It’s been tough to decide what to write for the “Sockeye 2010 Worlds Preview,” because

a) I’m not sure what you want to read (you’ll already have scores, write-ups, etc)

b) I don’t want to give away trade secrets (or say something that my fellow captains would consider helpful to another team– my fellow captains are paranoid), and

c) I feel like I should be saying “something smart” (I lean towards dumb and simple or rambling)

     With that said, I’ve decided that our trade secrets are really quite simple concepts– nothing new– and that I could offer a more intimate look into how a club team competing at Worlds thinks and operates. So here we go. On to the blogging!

     If you didn’t know already, Sockeye has had a ton of turnover in the past few years, losing more superstars than many teams dream of having. You know the names- Nord, Chase, etc – and now the roster is filled with a lot of people who’ve never been featured on Ultivillage DVDs or played in a National or World Final. This year’s team was faced with the difficult task of discovering its own identity, one that every player — from the seasoned veterans like Bestock and MC to the young noobs like Frank Barich and Phil Murray — could feel a part of. This isn’t an easy task, but for Sockeye, is an absolutely essential element.

     And this is one of the “trade secrets” I was talking about above. I’ve never been a part of a more cohesive team than Sockeye. More work is spent on creating ways to bro-out, act like morons together and create perhaps the dumbest inside jokes than I thought possible. And trust me, it is work. But it’s this relentless enthusiasm for the game and for each other that allows the team to practice and train as much as it does, consistently bordering on too much, and without it I do not believe Sockeye would compete at the level that it does.

     An example: as a warmup, we often start practices with a mini-game, 4 on offense and 3 on defense, played in tiny rectangular field that is only about 3-4 yards narrow and 15-20 yards long. Start at one end, try to get to the other, normal ultimate rules, that’s it. Way, way more fun than any warmup I had known before joining, and one of many of the small things that make Sockeye a team that simply enjoys the game of ultimate.

     Another example: our new, crazy offense. In Marc Seraglia’s (of Furious) words, “Your offense looks terrible.” He might have said “worse than ever,” but you get the jist. Basically, we barely know what’s going on. It’s like free form jazz without the structure. Watch us, and if you can figure it out, I will buy you a Pilsner and then you can explain it to me. A lot of it is based on the principle that most every member of Sockeye plays some form of small-sided disc game often, be it Mini or Goaltimate, and there’s a level of creativity and skill there to leverage and apply to ultimate. Simply put, we find what we enjoy, and try to do that, a lot.

     Last example: we overdo it at tournaments. Some teams mandate staying in, no drinking, stay healthy for Sunday. We did the opposite this year; in Texas we had already mapped out our downtown bar crawl routes and bought Seattle Hoops basketball jerseys (fitting, since our offense uses basketball terminology) before arriving, and we made Flowerbowl a “Big Buck Hunter” themed tournament, with half the team hitting the town on Saturday night as hunters and the other half as game. Did staying out late hurt us in the finals? Maybe. But was it an overall win to create those relationships and that trust that are now our foundation? Undoubtedly.

     This gives some insight into Sockeye2010. For us, smiles creates success, rather than vice versa. If you can tell we’re having fun playing the game, we’re probably playing as best as we can, and we’ve found that this makes for a much more enjoyable and rewarding season than one based upon fear of punishment or a results-based enjoyment of any particular game or play.

     Current seeds would (I think) put us (5) with Australia’s Heads of State (20), an unknown team to be determined(29), and the Dominican Republic’s Domino(44). [updated 6/24 with correct teams] What to expect of these teams? We’ve seen Domino recently in Colombia, and know their athleticism and talent can give any team fits when they’re on, and Australia always field incredible teams, so that should be a great game as well. Having a TBD team in our pool is fitting, as we’re going in focused on us rather than who our opponent is, and on playing our game throughout the tourney– fast, fun, and fair.

     Finally, what to expect from me at Worlds? Well, logistically, I hope there’s easy computer access/WIFI in the dorms. Given that, you can expect daily recaps of our games, notable events, and insight into what the players are seeing around the tourney as best as I can give. 13 days till first games!

TK

tkinley@gmail.com <– email me if you want any specific focus or info, feedback is helpful and encouraged!

ps- on a personal note, I worry that the “Sockeye Throwing Happy Hour” comes across as pretentious, or snooty, or something other than what we intended, as if we’re the masters of throwing or something. We aren’t. But, we have developed some drills that have helped us get a bit more out of every day throwing, and we think sharing them, as well as creating an event for people to meet, get in some throws, and get off to a great start would be fun, and we hope it ends up that way.

