Frisbee update - Nationals & Worlds

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while. I know if I try to recap everything, I'll give up halfway and then nothing will get posted. So I'll have to do short work of things, and the dominant force in my life as of late has been Frisbee, so I'll start with that.

Nationals - Slow White took 2nd! or, Slow White took 2nd. Depending on how you look at it, 2nd is both great and awful. It's great because it means you made it to the finals -- and we beat Brass Monkey to get there, no small feat indeed. It sucks because it means you lost in the finals. We lost to Mischief 15-11. We had lost to them in power pools as well, and I think everyone on Slow going into the Finals was confident we could beat Mischief. We did not have a good game against them in pool play. And we played an amazing game to beat Brass Monkey in semis, so were coming into the Finals playing strong. But we did not bring it. Not to take away anything from Mischief (and I know some of you read my blog!) -- they brought it and played great and deserved to win. But we did not play anywhere near our potential, and that is disappointing. ON the other hand, we did make progress from the previous season. Baby steps, as they say. I don't think we were ready for the Finals. We weren't ready for Quarters last year; this year we made it a little further; next year...? I will say this, though: coming in 2nd is a great fucking motivator for the off-season.

Worlds - in Perth Australia! What an amazing experience. From the tournament to the entire trip. I've played in international tournaments before, for sure (Paganello comes to mind). But nothing with the grandeur and gravity of a World Championships. Sure, there is all this talk on RSD how the winners will have asterisks by their names because the top US & Canadian teams couldn't -- or didn't -- make the journey, but whatever. Besides, I think the Mixed division was legitimately strong, with CLX, Bad Larry, and I believe Whorshack bringing close to full squads. Brass Monkey was strong, picking up 10 ringers. We were a bit short-staffed at 14 -- Jasper and Rosie bailed last minute, getting "stuck" in Frankfurt when Jasper refused to get on another plane! (The entire story remains to be told, however, so my jury will be out until then.) 8 guys, 6 gals. For 11 games over 6 games -- a marathon event indeed. And we came in 3rd. Of which I am immensely proud. We did not pick up anyone not in some way on or associated with our team. The only 2 players not on the 2006 roster were J9, who played in 2005, and Miles, who tried out for us in '06 but couldn't play with us because he was studying abroad in Sydney. So I feel they are still legitimately Dwarfs. The 2 teams who placed higher than us -- Team Fisher Price from Vancouver and Brass Monkey -- were not "real" Mixed team. Each had a bunch of pick-ups (Brass Monkey picked up Ben Wiggins!). They were better than the squad we brought; they deserved to be in the finals. But I am nonetheless very happy with our accomplishments.

Yeah, so it was really cool to be at Worlds. It sorta hit me when I was in the captain's meeting, with all these great players from all over the world...I really felt like I didn't belong there. I do that quite often and quite easily -- I convince myself that I don't belong at these exclusive events, that it's a huge mistake that I ended up on a team that placed 2nd at Nationals and 3rd at Worlds. And that I have nothing to do with that success. They really could have done it without me; I am easily replaceable.

To be fair, I am not the best girl out there. There are others who can run faster, definitely others who can throw better, and others who can jump higher. But I'm still pretty darn good at defense. I know this. I know I'm a role player. And I can still work on those other areas -- speed, throws, ups -- but it doesn't take away from the fact that I *do* belong on this team, I *do* belong at these events. I'm not a super-star; I won't make or break a team. But I can contribute to a Nationals-level squad. For sure.

But I digress...or maybe not really...I don't remember doing much at Worlds, i.e. being a factor on the field, to be honest. I remember being frustrated the first day; I felt like I was running and running, and cutting and cutting, and not getting the disc, not doing much. The second day was better; part of it may have been that we played a much easier team; part of it may have been that we were figuring out how to play with each other. O & D players were being asked to step outside their narrowly defined roles, so it's understandable it took us a while to gel. The third day was perhaps my best day. We played two Canadian teams, Dis'Chords and Camelot, both who rely heavily on their women. It's sorta like I rose to the challenge. I felt like I was cutting really well in one or both of the games (I can't remember...) After that, not much of note. Woodies and RedLights both had good women that they used, but we/I contained them pretty well. I was starting to get tired...and then I sprained my ankle in the second-to-last-point in the last game on Thurs. I was able to play in the semi's and the Bronze Medal games on Friday, but I was only at 90%, which was frustrating. I definitely had some drops that I attribute to my ankle -- those semi-difficult catches that you normally get no problem, but because you're a little off -- usually it's when my last step is with my bad foot -- you don't get it. Suck. But I played. And played my heart out. I actually felt pretty good leg-wise in our last game. My girl didn't touch the disc much, and while I didn't thrown to much, I do feel like I was cutting well.

Yeah, so I guess I'm not left with a super-great taste in my mouth from my playing at Worlds, but it is something I can be happy about and build on for next season. I play on a team of really really good players, so I'm not going to stand out all the time, and that's OK.

On the social front, I met a lot of new, cool, awesome people. A lot of Americans, but that's OK, because I'm more likely to see them again. Got to know Brass Monkey better -- or at least the people playing with Brass for this tournament: Josh Greenough, Lauren Casey, Ben Wiggins, Pat Hard, Charlie, Sven, McT, Witt, Margo, Heather Brown, Kerry Sue, Jeff Dolan -- and Salsa and Yucei. CLX: Dave Karsten, Sean, Lana. Sub-Zero: Jeremy and Seth Grossinger. Double-Wide: Alphie (traded warm-ups with him), Idaho. Sockeye: Will Henry & Seth Crockford. A ton of people on Bootius Maximus and Eureka Golddiggaz (Aussie Mixed teams from Brisbane) including Johnny Mac and his dad Bruce. Thong (AU open, in the finals): Pottsy and Abra. Fi was there! Laney, some 7 Express peeps. Mischief: Paul, Shirley Wu, Tyler. Whorshack: Cama Sue. Boat-raced against Ozone, but don't really know I "met" any of them. And of course, as always, it was great to hang out with my team and create new memories with them.

I'll try to post more on the touristy part on my trip later...at least my thoughts on traveling with people...