sarasota 2006...

it wasn't the nationals result i had expected or even planned for, and looking back maybe i should have seen it coming. at nationals we had a lot of players have average tournaments and probably no player had an outstanding tournament. at the root, that was the core of the problem. the list of lame excuses that didn't actually cause our poor result, but didn't help create a better one includes:

• this condor version had only 5 players (out of 22) who played on the condor team that made the finals of 2003 nationals. this means that we've had 77% turnover in the last 3 seasons.
• further, we had 8 players who were at nationals for the first time and 3 more who were there for the first time as condors
• injuries had prevented some players from practicing/playing in september and october

given this we had our chances. the pivotal game on thursday was against rhino and we were up 8-6 at half, scored on O to start the second half, then were tied at 9's before getting another upwind break to go up 11-9, before losing 15-12. we also had a tough one against machine on friday to get in the pre-quarter, but i remember less about that game. hopefully this group will stay together and certainly be an improved bunch next year.

personally, i had maybe my worst nationals ever. forced throws and risky chances on offense led to many turns for me. defensively i had trouble getting into a good rhythm and never got locked in. physically, i had a troubling knee in the spring that finally healed when we switched workout programs in July, but that annoying knee got traded in for tempermental hamstrings (first the right, then the left). i may have been a little overprotective of my hamstrings this year after pulling one the weekend before regionals last season. this led to sitting out some practices and throttling back the training a bit to make sure they were healthy for nationals. finally, this was my first year as the oldest guy on the team (32), which i only realized when corey bailed on us in the spring to pursue "professional responsibilities" (which was also code for "no more blogging" i guess). i think our oldest guy should try to set a better example on the field in coming years.

my tally for nationals now looks something like this:
champions: 2 (2000, 2001)
runners-up: 3 (1998, 1999, 2003)
quarters loser: 2 (2002, 2004)
lower half: 2 (2005, 2006)
didn't qualify for semis: 1 (1997, before the current format)

worlds changing hands

maybe i'll try to revive this thing. during the season it was hard to write anything that i thought would be informative, but also not give away anything valuable. before i write about how i had what was probably my worst performance at nationals (a future post), i'll point out that the last major title that the condors hold will be changing hands this week. however, since we can all agree that this is a watered down worlds, i vote for us all (the frisbee community that is, not just the 7 people that read this blog) continuing to recognize the condors as world club champions.