Thanks WL!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Great Resource, Now More Accessible
Check out this great resource manual written by great ultimate players and made available by Without Limits. This entire manual is directed toward College Women's (<--spell check really wants me to put 'womenfolk' here, and to be honest I really do too) ultimate, impressive huh? I'd recommend reading it. It has served both helpful and entertaining, especially on long car rides to and from Philly. :) http://issuu.com/mdng10/docs/college_women_s_ultimate_resources_manual
Thanks WL!
Thanks WL!
Monday, November 22, 2010
No Wisconsiquences
No Wisconsiquences-Delafield, WI
Leaving Ames for No Wisco, I remember thinking that there was no way that the weekend would live up to how excited I was for it. Fortunately, I was proved wrong. Feeling overwhelmed by school, I prepared myself for a nice 5 hour drive filled with head phones and studying. As I was sitting there like a good student learning about how low manganese causes tetany, BAMB! ... We killed Bambi :(.
Thankfully, Cassie's trucker-like driving skills saved all of our lives and no one was hurt, plus the car was still drivable. We pulled over and did the whole "cops come to write up a report" thing which took a while. In the mean time, we met some really nice neighbors. After the cop taped our bumper back on (with some duct tape Becca had conveniently just bought at a gas station), we got in our cars ready to make the rest of the trip! ....however, that was not possible because Annichode left her lights on and killed her battery. The first thought was, "No biggie, two cars here, we will just jump it!" However, on second thought, we didn't have jumper cables and even if we did, Cassie's hood was crunched shut. Soooo we went to find the neighbors who pulled up in a huge pickup decked out in Dolphins fan gear to save the day-except they couldn't figure out how to pop the hood so the cop came back and figured that out. IT WAS A MESS! Finally, we got back on the road and had a fairly uneventful rest of the drive.
Saturday games started out great, although it was a little chilly. As the weather warmed up, so did our game AND our cheers. We themed the day's team spirit cheers after Kary Perry songs and cheered each team with a unique cheer, in true WS tradition. Scorned played hard and came together as a team well. Our pool play games were against North Park (13-0), MN-Duluth (13-1), WI-Milwakee (13-3), and Ohio-Wesleyan (13-5). Lauren and Keiser were guest sideline appearances and made the tourney that much better!
The party at No Wisco was great. There was dancing, flip cup, socializing, running around the hotel, and one of the teams (I think WI-Milwakee???) even a small boat race. While Bosco, Top Model and a few others snatched some Patagonia gear, we did not win team jerseys this year. Having our lucky charm, Britt "money" Schenk, studying abroad this Fall was very detrimental to our winning streak. Thankfully, she will be back soon along with a few other world travelers, just in time for spring season!
Sunday we started off our first game against our good friends on SOL (fun fact: this blog was actually started because of their request last year). To make the game even better, Coach Thug (Martha Harris) and Coach Anna Hettler decided to cleat up and show their skills on the field. Both teams traded points as we heckled each other up and down the field. In the end, Scorned tightened our line a little and took the victory (13-10) to advance to quarters. Quarters was against the Ninja's of the University of Minnesota. The wind picked up significantly in this game and WS got the privilege of playing some zone offense. WS kept cool and finished the game 10-5. Semis brought us up against an old regional competitor, Bella Donna from UW-Madison. With a lot of new faces among many familiar ones, this team still brought their game to the field. BD took the lead from the start and although WS fought to take it back, we were unsuccessful. This was a great game with sick layouts, huge hucks, and bodies being thrown everywhere. (8-13)
Highlights: Hitting Bambi, meeting the Dolphin fans, meeting the cute police officer, sneaking into the hot tub, Taco Bell run to get 25 tacos, Lauren's Fun Fetti cookies, "inverse bookends", the f-word game, icing Reebs, making up new cheers for every team, rookie lines, "shots for drops," red-on-red, playing ultimate.
Lowlights: Killing Bambi, not winning team jerseys, Annihka's name being called to win this hat but she was peeing, getting lost a lot.
