Ultimate!

One of the most fateful events ever to occur in my life so far was the day I saw Ultimate listed as a PE class when registering for classes for first semester sophomore year at Harvey Mudd College. Although most of the people in the class were beginners, I spent most of that semester learning to throw a forehand and started playing some pickup on Saturdays. My junior year I learned of the existence of the Braineaters, a college team made up of students from Pomona and Pitzer, two of the nieghboring schools. After joining the Brains I started learning some strategy and kept on practicing those throws. This picture is at my second tourney ever! We played at the University of Redlands against Loma Linda and Redlands and went 1-1.. these are all the people we had that day.. a savage seven: Me, Will, Derek, Rob, Mark, John, and Jude.

This is Josh. He gets blocks like this on a regular basis.. this is just a bit of inspiration to GET HO!!!!

By the end of my junior year I had become one of the top players on the Braineaters and my senior year I took over as captain. Although we were a really laid back team, we were just serious enough to keep doing drills at practice, working on things like zone D and O, and even running sprints (a drill which increased my vertical leap by 3 inches in a couple months!). We played in tournaments at Occidental, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, and Stanford, continuing to improve all year.

Playing against the Black Tide of UCSB.. time to sky. ;)

Everything came together at the last tournament of my college career: college sectionals at UCSB. Half the team was very late which lead to a crushing defeat in the first game, putting us in the B pool. Then we started to get it together and we stomped over two teams in this pool. In one of these games I got one of the best layout catches of my life so far.. a 40 yard sprint and a 50 yard throw connecting in the endzone with absolutely no time to spare..
We decided at this point that we would prefer the tougher route through the A pool rather than the easy ride in the B pool. It turned out that the first team that beat us was ineligible due to ringers, so we were able to jump in their spot in the A pool and play two really good teams: UCSD and SLO. We were extremely motivated against UCSD as we had played them so many times but never beat them. This game was the best I have ever seen the Brains play. It was extremely close all the way, never more than a 2 point lead either way. The game was capped at 17, and at 16-all I caught the disc about 2 yards from the endzone and called a timeout. We called the play: "Let Travis get open". Travis isn't too tall, but he is very quick. When we set up to put the disc back into play Travis' defender was cheating with the force a lot. We looked at eachother and knew what to do. As soon as the play started I gave one good fake and then threw a fairly easy break to a wide open Travis to win the game. It was quite a moment. We won at the cap, 17-16. We then went on to play SLO who had also fought a tough battle with UCSD. We were so fired up after the win over UCSD that we were able to keep on fighting, pulling ahead at the end to win 11-8.

The GROVEL!!! There is an actual brain in a jar in the middle of that... Brrraaaaaaaiiinnnss!!!

These two wins put us in 2^nd place at sectionals behind the Black Tide, a monumental achievement for the Braineaters.

Thus ended my days of college ultimate. After graduation I returned to Ebb and Flow, the coed club team I played with the previous summer. E&F isn't a highly competetive team, but we improved a lot over the three years I played with them and we definitely had a lot of fun. I was co-captain of Ebb and Flow for the 1996 season, while also traveling to many tournaments around the west coast picking up on all sorts of teams.
At the end of summer '96 seven or eight of us from Ebb&Flow split off and joined up with another 10 players to form a new coed team called RippIt. We are more competitive and more focused on improving than my old team. We were so fired up to get going that we practiced through the winter of '96-'97 in preparation for our first full season in '97.

Now that I am fairly confident with the basic skills and strategies I have been spending time working on many of the finer points of ultimate. Here are some things I'm working on:

• Cutting strategy
  I have recently thought about different techniques that make it easier to get open. I wrote up a page about it, check it out.