Since a couple of others have taken the time to introduce themselves I thought I would jump on board as well. I’m Simon Talbot and I reside in a small city in Australia called Ballarat, which most of you probably haven’t heard of. I’ve been playing ultimate for just over 5 years, and this will be my second WUCC. I’ll be playing for Redbacks in the Open Division.

I’m not blessed with the skills and athleticism of some of the other authors here, but my passion for the game runs just as deep as anyone else’s. Those who knows me would refer to me as an “ultimate nerd”. I don’t disagree for one minute, but I much prefer to be thought of as an “ultimate fan”. As well as playing and enjoying ultimate, I love to watch top level teams in action and dissect what their gameplan and playing style is. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve watched the likes of Colony, Heads of State, Dublin, Chevron Action Flash, Clapham and Fire of London in the flesh. Throw in the online clips and highlights and that list gets much bigger. Off-field the aspect of WUCC I’m looking forward to the most is inter-continental match ups – how do the South Americans defend Asian dynamic offence? Will the conservative European offence be more effective than the risk-taking Australian style? And can anyone topple the North Americans?

In between Redbacks games I’ll be doing my best to catch the games between higher seeds and other games I think will be close. As well as posting to my own website Force Sideline throughout the week, I’ll also be stopping in here to give you a fan’s perspective on the tournament – who is playing well, who isn’t, who is punching above their weight and who could be doing better. I’m sure there will be plenty of coverage for the well known teams, so if there are any other teams you would love to read up on, get in touch with me (forcesideline at gmail dot com) and I’ll do my best to report back.

From: wucc2010.org

Dear WUCC players,

The Seattle Sockeye are having a throwing practice on Saturday, July 3rd, where we will be doing many of the best throwing drills that we have developed and learned. As part of the experience that is WUCC, we’d like to invite all interested players and teams to join us for a Throwing Mini-Camp.

If you are interested in learning new ways to work on your throws, come join us at 6.30pm at the park fields at Strahov area after the Captain’s Meeting. These fields are near the main Strahov field site, but further to the west (20 minutes walk from the Check-in). There will be few Czech players waiting in front of the Check-In to pick you up at 6.00pm and take you there.

Jaime ‘Idaho’ Arambula will lead a session of the 20-minute ‘Ninja Throwing’ routine, and Ben Wiggins will lead a group through the ‘Zen Throwing’ routine. Sockeye players will be around to answer questions, possibly run a few light drills, and analyze throwing form if you would like. Or, just come to throw with us as a warm-up for a huge week!

Questions/comments/greetings? Write us at info@seattlesockeye.org
Bring a disc if you have one, cleats are optional. Free for all WUCC and Czech Ultimate players.

We hope this is a great way to get ready for the Day 1 games, to meet new friends and to give back some of the Ultimate knowledge that we have been fortunate enough to learn. See you on the 3rd!

-Seattle Sockeye

Hello everyone.

My name is Mark Earley and I’m an Irish player based in Dublin. I’m delighted to be reporting from Prague for The Huddle and am looking forward to what is shaping up to be an incredible week for all involved.

So where to start…well, I’ve been playing Ultimate for 10 years now and it’s still as much fun as it was at the beginning. I began playing in college in Dublin and have been playing non-stop since then. I’ve played club, hat and major tournaments across Europe and spent a year playing in Australia (where I found the standard to be phenomenal!). I’ve captained Ireland on a few occasions and relish matching up against the best teams in the world. This is my first World Clubs Championships and I’m really excited to see how it will differ from a WUGC.

In Prague I’ll be representing Ireland in the Open Division with Dublin Ultimate. The Open division is overflowing with talent from all around the globe so it’s going to be a pretty interesting week. Lots of European teams will feel like they have something to prove, especially playing in their own backyard but its hard to see past the strength and depth of the US and Japanese teams. The Australians are likely to have a thing or two to say come the end of the week as well!

From my team’s point of view – we’ve had a good build up with two tough tournaments in the UK under our belts along with months of training and fitness. We lost 4 players due to work/injury in the fortnight before the rosters were finalised leaving us with only 14 but we’re confident that we’ve put in the hard yards on the track that will stand to us. We’ve been seeded behind a number of teams we think we can beat and a recent win versus Raganarok has given us even more belief. We’ve worked hard for this week and are really hoping to take a couple of scalps. The team is made up of many Irish internationals and a few newer, younger players who will be playing at this level for their first time. We can’t wait to get to the Czech Republic and soak up the atmosphere, play some tough games and enjoy ourselves too.