Leaving Ames for No Wisco, I remember thinking that there was no way that the weekend would live up to how excited I was for it. Fortunately, I was proved wrong. Feeling overwhelmed by school, I prepared myself for a nice 5 hour drive filled with head phones and studying. As I was sitting there like a good student learning about how low manganese causes tetany, BAMB! ... We killed Bambi :(.
Thankfully, Cassie's trucker-like driving skills saved all of our lives and no one was hurt, plus the car was still drivable. We pulled over and did the whole "cops come to write up a report" thing which took a while. In the mean time, we met some really nice neighbors. After the cop taped our bumper back on (with some duct tape Becca had conveniently just bought at a gas station), we got in our cars ready to make the rest of the trip! ....however, that was not possible because Annichode left her lights on and killed her battery. The first thought was, "No biggie, two cars here, we will just jump it!" However, on second thought, we didn't have jumper cables and even if we did, Cassie's hood was crunched shut. Soooo we went to find the neighbors who pulled up in a huge pickup decked out in Dolphins fan gear to save the day-except they couldn't figure out how to pop the hood so the cop came back and figured that out. IT WAS A MESS! Finally, we got back on the road and had a fairly uneventful rest of the drive.
Saturday games started out great, although it was a little chilly. As the weather warmed up, so did our game AND our cheers. We themed the day's team spirit cheers after Kary Perry songs and cheered each team with a unique cheer, in true WS tradition. Scorned played hard and came together as a team well. Our pool play games were against North Park (13-0), MN-Duluth (13-1), WI-Milwakee (13-3), and Ohio-Wesleyan (13-5). Lauren and Keiser were guest sideline appearances and made the tourney that much better!
The party at No Wisco was great. There was dancing, flip cup, socializing, running around the hotel, and one of the teams (I think WI-Milwakee???) even a small boat race. While Bosco, Top Model and a few others snatched some Patagonia gear, we did not win team jerseys this year. Having our lucky charm, Britt "money" Schenk, studying abroad this Fall was very detrimental to our winning streak. Thankfully, she will be back soon along with a few other world travelers, just in time for spring season!
Sunday we started off our first game against our good friends on SOL (fun fact: this blog was actually started because of their request last year). To make the game even better, Coach Thug (Martha Harris) and Coach Anna Hettler decided to cleat up and show their skills on the field. Both teams traded points as we heckled each other up and down the field. In the end, Scorned tightened our line a little and took the victory (13-10) to advance to quarters. Quarters was against the Ninja's of the University of Minnesota. The wind picked up significantly in this game and WS got the privilege of playing some zone offense. WS kept cool and finished the game 10-5. Semis brought us up against an old regional competitor, Bella Donna from UW-Madison. With a lot of new faces among many familiar ones, this team still brought their game to the field. BD took the lead from the start and although WS fought to take it back, we were unsuccessful. This was a great game with sick layouts, huge hucks, and bodies being thrown everywhere. (8-13)
Highlights: Hitting Bambi, meeting the Dolphin fans, meeting the cute police officer, sneaking into the hot tub, Taco Bell run to get 25 tacos, Lauren's Fun Fetti cookies, "inverse bookends", the f-word game, icing Reebs, making up new cheers for every team, rookie lines, "shots for drops," red-on-red, playing ultimate.
Lowlights: Killing Bambi, not winning team jerseys, Annihka's name being called to win this hat but she was peeing, getting lost a lot.
Exit 69
Exit 69-Northfield, MN
After seeing the learning curve at Grinnell, our brilliant captains decided to write history and go X/Y (for the first time ever) to Exit 69. Woman Scorned split up into teams of only 9 girls and faced the competition head on! Although we were separated by several fields and a hill, our hearts still beat together and both teams fought their games hard.
Team X-treme ended their Saturday with only one loss against Saucy Nancy, while Team Yoink (the team I was on, so I actually remember things about games) finished out 4-0 with wins over Eclipse, Freya, Syzygy, and Saucy Nancy. Although we were only 9 strong, both teams fought like we had a full team, and offensive flow and defensive cohesiveness were incredible!
