Georgia Southerns

Georgia Southerns was a very interesting tournament to say the least. Nate was able to get us a bid on Wednesday before the tournament, and we were barely able to pull together a team. With the help of a few last second pick ups, we somehow got 13 players to cancel their spring break plans and represent Reaper in the tournament. We left from Eastern on Friday afternoon and drove 14 straight hours to Statesboro, Georgia. It was 90 degrees and sunny all day, and the fields were the best fields I've ever played on. We got there just in time play our first game of the day against the #1 seed of the entire tournament.

Our first game was against Central Florida. We came in flat and quickly realized our place as Central Florida bent us over and made us their bitch. They had a very soild team and worked us up and down the field very effectively. We could blame our poor play on the lack of sleep, or the the lack of subs, but what it came down to was Central Florida came to play and we didn't. The game ended with Central Florida dominating us 13 to 5. I believe if we got another chance, we could compete with this team. Decision making was our biggest downfall as we chose to throw the disk up for grabs instead of working the unders. Against a good team like Central Florida, we cannot afford stupid turnovers, and we must captilize on our opportunities.

Our next game was against Emory. I don't remember anything about this game... Emory was a boring team... Apparently we tested out our zone on this team and it didn't work too well. James says Emory had an Asian handler that worked us pretty good but apparently not good enough. We ended up winning the game 12 to 8.

Next up was Chicago. Chicago is a conference rival and this was a game we needed to be ready for. Unfortunately, we didn't take Chicago seriously, and we came out flat against them. They were able to build an early lead and held us off for the rest of the game. This is a game we should have won. Again, decision making was a problem for us as we continued to throw the deep 50/50 instead of taking the safe unders. Decision making would continue to be our biggest problem throughout the tournament, and it is something we NEED to fix before playoffs arrive. Chicago wins 13 to 9.

The last game of the day was against George Mason. These guys were loud, obnoxious, and just flat out sucked at life. This team got beat 13-0 earlier in the day so we expected them to suck. And although they did suck, we allowed them to hang around through half time. At half time some guy from their team announced that they were gonna win this game... So we decided to start trying in the second half and finished the game on a 7 to 2 run. Final score was 13 to 8. Suck it George Mason!

Sunday, our first game was against New York. These guys were very beatable and honestly I still don't understand how we lost to them. Again, poor decision making hurt us throughout the game, and we gave up opportunity after opportunity. If we plan on having success later this season, we must have a bigger emphasis on valuing the disk. Turning over the disk is unacceptable! In the end, we ran out of time and the final score was 10 to 9.

Our second game on Sunday was against St. Olaf. These guys were super tall and overly athletic but in the end our good looks were too much for them. Our cup pretty much shut down their offense, and we were able to cruise to the finish line. Reaper wins 12-8.

The last game of the tournament, we played Wake Forest. James had trouble with some trees on the sideline. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but apparently he thought that if he threw the disk hard enough, the disk would just fly through the trees... James was wrong. For those of you keeping score, Trees beat James 3-0. Other than that, our cup was very effective again, and we cruised to a 10 to 7 victory.

Overall, this tournament was a very important learning opportunity for our team. I would say that, with the exception of MAYBE Central Florida, nobody beat us this tournament... We beat ourselves. We have a very talented team this season, but we lack the discipline to play as a team.

In every single game at this tournament, we dug ourselves into a hole and then attempted to climb out of it. We may have been able to recover against some teams, but against the better teams, we didn't stand a chance. I'm SICK of always having to recover from our mistakes. I'm TIRED of having to climb out of the fuckin craters we dig for ourselves. But most of all, I'm NOT SATISFIED because I know how talented we can be. Let's build on our success, and learn from our mistakes. We only got 3 more weeks til conference, its time to man up!

<3 Tim

Spring Break

Congrats Reaper on a good showing at Midwest Throwdown. Seeded 11th and finished 4th with a strong comeback against Purdue and a heated game vs Harding. Hopefully High Release and Dele will be able to make a sweet high light vid of the tournament soon! Losing in the Semi's to a very talented Wash U team should be an eye opener. Starters in particular, take away something from this loss and aim to improve on it. Decision making and endurance is something every single starter on this team can improve on.

Iowa State was also an eye-opener. Rookies, overall you played very well on the weekend, our success this year is going to depend on your improvement! D line in particular needs to improve their throws, fundamentals were a major problem for our young D line. Head on a swivel, watch your man but you must also be aware of where the disc is and your positioning so as to contest a pass. Offensively you MUST be comfortable making an upfield continuation pass. We have just two tournaments left before Conference so come to practice but more importantly come and WORK hard!

When we come back and get into the swing of things before Chicago Invite expect to play outside, regardless of how cold or windy it might be. Indoor practices can only help us so much, we need to get out and grind on the field. Make the two hours you set aside for each practice count, that means play like it's a tournament! Challenge your teammates to work harder and improve on the field... BE TENACIOUS ON DEFENSE, COOL MINDED ON OFFENSE!

Lastly... I just wanted to make a quick list of memorable moments/highlights from Midwest Throwdown.

-Joe almost getting a Callahan, immediately followed by Joe getting the most action of his life by a western player.
-Paul getting a D vs Missouri State B in the endzone (13-0 victory kept intact).
-The whole team not freezing to death and playing in that mudpit of a field ALL DAY.
-OC for earning another nickname "Iso... THOR!" in the Purdue game.
-Hinze for getting the best picture of the weekend, then dropping the pass haha.
-Dele for getting a huge 2-handed layout D against Purdue
-Mike destroying a Harding player with possibily the greatest D I have ever seen.
-Classic Steve and Myself for giving Washington probably the best Callahan of their season.
-Zach's breakmark scoober off an endzone play vs Iowa State



Get outside and throw. Have a safe and fun break everyone!


-#2


Some random ultimate videos to keep you interested : )
http://www.vimeo.com/7113554 - NP
http://www.vimeo.com/988257 - NP, my fav HL vid
http://www.vimeo.com/7745563 - ridic highlight vid of the club team Rhino
http://www.vimeo.com/15830371 - short tutorial on throwing
http://www.vimeo.com/14393997 - Iowa college natties 2010