Monday Gym
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (17.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}
Back Squats (5 @ 60 kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg)
Dead lifts (5 @ 58kg, 4 @ 68 kg, 3 @ 78kg, 2 @ 88kg)
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
Shorter session on Tuesday due to time restrictions.
Wednesday just cycled.
Thursday went to yoga. Was just me and two other experienced guys so the instructor went pretty hard on us including some pretty tough poses including wall plank, dolphin plank and wheel. Was a good session and really felt it afterwards.
Friday was gym again.
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (20 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Dumbell Single Leg Deadlifts (12.5kg) - per leg *increase*}
Back Squats (5 @ 80 kg, 4 @ 90kg, 3 @ 100kg, 2 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg, 1 @ 130kg, 1 @ 140kg) *increase*
Dead lifts (5 @ 68kg, 4 @ 78 kg, 3 @ 88kg, 2 @ 98kg, 1 @ 108kg)
3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (27 kg)
3 * 5 Wide arm Pull ups
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
Felt really good about the squats. It's the first time I've got up to 140kg and it was a tough session.
Keep building to Euros!
Friday, 30 August 2013
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Bordeaux Bound!
What a weekend! There were ups and downs but by the end we had punched our tickets to Europeans.
Game 1 vs EMO 2 (5 v 12): Ka-Pow! win 15-3
Our first game of the weekend was a relatively easy one to get our systems working and our defence sharp. We finished this game relatively unchallenged leaving ourselves a bit of a gap before our second game.
Game 2 vs Brighton City (5 v 4): Ka-Pow! lose 15-13
This game was tough from start to finish, Brighton had a great start to the game against us and our defence, despite getting plenty of turns, wasn’t able to convert enough to earn us the lead at any point. We went on a run towards the end of the game with aims of the big upset in the final moments, and despite having the disc with an opportunity to take the game to sudden death, we dropped the disc in the endzone and Brighton converted clinically to take the win and the Semi finals spot. Looking at the Brighton roster, it was the strongest it has been all season, and they had really sharpened their Hexagon offence and tightened their zone defences, but we definitely came out of this game thinking we could have won.
Game 3 vs Devon (5 v 8): Ka-Pow! lose 15-13
Devon took a break to start the game and got loud. They kept their energy up for the entire game, their offence was efficient and their defence kept the pressure on us. Again, towards the end we made a run at them in an attempt to steal the game at the final whistle, but again we came up slightly short.
Devon have a habit of riding the waves of their energy and emotion and when they're on the crest of the wave and everything is going right they are a great team, and this weekend they used this to take 4th and a spot at Euros.
This would mean that our route for Euros qualification would require us to take either 5th or 6th and would mean we would start Saturday with a game to stay in the top 8 of the tournament.
Game 4 vs Fire 2 (8 v 9): Ka-Pow! win 15-5
We started the game down, with wind and rain and Fire 2 going up early. Fire 2 had got the better of us on more than one occasion this year and we knew that if we didn’t tighten up this game could get away from us. We had switched lines up at the end of Saturday and mid way through the first half things began to click for all the lines. The D-lines started to absolutely shut down Fire’s options and the O-Line began to look fluid and efficient. Despite this game starting close we would eventually take the victory with a comfortable score.
Game 5 vs EMO 1 (6 v 8): Ka-Pow! win 15-12
This was the game to go. The winner would qualify for Europeans. EMO started strongly getting an early break and scoring deep on almost every O point they had, despite pressured catches and throws. Being down a break at 7-7 and starting on defence, we put out a big line who were able to get the block and punch it in to take the half. We were happy, we were loud, but we knew that it was only half a job. EMO proved they were not going anywhere by taking their offence point coming out of half and breaking our O line again. Points were then traded until 11-11 when Nick Roberts made the play of the tournament, getting a massive layout catch block on a huck to Rich Gale (edit: the Huck was to Dave Povey not Rich Gale). He hit the ground hard and had to go off injured, but that play provided the spark for our team for the rest of the game. We converted that point to break back and take a lead which we would hold for the rest of the game. Suddenly our D line was stifling to a level where we got a block on each of the remaining points and converted all but 1. I got 2 layout blocks in those points and Ka-Pow! were fired up. When we scored the final point the sidelines erupted and we charged the field, knowing our aim for the season was realised. This game was season defining, and was probably some of the best ultimate we have played.
Game 6 vs Fire 1 (5 v 6): Ka-Pow! lose 14-5
At the end of the EMO 1 game everyone had a smile on their face, but we agreed that we would go hard in our last game. It felt like it would be a great precursor to Euros, not just for the competition, but also to improve our seeding.
Unfortunately, by the time we had all sat down and spoken to plenty of people about our win and watched half the open final the energy was gone. We warmed up and drilled, but the drills weren’t the best quality. We went into the game and started ok, but were dragged into a game filled with calls and heated discussion. Our sideline wasn’t as loud as it had been in previous games and Fire were able to capitalise on our mistakes and get the disc back even when we got blocks.
The game was a downer, but after it finished we agreed that there was nothing we could do about it now and that we would learn from it and move on.
Spirits were still high from our qualification and we later learned that we had won the Spirit of the game award as well which was fantastic.
Overall, this weekend was incredible. There were ups and downs, but qualification left everyone with massive grins on their faces. We know we’ve still got plenty to do before Europeans, but I for one am definitely looking forward to the trainings almost as much as Euros itself.
Friday, 23 August 2013
The week before nationals...
After having a tough weekend I wanted to follow it with a stretching session in order to loosen up the muscles which were a bit achey/sore.
I went to the Gym and did a warmup similar to the one I usually do followed by a 30 minute stretching/foam rolling session.
