Good practice today.

Which is nice, because I really didn't think it was going to be when it all started off. I was feeling slow and tight, and we didn't have great numbers at the outset. Especially with Henry, Mitch, and Patuluk sitting (Mitch was fasting, Patuluk has a hurt hamstring - though that doesn't excuse his drinking a couple beers before practice - and Henry was... resting for Club Regionals, maybe? Which I feel a little critical of, but whatever. I would feel like a total bitch if I sat for no good reason on a day with short numbers, but I suppose that Henry isn't exactly me.). After a few drills, however, things seemed to be going alright. We played a five pull, which didn't go well for the D line, and then went straight into a scrimmage.

We're really fortunate that the likes of Brent, Joe, Trevor, and today Darden have been showing up to some practices and playing. They really add a lot of experience and ability to scrimmages that are dominated by youth. I've noticed that a lot of the young guys start to sub out and sit on the sideline when they start to feel tired, reluctantly subbing in when we call them out. They need to learn how to play tired, and having older players around could teach them. When it's been a ten minute point and all you want to do is put your hands on your knees and quit, you have to realize that your man is feeling exactly the same way and it is a perfect time to force a turnover and sprint into the endzone for the easiest score of your life. Playing tired is the way to play ultimate. They say that a good running back gets stronger as the game progresses, starts to pound linebackers when they're sucking too much air to fight back. Ultimate is exactly the same. Excellent players play excellently when they are tired. End of story.

Neverless, I tried to give the alumni smaller roles on offense so that our new guys can learn how to handle the load when said alumni aren't present. This wasn't always possible, as the other team sometimes threw zone (forcing Brent to fill in as the third handler) or the other cutters on our team sometimes weren't able to make the cut and an alumni had to fill the space, but I did it as much as I prudently could.

My team lost the scrimmage, but we ran our asses off. Sometimes we clicked, sometimes less so. Overall, though, I'd say it was a great practice.