2009 Club Nationals Diary.

Oh my fucking god I finally did it. It only took about two months. But I finally finished the diary and got it on the blog. Just warning everybody, it is very long and not really edited. So read at your own risk. Not every detail is perfect and I am writing about myself which I dont like doing but whatever. Hope you enjoy

10/28/09

6:47 PM- Got to BWI on time and after pounding some Quiznos, I got to the gate and am currently waiting. I have already seen some players going down to Florida; I talked to a couple dudes from Slow White who looked strangely familiar.

Right now I am kind of sick, as my dick of a roommate has had the flu since Sunday. I did my best to stay healthy but I am noticing some symptoms. I have about 10 Emergence packets in me but who knows. Obviously I have Frisbee goals for the tournament but number 1 is staying as healthy as possible. I may not be 100 percent but I just need to be good enough to play well

10:00 PM- Landed in Tampa. Starting to feel like shit. I feel a fever coming which is the last thing I need. Fuck you Tyler! The Airport does have free Wi-Fi, which is sweet. Waiting for Nick and Kinsey to get here. Trying not to die.

10/29/09

1:00 AM- Got to the room. It is fucking awesome. I am feeling a little better since the airport and I am hoping the trend continues tomorrow.

6:47 AM- Woken up by Dusty making breakfast. I feel a million times better and I definitely feel like I am ready to go. I still need to get through warm-ups but I should be ready to go at 9:30 against GOAT. Anyway I wanted to get down some team goals and maybe more importantly, my individual goals for the tournament.

Pike

1. Break Seed- Basically that means to win a game
2. Make teams respect us- We want to prove that we belong in this tournament and compete with all of these teams
3. Be competitive in every game we play- This kind of goes hand in hand with goal number 2. Even if we are down by a lot, we fight for every fucking point.

Individual Goals

1. Stay Healthy- Being sick is not fun. I need to be careful, especially in this heat and playing at such a high level
2. Do not get beat deep- My job as one of the taller Pike D players is to not get beat deep. I won’t really be able to bait the huck at this tournament so I must be extremely tight on my matchup at all times.
3. Better marks- One of the biggest areas of my game that has improved this year. Force the thrower to be uncomfortable and avoid getting broken. This will kill you at the elite level
4. NO Turnovers- Pretty self explanatory
5. Make people notice me- Do something awesome. Make a sick play. People are always watching

8:00 AM- Fields are Beautiful. This is the Mecca of ultimate

9:00 AM- 30 minutes till game time. My body feels good for the most part. Running for extended periods of time is going to suck but its Nationals. I have dealt with this kind of illness before (I think). I just need to rest more than usual.

GAME 1: GOAT (8) vs. Pike (16)

-First D and turned it into bookends. With the score tied at ones, I slip on an in cut and my guy took off deep. I sprinted to the end zone and saw that the disc was floaty and that my guy thought he was wide open, not boxing me out and giving me a perfect lane to crash the party. After skying for the D, we set up our Ho stack. My defender for some reason played in front of me so I took off deep and Tim Johnson hit me in stride for the bookends and a 2-1 lead. Hey, I can play at this level. Normally I would stay on the field but because of my pseudo swine flu, I could barely breathe.

-Game tied at 4. My second break goal. Nick Ongpauco led me to the endzone where I slid to make the grab.

-Halftime 8-5 GOAT. We had a chance for another break but struggled to get the O-line in sync. I’m starting to feel really shitty and it’s becoming really hard to sustain energy.

-It’s now 9-7 GOAT. On my first offensive point, I had a ridiculous sky on my dude on a floaty flick from Ship legend Dave Baer. Had to pull out the Plax bow after that one. We then followed that with an almost Callahan from Tim Johnson. Break Pike!

Final Score 15-11 GOAT (Final Stats: 4 Goals + 3 D’s + 1 TO = Not good enough)

We should have had this game. I knew coming into this game, that this was the one we could sneak up on GOAT and steal a win. Not bad for our first game at Nationals but we had chances and we blew them. Very frustrating. And now we play number 1 seed Revolver. Awesome!

GAME 2: Revolver (1) vs. Pike (16)

-This one was fun. Our first point was on D and J Dono made a nice layout bid on Mac Taylor to get the D but a no contested foul followed. After the stoppage, Taylor immediately hucked to Beau who was already in position on a perfect throw from Taylor. Beau made the play, which was fairly easy for him to make since I was out of position. I would of liked to go up once with him on a 50/50 but it didn’t happen. Later in the game, I came in on an O point and threw a turnover (One of the rare times I played an O point and our team didn’t end up scoring). I made up for it by scoring a point on an upline cut. Revolver 8- Pike 3 at Halftime

-First break for Pike. Dono put a beautiful flick to me and I skied my defender for the goal. Almost got my first D of the game but Revolver called a foul. I contested it but they would eventually score. Revolver was just too good. They were the only team we played at Nationals that I felt that we would not beat if we played them 10 times.

