Awesome.
That is all.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
MIT on TV??
A couple weeks ago, the team was contacted by the discovery channel on a show called Time Warp. Apparently it is hosted by an MIT professor and the slo-mo photographer lives near Boston. They were interested in the MIT team because of the connections with the host.
Anyway, after some emails back and forth, they came out to watch a practice today and to talk to the kids a little about ultimate. I got there late and the production people had already left, so no clue as to how it will go down. Anyway, we are going to film on May 22nd all day. I think they are just going to film slow motion throws, layouts, point blocks, and people catching.
It should be fun. I hope it promotes the sport in a positive light and works as a recruiting tool for the team.
More details to follow as I know more.
-josh
Anyway, after some emails back and forth, they came out to watch a practice today and to talk to the kids a little about ultimate. I got there late and the production people had already left, so no clue as to how it will go down. Anyway, we are going to film on May 22nd all day. I think they are just going to film slow motion throws, layouts, point blocks, and people catching.
It should be fun. I hope it promotes the sport in a positive light and works as a recruiting tool for the team.
More details to follow as I know more.
-josh
Monday, May 4, 2009
Regionals: we had a good run
My goal for the team this year was for them to make Sunday of regionals. It is pretty much my goal every year, but this year it was a bit of a stretch considering the fact that we lost every single game including all the consolation games at regionals last year.
We go into regionals with I think 15 players. About 10 of which I would consider "A team" if there was an A and B team split. The others show a lot of promise, but just aren't at regional level yet. The biggest hurdle as a team this year has been: 1.) Lack of numbers for the team and 2.) Communication, sideline voice, etc.
We go into the UConn game knowing they have a few good players, and that we should try hard to isolate them and win those matchups. MIT matched up well on the teams with a few stars this year, and were blown out by teams with no real stars but rather about 14-15 solid players.
I think we got down the first couple of points just playing jittery offense. Wide open pass, to wide open pass, to a deep look that is either to no one, or is just out of reach. A couple rock solid players are just sort of sleep walking through the game (another problem is that MIT classes don't start until like 10 a.m., so very few of them are used to being up at 8, let alone playing).
I call timeouts, remind them that the game won't be won by itself, and that we are playing a good team, and they are going to win if we don't work on defense. Finally, due to nothing I said, we start to play better. Andrew Ji is just starting to roll and getting layout D blocks, skies, and taking over the offense. This will be the theme throughout the tourney. Andrew and our other senior, Footsteps, played the best tourneys I have ever seen them play. The both played close to 100 points for the day (ouch), and they both were getting layout blocks even when battling cramps in the last game.
Anyway, the game is very back and forth, We normally get down, tie it up, and then get down by 3 again. It isn't until 10s that we trade the next two points and then score the next to to win in a cap 13-11. All in all, not a good start, we played a lot of ultimate already, and we aren't playing efficient. Luckily, our junk D we worked on to save some legs worked out well.
The next game is against middlebury. They aren't very deep either, but their top 5 or 6 players are all very talented. If they only had 1 or 3 solid players, we might have had a chance, but, they were too talented and athletic for us. oof. Tough loss. In the second half, I pull some players and play the younger kids.
We now have to bounce back off of a loss, something that MIT doesn't do very well at all. We walk to the new fields and find that UMaine has upset URI. This is a little bit of a surprise, but after seeing UMaine play in the first couple of points, it became clear how it happened.
UMaine ran a really cool give-n-go oriented handler motion with the ho stack cutters cutting and then looking to throw break side dishey passes to the handlers streaking up the field. In other words, they just never stopped moving for one second. For the first couple of posessions, we never had them hold the disc longer than 2. That was a bad sign. Looong game.
On defense, they ran a very aggressive junk against a ho stack that was effective in making us throw a lot of passes. I didn't spend too much time on handler defense and different styles of marking this year, and that came back to bite me as only a handful of kids could actually play D on the handlers without being toasted just watching the guy throw and go. It is ironic that i am a handler defender I know.