The Hoistad family was kind enough to host us that weekend. They were wonderful hosts and we were once again reminded that Hoistad's mom is, in fact, like 10 times cooler than Wastey herself.
Sunday play started off great right away. Although there was a lot of confusion with the brackets and who played who, conclusions were agreed upon and X-treme ended up playing Yoink in semis. Team X won the game while Saucy battled Syzygy on their home ground. In a close game, Syzygy took the final point and the victory putting them against our combined full squad in the finals. Team X-treme Yoinkers was on fire from the get go. With sick puts from the handlers, insane grabs by cutters, and surprises all around from the rookies, Scorned took a strong lead. Although injuries started to plague us and Syzygy fought back fiercely, Scorned didn't slow down. With amazing grabs by Jessy and unreal D's by Becca, we took the game and our first tournament win of the season.
Highlights: Winning the tourney, winning games with 9 girls, getting to play a lot, someone on the other team yelling "wtf?? who was on goldilocks" when Annihka scored, Cami's awesome PUB gift to Jessy, playing quarters and semis on a field that had half of the end zone dropping off into the woody abyss, and Hoistad's mom refusing to let me study.
After seeing the learning curve at Grinnell, our brilliant captains decided to write history and go X/Y (for the first time ever) to Exit 69. Woman Scorned split up into teams of only 9 girls and faced the competition head on! Although we were separated by several fields and a hill, our hearts still beat together and both teams fought their games hard.
Team X-treme ended their Saturday with only one loss against Saucy Nancy, while Team Yoink (the team I was on, so I actually remember things about games) finished out 4-0 with wins over Eclipse, Freya, Syzygy, and Saucy Nancy. Although we were only 9 strong, both teams fought like we had a full team, and offensive flow and defensive cohesiveness were incredible!
The Hoistad family was kind enough to host us that weekend. They were wonderful hosts and we were once again reminded that Hoistad's mom is, in fact, like 10 times cooler than Wastey herself.
Sunday play started off great right away. Although there was a lot of confusion with the brackets and who played who, conclusions were agreed upon and X-treme ended up playing Yoink in semis. Team X won the game while Saucy battled Syzygy on their home ground. In a close game, Syzygy took the final point and the victory putting them against our combined full squad in the finals. Team X-treme Yoinkers was on fire from the get go. With sick puts from the handlers, insane grabs by cutters, and surprises all around from the rookies, Scorned took a strong lead. Although injuries started to plague us and Syzygy fought back fiercely, Scorned didn't slow down. With amazing grabs by Jessy and unreal D's by Becca, we took the game and our first tournament win of the season.
Highlights: Winning the tourney, winning games with 9 girls, getting to play a lot, someone on the other team yelling "wtf?? who was on goldilocks" when Annihka scored, Cami's awesome PUB gift to Jessy, playing quarters and semis on a field that had half of the end zone dropping off into the woody abyss, and Hoistad's mom refusing to let me study.
Friday, November 12, 2010
The Power of Spring
Last weekend, Woman Scorned ended our Fall season with our last tournament at Harvest Moon. It was a phenomenal tournament on pretty much every level and WS definitely went out with a bang...but that isn't what this blog is about, sorry... I'll hammer those out over Thanksgiving break between turkey and leftover turkey.
As the rain comes down and temperatures drop to near freezing levels, my mind can't help but to jump to the spring season...or at least the preparation for spring season. Spring season, for most college players, is something near holy. Not only is it the time when we get to go back outside and play ultimate, it is the time for real competition! Watching WS improve drastically with each Fall tournament drives my excitement for spring even higher.
In the Midwest (or at least northern part of the US), things work a little differently. For many schools, winter becomes a time when ultimate is not easy to play. Woman Scorned has been fortunate enough, in past years, to have access to a decent sized turf for practices twice a week. This Spring's flooding in Ames took that turf away from us and the future of its return is still TBA. Many schools are forced into gyms or tracks which limit even tossing a disc more than 50 yards, much less playing a realistic game of ultimate.