• Field vision
  It helps to know everything that is happening all the time. Well, it may not be possible to see everything, but it is very useful to use your free time on the field to look around.
  On defense I often glance back to find the disc and make sure I'm standing in the best spot to cover my man. When the person I'm guarding is clearing out, I look upfield to see if there is a cut coming in that I can poach. I'm still working on learning when not to poach.. :-)
  On offense I have been working on seeing the whole field when I catch the disc and getting over tunnel vision. This quest was prompted by a member of my team who pointed out that I didn't throw to the mids enough. I took this comment very seriously and was happy to learn at the end of the summer that the same person had noticed a marked improvement.
  UPDATE: On defense I now find that I look at the thrower as much as possible. I always keep my man in the corner of my eye so I know when he cuts. However, it is extremely useful to know where the thrower is looking and when they are winding up to throw, especially for a huck. Fairly often I am in a full sprint to poach a deep throw before it is released..

• Marking strategy
  In the summer of '95 I learned a new marking technique from one of my teammates. Instead of keeping my arms outstretched I keep them close to my hips. When I think the thrower is about to throw I suddenly reach all the way out going for the hand block. This technique is good at catching the thrower by surprise if they don't pivot out of your reach.
  I learned a good addition to this method from a Colorado player I met in Tuscon. If I cover the same person for a while, I watch where they release their forehand and backhand throws. Since many players tend to always release their throws from the same spot then I already know where I need to move my hand when they wind up to throw.
  I use another technique against players who run downfield immediately upon throwing, often looking for the give&go. As the thrower throws I start leaning backwards to get my momentum going and I can be right with my person as they start running.

• Low release forehand
  Whenever I watch really good teams I see all these players throw forehands from just about the ground that look really good. I've been working on bending my wrist more so I can throw like this and I've noticed some positive effects. First, these throws are more stable and I can control the speed a little more than just a straight throw. I also think my forehand hucks have improved a bit since I started changing my form. UPDATE: This throw is now an integral part of my game. At regionals 10/96 almost every forehand I threw was low release and fast, many breaking the mark.

• Trick throws, of course!
  I've been working on my lefty forehand for a few months and it is getting pretty good. I don't know if I'll use it in games though (pivoting on the other foot is still very hard!). My scoober is getting pretty good, and is becoming one of my favorite throws. I have used a backwards high release in practice and I'm hoping to promote it to tournament use. I have yet to throw a thumber in a game, but I think I can throw it farther than a hammer(yikes), and the accuracy is getting pretty good. I actually use the push pass in games now, but only to float disc out to someone on my right (usually on a give&go). My high release push pass works ok within 5-10 yards (I threw a HRPP on a count at 9.5 in a recent NCUL for a completion!). I've practiced my high release backhand enough now that I can throw a backhand from any elevation. This is very useful because now I can continually fake high and low throws which confuses the marker big time. My newest throw I'm not sure what to call. I have heard it referred as a "real" scoober, or as a "lipper". It flies like a thumber or lefty hammer, but it is a backhand grip throw.

Tournament log - excerpts

• New Years Fest, Tempe, AZ, February 3-4, 1996
  I flew down to Tempe with Eric Jackson (from Spastic Plastic, now of Perfect Teeth) and the team we were going to pickup with didn't show up. Another team that took that spot would have let us play with them in the A pool, but they had like 20 people already. Instead we played with the Phoenix team in the B pool, Valley of the Sun ("VOTS"). I had a great time playing with this team as Eric and I became instant superstars...
  This was a huge tournament! The main fields had about 8-10 lighted fields and there were 7 more fields nearby. The final was between a combo of New York and Seattle players called "Cucina! Cucina!" and a club team from San Diego(I think). "C!C!" was victorious in an amazing game (quite the huck fest). The final was also filmed by a local tv station! This was the first time I've seen any media coverage of ultimate. I wonder how much they actually broadcast...

