MT2 Reflections

Pretty disappointing weekend for Herd 1. 7th place, whilst not bad, was not our aim. Getting beaten by our 2nd team was also a pretty bad showing. We lost it by playing badly against a team playing really well, and they thoroughly deserved the win, but in the grand scheme of things it shouldn't have happened.
Games:
Tough game against Flump to start. We went down 3-0 and were behind for almost all the game. Sudden death at 10-10 and they had the disc just outside the endzone and almost took the win. We got the D and the final point. This served as a wake up call for our next game against Golden Ants.

We went out hard, went up early and controlled the game. Nothing spectacular but a good win. This put us top of our group with just a seeding game (1 v 3) to play left on Saturday against Brighton.

This game was a big low light for me. Sufficed to say, we started slow again going 3-0 down and they coped a lot better with the conditions than we did. I finished the day in a pretty bad mood, mostly due to getting point blocked three times by the same Brighton player, but also thinking that, even though we were in a pretty strong position at the end of the day, the struggles we had during the day meant that we probably weren't in the best position mentally going into Sunday.

Game 1 on Sunday was our quarter final against DED. We started slow AGAIN and never really threatened their lead until the end. I don't remember the final score, but we didn't play well enough to deserve a win in this game.

Game 2 was the 6 v 7 crossover against Herd 2. It really shows what a strong team they are to have gotten themselves into this position and they came into the game wanting it more. With a commanding lead when the hooter went, we staged a small comeback but not enough to draw close enough to truly challenge their lead and they finished us off. Again in this game we started slow.

So lastly, the 7 v 8 game against Peeps to finish the weekend. We knew we wanted to finally put in a good performance against Peeps and it turned into our best game of the weekend. It was also one of the best spirited games of Ultimate I have probably ever played. Finally earning a win, closing out the game against a Peeps resurgence was a good way to finish what had otherwise been a fairly disappointing weekend.

Personal aims: On defense I had a good number of lay-out bids and was close on a few but didn't get any. I did however get two run through Ds near the endzone line which were converted shortly after into points so quite good. Bit disappointed by getting scored on long a few times but overall fairly happy with my D.

On offense my movement of the disc through the handlers was pretty good, but a few of my hucks were still throwaways. This will still be a big aim moving forward. My dump cuts were better this weekend than at Mixed tour 1.

On the sideline I was still vocal but again showed my frustration too much. When I realised this I tried to change my attitude and from then I felt I was a positive voice.

Secondary Aims: I got one point block, so i'm happy with that. We didn't play much Zone defense this weekend, which I was a little surprised about due to the weather and I don't remember playing it very often so can't comment on my zone D aim. Zone O I thought I played well, distributing the disc well with only a few turnovers to my name.
Tertiary Aims: No injuries and the weather wasn't as horrible as predicted!

Hoping for a big showing at mixed tour 3! It really seems that when Herd start slow, we struggle, so we really need to get our heads in early in games in order to help our overall tour ranking for this season.

Personal Aims for Mixed Tour 2 this weekend!

Fitness first: Yesterday I did 3 miles cycling and by the end of today I will have done 3 miles cycling as well.

Now, on to my aims for Mixed tour 2 this weekend. These are just my personal aims not the aims of Herd 1.

- Defense: I feel on defense that my style is preventative. I feel I rarely get scored on because I have good awareness of the play relative to my man marking assignments, which translates to good positioning. I want to be a difference maker though. Yes I can sky a pack of players occasionally and I will pick off long discs if I am able to poach near the area, but I don't get all that many blocks on my man marking assignments. I got one in the final game of Mixed Tour 1, which I felt really gave the team a boost, and I want to do that more without giving up too many open throws with missed bids. This will be difficult but is one of my aims for this weekend.

- Offense: I play handler, and a few times last tour I failed to complete on easy swing throws. This is not good enough, so my main aim is to be consistently accurate with "easy" passes across the field. My secondary aims are to make good decisions on hucks and to make good dump cuts.

- Sideline: Last tour, sometimes I let frustration show, and other times I was the most encouraging vocal player on the sideline. My aim is to be consistently encouraging and loud for my team mates.