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
30s Dynamics plank > 30s plank
Then I followed the stretching routine which I originally learned when playing for the GB Under 23s in 2010, but which is the same as that used by Ka-Pow! when Jonny Clarke is leading warm downs, so I know it well. I also added in some arm stretches which aren't usually included and then did the same foam rolling routine that I do after gym sessions.
Shorter than usual routine today as I didn't want to overdo it and I knew I'd be busy at work today, but wanted to get in one more gym session before nationals.
Tuesday Gym:
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (27 kg)
{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (17.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}
3 * 5 Split squats (70kg) - per leg
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
The rest of the week was: Wednesday cycling and stretching, and Friday cycling and stretching.
This weekend is going to be BIG!!!
I went to the Gym and did a warmup similar to the one I usually do followed by a 30 minute stretching/foam rolling session.
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
30s Dynamics plank > 30s plank
Then I followed the stretching routine which I originally learned when playing for the GB Under 23s in 2010, but which is the same as that used by Ka-Pow! when Jonny Clarke is leading warm downs, so I know it well. I also added in some arm stretches which aren't usually included and then did the same foam rolling routine that I do after gym sessions.
Shorter than usual routine today as I didn't want to overdo it and I knew I'd be busy at work today, but wanted to get in one more gym session before nationals.
Tuesday Gym:
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (27 kg)
{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (17.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
The rest of the week was: Wednesday cycling and stretching, and Friday cycling and stretching.
This weekend is going to be BIG!!!
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Open
The Open division at Nationals looks set to be competitive
at the top and bottom, but perhaps not between the top and bottom 8 teams. With
players and clubs switching to the Mixed division (and in some cases Masters)
the Open division contains a lot of teams who can challenge for qualification
to Euros, mixed with some teams that started the year in C-Tour (the third tier
of competition in the UKU structure). Whilst this means the first round could
feature a few blowout wins by the higher seeds, it also means any team wanting
to compete in Semis and avoid the back door bracket to Europeans better not
start off round 2 slowly.
Round 1:
Game to watch: In what should be the closest game in the
first round Manchester find themselves starting as the number 2 seed after a
sudden death Northern regional final win over Chevron, and Fire 2 find
themselves as 15th seed after winning the game to go in the London
Region over Burro. Considering the Tour finishing positions (Fire 2: 8th
and Manchester: 11th) this should be the closest and most
entertaining of the first round matchups.
Ka-Pow!: We start against EMO 2. We should be using this game to get warmed up for Round 2 and get all our systems going early. We can also use this to get our fundamentals (throwing, catching, man defence) working early. EMO 2 had an average tour finish of 22nd, but could have picked up other players who played for other Midlands Open teams (particularly the Non-Masters contingent of BAF), so whilst it won’t be an easy game we should be looking for a comfortable win.
Round 1 predictions: Clapham over Devon 2, Devon 1 over Reading, Ka-Pow! over EMO 2, Brighton City over Birmingham, EMO1 over Release, Fire 1 over Glasgow, Chevron over Flump, Manchester over Fire 2
Round 2: (going on assumption that all predictions above are correct).
Top 8: All the games in the top bracket should be worth
watching so I’ll give a little preview here.
The Northern Regional Final rematch between Chevron and Manchester should prove very interesting because it will be the first regional rematch at Nationals and, whilst Manchester took the region, Chevron were reported to have only sent half a squad (the half that actually lives in the North). Regardless, Manchester will be pumped to prove it wasn’t a one off and Chevron will be out for some revenge (it’s the first time they haven’t won their Region since regionals were introduced).
The Northern Regional Final rematch between Chevron and Manchester should prove very interesting because it will be the first regional rematch at Nationals and, whilst Manchester took the region, Chevron were reported to have only sent half a squad (the half that actually lives in the North). Regardless, Manchester will be pumped to prove it wasn’t a one off and Chevron will be out for some revenge (it’s the first time they haven’t won their Region since regionals were introduced).
Clapham vs Devon should prove interesting because if there’s anything Devon loves it’s an upset in a game against a physically challenging opponent that they can get fired up against. Clapham have just flown back from the East Coast of the USA where they attended the Chesapeake Open Invite tournament. They had a fantastic set of results, beating Ring of Fire (who finished tied 3rd at USAU Nationals last year), Chain Lightning (who finished tied 7th at USAU Nationals last year) and a close game against Ironside (tied 3rd with Ring of Fire at USAU Nationals last year). Whilst they will be riding high on such a great international showing in the states, it remains to be seen whether fatigue of so much travel by Clapham (including some of their players who also flew out/back to Colombia for World Games or Toronto for Under 23s not long ago) could play a part in Clapham's performances later in the tournament. Regardless of this, they should feel comfortable about making Semis by beating Devon 1 and 2 in their first two games.
EMO 1 vs Fire 1: Fire 1 will be very disappointed after such a down season. Considering they made the Nationals Final last year they must have been hoping for a better Tour. They are a better team than they showed throughout the year and will be hoping to bring it all together at Nationals. EMO1 on the other hand, have been the big story of the year so far. After qualifying for Euros for the first (???) time last year they built in the offseason with strong leadership from their GB stars Colonel and Rich Gale. The pairing of some of the best game managing, level headed players in the UK with a wealth of young talent coming up through strong university clubs has brought EMO a fantastic Tour season and a comfortable Regional title. Both teams will be looking to make Semis and avoid the backdoor route to Euros. However, looking at EMO 1’s roster Colonel appears to not be playing, which could play a part in this game.