Anyway, back to the game, they take half 8-5. Andrew, Owen, and I give a speech about how this is it, the game is in our control, but we have to want it. We then come out a little flat as the kids are trying to learn how to play with emotion and not be so robotic. Then, the blocks start flowing, and we start to climb back into the game on the back of andrew ji and footsteps. The kids have also realized that UMaine has no answer defensively for andrew, and they start jacking it deep to him with abandon.
We tie it at 12s, make it 13-12 us, I think at some point though, really close to 15 all, we get broken when one of their players just played good dump D and got a well-earned block. We pull at 16 all, they drop a contested dump pass, and then we work it up, and i believe score on an upline pass to footsteps for the game winner.
I think in hindsight, we should have forced middle to slow down the give-n-gos. Our marks in gerneral are sub-par though, and our communication on the field is minimal with only about 4 players that routinely talk on the field.
We then get ready to play BC. They are not tremendously talented as a whole, but they are deeeep. They have about 18-20 players who are all capable and competant to play at a regionals level, and they have this kid named Phil who is a talented cutter and handler.
We were out of water, and we couldn't find the spicket. That was a little annoying. We already had players cramping in the last game, and I knew we were in trouble. Too many points played by too few players.
We start out, and I think go down a couple early. We are fighting and working, and as more and more kids tire, Andrew picks up even more of the load. We tie it up close to 5s, and then i think they take half 8-5 or 6. Phil's hammers are giving us troubles and he throws them late in the count, and the kids are too tired to react to them. He is also doing a nice job of keeping the O moving when not throwing hammers.
We take the full halftime, and we are physically spanked. I have seen the look at a team that has played too many points before (regionals second half against dartmouth 2 years ago), and it is a terrible thing to see as a coach. There was nothing I wanted to do more than to go out and play with them.
Everyone looks around in the huddle, and are determined to leave it all on the field. We come out and start to claw our way back into the game slowly. Again, the d's come through andrew and footsteps, and the goals come primarily from andrew just out-athleting BC. The game is taking it's toll on him though, and he is starting to cramp after every goal.
I call timeouts just to rest people, and we get back into the game at 9s. they go up two breaks i believe, and then we score to make it 11-10. I call a timeout to rest some more and get ready for the final push, but there just isn't any gas left in the tank. we get several ds but we start to sputter on O, handlers missing dumps, throws to space to people not there, and people standing around just letting their man poach off.
BC runs away with it 15-10. the last point, the kids are so tired that they don't count properly to match-up on D, communication rears its ugly head one last time.....
In one way it is a good thing that they won because either way, they were going to be the fresher of the two teams on sunday. no amount of ice baths can wash away 100 points in a day.
on the other hand, it would have been a really nice way to end a coaching career to see the kids you coached for 4 years get to experience the magic of sunday of regionals where anything can happen. It would have also gotten andrew ji exposure to others that don't know how good he is. he has one of the highest ceilings out of anyone i have ever coached, and i expect that sometime within the next couple of years, his impact on the club series will be known.
I guess as a consolation, i know that i coached 2 players for the full 4 years of college and both of them are capable of contributing to a club national level ultimate team. something to be proud of, but i couldn't say that if they didn't work so hard as individuals.
Anyway, that is it for the season. Club tryouts for ironside and sons of liberty tomorrow, and a bunch of MIT kids are trying out, so it should be fun to play with them. I hope all of them make sons of liberty since that will be a great experience for them.
-josh
We go into regionals with I think 15 players. About 10 of which I would consider "A team" if there was an A and B team split. The others show a lot of promise, but just aren't at regional level yet. The biggest hurdle as a team this year has been: 1.) Lack of numbers for the team and 2.) Communication, sideline voice, etc.
We go into the UConn game knowing they have a few good players, and that we should try hard to isolate them and win those matchups. MIT matched up well on the teams with a few stars this year, and were blown out by teams with no real stars but rather about 14-15 solid players.
I think we got down the first couple of points just playing jittery offense. Wide open pass, to wide open pass, to a deep look that is either to no one, or is just out of reach. A couple rock solid players are just sort of sleep walking through the game (another problem is that MIT classes don't start until like 10 a.m., so very few of them are used to being up at 8, let alone playing).