• DUI - Davis Ultimate Invitational, March 23-24, 1996
  I believe this was the debut tournament for a new spinoff from Spastic Plastic called Perfect Teeth. We had a rough first day that put us in the B pool for the second day. We then won three straight to get into the B pool final against UCSD. We fought this game up to a 12-12 tie in a game to 13, but lost 14-12. Saucy Jack played in the final of the tourney but I don't remember if they won.. I just remember it was very cold.. then we raced over to Murder Burger and found that they were closed!
  This tourney had some of the most inspired cheers I have ever heard. My team repeatedly came back with rebuttal cheers! Day two was also a big Ro Sham Bo day for our team. Benny from UCSD was very determined to make good use of his ro sham skills, but lost 6 or 7 straight shots, including for shirts and the pull in the final (we should have ro shammed for the game!). The master of ro sham bo from our team was named Pro, who won the last three with lots of confidence and a lot of flair, especially the post-game rematch with the same UCSD player with all of both teams and a lot of spectators looking on. He defintely earned the nickname "Ro Sham Pro"!! I have since become one with the ways of the ro sham.

• Uomo Donna, Tuscon, AZ, April 6-7, 1996
  Me and some friends who recently moved to the Bay Area from Colorado (Wayne, Becky and Pro) made a 12 hour drive to Tuscon to play with a group from Colorado called the "Vibe Tribe". The first day was one of the windiest days I've ever seen at a tournament. Only the few teams that were clearly a step above our team could really handle the wind without much difficulty. Most of our games were a three way battle between the two teams and the wind. The second day was much calmer but was very hot. I was very fired up because I was ready to actually play some disc. Out of our first six points in one game I caught two and threw four! My play in this game earned me an invite to play at Daweena (see below).

• SBUL Finals (Winter League), April 13, 1996
  I captained the Royal Blue team in winter league, 1995-96. Although the teams were supposed to be as even as possible, I got pretty lucky and my team only lost one game out of the entire regular season (to Olive). We hoped to meet Olive in the final game of this tourney, but they got knocked out of the top bracket by Watermelon. We ended up beating Stone Green in the final in a pretty good game.
  Perhaps the highlight of the SBUL tourney was at the barbeque that evening. The game started as Beer Box (box, with a drink in hand, one foot on the ground at all times), but later degenerated into a great game of Full Contact Box! (no fouls can be called when in the box! must complete a pass back out once caught in the box for the score to count!) Even later when it was dark and we moved over to a lighted area the "Joker" was added. When this kid got the disc at any time, it became a neutral possession and whoever got the disc after the Joker threw it would get to keep the disc. That kid threw a pretty good blade.. ; )

• Daweena, Salt Lake City, UT, May 4-5, 1996
  I flew out to Salt Lake City with Pro to play with a bunch of his friends from Colorado. We had many close games, including one up to the cap, but still went 0fer the first day. On Sunday we had one easy win over the Rocky Mountain Village Idiots (and I bought one of their great shirts!), and then had time to watch both the women's and open finals.
  This was probably the tournament where I started feeling more at home playing at a high level. I played deep a lot more than I usually do and got a lot of experience running very hard and going to all the way (we ran a lot of shredder cuts (from the back cutting in towards the disc)). This was also a very well run tourney: very good bread with peanut butter and honey at the fields which actually lasted most of the day, a decent dinner at the party, and a great band (ska). Also fun was walking into a hotel we weren't staying at and using their hot tub which was located in the lobby!

• Santa Barbara Memorial Day Classic, May 25-26, 1996
  I played with Perfect Teeth in the B pool at this tourney. All of our games were very close, including our win over Pasadena (many of my old college opponents). Spinderella also played at this tourney and I was amazed at their improvement since sectionals the previous fall. They still need a lot of work on basic skills, but their improved organization and strategy have helped them a lot.
  My favorite game at this tourney was against the UCSD Air Squids. Benny was there again (see DUI above) and I covered him pretty much the whole game, including subbing in and out when he did. He was definitely their key player and I was totally fired up to shut him down, which I did! He runs a lot of give&go cuts and I was with him all the way. Then he tries to slam on the breaks and get a short swing, and I stuck with that too! He was finally forced to play deep a lot more and on one hard cut back to the disc I was on him so tight that I went for a layout block and got a strip! (it was a good call) I can't remember if we won or lost this game, but my one on one battle with Benny was extremely fun..
  Another feature of this tournament was an exhibition game with refs. The refs got heckled a bit (I definitely got a refs attention with a "can you get called for a fast count??"), but the game itself actually went quite smoothly. The refs did everything: stalling, picks, fouls, line calls, and even a time limit on starting play again after a turn. They didn't call many fouls, and the players seemed to agree with non-calls on hospital throws. Even though I thought the refs thing worked pretty well, I am still totally against refs because it replaces SOTG with a philosophy of doing whatever you can get away with (just ask some soccer players what that is like).