Brighton City vs Ka-Pow!: We have faced off against Brighton only twice as Ka-Pow! in our two years as a club, at Tour 3 2012 and Tour 3 2013 and both times we ground out tough wins in our undefeated campaigns. At nationals last year though, Brighton brought the best squad they had been able to put together all year and absolutely dominated DED in the second round after they had lost to them in the South East regional final, going on to qualify for Euros. Last year, Ka-Pow! weren’t able to put together a good weekend at Nationals after an undefeated Tour 3 and ended up 9th. This game will be tough and, like EMO vs Fire, should be a game both teams will go into thinking that they have what it takes to make Semis and wanting to avoid the back door to Euros.
Bottom 8: Game to Watch
Again, assuming all games in Round 1 go to my predictions, I
see the game to watch in Round 2 being the London Regional rematch between
Flump and Fire 2. After another strong season, Fire 2 found themselves in the
game to go to nationals after losing to Flump, a team who hadn’t played in the
A-Tour, in their 3-6 bracket Semi final. They will be pumped for revenge and
should have come off a closer matchup against Manchester than Flump will have
had against Chevron. Both teams will probably still have eyes on either 5th
or 6th and their associated European Qualification spots and would
love to play spoiler to the other team’s tournament.
I will not be doing any predictions this year for the Open division.
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Mixed
The mixed division features only 8 teams again, but with all
teams except ABH and JR having top 10 Mixed tour finishes and with only 3 spots
compared to the open division’s 6, the Mixed division could be a more competitive
tournament than some attendees may have been hoping.
Round 1:
Games to watch:
Thundering Herd vs DED & Bear Cavalry vs Brighton Breezy:
The herd played DED a couple of times over the Mixed Tour coming away with both
wins and losses. Bear Cavalry are aiming to defend their national title on
their journey to Worlds next year but had a disappointing tour after winning
all Tour and national events in both 2011 and 2012. Brighton always find a way
to play the Bears tough, but will be playing with a weaker team than the one
that went to tour, due to the majority of the male players choosing the Open
division. I’m going to predict these as the closest of the first round games
(with the assumption that Black Eagles and Cambridge should earn easy wins over
the bottom two seeds) and therefore the best ones to watch, but if I were a
gambling man my money would be on DED over the Herd and Bears over Brighton.
Round 2: (going on assumption that all predictions above are
correct)
Games to watch:
Cambridge vs Bears should be good but with them both
guaranteed a 1 and 2 seed going into the knockout phase and easy looking
quarters this may be a little lacklustre. DED vs Black Eagles should be the
more entertaining game in the second round, with many of the Scots on Black
Eagles getting back into the swing of competition after many were not competing
in the Open and Women’s tours this season and DED looking to consolidate their
(presumed) win over the Herd in the first round.
After Round 2 it’s straight knock out and my final finishing
position predictions look like this:
1.
Bear Cavalry (Euro Q1)
2.
Black Eagles (Euro Q2)
3.
Cambridge (Euro Q3)
4.
DED
5.
Thundering Herd
6.
Brighton Breezy
7.
ABH
8.
JR
Though I wish all the best of luck to my Thundering Herd
team mates and hope they prove me wrong.
Monday, 19 August 2013
UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Womens'
The Women’s division looks pretty cut and dry to me in terms
of the 4 European Qualification spots going to only 6 teams entered. The mixed
division has, this year even more than last year, disrupted the Women’s
division. With the first round being all 6 teams in a round robin, Curve (did
not enter Women’s tour) and Dragon Knights (Tour finish of 15th out
of 21) will be tough pressed to snatch any wins against the other four teams who will befirm favourites to take the 4 euro spots and who will be aiming to make the final. After the round robin there is a Final between the
two teams who finished 1st and 2nd and no game to go to
Euros with the top 4 qualifying automatically. This means that games between
the top 4 should be tough fought throughout, but the end of the weekend may
prove to be an anti-climax, which is disappointing since, in my experience,
Women’s finals are more exciting to watch that Open finals.
Games to watch in pool play:
The best games in each round should be:
Round 1: Iceni vs LeedsLeedsLeeds. Whilst Iceni should feel
confident in their abilities to beat Leeds, this should be the most competitive
game of the round
Round 2: Iceni vs Bristol: The rematch of the Tour 3 final
and what should be the tip for the Nationals final should be electric, but
subdued as neither team will want to lose and make their job of getting to the
final slightly harder, but will know they have 3 more games after this one to
get themselves there.
Round 3: SYC’s first “game” of the tournament. When SYC are
fired up they can take on last years champions so they will have used their
first two games to tighten up their systems and loosen up their bodies and
nerves. (Nice Bristols vs Leeds should also be a good battle).
Round 4: Assuming Leeds don’t beat Iceni or Bristol in
Rounds 1 and 3, they could be out of running for the final unless they beat SYC
and hope for a three way tie. SYC face Bristol in Round 5, which could be the
game to go to the final if they beat Leeds in this round.
Round 5: Making assumptions that by this point Iceni have
made the final and Leeds can do nothing more than beat down Curve SYC vs
Bristol could be an even better game than the final as both teams fight to make
the final.
The top 4/bottom 2 split seems obvious to predict, but the
finishing positions aren’t, so here’s my attempt:
1.
Iceni (Euro Q1)
2.
Bristol (Euro Q2)
3.
SYC (Euro Q3)
4.
LeedsLeedsLeeds
5.
Curve
6.
Dragon Knights
UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Masters' Division
The Masters’ Division (like Womens) looks pretty clear and will hand out 2 spots to 3 entrants! Whilst it shouldn’t be competitive, it is an interesting first step into the separation of teams in the UK. This division will start on Saturday at 12:00 and will finish on Saturday before 18:00.
Since there are only 3 teams entered and three games that will be played, instead of “Games to Watch” I’ll just preview the three teams and predict their finishing positions.