I call timeouts, remind them that the game won't be won by itself, and that we are playing a good team, and they are going to win if we don't work on defense. Finally, due to nothing I said, we start to play better. Andrew Ji is just starting to roll and getting layout D blocks, skies, and taking over the offense. This will be the theme throughout the tourney. Andrew and our other senior, Footsteps, played the best tourneys I have ever seen them play. The both played close to 100 points for the day (ouch), and they both were getting layout blocks even when battling cramps in the last game.
Anyway, the game is very back and forth, We normally get down, tie it up, and then get down by 3 again. It isn't until 10s that we trade the next two points and then score the next to to win in a cap 13-11. All in all, not a good start, we played a lot of ultimate already, and we aren't playing efficient. Luckily, our junk D we worked on to save some legs worked out well.
The next game is against middlebury. They aren't very deep either, but their top 5 or 6 players are all very talented. If they only had 1 or 3 solid players, we might have had a chance, but, they were too talented and athletic for us. oof. Tough loss. In the second half, I pull some players and play the younger kids.
We now have to bounce back off of a loss, something that MIT doesn't do very well at all. We walk to the new fields and find that UMaine has upset URI. This is a little bit of a surprise, but after seeing UMaine play in the first couple of points, it became clear how it happened.
UMaine ran a really cool give-n-go oriented handler motion with the ho stack cutters cutting and then looking to throw break side dishey passes to the handlers streaking up the field. In other words, they just never stopped moving for one second. For the first couple of posessions, we never had them hold the disc longer than 2. That was a bad sign. Looong game.
On defense, they ran a very aggressive junk against a ho stack that was effective in making us throw a lot of passes. I didn't spend too much time on handler defense and different styles of marking this year, and that came back to bite me as only a handful of kids could actually play D on the handlers without being toasted just watching the guy throw and go. It is ironic that i am a handler defender I know.
Anyway, back to the game, they take half 8-5. Andrew, Owen, and I give a speech about how this is it, the game is in our control, but we have to want it. We then come out a little flat as the kids are trying to learn how to play with emotion and not be so robotic. Then, the blocks start flowing, and we start to climb back into the game on the back of andrew ji and footsteps. The kids have also realized that UMaine has no answer defensively for andrew, and they start jacking it deep to him with abandon.
We tie it at 12s, make it 13-12 us, I think at some point though, really close to 15 all, we get broken when one of their players just played good dump D and got a well-earned block. We pull at 16 all, they drop a contested dump pass, and then we work it up, and i believe score on an upline pass to footsteps for the game winner.
I think in hindsight, we should have forced middle to slow down the give-n-gos. Our marks in gerneral are sub-par though, and our communication on the field is minimal with only about 4 players that routinely talk on the field.
We then get ready to play BC. They are not tremendously talented as a whole, but they are deeeep. They have about 18-20 players who are all capable and competant to play at a regionals level, and they have this kid named Phil who is a talented cutter and handler.
We were out of water, and we couldn't find the spicket. That was a little annoying. We already had players cramping in the last game, and I knew we were in trouble. Too many points played by too few players.
We start out, and I think go down a couple early. We are fighting and working, and as more and more kids tire, Andrew picks up even more of the load. We tie it up close to 5s, and then i think they take half 8-5 or 6. Phil's hammers are giving us troubles and he throws them late in the count, and the kids are too tired to react to them. He is also doing a nice job of keeping the O moving when not throwing hammers.
We take the full halftime, and we are physically spanked. I have seen the look at a team that has played too many points before (regionals second half against dartmouth 2 years ago), and it is a terrible thing to see as a coach. There was nothing I wanted to do more than to go out and play with them.
Everyone looks around in the huddle, and are determined to leave it all on the field. We come out and start to claw our way back into the game slowly. Again, the d's come through andrew and footsteps, and the goals come primarily from andrew just out-athleting BC. The game is taking it's toll on him though, and he is starting to cramp after every goal.