• HP Ultimate Tournament, Sonoma, CA, June 8, 1996
  Ebb&Flow split into two teams for HP this year (after having 25 people on one team last year!). My team choked pretty badly. After a timeout in one game we did get it together for a while. I'm not too great at the inspirational speeches and stuff, so I was a bit surprised at the turnaround after this timeout. I guess those captainly skills can come in handy sometimes.
  The bad news at this tourney was a knee injury for me. I laid out about 5 feet off the ground in an attempt to block a huck (and missed! arg!). I don't think I did anything other than land really, really hard, but I guess I did some hyperextensions of some sort to the tendons on the back of my right knee. I foolishly played a bit more that day, but the next day I was severely limping (I was Palsy Boy while hacking!). I wore a knee brace from June thru September 6 (yikes!), but was pretty much at full speed by early August.
  The HP tourney always has a great party at the HP site up there where the final is played while everyone else eats dinner. This year featured a lot of good hacking and bouncing on Don&Julie's trampoline..

• Potlatch, Seattle, WA, July 13-14, 1996
  Potlatch is the biggest tournament I have ever been to. 60 teams on 27 fields all at one location! I played with a team called Websters: women from Spinderella plus significant others and other random guys.
  I flew up to Seattle a day early with Hank Suwandi, Julie Snaman and Dave Hinds where we met up with Suzanne Kuo and Mike Peercy. We did some touristy stuff like cruising through a big seaside marketplace, and then did some kayaking. We ate dinner that night at an amazingly delicious Italian place called Cucina! Cucina!. We even talked to the manager for a bit and told him how much we liked it. We brought our whole team back there on Sunday and the manager got us tables very quickly right by the windows overlooking the water! And again, the food was great!! Anyway, more about ultimate:
  On Saturday we played pretty well and went 2-3. This was an incredibly LONG day of disc, as we played until it got dark (like 9:30 or something!). Near the end of the day there were hot air balloons going above us and landing nearby. Some people tried to throw discs to the people in the balloons.. :-)
  Day 2 divided all the teams into 4 brackets each of which played out its playoffs. We made it into the B bracket. My knee was still in bad shape from HP, and on Sunday it was so sore I couldn't run so I didn't play at all. We had a couple close games, but didn't advance too far.

• Hats, Hops and Hucks, Boulder Creek, CA, July 20-21, 1996
  HHH is a very popular hat tournament held up in the hills between Saratoga and Santa Cruz. My team color was Sage. The most notable character on my team was EJ (of Joie De Vie) who was our cheer-master. We did funky cheers within our own team multiple times per game and had a great time.. we did quite well too, coming in 4th out of 12 teams after the first day of play. Unfortunately on Sunday we just couldn't get that winning goal in our first game and ended up losing 12-11 at the cap. Nothing against beginner players, but I was quite happy with the baseline skill level at this tourney. It was very cool to go out and play with a whole team of people I didn't know and be able to play some really good ultimate. Other fun activities at HHH included a great breakfast served to us saturday morning at the senior center, swimming in Boulder Creek after playing on sunday, and camping out both friday and saturday nights.

