard route to qualifying for Europeans, possibly being seeded as low as 15th which would mean our first game against Chevron would be a must win to be in contention for Europeans.
Therefore, I believe our pool is a must win and we can't afford to slip up early.
If we win the group, it is all still to play for. We will have a Semi final against Clapham. If we can play them close, pressure them on D and play our systems on offense, there is no reason why we can't beat them. That said, toppling the 11 times national champions and current first ranked team overall from the Tour will be no easy feat.
If we win, we will play either Fire 1 or Tooting in the final, I predict unless Fire stack their second team that their first team will be in the Final.
Therefore, if we lose we will be in the 3 v 4 game against Tooting. Interestingly, there is a possibility that a rematch of this game may be the first game at Nationals, so we should be aiming to make a statement in this game if this is where we finish.
Should be a tough weekend but a good start for Ka-Pow in our aim to finish Nationals in a European qualification spot.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Thursday Yoga
On Tuesday I felt a slight strain in my throwing shoulder. I went to training anyway and felt ok throughout, but my throwing shoulder continued to ache through Wednesday, was going to go to the gym but didn't want to chance it with Regionals this weekend.
Just did 3 miles cycling on Wednesday.
Today, my shoulder felt a lot better and so I went to Yoga over lunch.
Again another focus on balance work with some other muscle strengthening exercises. One of the interesting things I've found about Yoga is that some simple seeming flexes in muscles or holding various positions are a lot harder than I would have thought. For example:
- holding your arms at shoulder height, with palms facing forward hold for 30 seconds
- move your arms straight above your head with palms in the same position (now facing upwards), hold for 20 seconds
- rotate your wrists so that the palms are still facing upwards but the fingertips are facing to either side, hold for 20 seconds
- move your arms back to straight in front of you with palms in the same position, hold for 20 seconds
- rotate your wrists so that the palms are still facing forwards but the fingertips are facing down to the floor, hold for 20 seconds
- finish by stretching the muscles just been exercised by putting your fingertips on your thighs, palms facing forward and pushing down aiming to flatten the palms against the thighs.
It's a pretty tough exercise, but is essentially straightening your arms and bending the wrists.
Will also do 3 miles cycling today and tomorrow. Not going to the gym tomorrow so will not be in the gym at all this week. Will get back to the gym next week after regionals with the build up to Nationals in full swing.
Regional previews coming tomorrow.
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Tuesday Kapow Training
Had a day off on Monday, was nice to relax after Tour 3. I didn't ache in any of my muscles, but I did get kicked on my left knee following a cutter on defense so it was good to rest that a little.
Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I did 3 miles cycling (on top of Yoga on Thursday).
Tuesday I cycled 8.5 miles and had Kapow training.
We started with a lot of throwing, then moved on to reading high discs. We then played a bit of hot box until a sixth player turned up and we played some mini. Was a good run around to shake the muscles out after a successful Tour 3 and everyone there still had a smile on their faces from the weekend.
Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I did 3 miles cycling (on top of Yoga on Thursday).
Tuesday I cycled 8.5 miles and had Kapow training.
We started with a lot of throwing, then moved on to reading high discs. We then played a bit of hot box until a sixth player turned up and we played some mini. Was a good run around to shake the muscles out after a successful Tour 3 and everyone there still had a smile on their faces from the weekend.
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