I call timeouts just to rest people, and we get back into the game at 9s. they go up two breaks i believe, and then we score to make it 11-10. I call a timeout to rest some more and get ready for the final push, but there just isn't any gas left in the tank. we get several ds but we start to sputter on O, handlers missing dumps, throws to space to people not there, and people standing around just letting their man poach off.
BC runs away with it 15-10. the last point, the kids are so tired that they don't count properly to match-up on D, communication rears its ugly head one last time.....
In one way it is a good thing that they won because either way, they were going to be the fresher of the two teams on sunday. no amount of ice baths can wash away 100 points in a day.
on the other hand, it would have been a really nice way to end a coaching career to see the kids you coached for 4 years get to experience the magic of sunday of regionals where anything can happen. It would have also gotten andrew ji exposure to others that don't know how good he is. he has one of the highest ceilings out of anyone i have ever coached, and i expect that sometime within the next couple of years, his impact on the club series will be known.
I guess as a consolation, i know that i coached 2 players for the full 4 years of college and both of them are capable of contributing to a club national level ultimate team. something to be proud of, but i couldn't say that if they didn't work so hard as individuals.
Anyway, that is it for the season. Club tryouts for ironside and sons of liberty tomorrow, and a bunch of MIT kids are trying out, so it should be fun to play with them. I hope all of them make sons of liberty since that will be a great experience for them.
-josh
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
I never put on a uniform to play a game.
..... I put on a uniform to win. - Larry Bird
I have never had the desire to impose your will to win on a game more succinctly described than that. Read those two sentences again, and again, and again.
This year, MIT got jerseys early in the season, so a lot of people received jerseys who eventually cut themselves because they couldn't handle the late night winter practices, track workouts, and outside practice on the astro-turf in 25 degree weather. In my mind it cheapened what a uniform stands for or what it means to belong to it.
If I had my way, the jerseys would have been passed out shortly before sectionals. By then, the roster is set, those who still remain know what it means to work for one another, has been through the ups and downs, and understands what it means to take a group of individuals and make it something greater than the sum of those individuals.
In essence, what it is to be a TEAM. Everyone is working to bring out the strengths of each other while letting others lean on them to overcome their weaknesses.
We are in bonus ball time. Every point we win means that we get to play one more point with each other. And, if you think about it, that is really what we are fighting for; to extend the season.
We are going into regionals seeded 8th. Anyone in the top 12 or so could beat anyone. The difference is all about who wants to win. And, hopefully, looking into your teammates eyes early saturday morning will be reason enough to get that fire, that ball of hate for the other team trying to end your season.
Play with your heart.
We come out flat too often. We wait around until we are down 4-0 and then start slowly playing, sometimes, we don't even start until the second half. Don't wait for a reason.....
i could write pages and pages about the difference between wanting to want to win, and flat out wanting to win, but i think al pacino says it best.
http://youtube. com/watch? v=9rFx6OFooCs
That is heart, that is the ball of hate, and that working so hard for every inch of the field for your teammate and brother so you can play one more second, one more point, one more game, and one more tournament with him.
You guys have worked so hard to build back from 2 years ago. Don't throw it away by waiting for a reason to play D.
Work hard, take the extra few steps to set up a cut, step out on your throw, clear hard, or reposition yourself on D.
Don't wait for a reason. Do not wait for a reason.
You already have a reason: each other.
Stomp on their throats. Don't let anyone or anything stand in your way.
Inch by inch.....Tech on seven
-josh
I have never had the desire to impose your will to win on a game more succinctly described than that. Read those two sentences again, and again, and again.
This year, MIT got jerseys early in the season, so a lot of people received jerseys who eventually cut themselves because they couldn't handle the late night winter practices, track workouts, and outside practice on the astro-turf in 25 degree weather. In my mind it cheapened what a uniform stands for or what it means to belong to it.
If I had my way, the jerseys would have been passed out shortly before sectionals. By then, the roster is set, those who still remain know what it means to work for one another, has been through the ups and downs, and understands what it means to take a group of individuals and make it something greater than the sum of those individuals.
In essence, what it is to be a TEAM. Everyone is working to bring out the strengths of each other while letting others lean on them to overcome their weaknesses.
