Sledding Into Spring Season

As we go into the winter months, and snow engulfs our practice fields, we are once again forced inside to battle for turf space at the Lied. Even with the new (and completely unnecessary) additions to the building, that have successfully wasted more of our tuition money, we still feel the longingness to move back outside. This year, ISU is having us share an hour and a half time slot twice a week with our men’s team, ISUC. While this does allow us a little more time to flirt with the boys, it also limits our time on open space to throw, drill, and scrimmage. With this in mind, our amazing coaches have worked out a plan which can only lead to success.

With the famous Dr. Rachel Derscheid infusing our minds with offensive ultimate brilliance, scoring will be a breeze by spring. Inspiration flows thick in these Tuesday practices, while learning from the woman who started it all. Our frightening practices of 8’s have quickly transformed into 15’s with the new times and days.

While Tuesdays prove invigorating, Thursday practices have quickly become a pleasant new form of “Thirsty Thursday.” Melissa “Gibbler” Gibbs may no longer be hammering out scores for scorned on the field, but we have managed to keep her on our sideline to teach us the tenacious defense that can only be expressed from a woman scorned. Although I thought her vacation time after nationals would give me an edge in my personal season goal (to look better than Gibbs by nationals), she stepped on the turf Thursday and I realized I have a long way to go.

If brains and beauty aren’t enough, then Sunday practices are what will carry our team through the finals. Our third coach, Tai “I’m not going to even try to spell her whole name” wo, is pure badass. In fact, my exact quote the first time I met her was “You’re Tai? They have written text books about you!” After a winter of learning Tai’s intensity, field awareness, and cutting strategies, there is no doubt in my mind that Scorned is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

In our last game of the fall, scorned hit a wall and our lack of physical fitness lost us our edge. As Gibbs yelled from the sidelines, “Come on, are you really that tired?!?” Lauren looked at me and gasped, “Yes Gibbs, we are really that tired.” With each practice indoors, we are increasing our intensity and our level of fitness. Whether it is Monday sprints or Wednesday plyos, Scorned is taking every opportunity to shape our bodies into perfect replicas of Melissa Gibbs. Can you imagine, 7 Gibblers on the line?.. Holy shit that would be scary.

With Mardi Gras being our first tournament of the spring, training on all levels is well in store. The return of some old veterans has sparked some excitement on the team, and with some scary-talented rookies, a jacked up team, the number of a really good Louisiana attorney, and the possibility of vans, we will be making the 1044 mile trip to represent for the Central Region.

Other tournaments of the spring include Frost Bite (for our rookies), Midwest Throw Down, Centex, and Fool’s Fest. With new girls showing up at practice each day, Frost Bite should turn out to be a great experience for our younger ladies, and a great time for the elders. Heckling on the sidelines will definitely be in store as the Women take the field, despite snow, wind, or rain. Spring break is looking like a repeat of my summer, with a visit to Texas. I will definitely have to visit the Monkeys in San Anton, before we take to one of the most competitive women’s tournaments in the nation. Centex. My mind is flooding with wonderful memories of Fool’s Fest from 2008 as I look at the list. I can’t wait to see what this year’s festival will have in store! Midwest Throw Down should once again prove to be a small preview of the Central Regional tournament. I’m counting on Hoistad to pull the disc further than Gibbs’s 200+ yarder from last year.

While most of our ladies direct their fury this next week towards their finals, my studying will most likely involve excited planning. With the help of Stine (who is just as eager about this as I am), I am continuing to plan the (first annual?) winter scrimmage between Scorned, Sol, and the Bellas. The ultimate is bound to be enough to rock our socks off, but some additional excitement is in store. With new ideas every day, the party to match this ridiculous scrimmage is in store. Jazz’s and Georgia’s silent threats have Robyn practicing her disc racing diligently, while I am stealing karaoke machines from 6 year olds and Magical Liu is renting PA systems. Given 3 months to plan, absolutely nothing else to do, and three sick teams involved, you can only expect a legendary event. The moral of this story kids, don’t take all of your hard classes your first two years.

Clearly I have written entirely too long of a blog here, so I will end on an exciting new update. Things are looking very promising on the Woman Scorned disc frontier. At the previous exec meeting, disc ideas were voted on and a template will soon be sent in for quote! Woman Scorned has never made discs before, so you should all be sure to buy one (or like ten) of these before they’re gone! Finals jersey (which we won thanks to Britt at NO WISC) designs were decided on as well. A yellow jersey with the ORIGINAL WS logo on the back and number and flame on the front. When we put those jerseys on, it will be a representation of past to present, beginning to now. All who have come before us, to make our team what it is today. Victory will be the least of what we are playing for.

Enjoy the snow!

-Gap (with some help from Stine and Casey!)