• Grass Roots Ultimate Benefit, Boulder, CO, August 3-4, 1996
  Setting a new record for distance travelled to a tournament, Ebb&Flow headed off to Boulder, Colorado to play at a coed benefit tourney called GRUB (formerly known as LAMA). Becky and I entered us in the tourney and made all the travel plans, etc to get us going. I was surprised at how many E&F'ers were eager to head off to Colorado to play some disc.
  Even though we requested being in the B division of the tourney we ended up in the A division. Despite going 0fer the first day, I think this was the best I've seen Ebb&Flow play. In our game against the top seed in our pool (who ended up in the final), we had a 3 or 4 point comeback to get to about 7-6 or so. We were very fired up and playing great. Unfortunately at this point our game was delayed due to a thunder storm! We had to stop and wait for the storm to pass (not much rain, where we were, just lots of lightning). When we came back our momentum was lost and we didn't score any more points.. doh! On Sunday we got to play in the "Victory Challenged Bracket". We had a great game with the Fighting Amish from Iowa, and won at the cap by 1 or 2 points. Then we went on to lose the Victory Challenged Final.
  After playing Saturday we drove up into the mountains above Boulder to a big ranch. We had a pretty good dinner here, followed by the party and camping out. It was cool being up in the Rockies in the middle of nowhere. The stars were amazing!
  Following the tournament I stayed in Colorado for 3 more days with Becky Kim and Libby Stebbins. We did some hiking and sight seeing (and a lot of driving) and I had a great time. On the third day we met up with Bharat Mediratta and Eric Arnold and a couple guys I went to Hawaii with last March (Alan Wang and Kevin ?) and did some climbing.. very cool!!

• Grass Roots Ultimate Benefit, Monterey, CA, August 24-25, 1996
  I hooked up with the Websters to play in my second GRUB tourney of the year, this time down in Monterey. The tourney was held at the polo fields near pebble beach, which had unfortunately been used as a parking lot the previous weekend and were pretty torn up. In addition I found a couple metal wickets, a nut and bolt, and even a five inch nail on the fields.. Despite the conditions we forged ahead. We had some decent games, but went 0fer the first day. On Sunday we played Caavoom from Pasadena (some of my old college opponents were there) and Wackadoo and beat both of them. Then we played Binge (again) and lost (again)... Thanks mostly to Anne Haycock our team won the prize for the most donations (a case of wine.. I gave a couple bottles to my parents).

• Third Annual Ebb and Flow Invitational, Stanford, CA, September 7, 1996
  I was cocaptain of E&F in '96 so Bharat took on running the party and I was in charge of running the actual tournament for the 3rd annual E&F Invitational. This was the first tourney I had ever run, and the size was 10 teams (up from 8 in '95, 6 in '94). It was fun planning out the pools and all the games. The hardest part about being in charge was focusing on actually playing while all the rest of my time was spent being a slave driver to keep things moving and on schedule. Everything went quite well and we had time to have a final and an "Osoclose" final (for 3rd and 4th). The Fresno crowd were the champions this year, beating out the HP Soco folks.
  As in '95 we went with the costume themes for all the teams. E&F's theme was cartoon characters, and since we entered 2 teams in the tourney we called one Hanna and my team was Barbera. Of course, my costume was Shaggy, of Scooby-Doo.. :-) The E&F teams played fairly well, both placing right in the middle of the final rankings..

• UPA Fall Series Northern California Sectionals, Davis, CA, September 21-22, 1996
  After traveling to Davis last year with Spastic shortly after my ankle injury, playing one point against Double Happiness and then deciding to sit out the rest of the weekend, I was pretty psyched for the fall series this year. At the Ebb&Flow Invitational we hooked up with the Fresno folks and decided to form a combo team called Go Scream. The team consisted of me, Wayne, JT, Hank, and Don from our area (we also picked up Elliott and Chris Doh later on), and about eight Fresno guys including Brad and Matt Jelmini, Mike Becker, Brian; and Tom Slattery from the city. Me and Wayne drove to Fresno to practice once, but we were basically two parts with no experience together.
  Our pool was Double Happiness, Black Mountain, us, Sonoma, and some Stanford college guys. If we beat the mountain we had a very good chance of taking second in our pool... unfortunately our first game was against them, before we got to play together at all! Arg! We played a decent game (I, personally, sucked) but Black Mountain scored the last few to win 13-10. Doh! Well, we went on to beat Sonoma pretty handily, lose to Double 5-13 (Matt (16 yrs old) skied Cribber for a goal! Well, actually Cribber got a piece and tipped it, but Matt found it on the way down, and then spiked it! Whoa!), and then won by forfeit over the Stanford guys who had run out of players. So we came in as expected, third in our pool, which put us in the upper bracket for Sunday, but with a tough first game: Fran Tarkenton.
  This was my first experience at sectionals with a competitive team playing all out. This team played fired up D. It was just too much for our relatively unorganized offense. I had to work really hard on every cut to get open. Our team played pretty good D as well, making Fran work for their goals. Unfortunately we just couldn't work it all the way up every time, and we ended up losing 5-13. My favorite play of this game was when I caught the disc about 2 yards from the endzone by the right sideline. As I started throwing some fakes my marker was jumping all over the place. I faked a high release push pass and he stripped the disc. Play starts again and the count is getting pretty high.. suddenly Wayne comes flying out of the back screaming "Give me the rock!!" His man is right with him but I break the mark with a push pass right to the very corner of the endzone. Wayne's man laid out for the D, but Wayne totally owned the disc and got the goal!
  So we ended up ranked 11^th out of about 21 teams. Due to the large number of teams in our section we got a lot of wildcards, so 10 teams got to go to regionals. Black Mountain ended up not going, so we snagged the last spot... as Brad put it: "Let's posse up... and go... to Vegas!"