We are in bonus ball time. Every point we win means that we get to play one more point with each other. And, if you think about it, that is really what we are fighting for; to extend the season.
We are going into regionals seeded 8th. Anyone in the top 12 or so could beat anyone. The difference is all about who wants to win. And, hopefully, looking into your teammates eyes early saturday morning will be reason enough to get that fire, that ball of hate for the other team trying to end your season.
Play with your heart.
We come out flat too often. We wait around until we are down 4-0 and then start slowly playing, sometimes, we don't even start until the second half. Don't wait for a reason.....
i could write pages and pages about the difference between wanting to want to win, and flat out wanting to win, but i think al pacino says it best.
http://youtube. com/watch? v=9rFx6OFooCs
That is heart, that is the ball of hate, and that working so hard for every inch of the field for your teammate and brother so you can play one more second, one more point, one more game, and one more tournament with him.
You guys have worked so hard to build back from 2 years ago. Don't throw it away by waiting for a reason to play D.
Work hard, take the extra few steps to set up a cut, step out on your throw, clear hard, or reposition yourself on D.
Don't wait for a reason. Do not wait for a reason.
You already have a reason: each other.
Stomp on their throats. Don't let anyone or anything stand in your way.
Inch by inch.....Tech on seven
-josh
Friday, April 24, 2009
Ramping Up for Regionals....
MIT is busy learning some new tricks for regionals, but mostly, we are working on the same old fundamentals since really, the team that plays their game the best normally wins.
We are focusing on continuation cuts, attacking deep more, handler motion, etc.
The kids have an alumni scrimmage Saturday, practice tuesday, scrimmage vs. sons of liberty wednesday, and the final practice on thursday to go over any loose ends.
On Thursday after practice, I arranged the team to do a workshop with my friend and former Metal teammate, Max Woolf, who is a motivational speaker / life coach. I think this will be really good for the kids to get in the right mindset for regionals.
I think a lot of ultimate, and a lot of college ultimate is basically about who wants to win more. There are a lot of mental headcases in this sport, and the baggage they carry onto the field with them amazes me. I don't want that to be something that holds us back.
-josh
We are focusing on continuation cuts, attacking deep more, handler motion, etc.
The kids have an alumni scrimmage Saturday, practice tuesday, scrimmage vs. sons of liberty wednesday, and the final practice on thursday to go over any loose ends.
On Thursday after practice, I arranged the team to do a workshop with my friend and former Metal teammate, Max Woolf, who is a motivational speaker / life coach. I think this will be really good for the kids to get in the right mindset for regionals.
I think a lot of ultimate, and a lot of college ultimate is basically about who wants to win more. There are a lot of mental headcases in this sport, and the baggage they carry onto the field with them amazes me. I don't want that to be something that holds us back.
-josh
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sectionals Recap...
We rolled into Saturday 14 deep. 3 rookies, 4 sophomores, 2 juniors, and 2 seniors, and 3 grad students (only one in his last year of eligibility (and first on the team)). I think that is the breakdown at least.
We made two even lines, dubbed ingeniously, "line 1" and "line 2", and played each line for 2 points at a time for the first 2 games. The first game was against wentworth. They had a couple dangerous players, but were mostly a young team. We made sure to bookend their good cutter and force their main handler with big lefty throws out, and beat them 15-6.
We then played Bentley-B, and beat them 15-3. The last couple of the points, we played what would be our "o line" against them to get them used to playing together.
We have had several key injuries ankle injuries that have left us with only 3 handlers and missing a couple good O cutters, so this entire weekend we worked on having an efficient O. We focused on moving the disc quickly, communication amongst the handlers, and good hard cuts and clears from the cutters.
We then had our big showdown of the day which was Northeastern. The kids were pretty pumped up to play them since they played them and won in a very close game under the lights a couple of weeks ago at MIT, but the victory was far too close to leave them confident about it. We start on O, score, and then score the next 3 points to make it 4-0.
We go zone, they score with their main handler, piccard?, picking it apart. At some point, their tall fast kid casey rolls his ankle. We trade until 5-2, and then we score the next 5 in a row.