Zimmer: In the first draft of this preview, I confused Zimmer with the team Age against the Machine who entered Euro/World clubs in the last cycle. Having a look at their roster on the UKUNationals website, their team looks STACKED full of some of the best players to have played in the Open division this year with Masters eligibility, as well as some great players coming out of “retirement”. It is also a very close match with the GB Open Masters Beach squad which annihilated all competition at the European Beach championships earlier this summer.
Blue Arse Flies: BAF are the first of the two (what could be seen as) true Masters’ clubs in the tournament. BAF entered open tour with (I would estimate) a 50/50 split of Masters and younger players and have sent teams which could enter Masters’ divisions to international tournaments like Tom’s Tourney before. Interestingly, schedule wise, the first game could be the championship game with Zimmer facing BAF in round 1. Whilst they have had to pick up some players to fill out the squad, the core of this team has been playing together as a team for years and may find their stride quicker in game 1 than Zimmer may like.
Trigger Happy: TH also entered open tour, finishing 34th, a whole 20 places lower than BAF, and as far as I know have never been to a national or international tournament in any capacity. Whilst they could pick up masters players not playing for a qualified Open/Women’s/Mixed club, I don’t see them challenging for either the title or the 2nd Euro spot against BAF or Zimmer.
Predictions:
11.Zimmer
22. BAF
33.Trigger Happy
BAF will play Zimmer tough in game 1, but with the talent on the Zimmer squad there isn’t a way I can see them coming away with anything but Gold. BAF should be able to handle Trigger Happy to take the Silver and the 2nd Euro spot.
Ka-Pow! weekend session
Ka-Pow! were out in numbers this weekend for the last session before we hit Nationals at Wide Lane Sports Ground, Southampton.
On Saturday, Pichler had organised a Ka-Pow! sports day. We split the team into the O-Line and each D-Line and competed against each other in a variety of events, before playing games to 3. Each event was worth 3 points for line that won, or the individual from the line that won for his line.
The first set of events were Physical and involved an agility arrow relay, an endzone to endzone sprint, a single legged and double legged bounding contest and "animal warmup" relay races. Other people may have seen our "animal warmup" routine at tournaments which we've been to and, whilst unconvensional looking, always do the job. Some of our players have been more adaptable to them than others and it was pretty funny to watch a relay race of the "Cheetah run" in particular.
The second set of challenges were Technical and involved a Pulling competition, a throwing accuracy competition and a 3 man break mark drill competition.
After that we moved onto games to three, between each line. Scoring across the Physical and Technical events left O-Line slightly behind in points, but when it came to the games we seemed to be taking control, winning our first game 3-0 and our second game 3-1. Unfortunately, by the end of the games we hadn't managed to bring it back enough with the final scores being:
3rd: O-Line (26 points)
2nd: Jake's D-Line (30 points)
1st: Jonny's D-Line (31 points)
After that we went to a nice "quiet" pub to have our social. Pringle had sent out a questionnaire to everyone and the evening was spent laughing at everyone's answers.
The next day we headed to White City to have a focussed and intense last training session before Nationals. It became clear that even though the Sports Day had been a good laugh and a tough session, we were all itching to play some ultimate.
We started with drills focussing on the important fundamental skills of defensive mark positioning, forcing and skying.
After that we played some games to 3 which were broken up with more drills (one working on hucking, one working on dump swinging) before just playing games to 3 until the end of the session.
It was a great weekend to finish our preparation on. It was tough, but our players remained focussed and intent on getting the best out of the sessions and I know we're all very excited for Nationals next weekend.
Look out for my previews of each division coming this week!
On Saturday, Pichler had organised a Ka-Pow! sports day. We split the team into the O-Line and each D-Line and competed against each other in a variety of events, before playing games to 3. Each event was worth 3 points for line that won, or the individual from the line that won for his line.
The first set of events were Physical and involved an agility arrow relay, an endzone to endzone sprint, a single legged and double legged bounding contest and "animal warmup" relay races. Other people may have seen our "animal warmup" routine at tournaments which we've been to and, whilst unconvensional looking, always do the job. Some of our players have been more adaptable to them than others and it was pretty funny to watch a relay race of the "Cheetah run" in particular.
The second set of challenges were Technical and involved a Pulling competition, a throwing accuracy competition and a 3 man break mark drill competition.
After that we moved onto games to three, between each line. Scoring across the Physical and Technical events left O-Line slightly behind in points, but when it came to the games we seemed to be taking control, winning our first game 3-0 and our second game 3-1. Unfortunately, by the end of the games we hadn't managed to bring it back enough with the final scores being:
3rd: O-Line (26 points)
2nd: Jake's D-Line (30 points)
1st: Jonny's D-Line (31 points)
After that we went to a nice "quiet" pub to have our social. Pringle had sent out a questionnaire to everyone and the evening was spent laughing at everyone's answers.
The next day we headed to White City to have a focussed and intense last training session before Nationals. It became clear that even though the Sports Day had been a good laugh and a tough session, we were all itching to play some ultimate.
We started with drills focussing on the important fundamental skills of defensive mark positioning, forcing and skying.
After that we played some games to 3 which were broken up with more drills (one working on hucking, one working on dump swinging) before just playing games to 3 until the end of the session.
It was a great weekend to finish our preparation on. It was tough, but our players remained focussed and intent on getting the best out of the sessions and I know we're all very excited for Nationals next weekend.
Look out for my previews of each division coming this week!
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Weds + Thurs
I was planning on hitting the gym on Wednesday, but instead went to Ka-Pow! midweek training. It was a good session even if it started raining about half an hour in.