This summer is a big summer for Irish Ultimate with 2 teams playing at WUCC – Dublin Ultimate (Open) and Little Miss Sunshine (Women), a team in each division at the World Under 23 Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Florence (Italy) and a Juniors Open team at the World Junior Championships in Heilbronn (Germany). The sport is growing every year here in Ireland and having been part of the Irish Flying Disc Association’s committee for many years its really amazing to see how much growth has taken place. Irish teams have progressed from partying hard to playing hard and are now capable of doing both! The standard is being driven higher by players all around the country from Belfast to Cork and back. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Irish Ultimate scene and hopefully the two teams in Prague will be able to do the recent growth proud.

Worlds is a massive tournament and we’re really lucky to be able to represent Ireland at it. Dublin Ultimate will be working hard to do as well as we can and once the games are over we’ll be at the centre of the party too. We are looking forward to playing against new teams, meeting new players and doing our best. With under two weeks to go, the excitement is palpable.

Finally, if you want to get in touch for any reason please drop me a mail at earley.mark(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Take care and hope to see you in Prague,

Mark

Greetings and salutations!

It’s a great pleasure and honor to be able to participate in the Huddle’s initiative to bring to all of you Ultimate fans the most up to date information about what is going on at the WUCC 2010 at Prague. Here’s a little bit about me to get things started:

My name is Paolo Chiappin, but you’ll usually see me sign as Logan Pendragon. Whatever your opinion on pseudonyms, this is how you’ll usually recognize me on-line.

My team is Brazzinga from Brazil and we’ll be playing in the Mixed division at the WUCC. The team is a ragtag bunch of players from quite a few walks of life. Some have been at Worlds at least once before, including our captain, Luis Fazani. Most have not. The sport of Ultimate in Brazil is still not anywhere near as known and played as in places like the US, Canada or Europe, and while we do have people that love the sport, we don’t have very many on teams that participate in tournaments. Of these few teams, none are sponsored. The group we are taking to Prague is a selection of seasoned and somewhat new players. We are a remarkably excited group that have come together to train with the goals of developing the sport further in Brazil and to face off against some of the best in the world. We hope to learn as much as we can from everyone there while at it. We also hope to surprise those who watch our games and those that play against us. Mostly though, we want to have a great time and we would like to show just how much we love this sport. With what we learn there, we want to come home and take the next step in developing ourselves while working at getting more people to come out and join our sport.

Over the last 12 years I’ve played quite a bit of Ultimate. “Played” being the operative word, since for 8 of those years most of what I did was try to get people to learn the sport and have some fun. I spent a lot time teaching new kids and trying to get them to come back, but not really practicing or developing myself.

I learned about Ultimate in high school and played on the school team for a year and a half before it disbanded due to most of our members graduating together. I was left as one of the few passionate kids who tried to get new students to come out to build a new team, but it was just not meant to be. The things I learned best during this time were about the Spirit of the Game, Fair Play, and the Fun of Ultimate. These are the three lessons that, above all other things, I try to teach anyone who plays with me.

So that’s what I did for 8 years. I didn’t want to join any teams – I wanted to start them. Get the sport out there. It was after many bad experiences that, many years later, it all paid off. USP (the University of São Paulo) now has a new team. I’m just recently back in college and playing with the team I helped put together. This is our second year together competing, and the third practicing. It’s with them that I began training to improve my game. Since we are a Mixed team and I wanted to get more practice time in there, I also put together a new (Open) team: Dragons. Then early this year I also joined Brazzinga. It’s with these three that I have begun to really dedicate myself to becoming the best player I can be. The WUCC is the next step in that direction.

This is my first time abroad since I came to live in Brazil and my first time participating in an event that is organized by the WFDF. So I guess my perspective will be quite fresh as to what is going on at the games, especially since my experience in the sport is very restricted to the game’s style and level as it is played in Brazil. So maybe a bit of what I write will feel like I just had a the rush of adrenaline from riding my first roller-coaster. I ask that you bare with me and I’ll do my best not to let that be the only thing that you get from reading my posts.

Please feel free to write to me and share your thoughts. You can reach me at:
loganpendragon (at) gmail (dot) com.

In the meantime go play some Ultimate and remember to have fun.

Logan Pendragon