-Final Score 15-5 Revolver (Final Stats: 2 Goals 1 TO) I wish we played better that game. But what can I say; they were the best team I have ever played in my Frisbee career.

GAME 3: Truckstop (9) vs. Pike (16)

-After being down 7-4, we scored on an O-line than ran off two breaks. I was able to get another D on a cross-field pass (I love those) Truck took half 8-7.

-The offense was flat in the second half, the D made a couple nice plays but it wasn’t enough. I did have a ridiculous sky right outside the end zone that turned into an easy assist to Grin. I also had an up line cut for a score. I also almost died in the second half from swine/heat/death.

Final Score: 15-11 Truckstop (Final Stats: 2 Goals, 1 D, 1 Assist)

Truck was good but it was another game we could of won. I was pretty frustrated going 0-3 on the day. Two of those games were winnable but we simply did not play enough good teams before coming to Nationals. I think that was one of the biggest factors of us not doing better. I mean not having played any teams that qualified for Nationals is ridiculous and did not prepare us well for what to expect.

I though I played really well despite being sick and it being my first day at Nationals. Maybe my best day there. Not a bad start but I could do so much better. I can’t wait to do so much better.

DAY 2 10/30/09

GAME 4: Bodhi (11) vs. Pike (16)

-A disappointing and winnable game. Our offense got broken 3 times to start the game and whenever that happens you really don’t stand much of a chance. I got put in on the next O-line and made a deep cut that had me open but the throw was a little low. I made a nice play going over my defender and caught it but the defender called a foul. It was probably a good call because I had to make a play on the under thrown disc but I contested it since I felt I went more over him than through him but there was definitely contact.

We scored anyway but we were still down 3-1. I spent most of the game covering Jon Hirschberger, a senior at Cornell and a hell of a player. He was Bodhi’s main deep threat. He threw one huck off me for a score but other than that I did a good job of shutting him down. I felt confident cutting on him whenever we got the turn. The one time he got thrown to deep with me on him, I got position and caught the disc for the D. Unfortunately the thrower called a foul after the throw so the disc came back. We went on a little run to make the score a respectable 15-11 but Bodhi was too good from the start.

Final Score 15-11 Bodhi

GAME 5: Streetgang (14) vs. Pike (16)

-This might have been my worst game defensively at Nationals but we ended up winning 15-12. By far, the worst I felt all weekend. The combination of being sick, sore and it being a blistering 90 degrees was slowing me down. I was getting beat early on but the Pike O was finally putting it together. I did catch 2 hucks for scores and played very good offense but my D just wasn’t there. In the end, we had enough and were able to hold on for the 15-12 win. I felt like I was going to die physically but the win was so rewarding. No matter what, I had to leave my first Nationals trip with a win and I did.

3:30 PM Pre Quarters

-Done for the day, I moved over to watch the pre quarters match up of Truck vs. Jam. On the other field was GOAT vs. Bravo. Truck looked hungry at the beginning of the game scoring first and getting the next break with some amazing defense. Jam was good but it looked like Truck was the better team and wanted it more. For some reason before the first half, everything fell apart for Truck. They missed a lot of opportunities and Jam ended up taking half. Truck looked deflated in the second half and just played poorly. Jam ended the game on a 10-2 run or something ridiculous like that.

-The end of the GOAT-Bravo game was incredible. After passing out on the ground, I woke up to a 14-14-tie game. GOAT was up the entire game but Bravo battled back to tie it up. At 14s, GOAT was called offside on offense twice to set up the reverse break mark 15 yards back in the end zone, something I have never seen before. Bravo ended up taking the game 16-14 to move to the quarters.

-That night, the Pike team went out to dinner. Awesome time with a great team! Tired and ready for bed, the goal is simple for tomorrow, break seed!

10/31/09

GAME 6: Machine (13) vs. Pike (16)

-Game was a battle from the start. While we seemed to have no answers for their offense, Pike O was looking the best they had all weekend, scoring with smooth disc movement and some big plays from the usual suspects. J Dono got a huge D and we turned it into a break after a guy that was a foot shorter was covering me and I finally got the disc in the end zone to make it 6-4.