Secondary tournament aims:

- 3 point blocks in one day was nice last tournament! I'm not expecting to repeat this number, I would be really satisfied with a strong force that didn't give up too many break side throws, but one would be nice.

- Zone Defense: If we play Zone, I get put in any position apart from the Wall. My aims for chase would be to keep up with the play a little better. My main aim in zone defense is playing as deep though. I don't generally get scored on in this position and my aim if I do get played as a Deep is to control the zone as a tight unit.

- Zone Offense: I love playing handler against a zone offense, in fact it may be my favourite situation in ultimate so my aim is to be disruptive if I get a chance to play in this situation by breaking the mark and finding holes in the wall.

Tertiary Aims:

- Don't get injured.

- Don't let the (probably rainy) weather affect catching, throwing or morale.

Go Herd!

Fitness day!

A day of fitness to coincide with going back to work after a 6 day weekend.

Morning:
1 mile cycle to work

Lunch:
3 mile run (19 minutes 39 seconds- NICE!)

After work:
2 mile cycle to station

Evening:

Gym:
5 minute cycle to warm up
3 * 10 bench press 42.5 kg
3 * 5 back squat 60 kg
3 * 10 press ups
3 * 10 lunges 20kg
3 * 10 leg press 90kg
3 * 20 bicep curls 10kg each arm
3 * 20 dumbell lateral raises (10 reps of 4kg per arm) 
3 * 20 dumbell front raises (10 reps of 4 kg per arm)
Warm down

Kung fu throwing!

Been wanting to try this out for a while. Finally got the chance today due to low attendance at Ka-Pow training:
http://winthefields.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/kung-fu-throwing.html

Great workout! We did pretty much as it says in the article, except we only did 10 of each throw in the warm up and finished with pulling practice. Ended up with a blister on my finger and aching shoulders but it was really beneficial and I want to try and get out and do this more!

3 mile run workout

3 mile run: time 19 min 40 seconds (without wrist weights)

Also, 3 * 40 lat pull downs like usual.
Chocolate milk 

Keeping busy

Didn't do body pump on Monday as have a wound on my hand from the weekend that opened in the shower Monday morning, so would have bled if I had done weights.
Been keeping busy, will fit in gym and 3 mile run before the end of the week but so far.
Monday exercise: 3 miles cycling
Tuesday Exercise: 2 miles cycling
Wednesday Exercise: 3 miles cycling

Ka-pow weekend!

Training Saturday and mini tournament Sunday. Great weekend with Ka-pow.

Training really focussed on getting the offense in our heads for the Sunday, and also teaching the defense which we would go on to use on Sunday as well. The drills we did were useful for reinforcing the principles of the offense, such as the cutting patterns. Great session, despite missing a few players.
Good night out at the Bavarian Bierhouse too.

Sunday games:
Game 1 vs Wessex (Win): Started slow against Wessex and the offensive patterns weren't clicking at first. Pulled out the win. Like I mentioned in an earlier post; wessex have a load of my mates playing and, from going to one of their trainings and seeing them play today, I think they are going to do quite well this year. Wessex only came away with one win from the day and a close sudden death to Dog Eat Disc, but they definitely have a solid offense structure which is very aggressive and moves the disc quickly down the middle of the field. Interesting poaching defense as well can't really remember the specifics though.

Game 2 vs EMO 2 (Win): Standard game against a not that strong opponent. They played a strong pull play which their first team also played. This game was pretty much a warmup for the game against their first team.

Game 3 vs EMO 1 (Win): Strongest opponent we played all day. Solid win for Kapow.

Game 4 vs Dog Eat Disc (Win): We didn't have to win this game, to win the tournament, but we couldn't lose by that many. Turns out we won in Sudden Death 11-10 to finish off a good day.

Good things about the day, our offense was really strong. The O-line got broken only once in our final game, and very few times throughout the day. The defense, at times, was easily broken with our poaching setup, which we learned on Saturday, but really stepped up at some important moments. In every game our D line either got the break to take the half, finish the game, or do both.

Really enjoyed the weekend and definitely looking forward to Tom's Tourney in Bruges. Think this undefeated day could be the start of a good season.

Plus: look at that cool trophy!

EUROPE! KA-POW!