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:
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)
- 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
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)
posted by greg at
9:37 AM
2 Comments:
I still have difficulties accepting that DoG isn't '90s DoG but an entirely different team. I am by no means a leader on the team anymore, and I'm not even sure what the young guys think of me (and I probably don't want to know), so my day-to-day interaction with the team is quite different from yours, but I know what that is like.
It's a real challenge to try to promote the history of the team to the new guys without actually living in that history. Good luck with that next year.
By
parinella, at 11/30/2006 8:31 AM
Ouch! Missed that the first time. Oldest guy at 32. Is that typical on those west coast teams? Is Al-Bob really the exception to the rule out there. Jim was 41 this year and I was 39 (and now 42/40 and out to pasture). We had to be the oldest two player combo in the elite division.
By
Alex de Frondeville, at 5/23/2007 11:48 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home