• UPA Fall Series Northwest Regionals, Las Vegas, NV, October 12-13, 1996
  Me, JT, Wayne, Don, and Peter (barely) made the drive down to Fresno in Wayne's bus to hook up again with the Fresno guys. Brad rented a massive van which we packed with our 10 players and headed off to Las Vegas for regionals. We quickly learned that Brad is totally out of control behind the wheel! We went through many "it was yellow a couple seconds ago" lights, honked and waved at everyone, and even Peter left a parking lot where there was no driveway, going right off the curb!
  We were planning on staying at a hotel where Wayne's mom works. We drive all the way through Vegas and keep heading east. Wayne tells us we're heading to Mesquite which is "just over the next ridge". About 20 miles later we see a sign which says we have another 40 miles to go! So we turn back to Vegas, hit a little mexican joint for dinner and then go crash on the fields. It was cool to wake up in the morning and see cones being setup around us.
  Our squad this time was a little smaller than sectionals, plus we lost a few of the more inexperienced players we had at Davis. We picked up Peter (who was making his fall series debut at regionals, having never played sectionals!) and another 16 year old, Matt's friend Jerry. We played much better than at sectionals! Good D, much more organized O, and good teamwork all around. I never called the line for O which I think helped me focus on my own play.
  We were seeded at the bottom of our pool and that's exactly where we ended up, but we were playing so well that I still had a great time. Against Saucy Jack I threw one goal to Wayne and caught one from JT in our 13-3 loss. I was quite happy with this. We got 6 or 7 in our games against Furious George (from Canada) and Spud Boyz (from Idaho), and about 9 against Flux from the city. 0-4 for the day, but a lot of great disc! Regionals has no losers bracket, so we were done playing for the weekend after Saturday. I ran so hard the first day that I was pretty happy about this.
  We drove over to UNLV to shower at the end of the day. It was all locked up, but just as we were about to leave someone showed up with a key. So we got inside this deserted complex with showers and a huge pool with a couple tall diving boards (3m?). We had a great time diving into the pool and swimming around. I tried a 1.5 flip which I had never done before and made it! Very cool! Next we hit the Vegas buffets for dinner and got totally stuffed. Mmmm!
  Me, Peter, and Don camped on the fields again Saturday night. This time we got to wake up and watch some great games while still in our sleeping bags! It was cool to watch so many of the best teams in the country in action. Double beat Saucy in semis in a repeat of the final at sectionals. Then Sockeye beat Double in the final 16-15! Saucy crushed Rhino to meet Double again in the game for the second Nationals spot. Unfortunately we had to hit the road so I missed seeing this game where Saucy Jack beat Double! (finally!) I've seen Saucy lose close games to Double three or four times, but now when Nationals was on the line they finally won! On the way back in the middle of the desert east of Bakersfield we stopped at this spot that boasts the worlds largest thermometer (wow). The little restaurant next to it was called Bun Boy. We played some disc in the Bun Boy parking lot, young'uns versus old folks. Quite the crazy game with heckling and in your face action on both sides, but in the end we put the old guys in their place... Bun Boy!!!
  Finally back in Fresno the five bay area folks piled back into the bus and headed back home. Apparently the bus did ok on the return trip but I'm still glad I slept most of the way. In the final regionals fiasco I left my keys in our rental van. I had to call up Brad early the next morning and get him to mail me my keys, but it all worked out ok..
  So, to summarize, regionals rocked!