We started with a warm up and then, because Timmy wanted to do some sprints before going into drills, we did a 6 Huck drill adaptation.
Usually on the 6 Huck drill, we do a 5 metre shuttle with 3 pressups before throwing a huck, 6 times (1 open side flick, 1 break side flick, 1 open side backhand, 1 break side backhand, 2 straight up mark hucks).
Since we had only limited players and discs, but wanted to do plenty of running we adapted it to 4 hucks upwind with the shuttle (1 open side flick, 1 break side flick, 1 open side backhand, 1 break side backhand) then a roughly 50 yard sprint to where the hucks were aimed before throwing 4 hucks downwind with the shuttle and another 50 yard sprint.
We moved on to some technical leading pass drills with a defender, throwing to open side and break side cuts with both way marks.
We then moved on to some iron man mini (3v3) which at times was sloppy due to tired legs and the rain, but was mostly high intensity.
Today I went to Yoga and the session was pretty ideal for me with a heavy focus on poses strengthening/stretching hamstrings (which I've been having a little soreness with lately) and shoulders (which I've had injuries to in the past). Felt good to get back to Yoga and Hamstrings definitely felt a little looser after the session.
Friday I will have off (apart from cycling) so I go into this weekend's Ka-Pow! training fresh and fighting fit!
Really looking forward to this weekend, because I know that Pichler has some really interesting plans for Saturday's session, I'm really looking forward to training on Sunday as we're using 3G again (with the idea being that we'll have to play on 3G at nationals if we make Semi finals) and because the Saturday evening social sounds like a lot of fun!
We started with a warm up and then, because Timmy wanted to do some sprints before going into drills, we did a 6 Huck drill adaptation.
Usually on the 6 Huck drill, we do a 5 metre shuttle with 3 pressups before throwing a huck, 6 times (1 open side flick, 1 break side flick, 1 open side backhand, 1 break side backhand, 2 straight up mark hucks).
Since we had only limited players and discs, but wanted to do plenty of running we adapted it to 4 hucks upwind with the shuttle (1 open side flick, 1 break side flick, 1 open side backhand, 1 break side backhand) then a roughly 50 yard sprint to where the hucks were aimed before throwing 4 hucks downwind with the shuttle and another 50 yard sprint.
We moved on to some technical leading pass drills with a defender, throwing to open side and break side cuts with both way marks.
We then moved on to some iron man mini (3v3) which at times was sloppy due to tired legs and the rain, but was mostly high intensity.
Today I went to Yoga and the session was pretty ideal for me with a heavy focus on poses strengthening/stretching hamstrings (which I've been having a little soreness with lately) and shoulders (which I've had injuries to in the past). Felt good to get back to Yoga and Hamstrings definitely felt a little looser after the session.
Friday I will have off (apart from cycling) so I go into this weekend's Ka-Pow! training fresh and fighting fit!
Really looking forward to this weekend, because I know that Pichler has some really interesting plans for Saturday's session, I'm really looking forward to training on Sunday as we're using 3G again (with the idea being that we'll have to play on 3G at nationals if we make Semi finals) and because the Saturday evening social sounds like a lot of fun!
Tuesday, 13 August 2013
It's been a while...
I was between last Wednesday (7th) and yesteday (12th) which is why there's not been any new content. Here's what's happened:
Last Tuesday I went to the gym but wasn't able to get the session written up before I went away, here it is:
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
Dead lifts (5 @ 58kg, 4 @ 68 kg, 3 @ 78kg, 2 @ 88kg, 1 @ 98kg, 1 @ 108kg) *increase*
3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (28 kg *increase*)
Back Squats (5 @ 70 kg, 4 @ 80kg, 3 @ 90kg, 2 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg) *increase*
Split squats (5 @ 60kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg) - per leg *increase*
{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (15 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}
3 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (8, 5, 5)
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
I'm starting to get the hang of all the new exercises and it's building up nicely. It's been slow going with the amount I've been away, but I should get a session in tomorrow, another in next week before Nationals and then ramp up to Euros!
In other news I had another article published by Ultiworld. I enjoyed writing this, and it seems to have sparked quite a lot of conversation (it was linked by The Show Game in their weekly wrapup and it was also mentioned by Benji of Understanding Ultimate in his piece on "Powerless Observers" which was a really interesting read). All three of my articles for Ultiworld are now linked on the sidebar of this blog.
This week, as already mentioned, I will hit the gym, go to Yoga on Thursday, and then Ka-Pow! are having our last practice (a full weekend) before UKUNationals. Look out for a preview of that beforehand!
Last Tuesday I went to the gym but wasn't able to get the session written up before I went away, here it is:
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
Dead lifts (5 @ 58kg, 4 @ 68 kg, 3 @ 78kg, 2 @ 88kg, 1 @ 98kg, 1 @ 108kg) *increase*
3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (28 kg *increase*)
Back Squats (5 @ 70 kg, 4 @ 80kg, 3 @ 90kg, 2 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg) *increase*
Split squats (5 @ 60kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg) - per leg *increase*
{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (15 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}
3 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (8, 5, 5)
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
I'm starting to get the hang of all the new exercises and it's building up nicely. It's been slow going with the amount I've been away, but I should get a session in tomorrow, another in next week before Nationals and then ramp up to Euros!
In other news I had another article published by Ultiworld. I enjoyed writing this, and it seems to have sparked quite a lot of conversation (it was linked by The Show Game in their weekly wrapup and it was also mentioned by Benji of Understanding Ultimate in his piece on "Powerless Observers" which was a really interesting read). All three of my articles for Ultiworld are now linked on the sidebar of this blog.
