Saturday practice, 11 a.m., Thorpe

That's 11 a.m., May 2, at the Lower Thorpe Field (aka Lakeside Softball Field). 

Some of us will be there at 10:30 to jog and throw. We're starting our group warmup at 11 a.m., so don't be late. Lots to talk about (hucks, dumps, marks, league, tourneys, Jaffe's illegitimate son)

April 29 practice

We had: Andy Wade, Shakey, Ian, Lawrence, Eric, Shimoni, Bala (& baby) Nockels (late/work), Mav (left early/foot still buggin), Jake (didn't stay long/school)

We did: warmups, throws, longer throws, mark drill, Shakey's fast-break drill (which turned into endzone fast-break drill), huck drill, more throws after we were beat. 

We didn't have any women besides Bala and Mohini. Rosi showed up at the end, after class. Not sure if the Jines were wrecked from Regionals, or if everyone's really worried about finals or both. Women are a huge part of our team, and the transition from playing women's to playing mixed will take several weeks. So we missed an opportunity to get better. 

In any case, we're gonna start picking up the intensity at practice. Which basically means we're starting to take it more seriously — that means showing up on time, focusing and not goofing off during drills, talking about drills and how we can improve. But most importantly, it means showing up to practice. Showing up — even if you're hurt and can't play, or if you can only be there for 30 minutes 'cause of class — shows a hell of a lot of commitment to the team. Everyone has made sacrifices to be there every week, so you can, too. I know there's a lot going on, but if you absolutely can't make it, call me or Shakey. 

The drills: Ian and I talked about the mark drill after practice. Maybe there's a way we can have it simulate a game more realistically. The fast-break drills were interesting. It simulates a turn near an endzone, and the defense has to respond immediately (calling the force, pointing at who they're defending, not getting broken). The offense is trying to punch it in with one throw. 

The huck drill went great. We had our offense start with about 10 feet of separation, and we completed at least 75 percent of our hucks. We noticed that the throws don't have to be perfect, just in-bounds and in front of the cutter. Also, the earlier you throw the huck, the better. 

It's also really hard to throw when you're tired. You start to lose the fundamentals (stepping out, getting low, lots of spin, follow through, etc.) So throwing when you're tired can really help simulate throwing on the fourth game of a tournament.

April 22 practice

Late on the writeup, but here's what went down:

Present: Andy, Shakey, Ian, Andy, Shimoni, Lawrence, Mason, Eric. Late: Nockels. Left early: Mav

Jee, Paula, Flaimy, Claire. Cheerleaders: Bala & Mohini. 

What we did: Warmup, throwing, sideline drill, huck drill, scrimmage. 

Lawrence's sideline drill: one person marking for five throws. One person on the sideline shouts "Strike!" or "No break!" when a cutter goes break side or open side. This was a great way practice our communication. Remember that when you're marking, you're not just watching the thrower and adjusting your body position, but you're also listening to teammates on the field and off. A strike call near the endzone can save us a point.

Huck drill: We had some problems reading hucks at Uomo Donna, so we're gonna try to work on this at lots of practices. It was super windy this day, but it's good to practice going up for discs in the wind. We also noticed that it was better to throw early and let the disc hang than to wait too long. 

A really important thing we noticed: all our girls had REALLY good hucks. I mean, despite the wind, everyone had a couple of on-the-money puts. Sometimes our girls tend to shy away from making the big throws in a co-ed game, but this shouldn't be the case. Keep hucking, ladies!

Practice on Saturday was blown out — plus a lot of our players were at college regionals. But starting next week, we're going two practices a week: 4:30 Wednesday, 11 am. Saturday. And we're starting ON TIME. 

Time to bring the A-Game.

Uomo Donna: HOT HOT HOT

Uomo Donna was a lot of fun, a lot of great playing, and a lot of HEAT. What we didn't have was a lot of players. Note for the rest of the summer: We need to bring more players to tournaments! Here's the skinny:

The roster: Shakey, Andy 1, Andy 2, Jaffe, Mav, Eric, Jake

Jee, Paula, Kristine, Allie, Kerry

Megan, Alina

SATURDAY

We came in seeded 3rd overall and the top seed in the C pool. (Note: I don't remember all the scores exactly)

Game 1: HF 10, ABQ 9. Always nice to beat a regional rival. We were the first ones at the fields (something we should have done on Sunday, too ...), so we were ready to play early. We got up 3-0, but they tied it up quick by getting a cross-gender huck. I think we took half, then started to inch away near the end. We had started late (obviously), and the soft cap went on at 9-7 or so. They scored the last point after hard cap went on, so we finished at 10-9.

Game 2: HF 10, Beefcakes & Bombshells 9. Probably one of the most exciting double-game-point wins I've been a part of. Eric had a pair of D's on the goal line that saved the game. It had been neck-and-neck throughout. Both teams played aggressively near the end (Universe point must've had 5 or 6 calls), but we scored the final point for the win!

Game 3: HF 12, Tucson Pickup 2. After our much-deserved bye, we had to play against a team that had zero women. That team really shouldn't have been in the tournament to begin with, but we decided to play 5-2 or 4-3 against their line of 6 dudes. We won pretty handily. Nice work by the ladies, and by the whole team against their zone. Oh, and Eric lays out into a Nalgene, which punctures his face. Enjoy the new lip-piercing!

Game 4: Spartans 10, HF 7. The heat and the lack of depth really start getting to us now. We're even for the first few points, but they get three cross-genders to pull away. Really, we scored the same number of times, but by the end we're just dead.

