Intramural Basketball Game #1 Recap

Woman Scorned Basketball Game 1

You could feel the excitement of the Woman Scorned basketball ladies as you entered the Rec on Sunday night. Many of the Frisbee vets were rocking their Woman Scorned jerseys, but the refs made us all wear the gross nasty red IM ones.

After being told multiple times to take off jewelry (which some people did & some people didn’t) we started the game.

The game was very entertaining to say the least, it was very evident that we didn’t have a lot of basketball experience, but Hoistad, Bosco, and rookie Nikki carried the team with their high school basketball skillz.

I would say that our biggest strength in the game was our defense up top, specifically our full court press. Cassie and Bosco worked really well together forcing the other team’s point guard to one side and then double teaming them to try and get the ball. Sarah Pesch used her ultimate knowledge to read where the ball was going to go, and made several hand blocks that she ended up hitting out of bounds, beneficial in ultimate, but not basketball.

Another strength that we had as a team was our ability to fake. Although they were more Frisbee fakes, with pivoting and going side to side, I think it really did influence and weird-out the defense.

One of the most exciting things about the game was the sideline talk. I am sure that the other team thought we were crazy.

With a lot of ultimate experience and very little basketball experience, there was a lot of comparing to Frisbee. Comments heard on the sideline included:

“You can pick in basketball??” “Yea I heard jazz say that once”

“Run a vert stack!”

“That was a handler cut”

Up calls

“Get it girl!”

“Now I remember why I play Frisbee, I hate refs”

Along with certain Frisbee cheers, the sideline was definitely the place to be during the game. They were very influential in the decisions made on the court, most notoriously making people shoot. There were many air balls shot because of sideline suggestion.

In the second half certain players were getting very frustrated with the refs, and Bosco was given a warning for swearing after a girl hit her in the face. Also, Hoistad was ejected from the game for not taking out her earring, which none of us could figure out how to do before the game.

Over all it was a positive first game for the intramural team. We for sure have some things to work on, but I would say that there is still potential for winning a Championship shirt.

"Worth a Point"

Since my ultimate birth (3 years ago in February-yey! birthday week #2??) I have heard the term "worth a point(s)" thrown around to describe the number of points per game that a player will have a strong positive influence in. Basically it implies that if you remove a player that is "worth 3 points" from a game, the team will score 3 less points than if that player were playing. It is kind of a rough way to evaluate someone's ultimate skills within the context of the team they are playing for.

When I joined Woman Scorned, I was pretty terrible all around. The mixture of starting a new sport, not having done anything athletic for 1.5 years, and coming in at an intense part of the season was just not pretty... I may or may not have vomited in the president of Iowa State's driveway after that first practice. I remember playing 8's or so at Southerns, my first tourney and feeling so awful because I knew that I was "worth about 5 points" every game...for the other team. Even come sectionals and regionals I did not play very much, but I know that those were the games where I contributed the most to the team- from the sideline.

God has blessed me with a lot in life, but one thing that is no secret is my ability to be very loud when I want to be. Woman Scorned has a reputation of sideline cheers, player cheers, huddle cheers, and really just yelling a lot to each other.

Cheers on the field not only pump each other up, but they keep the focus of the entire team on the game. Having a strong sideline can be an 8th, 9th, or 10th player on the field if utilized correctly.

In one of those few points at my rookie regionals, I remember Derscheid on the sideline yelling, "Force side, turn around, get on the other side of your girl!" I was utterly confused and finally I turned to her (mid-point) and asked who she was yelling at. She responded quite abruptly, "YOU!"

This last Fall I played women's club on Revoloution. At regionals, I was defending a speedy outside cutter for several points. She was much taller than me and probably more athletic, but my teammate Emma was on the sideline encouraging me and letting me know where the disc was and where to anticipate her movements. Emma was at least 40% of that defense, and without her sideline help, I doubt I would have been able to shut my girl down.

I firmly believe that you can be "worth a few points" per game without ever stepping on the field. The value in a strong sideline is something that is almost always underestimated and under-appreciated. Strong teams involve more than just the 7 players on the field. Every single person on a team has strengths, and true team unity is reached when each player is fully engaged and using their strengths for the betterment of the team. Whether you are a rookie or the MVP, there are ways you can make a difference in each point. There are always teammates you can be talking to, encouraging, watching to give suggestions off the field, or learning from to improve yourself. As we come into the spring season, my hopes are that the strength of Woman Scorned's sidelines will just continue to grow stronger. Based on the enthusiastic hard work I can see in our practices and workouts, intensity will not be a problem this season.

This weekend Woman Scorned is traveling to Iowa City to play in a scrimmage against Bella Donna, Syzygy, SOL, and Saucy Nancy. These are the top five teams from the North Central region last Spring. The opportunity to see the competition this early in the season is extremely valuable. We are pumped out of our minds to be able to cleat up and play some ultimate when the temperature is below zero and the ground is covered in snow. Let the spring season begin!

Hell hath no fury, like a Woman Scorned.