We then go back to line 1 and line 2 trying to play everyone and finish 15-5. Pretty good day for MIT. We played aggressive D. Got a lot of Ds on in cuts either by forcing a bad throw, or by smothering the dump, and we won a lot of the air battles.
We go to olive garden, everyone is happy. It should also be noted that we played on quite possibly the worst fields ever and came out injury free (i made everyone with ankle issues in the past wear their braces), but, we wouldn't have been able to play sectionals if not for those fields.
Sunday...
We come out on Sunday 15 strong with an additional rookie.
We begin by playing Harvard. MIT had a good warm-up, everything was clicking, and they were fired up to start. We come out on fire, getting numerous Ds and bookending their cuts which worked very well for stagnating their flow. We made sure not to let stubbs throw his backhand upwind because we felt we had a better chance at d'ing his long flick hucks. We had numerous players step up and made big plays on O and D for use, and we took half 8-5. Our handlers were moving the disc well, and we responded to the clam and junk well by moving it around and picking apart the holes.
We then start the second half well, but Harvard makes a late run getting to within a break in the cap, and we manage to punch in the final upwinder on a long huck to andrew ji.
We then have a two hour bye. We do our best to eat, get in cars to get warm, and drink, but once we get back out to warm up, the spring is a little lost. We start the game against tufts, and have a couple hiccups and then tufts proceeds to walk all over us. We proceed to look tired, frazzeled, and have numerous unforced turn-overs. At around the beginning of the game, ji bruises his heal and cannot play for the rest of the weekend.
It should be noted that tufts good D accounts for a lot of these throwaways. To date, they definitely have our number, but with that game over, we know we have regionals... and potentially another chance to play them.
Aside: Whatever tufts does as a program is pretty awesome. Their C team is larger than our team.
The 2/3 game is next, and Harvard was looking just as tired as us. We agree to play sooner than the 50 minutes that we were supposed to wait to play that round because both teams don't want to cool down only to have to warm back up. We come out and struggle a little to fill andrew's cutting role. Cody and Phys have done a lot of deep cutting and it is starting to show, our handlers stopped talking and cutting to create space for one another, and we started to have more and more miscues on offense. However, we never gave up fighting, and we still had numerous layout Ds, scrappy play, but on offense our tired legs just aren't getting it done to reward the effort.
We wind up losing fairly handedly. Overall, although I would have liked to have ended the weekend on a higher note, I think the team did very well. We held seed, proved to ourselves that we can play with anyone, and the loses will give us motivation for the next couple of weeks. We have lots to work on, and the team is getting better and better by the day. I am pretty excited for regionals, and since this will be my last season coaching MIT, I want to see the kids I have coached since freshman year be rewarded for all their hard work they have put into building this team in the past couple seasons.
-josh
We made two even lines, dubbed ingeniously, "line 1" and "line 2", and played each line for 2 points at a time for the first 2 games. The first game was against wentworth. They had a couple dangerous players, but were mostly a young team. We made sure to bookend their good cutter and force their main handler with big lefty throws out, and beat them 15-6.
We then played Bentley-B, and beat them 15-3. The last couple of the points, we played what would be our "o line" against them to get them used to playing together.
We have had several key injuries ankle injuries that have left us with only 3 handlers and missing a couple good O cutters, so this entire weekend we worked on having an efficient O. We focused on moving the disc quickly, communication amongst the handlers, and good hard cuts and clears from the cutters.
We then had our big showdown of the day which was Northeastern. The kids were pretty pumped up to play them since they played them and won in a very close game under the lights a couple of weeks ago at MIT, but the victory was far too close to leave them confident about it. We start on O, score, and then score the next 3 points to make it 4-0.
We go zone, they score with their main handler, piccard?, picking it apart. At some point, their tall fast kid casey rolls his ankle. We trade until 5-2, and then we score the next 5 in a row.
We then go back to line 1 and line 2 trying to play everyone and finish 15-5. Pretty good day for MIT. We played aggressive D. Got a lot of Ds on in cuts either by forcing a bad throw, or by smothering the dump, and we won a lot of the air battles.