SUNDAY

Game 5: Paradise Found 14, HF 10. Unlike Saturday, we got going late and didn't get to the fields until 9:30 or so. This didn't give us nearly enough time to warm up, and it showed as we got down early. We lost Kerry after Saturday, so we were down to 3 women on Sunday. This team enforced the 4-3 rule, so our women especially were having to play 3 of every 4 points. We managed to hang with them and get on a late run, but a late CGH sealed the win for them.

Game 6: Jungle Boogie 14, HF 11. A very similar game against a very similar team. We were generally right with them except for a few 3-point runs they went on. We started making a few more mental mistakes (drops & throwaways), which led to some points for the other team.

Both Sunday games were winnable, and with better health, better conditioning and a deeper bench, we would've taken at least 5th. Still, I thought the tourney as a whole was a great experience for us. I personally hadn't played with Andy, Jee, Allie, Eric, Paula or Kerry in a tournament before. Some of us were recovering from injuries, and lots of us haven't played mixed in a while.

So: A great experience. Nice universe point win; flashes of awesome offensive flow; great team bonding and getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses; and a hundred thank-yous to the Knochel household for putting us up!

Uomo Donna Preview

What up all you HF fans out there in the InterWorld. Here's your guide to HF at Uomo Donna 2009. It's snowing in Flagstaff tonight, but it'll be 90 degrees in Tucson this weekend!

For the tourney, HumpFreeze has temporarily changed its name to Age of Aquariums. Hermit crabs, electric eels, hammerhead sharks and all sorts of aquatic life should be making appearances. We need to get our hands on some SuperSoakers. 

Here's the roster:

Shakey

Andy W1

Andy W2

Jaffe

Mav

Jake

Eric

Kristine

Kerry

Paula

Jee

Allie

Emily

Here's the Uomo Donna 2009 Web site.

We're the Top Seed in Pool C, so third seed overall. We're on Field 5 all day Saturday. Our Saturday schedule (Games to 13, caps at 60 and 70 minutes): 

9 a.m.: HF vs. ABQ (3)

10:20 a.m.: HF vs. Beefcakes & Bombshells* (4)

Third Round Bye

1 p.m.: HF vs. Tucson Pickup (5)

2:20 p.m.: HF vs. Spartans (2)

Practice The Second — Indoor Style

Nice practice Wednesday. The weather's been ridiculous (50 mph gusts?!), so the Field House was a nice break. The indoor tennis court (netless) actually worked pretty well. We had: 

Andy1, Andy 2, Mav, Ian, Lawrence, Eric, Jaffe / Paul Nockels, Shimoni, Jake

Kristine, Cricket, Jee, / Allie, Paula, Rosi

Plus a cameo from Bala, Mohini and some fencers and jugglers. (I lost my notes, so I might be forgetting someone ... sorry)

We did: the usual warmups, mark drill, Throw to space (out cut), Throw to space (angled cut), Minis. 

We noticed: It's easy to "cheat" in the mark drill by backing away from the thrower. This takes away one very specific angle, but it's not ideal for game situations — other breaks can get off much more easily. So ... the marks should try to stay close to the thrower if at all possible. This will help us improve our marks (and get in people's heads!). 

Throwing to space is awesome. Lawrence said it well: The cutter has done his or her job by beating the defender. So the thrower has to his job: throw the disc in front of the cutter and let it linger. ("Do you have to? Do you have to?" — Sorry, couldn't help myself). Seriously, though, it's a fairly simple idea, but difficult to master. We also noticed that it's better to throw earlier than later. The longer you wait, the smaller the window you're trying to hit (both in terms of time and space). 

Minis is TOUGH.  Tag-team subs are pretty cool, though. I noticed that our team did well when no one held the disc for more than 3 seconds. Throw and go, 'cause you already have half a step. 

Uomo Donna this weekend!

First Practice Writeup

Great first practice yall. I was really impressed with how everyone looked. Maybe we can get those photographers to send us the photos?

In attendance: Andy, Shakey, Jaffe, Ellefson, Lawrence, Jake, Dave Hansen / Shimoni, Dave Chan, Mason, Calvin. Cricket, Kristine, Claire, Kerry, Rosi, Emily, Paula

What we did: Throw, jog, dynamics, sprints, talk about the season, controlled throwing, mark drill, V-drill, sideline drill, scrimmage. 

Some points we made about drills: 

The mark drill is designed to think about breaking, but only if you have the throw. As Lawrence said, a bad throw is just as bad as a hand block. You have a few seconds to try to get the break off, then you have an easy force-side throw as a bailout. 

The sideline drill works on moving the disc off the sideline. Pretty obvious there, I guess, but it's often overlooked: You can do so much more if the disc is in the middle of the field. A dump/swing can open up so much more in terms of downfield options. 

The V-drill was fuckin tough. Time to get in shape. 

We had a couple people show up late, which is fine. Better late than not at all. And thanks for the phone calls beforehand ... good to have that communication. That said, let's all try our hardest to show up on time and ready to play. 

Here's what should happen if you show up late: cleat up, jog, do some dynamics, sprints, and throws. Not just tosses, but controlled throws: 10 inside-out forehands, 10 outside-ins, then backhands, etc. Then find a partner and do the V-drill or a set of 20-10s. That's a sufficient warmup and should get you up to speed. 

Uomo Donna next weekend! 

HumpFreeze Practices Scheduled

The first HumpFreeze practice has been set for Wednesday the 8th of April. We will meet at 4:30 at the upper Cardinal Field. The first practice of the season won't be anything too structured and certainly not intense. Our first couple of practices should be loose and mostly just some team tuning for Uoma Donna.

Our first two practices will be the 8th and the 15th of this month, both Wednesdays. After Uoma Donna we will begin two practices a week, with the second on Saturdays.