This week, as already mentioned, I will hit the gym, go to Yoga on Thursday, and then Ka-Pow! are having our last practice (a full weekend) before UKUNationals. Look out for a preview of that beforehand!
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
UKURegionals 2013 - Wrapup
Here is my preview which I put out last week. I think overall I am happy with my predictions! The Show Game also put out a set of predictions and previews for each region. Let's see how we did (1 point for correct team in correct qualifying position, 1/2 point for correct team in incorrect qualifying position).
Scotland
Apparently, Black Eagles (Mixed) almost caused a big commotion in the Scottish national Tournament, by only losing their Semi final in sudden death and, though I don't know their opponents, if they had gone to the final and won it would have caused a lot of chatter prior to nationals and they have to feel good about their results from this tournament and their season as a whole when going into Mixed nationals. The region was won by Glasgow Ultimate who took the only Nationals spot over Fusion. Correct predictions by myself and TSG so 1 point each.
North
No-one was tipping anyone but Chevron to take this region, but they were bested in a Sudden death Final game by Manchester Ultimate who took the regional title and the better seed going into nationals. Chevron took the second spot in convincing fashion:
Midlands
In the Midlands EMO were in control and took first place. Second were EMO 2 with Birmingham finishing third and taking the last spot to Nationals. This will be a good end to a good first season for a young Birmingham squad who started in the C-Tour and also shows EMO's strength in depth to take 1st/2nd. I predicted Birmingham 2nd, but their semi was against EMO 1 so that didn't happen. TSG: 5 Me: 4
South West
Don't think anything more needs to be said here. 1st: Devon 1, 2nd: Devon 2, 3rd: Devon 3
TSG: 8, Me: 7
South East
Here's where things get interesting. Again there was a dominant team at the top (Brighton City) and like the Midlands the action was for the other qualification spots. With DED concentrating on Mixed, their Open squad was weakened and was scared early in the day by the likes of Guildford Open. My predictions put them outside of qualification, but at the end of the day they were in the game to go against Release (who I had put as taking the 3rd spot). The game finished 10-7 to Release, another team to start the year in the C-Tour. Whilst DED were weakened through the mixed focus, this should still be going down as a massive upset by the home team who TSG predicted would finish in 7th place in the region. My other call of Reading making the final was spot on meaning I went 3 for 3 in this region. TSG: 9, Me: 10
London
I'll finish the running score there as I only predicted the 4th and 5th spot finishers in London, and TSG didn't provide any predictions (also, it conveniently finishes with me taking the win!). London regionals was a great day featuring upsets and one dominant team similar to most of the other regions. Clapham (despite going down 3-2 to Curve) would retain their title and the 1 seed at nationals.
I was quietly confident about Ka-Pow's chances going into the day, hoping to build on our momentum from Tour 3 and the high quality training sessions since then. We won our group against Jekyll and Hyde 2 (13-0) and Tooting Tigers who were winding down a tough and disappointing season with 9 players (some of whom would be playing in the mixed division anyway) (13-5). We went into our Semi final against Fire 1 with a bigger break after they had longer group games and took the early lead. The short game times meant that we were almost at the end of the game when we took half 7-3 (I think). The buzzer went at 8-4 (?) and we closed the game out 9-5 to advance to the Final and automatic qualification. Fire 1 were able to take the third spot and hold seed, but did not have the best of days. In the final, we stayed with Clapham early. They had taken a smaller squad but not small enough to make a difference with only 2 games (one of which was a 13-3 blowout) and so legs weren't a factor. Clapham were making mistakes and so were we, but they just made less and managed to pull away. The final score was 13-7, but we were still happy with our day and holding the second London seed to take the higher start position at Nationals which could prove to be a big difference maker given the other regional results.
As mentioned earlier, Fire 1 would go on to take 3rd. Their 3 v 4 was against Flump who upset Fire 2 in their "qualification semi" (3-6 bracket). Another team who started their season in C-Tour came up big at regionals to guarantee a nationals berth and beat a Fire 2 team who have had another strong year.
In the game to go, Fire 2 beat out Burro electrico to take the final spot.
The interesting outcome of this weekend is the (already started) Nationals seeding rumour mill. If it was purely based on this year's tour rankings (of the finishes based on spots in each region) and regionals finishes, the seeding would look like this:
1. (GL1 - Tour 1st: Clapham) Clapham
2. (N1 - Tour 2nd: Chevron) Manchester (Tour 11th)
3. (ML1 - Tour 3rd: EMO 1) EMO 1
4. (SE1 - Tour 5th: Brighton City) Brighton City
5. (GL2 - Tour 6th: Ka-Pow!) Ka-Pow!
6. (GL3 - Tour 7th: Fire 1) Fire of London 1
7. (GL4 - Tour 8th: Fire 2) Flump (Tour 23rd)
8. (SW1 - Tour 9th: Devon 1) Devon 1
9. (SE2 - Tour 10th: DED) Reading (Tour 17th)
10. (N2 - Tour 11th: Manchester) Chevron Action Flash (Tour 2nd)
11. (SC1 - Tour 12th: Glasgow) Glasgow
12. (ML2 - Tour 14th: BAF) EMO 2 (Tour 22nd)
13. (ML3 - Tour 15th: Cambridge) Birmingham (Tour 25th)
14. (SE3 - Tour 17th: Reading) Release (Tour 33rd)
15. (GL5 - Tour 18th: Tooting Tigers) Fire 2 (Tour 8th)
16. (SW2 - Tour 24th: Devon 2) Devon 2
This would provide some interesting first round matchups including: Manchester v Fire 2 and Flump v Chevron (with Flump as the higher seed!).
