Get more PT

We've got a small team this year (surprise!). We are going to need everyone to be in shape. I'm guessing we'll end up having 10-12 guys. If you're coming to every practice, that should be no problem, we'll be doing our plyos and running our intervals at practice. If you aren't able to make practice, you need to be working out on your own. We've already got Patrick a personal trainer, and Patrick makes all the practices.

So, we should all be doing our plyos (and 15 burpees) twice a week, and we should be running intervals (at least) twice a week. As of next week, we're running 4 90 second intervals. That's 90 seconds running as fast as you can maintain for 90 seconds. Then 90 seconds of walking, as slow as you want but keep moving, then back to running. Make sure you warm up well. You should be about to pass out/throw up by the end. These are supposed to be incredibly hard. Push yourself. You can run them on a treadmill, you can even do them on a stationary bike, or a rowing machine, whatever you prefer. Just push yourself for the 90 seconds.

We'll be switching to new plyos in the next week or so. I'll post them here. I'll also post when we change our intervals.

Remember: The better shape you are in, the more you will play.

PFB

Breakmark Cuts

One thing we definitely didn't have enough of at the tournament Sunday was cuts to the breakside. We've got several players on our team who can break the mark. Getting the disc to a receiver on the break side of the field is going to make it much easier for us to score. This will also cause less clogging on the open side of the field, as we'll have less people trying to cut there.

We need both in and out breakside cuts. Breakside cuts can, in general, be a little flatter than open side cuts. More often we're going to be throwing to space, since your defender won't be in a position to make a play on the disc. So, we'll just put the disc out in front of you, towards the sideline, and let you run to it. Starting this cut too early, or too close to the break sideline will reduce the effectiveness of the cut. We should also be cutting for hammers. A lot of the people on our team can throw hammers. Especially in the redzone. Again, the cut doesn't have to be that hard, just cut an away, flat cut to space. Let the thrower get the hammer out in front of you.

So, for now, let's concentrate on two cutting rules. Odd numbered positions in the stack cut open side, even numbered positions cut break. For open side cuts, cut deep from the front of the stack, in from the back of the stack, and 3 can cut either way or fill. For the breakside cuts, 2 will cut in (flat) on the breakside, and 4 will either cut for the hammer, or continue for 2.

We'll start working on this tonight in the scrimmage.

PFB

Tournament Review

I don't know what the tournament was called, did it even have a name? Either way, Pure Bliss sent 8 to our first tournament of the year. We had 6 games, and, amazingly, no one cramped until well into the 6th game (sorry guys).

Who we sent: Sando, Fox, Spier, Kenji, Jaime, Patrick, Sunshine, and Wood.

EO didn't wake up in time 'cause he was chillin with some chick 'til 5am. Stud.

Sando had us all at the tournament an hour early! Bastard. I'll never forgive you for that shit. Anyway, on to the games...

Emory B-ish. Apparentally there were some A team players, but it seemed like mostly B team players. They had a couple of tall atheletes, and although they went up early on us, we pulled it out and ended up winning fairly easily. Not much else to say about this game really. It was cold, and we didn't play too great, but got the win. Sando did hit me in the eye with a huck, talk about accuracy!

UGA B-ish. UGA B came and split into two teams. Both of their teams were bigger than ours. By a good bit. We had them shutout at halftime, but Kenji went and jinxed us at half. We still won 11-2 I think. We learned the amoeba defense in this game. The amoeba defense is only a defense we learn to teach players how to play zone defense. It worked pretty well and most of our players started to figure out zone defense better. Oh, Sando dropped an easy Callahan.

Emory Alum. They had some ringers and were a solid team. We played them pretty well. Got to play some more amoeba. Not much to say about this game.

Ga Tech B. We started learning Big Slick in this game. Seemed to work pretty well. After the game, the other team was asking me what kind of crazy defense we were playing. Mission Accomplished. Fox had a Callahan to win the game.

Finally, pool play was over. We had a bye before the quarters, so we went to Moe's for some good food and to watch some football.

Back to the fields to watch Emory A-ish lose to Ga Tech A. That made a 3-way tie in their pool for second place. We got the short end of the stick and had to play Emory A-ish (who appeared to be considerably better than the Clemson team and the GSU team who they were tied with). Anyway, we come out playing well, Sando's hucks were on, my flick huck finally straightened out and we had Emory scared at 4-1. They changed up their strategy and started manning Fox and me. That didn't work. So they changed strategy again and poached off two guys, and had a deep and a short poach. This hurt our deep game a lot. The poached people did a pretty good job of getting the disc and then getting rid of it, but we need to get better. Big Slick worked at first, but Emory figured it out pretty well and mounted a comeback. We were up 10-8, game to 11, when fatigue started to set in. Sunshine, Kenji, and Jaime were all having problems with their feet (pansies). We were all tired. I made the mistake of not getting our last timeout taken before the cap came on. Emory managed a solid comeback and beat us 11-10. We didn't have much left after the game and would have had to play Ga Tech A in the semis. This was a really good game for us, we played against a solid team and had a chance to win the game. Our defense was looking good, our veterans played great, and our rookies were solid and are getting better.

On to the consolation bracket. We had to play Emory B again. None of us really wanted to play this game, so we started screwing around. The highlight of the game was probably the 500 game for the pull. Fox ended up on his back trapping the disc on his stomach. We lost, but didn't care.

Overall, a really good first tournament for Pure Bliss. A few extra subs would have made a big difference I think. The rookies who showed up got a lot better. Defense is looking good, offense is coming together. We need to continue working on timing our cuts, especially deep. Big Slick looked good and will be more effective when we have other zones to mix in. That's about it, did anyone else have some comments on the tourney?

PFB

What do you want from Pure Bliss?

I'm curious what everyone is hoping to get out of the team this year. Particularly the rookies. Ultimate isn't just a college sport, is it your hope to become a good enough player to play seriously after college? or are you just looking for a way to get in shape and have fun? Southern Poly has never made Regionals before, perhaps you are more team oriented?

Whatever the case, I'd like to get an idea of why everyone is coming out. Hopefully I'll be able to help everyone reach their goals. Just email me your thoughts to mfwood@gmail.com.

PFB

Huck Drill

Tuesday night at practice we did a huck drill, where everyone got to throw 10 forehand and 10 backhand hucks. We paired up downfield so that we had two people cutting deep and fighting for the disc. We also had one person feed discs to the thrower, allowing the cutter to make throws off of movement instead of from a standstill.

The throws were fairly ugly most of the time, we've got a high percentage of rookies who don't have much experience throwing deep. However, there was some improvement, and I think the drill can be valuable if we do it regularly. I'm hoping to do the drill at least once a week. Eventually, as our throws get better, the drill will be useful for the receivers as well.

Practice/Workouts week of 10/10-14

Pickup Monday. I won't be there today unfortunately. Warmup, do the following plyos, then scrimmage.

3x10 Ankle Hops
3x10 1 leg lateral hops
3x10 forward lunges
3x10 side lunges

Tuesday Practice.
8 Laps at the end of practice.

Thursday Practice.
Same Plyos as Monday.
2x90 second intervals with 90 seconds of rest. Running laps.

This semester is going to be spent building a base for what we do in the Spring. It's very important that everyone be doing the plyos, it will help keep us from getting injured.

See everyone Tuesday.

PFB