UMassacre Update: Day 1

First day of the of the first tourney for the 2010-2011 Dartmouth Pain Train. A lot of learning was done, especially on our zone looks. More details (and some pics) will come later with the Day 2 post. For now the results:

1) Dartmouth 9 Tufts 13
After taking half 7-6, we let our foot off the gas and Tufts ran away.

2) Dartmouth 13 Cornell 6
Our zone d was looking better with each point we played. There was essentially no wind, so it was particularly awesome to force some turns.

3) Dartmouth 13 ARHS 9
Once again, we rode our zone d.

4) Dartmouth 13 Wesleyan 8
The wind picked up during this game. After building up an 11-2 lead, we let our foot off the gas and Wesleyan came back. We got there eventually.


Overall, 3-1 on the first day. A lot of good stuff from the train, but also a lot of room for improvement. We have UMASS B tomorrow morning to finish up pool play and then bracket play later in the day.

A huge thank you to the Diamonds, parents of Spencer Diamond '14, for inviting us into their home, making us pasta, and collecting blue glass. You are our sunshine.

Yo Alums!

We're compiling a list of where Dartmouth Ultimate alums are playing these days (thanks to Mike Zargham '07), so check it out and add anyone else you know of. This will be a good way for alums to catch up with each other at tournaments and whatnot. Here's the google doc:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=thqsHoo6DYcrjFn_4-fNmkA&hl=en&authkey=CIX6_4sK#gid=0

Congrats to Zargham, Misha, Rohre, Mandy, Marika, Kevin, Liz, Siegs, Agan, and Shmi (and likely others) for making it to Natties!

The Immaculate Inception of the 2010-2011 Pain Train and Discomfort Trolley

Today was the first day of tryouts for the 2010-2011 Pain Train, as well as the first day for the 2010-2011 Discomfort Trolley. These are their stories:

Pain Train

The first practice of the Train justified the team name entirely – as it was both painful and locomotive. The level of intensity was high and all of the tryouts were working really hard to impress the venerable Politburo.

The tryouts began with the 3-handler weave drill, which got some the blood flowin' and the sweat drippin' despite some chilly New Hampshire temperatures. This was promptly followed by a good old fashioned go-to drill with some west-coast dishy-like twists.

After the drills we split into three groups (Team Chase, Team Lars, Team Sam) which alternated between scrimmaging and doing the super-nasty/triangle-of-death drill. The combination was challenging to say the least, but also incredibly fun – we got to play competitive ultimate and cheer on our teammates, to that we say: boomslam.

Our next activity was focused tossing: 150 throws. 25 flat/inside-out/outside-in backhands (75 throws). 25 flat/inside-out/outside-in forehands (75 throws). Breadbaskets were hit.

Lest we rest for too long, we did full-field sprints followed by what is now known as either “Misha-Time (M-T)” or “Misha's Booty Boot Camp (MBBC)” (NOTE: do not google the second term). Misha Sidorsky 10' will be using his ultimate experience, encyclopedic knowledge of strength and conditioning, and hot bod to train us this fall. We are all incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have Misha instruct us in painful, yet ultimately constructive, calisthenics. One of the best parts of our conditioning was how vocally supportive we were of each other. Some, though not all, of the magic of this team stems from it closeness, and it clearly showed today. Ronnie Coleman quotes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO45iY7hilI) abounded.

After our first encounter with MBBC, our legs were gelatinous, our shoulders hurt, and our cardiovascular systems were heavily taxed, Nottingham under Prince John.¹ On the bright side of things, doing all that core work at the end of practice directly caused a bunch of dudes to take off their shirts and dazzle the lady-folk with their abs. Thanks Misha!

Discomfort Trolley

On the other side of the road, past the practicing women, the DT started working its magic. After some wildly irresponsible scrimmaging to start things off, the Trolley settled down with some concentrated throwing. Moving right along, though at an uncomfortable pace, the Trolley-ers did some flow drill and went over the mechanics of handler and cutter motion in the ho-stack.

After some more scrimmaging, there was working out of abs and pushing one's body off the ground repeatedly, as well as the freshman cone drill, with a cameo by Jon Wills 11'.

According to one anonymous, and incredibly biased, account, the practice “went awesomely!”

1For more information on the Likeless Simile, the literary device used in the sentence, please refer to:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Likeless%20Simile