In the grand scheme of things though, seeding Chevron 10th would put them in a quarter final rematch against Manchester. Given that Chevron would go into that game with a full squad, Manchester should feel hard done by with that matchup. Arguments could be made that Manchester should be preparing to hold their seed against all comers, but the likelihood is that seedings will be slightly altered based on where each team finished at Tour rather than based on the finish of each regional spot was at tour. If I was in charge (and I'm glad I'm not) I probably produce a nationals seeding that would look like this:
1. (GL1 - Tour 1st: Clapham) Clapham
2. (ML1 - Tour 3rd: EMO 1) EMO 1
3. (SE1 - Tour 5th: Brighton City) Brighton City
4. (N1 - Tour 2nd: Chevron) Manchester (Tour 11th)
5. (GL2 - Tour 6th: Ka-Pow!) Ka-Pow!
6. (N2 - Tour 11th: Manchester) Chevron Action Flash (Tour 2nd)
7. (GL3 - Tour 7th: Fire 1) Fire of London 1
8. (SW1 - Tour 9th: Devon 1) Devon 1
9. (GL4 - Tour 8th: Fire 2) Flump (Tour 23rd)
10. (GL5 - Tour 18th: Tooting Tigers) Fire 2 (Tour 8th)
11. (SC1 - Tour 12th: Glasgow) Glasgow
12. (SE2 - Tour 10th: DED) Reading (Tour 17th)
13. (ML2 - Tour 14th: BAF) EMO 2 (Tour 22nd)
14. (ML3 - Tour 15th: Cambridge) Birmingham (Tour 25th)
15. (SW2 - Tour 24th: Devon 2) Devon 2
16. (SE3 - Tour 17th: Reading) Release (Tour 33rd)
On paper this looks fairer, with the bottom 4 teams being put in as the teams with the lowest tour rankings and alters the seed of Fire 2, Manchester and Chevron based on their tour finish whilst ensuring the regionals results aren't ignored. It also puts all the regional winners (except Glasgow) in the top 8.
The problems don't all go away with this solution though, with Brighton City drawing the quarter final matchup against Chevron and EMO 1 drawing a quarter against Fire 1. I think the organisers are in for a couple of headaches along the way, but if I'm being honest, there does appear to be a quite clear top 6 teams going to this tournament and if I was going to list them (in alphabetical order) they would be:
Brighton City, Chevron, Clapham, EMO1, Fire 1, Ka-Pow!. The next four, based on Tour would be Devon 1, Glasgow, Manchester and Fire 2 and then the rest, but we saw at Regionals that Flump were able to upset Fire 2, so why should Flump start below Fire 2 and who's to say they couldn't cause a few more upsets.
All I can say is good luck to the schedulers/tournament organisers and bring on Nationals!
Scotland
Apparently, Black Eagles (Mixed) almost caused a big commotion in the Scottish national Tournament, by only losing their Semi final in sudden death and, though I don't know their opponents, if they had gone to the final and won it would have caused a lot of chatter prior to nationals and they have to feel good about their results from this tournament and their season as a whole when going into Mixed nationals. The region was won by Glasgow Ultimate who took the only Nationals spot over Fusion. Correct predictions by myself and TSG so 1 point each.
North
No-one was tipping anyone but Chevron to take this region, but they were bested in a Sudden death Final game by Manchester Ultimate who took the regional title and the better seed going into nationals. Chevron took the second spot in convincing fashion:
Season ends with @chevronultimate taking out their frustrations: clinical 13-2 victory as we make too many mistakes #UKURegionals #BeersNowNeither myself or TSG called this and the piece on TSG was written by a Manchester Ultimate player. If rumours are to be believed, Chevron took a small squad and will be fine for Nationals, but this does present an interesting job for the UKUltimate team who will be seeding Nationals. Chevron finished 2nd at Tour, but should be placed below Manchester due to their regional defeat. Manchester, on the other hand, finished Tour 11th and so it will be interesting to see how high they climb. TSG and I picked the two qualifying teams correctly, but in the wrong order so I'll give us each a half point per team. (Me: 2 TSG: 2).
— LeedsLeedsLeeds (@lllufc) August 3, 2013
Midlands
In the Midlands EMO were in control and took first place. Second were EMO 2 with Birmingham finishing third and taking the last spot to Nationals. This will be a good end to a good first season for a young Birmingham squad who started in the C-Tour and also shows EMO's strength in depth to take 1st/2nd. I predicted Birmingham 2nd, but their semi was against EMO 1 so that didn't happen. TSG: 5 Me: 4
South West
Don't think anything more needs to be said here. 1st: Devon 1, 2nd: Devon 2, 3rd: Devon 3
TSG: 8, Me: 7
South East
Here's where things get interesting. Again there was a dominant team at the top (Brighton City) and like the Midlands the action was for the other qualification spots. With DED concentrating on Mixed, their Open squad was weakened and was scared early in the day by the likes of Guildford Open. My predictions put them outside of qualification, but at the end of the day they were in the game to go against Release (who I had put as taking the 3rd spot). The game finished 10-7 to Release, another team to start the year in the C-Tour. Whilst DED were weakened through the mixed focus, this should still be going down as a massive upset by the home team who TSG predicted would finish in 7th place in the region. My other call of Reading making the final was spot on meaning I went 3 for 3 in this region. TSG: 9, Me: 10
London
I'll finish the running score there as I only predicted the 4th and 5th spot finishers in London, and TSG didn't provide any predictions (also, it conveniently finishes with me taking the win!). London regionals was a great day featuring upsets and one dominant team similar to most of the other regions. Clapham (despite going down 3-2 to Curve) would retain their title and the 1 seed at nationals.
