Off we go

I leave for nationals in about an hour. I can't tell if I'm calm, excited, nervous or what. Basically, I just want to get out there and play. We've been practicing for almost a month straight and I'm ready for some actual game time.

I went running yesterday and tried to focus on what to do in various situations on the field. Sometimes, I'm able to run extremely well and able to flow around the field. Other times, I am battling to keep my legs moving. In the latter situation, I usually find myself talking a lot in my head. Basically, I think it comes down to total focus vs. partial focus. While running, I was really trying to think about being on the field for the entire run. I was hoping this would carry me through me run. It didn't work so well for the first 2/3rds of the run. However, as I was on my way back, some of the college kids rode by me on their bikes on the way back from practice. This made me feel pretty good for a few reasons. For one, I really like getting seen out on runs by people that I know. It makes me feel good to know that people see me putting in the work to improve myself. The other reason was it reminded me about my roots in the sport.

I've been playing ultimate since the fall of 1999. Ever since high school, I knew that when I went to college, I wanted to play this sport. As the years have gone on and some of the fun has been taken out of the sport, it feels good to look back on the early years of my playing career. From when I was a D line player, or when my college team had a 21 man deep roster, to making our first nationals, to taking a group of over achievers that fell one point short of nationals in my senior year and watching them qualify the next year for nationals. To see the strength that the program has had over the years motivates me. Add to that that the kids I saw yesterday are 4-5 years younger than me and the only reason why we know each other is g-Dub ultimate.

That was what I really needed at the end of my run to get me ready for this weekend. I'm in the best shape I can be in at this point, I've had a couple of good weeks at practice and we're going to fucking nationals. I can't find myself in a better position than I am right now.

So onto the show:

We start tomorrow with Furious George who I have never played before. After that we play Sub-Zero and then Chain. We lost to Sub earlier in the year by a couple and we beat Chain on double game point. We have our work cut out for us, but that is why it is nationals. Every team is good. Every game should be close. In a close game, it comes down to who make the big play at the end of the game. We're definitely in a better position this year than we were last year to win some games. We have a better, deeper team and we've played a much stronger regular season than last year. Add to that, we're healthy. We got all of our top players who were out at regionals back, though we did lose our all world thrower to a badly sprained ankle.

So I think the Hole is ready to go. We're tired of beating each other up at practice. We're ready for any and all battles that will come before us.

In other news, I will be missing kickball on Thursday night, so there will be no angry kickball tirade before the end of the day tomorrow. Sorry to disappoint everyone...but get your costumes ready, Halloween is next week. I have a pretty good idea for a costume that could hang with papa smurf, but I don't know if I will be able to put it together in time.