-With the score 7-5, Machine threw a cross field hammer that I jumped for and got a piece to tip it but my match up for the entire game (John Kolb, who is listed at 6-6…fuck me) made the play and stuck with the disc. They would eventually score to make it 7-6. Those are the kinds of game changing plays that you look back at and remember. If I make that D and we take half 8-5, Pike wins. Machine broke us to tie it at 7s but Pike took half 8-7.

-With the score 10-9, Machine stepped it up and began their run. We just weren’t battle tested enough throughout the season to pull out the win. Pike plain and simple choked. We were the exact opposite of clutch and ended up losing 15-11. This one hurt the most.

-Final Score 15-11 Machine

I played pretty well on defense. I shut down my match up in the second half and I am pretty sure he didn’t score let alone touch the disc downfield.

GAME 7: Streetgang (14) vs. Pike (16)

-This would be our last game and definitely our worst. It might have been my best game besides the GOAT game. Maybe because I was so fucking pissed off about the last game and how our team collapsed under the pressure. Our offense came out flat and got broken 3 times again to start the game. Now I am furious about everything, I got out there and made shit happen. Put on the O-line, Dono hit me in the endzone to make it 3-1.

-With the score 4-2, Streetgang did what they do best: huck the shit out of the disc. They tried to throw a blade huck to my guy but I was able to get my hand in there and over my mark to get the D. A couple D’s and some scores later, Pike had the 5-4 lead. Coming out in zone, we kept Streetgang trapped and made their deep game very ineffective. In what might have been my best D, Streetgang hucked a floaty disc to the back of the end zone and I jetted to the spot and completely annihilated my guy, going over him and catching the disc. Unfortunately, we turned it over and Streetgang punched in the score. Pike fell apart afterward. They took half 8-5 I believe

-In the second half, Pike looked overwhelmed. Very frustrated, I tried my best to fire up my team. I skied two players for a score and was so amped I kick spiked the shit out of the disc only to have my cleat fly 30 feet in the air. I got another D on a hammer to make it 3 on the game but even I became victim to Pike’s black hole and threw away the disc on an up line flick. This was followed by me kicking the recycling can over. Shit happens.

Final Score 15-8 Streetgang

-After watching Revolver beat Sockeye in the semis, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the beer garden. Good times! Consumed about 10 cups of beer, got destroyed in a chugging contest and got drunk. I tried to trade my Pike jersey for a GOAT jersey but couldn’t get a deal done. Ellis was hilariously drunk and was somehow able to trade a Pike white and an old wildwood jersey for a Red BODHI jersey which made me extremely jealous.

-We went back to the houses and headed to the beach, which was incredible. We had a drunken Pike vs. Pike 500 game in the water, which was awesome. The weather was beautiful, the water was warm and the sunset was picturesque. Sarasota is fucking awesome. I need to be here every year.

-That night we hung out at one of the condos, ate tons of food and watched college football/the World Series. Glenn tried to open a bottle with his mouth and broke it on his gums that started bleeding like crazy. Some of the team hung by the pool on a perfect night. I was able to talk to Pike vet Ian McClellan for a while about the team, us and ultimate as a whole. I was really happy to talk with Ian, great player, great teammate and just has so much knowledge and wisdom about the sport. I really hope he decides to come back to Pike next year. Huge loss right there.

-The night ended with Dusty, Dono, Ross, Glenn, Raph and I wondering to the Daiquiri Deck. I didn’t stay for long because I was so tired so I went back to the house and passed out on the floor.

11/1/09

-I spent most of the day getting skin cancer at the fields as it continued to be scorching. None of the championships were especially compelling. I headed to the airport with Tim who let me know immediately that the Eagles were shit stomping the Giants 14-0, Fuck! After lunch at the airport, we parted and I hung around on my comp waiting to board my flight to Baltimore and eventually back to Carlisle. Class on Monday is gonna suck.

So I guess I should put down my final thoughts real quick. I doubt anyone has read this far but here we go.

-I thought I played very well this weekend considering it was my first trip to nationals, I was sick and I am very young. I learned so much about what it takes to play at that next level which I now know I can definitely reach. I know there is so much more I can do before the next time I get back here which better be next year.

-I think Pike has a chance to do a lot more next year if we continue to progress. The difference from 2008 to 2009 was phenomenal.

-Going back to college will be tough after playing at this level but it gives me a chance to work on things that I wouldn’t do at the club level. Plus I think I can help a lot of people become better at the sport.

-I love this fucking team. Probably the best team I have been on my whole life. Thank you Pike 2009.

PS: I hate that there are not any pictures. What the fuck