At club nationals this year, the West Coast pretty much took care of business. The ultimate influence and opportunities in those regions are well advanced and continue to grow. Their ability to play ultimate outside nearly year around also helps maintain interest in the sport. (I remember at 2009 College Nationals the Oregon girls were asking me about how we play ultimate in the winter with all the snow. The gave me a pretty funny look when I joked with them and said we had heated fields we played on.) These are some of the luxuries that, unfortunately, we don't have in the Midwest.
Although there are limits put on us by weather, many programs have not let it hinder them. Even in the past few years, more and more programs are stepping up and using the winter season to push their team to the next level. Teams like Woman Scorned, Saucy Nancy, Bella Donna, and many others have instituted attendance policies to require dedication and increase the expectations of the team. For many teams, winter is the perfect time for teams to improve their athleticism and conceptual aspects of the game. Incorporating sprint workouts, lifting, and plyos are just a few ways that players can utilize the time indoors to gain a step up come spring time. Conceptually, resources like the-huddle, ultimaterob, and other experienced players can be utilized to better understand the sport.
Collaboration between programs can be an important resource as well. Although each team has it's secret weapons, sharing information on successes and failures can help each other's programs to avoid mistakes and take steps in the right direction. Winter scrimmages and indoor tournaments are another priceless opportunity when there is 4 feet of snow outside. Last winter, WS held a scrimmage with SOL and Bella Donna. Although it was only a one day event and there was only one turf to play on, the opportunity to play competitive ultimate was enough of an incentive to drive 5 hours. Being able to provide free housing and a free field made this trip feasible financially for all three teams, and the team connections that grew from this experience were just and additional benefit.
With the new regional boundaries and bid allocation regulations announced by USAU this Fall, there is a lot of buzz and excitement going around. WS will no longer battle Bella Donna or SOL for a bid to nationals, but instead we pick up southern teams that we have historically seen less, like Washington University WUWU, St. Louis University's SLULU, and Kansas University Bettys. The new boundaries, however, maintain several old rivals like Saucy Nancy, Syzygy, and Luther (among others). The new bid allocation system increases the number of regions from 8 to 10 and promises 1 bid per region with the remaining 10 bids allocated by strength with no cap on the number of strength bids each region can earn.
This new system definitely opens up the table for stronger regions to get more teams to nationals and potentially increase the level of competition at the College Nationals tournament. However, this also increases the need for teams to attend high level tournaments in the spring time (also perform well and correctly submit their rosters) like College Centex and Midwest Throwdown that are centrally located to allow teams from multiple regions to attend. Unfortunately, attending tournaments like these require a lot of traveling for teams and an increase in cost which many smaller programs just can't afford. At USAU Club Nationals this past month, there was a Women's Leadership Task Force meeting, at which the development women's ultimate was discussed and plans were initiated to develop and advance playing opportunities for women. The formation of Without Limits is another exciting frontier in the women's game and the reach of their skills clinics is growing with each new tournament.
All of these changes and initiatives are enough to get anyone excited about women's ultimate. It is obvious that the sport is growing as a whole and the women's division is stepping up as well. My hopes are that the new regional boundaries and increased opportunities for women's teams will challenge elite programs to continue to prove themselves, allow "on-the-cusp" programs to take that jump and commit to their goals, and inspire smaller, growing programs to close the gap and prove themselves competitive. Through the work of so many in the past, our sport has come a long ways, but there is still quite a distance to go for women's ultimate, especially in the Midwest. There is definitely a force, that is very much alive, and many amazing people working hard behind it to share the love of ultimate and achieve what we know is possible.
As the rain comes down and temperatures drop to near freezing levels, my mind can't help but to jump to the spring season...or at least the preparation for spring season. Spring season, for most college players, is something near holy. Not only is it the time when we get to go back outside and play ultimate, it is the time for real competition! Watching WS improve drastically with each Fall tournament drives my excitement for spring even higher.
In the Midwest (or at least northern part of the US), things work a little differently. For many schools, winter becomes a time when ultimate is not easy to play. Woman Scorned has been fortunate enough, in past years, to have access to a decent sized turf for practices twice a week. This Spring's flooding in Ames took that turf away from us and the future of its return is still TBA. Many schools are forced into gyms or tracks which limit even tossing a disc more than 50 yards, much less playing a realistic game of ultimate.