We go to olive garden, everyone is happy. It should also be noted that we played on quite possibly the worst fields ever and came out injury free (i made everyone with ankle issues in the past wear their braces), but, we wouldn't have been able to play sectionals if not for those fields.
Sunday...
We come out on Sunday 15 strong with an additional rookie.
We begin by playing Harvard. MIT had a good warm-up, everything was clicking, and they were fired up to start. We come out on fire, getting numerous Ds and bookending their cuts which worked very well for stagnating their flow. We made sure not to let stubbs throw his backhand upwind because we felt we had a better chance at d'ing his long flick hucks. We had numerous players step up and made big plays on O and D for use, and we took half 8-5. Our handlers were moving the disc well, and we responded to the clam and junk well by moving it around and picking apart the holes.
We then start the second half well, but Harvard makes a late run getting to within a break in the cap, and we manage to punch in the final upwinder on a long huck to andrew ji.
We then have a two hour bye. We do our best to eat, get in cars to get warm, and drink, but once we get back out to warm up, the spring is a little lost. We start the game against tufts, and have a couple hiccups and then tufts proceeds to walk all over us. We proceed to look tired, frazzeled, and have numerous unforced turn-overs. At around the beginning of the game, ji bruises his heal and cannot play for the rest of the weekend.
It should be noted that tufts good D accounts for a lot of these throwaways. To date, they definitely have our number, but with that game over, we know we have regionals... and potentially another chance to play them.
Aside: Whatever tufts does as a program is pretty awesome. Their C team is larger than our team.
The 2/3 game is next, and Harvard was looking just as tired as us. We agree to play sooner than the 50 minutes that we were supposed to wait to play that round because both teams don't want to cool down only to have to warm back up. We come out and struggle a little to fill andrew's cutting role. Cody and Phys have done a lot of deep cutting and it is starting to show, our handlers stopped talking and cutting to create space for one another, and we started to have more and more miscues on offense. However, we never gave up fighting, and we still had numerous layout Ds, scrappy play, but on offense our tired legs just aren't getting it done to reward the effort.
We wind up losing fairly handedly. Overall, although I would have liked to have ended the weekend on a higher note, I think the team did very well. We held seed, proved to ourselves that we can play with anyone, and the loses will give us motivation for the next couple of weeks. We have lots to work on, and the team is getting better and better by the day. I am pretty excited for regionals, and since this will be my last season coaching MIT, I want to see the kids I have coached since freshman year be rewarded for all their hard work they have put into building this team in the past couple seasons.
-josh
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Ouch....
We got smoked tonight. Tufts played pretty well (we really didn't give them an opportunity to play great), but the biggest opponent was ourselves. The team got weirdly intimidated and played very frantic offense.
Around the endzone, we abandoned our dump-swing, and tried to rely on really hard breaks and bending throws to space.... which never work.
I thought we played okay to good defensively. We had some points where we generated turns on hard man and zone D, but, we quickly squandered those opportunities with throwaways.
We need to work on marking. We aren't active enough. We are either doing the stupid college get really tight and don't move and wonder why you get broken mark, or we are doing the stand at a 45 and don't move and wonder why the huck went off mark. We just aren't being dynamic.
We are currently having trouble adjusting to clam or zone for a few. This is because our handlers are holding the disc for too long letting the D get a good look at things instead of throwing to what is there quickly and having the D adjust / catch up. Hopefully we will clear this up at tomorrows practice.
-josh
Around the endzone, we abandoned our dump-swing, and tried to rely on really hard breaks and bending throws to space.... which never work.
I thought we played okay to good defensively. We had some points where we generated turns on hard man and zone D, but, we quickly squandered those opportunities with throwaways.
We need to work on marking. We aren't active enough. We are either doing the stupid college get really tight and don't move and wonder why you get broken mark, or we are doing the stand at a 45 and don't move and wonder why the huck went off mark. We just aren't being dynamic.
We are currently having trouble adjusting to clam or zone for a few. This is because our handlers are holding the disc for too long letting the D get a good look at things instead of throwing to what is there quickly and having the D adjust / catch up. Hopefully we will clear this up at tomorrows practice.
-josh
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