I was quietly confident about Ka-Pow's chances going into the day, hoping to build on our momentum from Tour 3 and the high quality training sessions since then. We won our group against Jekyll and Hyde 2 (13-0) and Tooting Tigers who were winding down a tough and disappointing season with 9 players (some of whom would be playing in the mixed division anyway) (13-5). We went into our Semi final against Fire 1 with a bigger break after they had longer group games and took the early lead. The short game times meant that we were almost at the end of the game when we took half 7-3 (I think). The buzzer went at 8-4 (?) and we closed the game out 9-5 to advance to the Final and automatic qualification. Fire 1 were able to take the third spot and hold seed, but did not have the best of days. In the final, we stayed with Clapham early. They had taken a smaller squad but not small enough to make a difference with only 2 games (one of which was a 13-3 blowout) and so legs weren't a factor. Clapham were making mistakes and so were we, but they just made less and managed to pull away. The final score was 13-7, but we were still happy with our day and holding the second London seed to take the higher start position at Nationals which could prove to be a big difference maker given the other regional results.
As mentioned earlier, Fire 1 would go on to take 3rd. Their 3 v 4 was against Flump who upset Fire 2 in their "qualification semi" (3-6 bracket). Another team who started their season in C-Tour came up big at regionals to guarantee a nationals berth and beat a Fire 2 team who have had another strong year.
In the game to go, Fire 2 beat out Burro electrico to take the final spot.
The interesting outcome of this weekend is the (already started) Nationals seeding rumour mill. If it was purely based on this year's tour rankings (of the finishes based on spots in each region) and regionals finishes, the seeding would look like this:
1. (GL1 - Tour 1st: Clapham) Clapham
2. (N1 - Tour 2nd: Chevron) Manchester (Tour 11th)
3. (ML1 - Tour 3rd: EMO 1) EMO 1
4. (SE1 - Tour 5th: Brighton City) Brighton City
5. (GL2 - Tour 6th: Ka-Pow!) Ka-Pow!
6. (GL3 - Tour 7th: Fire 1) Fire of London 1
7. (GL4 - Tour 8th: Fire 2) Flump (Tour 23rd)
8. (SW1 - Tour 9th: Devon 1) Devon 1
9. (SE2 - Tour 10th: DED) Reading (Tour 17th)
10. (N2 - Tour 11th: Manchester) Chevron Action Flash (Tour 2nd)
11. (SC1 - Tour 12th: Glasgow) Glasgow
12. (ML2 - Tour 14th: BAF) EMO 2 (Tour 22nd)
13. (ML3 - Tour 15th: Cambridge) Birmingham (Tour 25th)
14. (SE3 - Tour 17th: Reading) Release (Tour 33rd)
15. (GL5 - Tour 18th: Tooting Tigers) Fire 2 (Tour 8th)
16. (SW2 - Tour 24th: Devon 2) Devon 2
This would provide some interesting first round matchups including: Manchester v Fire 2 and Flump v Chevron (with Flump as the higher seed!).
In the grand scheme of things though, seeding Chevron 10th would put them in a quarter final rematch against Manchester. Given that Chevron would go into that game with a full squad, Manchester should feel hard done by with that matchup. Arguments could be made that Manchester should be preparing to hold their seed against all comers, but the likelihood is that seedings will be slightly altered based on where each team finished at Tour rather than based on the finish of each regional spot was at tour. If I was in charge (and I'm glad I'm not) I probably produce a nationals seeding that would look like this:
1. (GL1 - Tour 1st: Clapham) Clapham
2. (ML1 - Tour 3rd: EMO 1) EMO 1
3. (SE1 - Tour 5th: Brighton City) Brighton City
4. (N1 - Tour 2nd: Chevron) Manchester (Tour 11th)
5. (GL2 - Tour 6th: Ka-Pow!) Ka-Pow!
6. (N2 - Tour 11th: Manchester) Chevron Action Flash (Tour 2nd)
7. (GL3 - Tour 7th: Fire 1) Fire of London 1
8. (SW1 - Tour 9th: Devon 1) Devon 1
9. (GL4 - Tour 8th: Fire 2) Flump (Tour 23rd)
10. (GL5 - Tour 18th: Tooting Tigers) Fire 2 (Tour 8th)
11. (SC1 - Tour 12th: Glasgow) Glasgow
12. (SE2 - Tour 10th: DED) Reading (Tour 17th)
13. (ML2 - Tour 14th: BAF) EMO 2 (Tour 22nd)
14. (ML3 - Tour 15th: Cambridge) Birmingham (Tour 25th)
15. (SW2 - Tour 24th: Devon 2) Devon 2
16. (SE3 - Tour 17th: Reading) Release (Tour 33rd)
On paper this looks fairer, with the bottom 4 teams being put in as the teams with the lowest tour rankings and alters the seed of Fire 2, Manchester and Chevron based on their tour finish whilst ensuring the regionals results aren't ignored. It also puts all the regional winners (except Glasgow) in the top 8.
The problems don't all go away with this solution though, with Brighton City drawing the quarter final matchup against Chevron and EMO 1 drawing a quarter against Fire 1. I think the organisers are in for a couple of headaches along the way, but if I'm being honest, there does appear to be a quite clear top 6 teams going to this tournament and if I was going to list them (in alphabetical order) they would be:
Brighton City, Chevron, Clapham, EMO1, Fire 1, Ka-Pow!. The next four, based on Tour would be Devon 1, Glasgow, Manchester and Fire 2 and then the rest, but we saw at Regionals that Flump were able to upset Fire 2, so why should Flump start below Fire 2 and who's to say they couldn't cause a few more upsets.
All I can say is good luck to the schedulers/tournament organisers and bring on Nationals!
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