At club nationals this year, the West Coast pretty much took care of business. The ultimate influence and opportunities in those regions are well advanced and continue to grow. Their ability to play ultimate outside nearly year around also helps maintain interest in the sport. (I remember at 2009 College Nationals the Oregon girls were asking me about how we play ultimate in the winter with all the snow. The gave me a pretty funny look when I joked with them and said we had heated fields we played on.) These are some of the luxuries that, unfortunately, we don't have in the Midwest.
Although there are limits put on us by weather, many programs have not let it hinder them. Even in the past few years, more and more programs are stepping up and using the winter season to push their team to the next level. Teams like Woman Scorned, Saucy Nancy, Bella Donna, and many others have instituted attendance policies to require dedication and increase the expectations of the team. For many teams, winter is the perfect time for teams to improve their athleticism and conceptual aspects of the game. Incorporating sprint workouts, lifting, and plyos are just a few ways that players can utilize the time indoors to gain a step up come spring time. Conceptually, resources like the-huddle, ultimaterob, and other experienced players can be utilized to better understand the sport.
Collaboration between programs can be an important resource as well. Although each team has it's secret weapons, sharing information on successes and failures can help each other's programs to avoid mistakes and take steps in the right direction. Winter scrimmages and indoor tournaments are another priceless opportunity when there is 4 feet of snow outside. Last winter, WS held a scrimmage with SOL and Bella Donna. Although it was only a one day event and there was only one turf to play on, the opportunity to play competitive ultimate was enough of an incentive to drive 5 hours. Being able to provide free housing and a free field made this trip feasible financially for all three teams, and the team connections that grew from this experience were just and additional benefit.
With the new regional boundaries and bid allocation regulations announced by USAU this Fall, there is a lot of buzz and excitement going around. WS will no longer battle Bella Donna or SOL for a bid to nationals, but instead we pick up southern teams that we have historically seen less, like Washington University WUWU, St. Louis University's SLULU, and Kansas University Bettys. The new boundaries, however, maintain several old rivals like Saucy Nancy, Syzygy, and Luther (among others). The new bid allocation system increases the number of regions from 8 to 10 and promises 1 bid per region with the remaining 10 bids allocated by strength with no cap on the number of strength bids each region can earn.
This new system definitely opens up the table for stronger regions to get more teams to nationals and potentially increase the level of competition at the College Nationals tournament. However, this also increases the need for teams to attend high level tournaments in the spring time (also perform well and correctly submit their rosters) like College Centex and Midwest Throwdown that are centrally located to allow teams from multiple regions to attend. Unfortunately, attending tournaments like these require a lot of traveling for teams and an increase in cost which many smaller programs just can't afford. At USAU Club Nationals this past month, there was a Women's Leadership Task Force meeting, at which the development women's ultimate was discussed and plans were initiated to develop and advance playing opportunities for women. The formation of Without Limits is another exciting frontier in the women's game and the reach of their skills clinics is growing with each new tournament.
All of these changes and initiatives are enough to get anyone excited about women's ultimate. It is obvious that the sport is growing as a whole and the women's division is stepping up as well. My hopes are that the new regional boundaries and increased opportunities for women's teams will challenge elite programs to continue to prove themselves, allow "on-the-cusp" programs to take that jump and commit to their goals, and inspire smaller, growing programs to close the gap and prove themselves competitive. Through the work of so many in the past, our sport has come a long ways, but there is still quite a distance to go for women's ultimate, especially in the Midwest. There is definitely a force, that is very much alive, and many amazing people working hard behind it to share the love of ultimate and achieve what we know is possible.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Incase You Missed It...
Scorned is proud to have this beautiful face on our line:
Although she may have made the big times, being on ESPN news, she is still stuck with us (the true loves of her life). Check it out! There is a great article about ultimate on here too! Sick picture, Jazzy-poo!
Although she may have made the big times, being on ESPN news, she is still stuck with us (the true loves of her life). Check it out! There is a great article about ultimate on here too! Sick picture, Jazzy-poo!
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