Team Unity and Goal Setting

New ultimate blogs have been popping up all over the place thanks to Without Limits' new blogroll, and I have to say, I am loving it. I started this blog last year because the ladies from SOL suggested we make one and it seemed like a great way to provide information about Woman Scorned to the community in an easily accessible form. So when Michelle sent me an email about writing for the blogroll, I was all sorts of on board and excited.

One new blog that has recently started up is by Flywheel Ultimate. It offers a lot of great thoughts on different aspects of the team and the sport of ultimate. Another great one, is Joann Wong's blog (formerly IL Menace). Both of these take a look into different aspects of the game and women's ultimate in a unique and thought-provoking manner. They are pretty cool, I read them instead of studying, and you should for sure check them out!

With all of the talk about ultimate and the restlessness from winter break, it is becoming very obvious that we are on the brink of spring college ultimate season. The excitement is boiling over and many individuals on the team are stepping up in a variety of ways. Woman Scorned employs an attendance policy in the spring season which includes practice attendance, as well as weekly workouts. This spring we are using a "pod system" which involves groups of 3 or 4 which are held accountable for doing the workout each week. This system takes the accountability of attendance and puts it on each and every person to encourage their teammates to be in attendance and push each other while there.

I don't want to under-appreciate captains and coaches here. As a team, we look to our coaches and captains for a lot. They are knowledgeable, experienced, leaders, and respected. They are the rock of the team, that is why the team chooses them for their position.

Accountability and unity, however, are accomplished through the team as a whole. Team leaders always help with this, but holding yourself accountable to your team forms a strong, multi-person bond. Say you chose to skip practice to take a nap. You are not just letting down yourself and your captains, but you are giving up the chance to learn from and play with each of your teammates to build your team (plus ultimate is way more fun than sleep).

College ultimate is unique for several reasons:

1. You live, go to school with, and hang out with your teammates all. the. time.

2. The skill range is wide. You have people who have never touched a disc playing with people who grew up with a disc in their hands.

3. You don't pick your team.

While these differences can put limitations on the team, they also make it special. Since our lives are so similar at this point in time, ultimate becomes incorporated into almost all aspects. In class you sit by your teammates, you study with them at the library, you eat meals together, you visit each other on breaks, you spend countless hours in the car together, you party together, and when you are bored, upset, frustrated, excited, happy, etc... you go to your teammates for support. A team is something that once you have, it is hard to go without.

The bonds are so strong that they last for a long time and distance can't even break them. When I did an internship in San Antonio, TX the summer of 2009, I was horribly lonely the first 4 weeks. Four of my teammates made the 16 hour drive down to spend the 4th of July weekend with me....16 hours one way! When we make a trip anywhere near any WS alum, it is assumed that we will meet and catch up. When you spend all of this time together in ultimate, teammate relationships becomes unique friendships.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the bond between you and your team, is formed on a basis stronger than just the game of ultimate. By building up the team, you are building up your friends. Accountability can only exist if you have a personal stake in the matter. For example, losing doesn't hurt so bad when you don't have a personal stake in your team and it's goals, but when you have put time, energy, sacrifice, and your heart into you team, each chance to compete has much more meaning.

Practicing together, pushing each other, spending time with one another, and holding each other accountable all build team unity and strengthen your team.

As a side note, a couple of thoughts about goal setting (inspired by Flywheel's last post-good one on goals):

Generally Woman Scorned sets goals as a team and individually at our beginning of spring meeting. Team goals can be challenging to set because of the difficulty involved in gauging your team's potential and the competition. Setting a goal like "place top ten at nationals" in January can be a real challenge. For a team who isn't familiar with what it takes to accomplish that, it can be unrealistic. How do you know if you are attending enough/too many spring tournaments or working out correctly? What if you are successful outside of your region but struggle against teams within? And then there is the whole USAU ranking and RRI deal with region and team bids to nationals.... It is all a lot to take in, gauge, and predict.

On the other hand, setting a goal like "top ten at nationals" can be exactly what you need to bring focus and drive to your team. In 2009 Woman Scorned decided as a team that we wanted to make nationals our goal (we had never been before). Most of us on the team didn't know what it would take to accomplish this goal, but our captains and coaches came up with a strict formula and we threw our hearts, bodies, and minds into the season and we did accomplish the goal. The focus was amazing and everyone worked hard for that goal of nationals, but to be honest, most of us didn't REALLY know what the heck we were working for, just that it mattered a lot and was going to be really awesome (which it was).

From the beginning of my career in ultimate, our first goal was always to have fun. I remember Gibbs and others always saying, "If you aren't having fun, then it isn't worth it." Another goal of Woman Scorned has always been to be the team everyone wants to play. Win or lose, we want to maintain good spirit, fight hard, and have fun.

When I make my personal and team goals, I try to keep them tangible and chronological. I set smaller goals along the way that will help me reach my final goal. For example, if you want to have a B team, you have to hit a few steps before that to make it possible, or if you want to make nationals, you have to address your sectional and regional goals first. Reassessing those goals throughout the season is also important. Back to the B team example, if you get to March and you don't have enough for a B team, don't consider it a failure, but instead adjust your goal to make it attainable- like setting the foundation for a B team the following year.

Goals are a beautiful thing. I post them above my bed and read them daily-I love it!

Good luck to everyone setting goals and working to reach them this season!