Quick thoughts on a couple of Open games…

The weather was absolutely perfect for offensive ultimate today: clear, sunny, hot, and virtually no wind. Once a team got behind, coming back was just not going to be easy. Australia had some sloppy play in the first half, turfing several swing passes, and it just wasn’t in the cards for a comeback, regardless of their late energy. They fought til the last, but the Great Britain offense stayed aggressive and the endzone was viable from any point on the field…breaks were at a premium.

Colombia is an incredible story over the last four years. Watch this team for five minutes and you will see what I mean; they have a great game plan on offense, rotate their defenses well, and run smart and hard. We had a lot of trouble containing their throwers, especially in the first second or two of the stall count. They have made huge strides in the last several years, and they will keep improving. Really, I would expect them to win games at UPA Nationals in any conditions if they played like today.

KUOW, Seattle’s NPR affiliate, produced this report for their show Weekday on the US Teams’ preparations for WUGC 2008. The piece features Seattle Sockeye’s Mike Caldwell, San Francisco Fury’s Gwen Ambler, Seattle Shazam Returns’ Jon Ladd, and my partner in crime at The Huddle, Ben Wiggins.

[audio:weekday.mp3]

As of this posting, the US Open team is undefeated, and the Women’s and Mixed teams have only one loss to their credit, both falling to Japan on Wednesday.

Two quick thoughts…as the week rolls along, we need to spend more time taking care of our bodies to be ready for the next one, and that leaves me significantly less time to write.

My first thought is that I have come to understand that I, personally, am something of a zealot when it comes to my understanding of spirit. I think I have been in a couple of discussions lately where I hold a certain truth to be self-evident, and I don’t listen to arguments well on that point. This is an inflexibility in my thinking. I think it is a correct inflexibility, but I don’t like having blocks like that regardless.

My belief: You should make calls during the games consistently, correctly, and fairly, and I think this means calling the first point exactly the same as the last point. If it is 16-16, I want to make the exact same calls that I would make at 16-0 or 0-16, or 1-1 for that matter. I want to call what I see and nothing more.

My problem: I get called out for being a jerk for making calls when I am on a team that is lucky enough to be ahead by a bunch. I don’t believe I should change how I call the game even though I am winning, the same as I wouldn’t make more calls if we suddenly go behind. If I see a travel, I call it. End of story. But I’d be willing to listen to arguments. I know this isn’t a forum for discussion, but it came up today and I think it is an important point.

Second, Australia did something I’ve never seen today; they went into a 1-3-2-1 zone after playing man-to-man D for the rest of the point, and they did it at the goalline. I have never seen that; most North American teams transfer out of zone near the endzone, and we talk about the man-to-zone as kind of a farce (ok, my Potlatch team ran the ‘moan’ but it wasn’t serious). I’ve never seen it run, never that well, and it is something I am going to explore more. Cool.

Quick notes about the Japan vs. US Open game…

The Buzz Bullets came out firing big, throwing 3 of their first 7 throws deep, and their first throw by their D team. Could they be intentionally setting up the short game for the more important semis later? They seemed very intent on establishing a long game today as soon as possible.

Their D-team runs a 1-3-3, and their O-team runs a very effective 3-2-2 ‘head hunting zone,’ where they really try to match up in the back as much as possible. Treating these zones as the same is frustrating, because they take away different parts of the field. The O-team zone makes it tough to throw over the top for yardage, though side-to-side hammers can really open up some space.

Sockeye was successful whenever the disc went side-to-side on the field, allowing for yardage gains coming back to the live-side.

US Open vs. New Zealand: New Zealand gave us our most challenging game yet, and they really benefited by having some dogged deep cutters that really refused to settle for incuts. As a handler, I love it when I have an athletic guy that doesn’t always settle for ‘taking what they give you,’ but really drives deep and tries to open up margins, even when they are being backed by a yard or two. The Kiwi deep cutters really did a nice job of looking for opportunities off of swings and then drove through their first 6-7 steps full speed, and THEN read the defense.

For young deep cutters, if you find yourself in the perfect spot on the field, you can take the under or the deep option and hurt the defense either way. Inevitably, though, you will end up in a suboptimal spot (much like the outside position in a flat stack) and getting a little greedy/aggressive can be a nice habit.

Other games I noticed…

The Finnish women played two devoted lines; they would alternate points regardless of O or D, so one group was always going upwind and the other always downwind. Their downwind line was very successful against Fury for the first 4-5 offensive possessions, hucking really smoothly for seemingly easy goals. When they finally did give up a break, though….now their upwind line was on offense for the first time in the game. This seemed to lead to runs of breaks for Fury. Interesting strategy though, I’ve never seen it in the states and I don’t think I fully understand the benefits yet. They must be there, cause the Finns are damn good.

Aussie Junior Women beat the US. Whoever #13 is, that gal can friggin play. Nice, relaxed pivoting styles helps her see the entire field without being rushed.

US Masters came back to beat the Canadians 16-14 (I think). The speed of Hollywood/Namkung/Dugan is going to be really tough to beat, and it was Dugan to Hollywood that pushed them upwind for the final break point. Bill Stewart, a longtime Massachusetts players and really cerebral, hustling defender is one of my absolute favorite players to watch play. It takes watching him for a full half before you really see the intention behind his gangle, and I love defenders that think well. I got to play with him once and definitely stayed at this game longer to watch him chase handlers around and bait for disruption.