• Humboldt Harvest, Arcata, CA, October 26-27, 1996
  RippIt was formed in September, 1996 with 9 players from Ebb&Flow and 11 players from elsewhere. Humboldt Harvest was our debut tourney.
  RippIt debut tourney, wind, good band, 0-3 day1, 1-1 day2

• NCUL N, Sunnyvale, CA, November 3, 1996
  RippIt's first ncul: 3-1! lost to fish 13-6 beat e&f random blues, LPC(13-12)

• Frozen FrogFest, Sunnyvale, CA, January 11-12, 1997
  tourney hosted by RippIt! lost to fish 13-7 beat flamingos,wackadoo. against fresno were down 12-7, then up 13-12, then down 14-13, then won 15-14!! fish beat enos&dolores in the final

• Stanford Invitational, Stanford, CA, March 1-2, 1997
  played w/ Braineaters! lost a lot, but beat Black Tide B at cap!

• Spring Fling, Cupertino, CA, March 15, 1997
  RippIt. pretty close game w/ sta cruz, beat flamingos, not so close with pigmeat

• Spring Fling, San Deigo, CA, March 22-23, 1997
  Red Team's debut tourney! For our first tourney we played HOT! In first game lost to Black Tide 11-13! Then lost to a san diego club team Los Guapos (some ex-SuDs) 9-12.. came back from down 2-6 to beat Tucson 13-9, and smashed a savage west LA team 13-3. Made upper bracket quarters (barely) and played Terrapin on sunday. Lost 7-15. Terrapin went on to win the tourney (beat Los Guapos in semis, Black Tide in finals). Good sushi dinner, mediocre party.

• SBUL Finals (Winter League), April 5, 1997
  beat royal in semis, lost to purple in final (I sucked in final! windy)

• DUI - Davis Ultimate Invitational, Davis, CA, April 12-13, 1997
  Red Team. Lost to Black Tide(again), Gimantus(saucy), beat UC Davis, Chico. Played 3pt round robin- lost to Los Guapos, beat Fran Tarkenton(upset?) and Berkeley, lost 0-3 to Coho (sucked)- put us in b bracket. Beat Westward HO (oxy), lost 10-13 to Los Guapos.... spin won C pool (0-4 sat 2-0 sun)

• Spring Fertility, Sonoma, CA, April 27, 1997
  RippIt went 4-1! Beat Rock Stars but lost to Sonoma.. minor injury to my left thumb (on Chaat's layout D attempt- I held on)

• Daweena, Salt Lake City, UT, May 3-4, 1997
  Tucson, we sucked- 0-4 day1, 1-1 day2, got to play Furious George (cool). Spin went 2-2! day1, 0-1 day2. cool clothes/hats/discs, great bread(again). Fisters(barely) beat Johnny Bravo in finals.. Johnny Bravo took out defending champs (Desert Rats) in semis. Rare Air beat Tie Me Up (half of WotVerge) in womens.. all games fun to watch..

• Cal States, Santa Cruz, CA, May 10-11, 1997
  tough pool, lost to houston, saucy, los guapos(again!).. hurt my back. i skipped day2, but we lost game at cap.. doh!

• Memorial Day Classic, Santa Barbara, CA, May 24-25, 1997
  misseeded into B pool.. won it all (7-0 record, +50 pt diff).. Spinderella was seeded 7th out of 8, came in 4th after pool play! Lost by only 3 in quarters to UCSB Burning Skirts.... (3-2 for the weekend)