Ultimate in Seattle

I have been really impressed by the number of good players here in Seattle. There are definitely some players that did not make it through the first cuts of Sockeye that would've made it onto the Dutch national team. In a way it makes sense, there are just so many people that play in this city.

Just in schools alone, there are 2500 kids in Seattle that play ultimate. In every other park there is a game going on. During Sockey practices there are usually two games being played at the same fields. These games vary from no-stall-count, 6-on-6 turn over fests to decent games were everybody mastered the side-arm. On top of this, it is not uncommon for elite players to move to Seattle to play for Sockeye.

These 2500 kids are trained by payed coaches that really understand the game. I visited the Spring Reign tournament, the biggest junior tournament in the world, and the disc skills of these kids are really amazing. A lot of Sockeye players are coaches, so these kids are trained by the best. For Sockeye it is also a really good deal, because there is just a huge pool of players that are very good even before the go to college.

This coaching experience also shows in the Sockeye practices. They are all very well thought out, clearly communicated and practices are clearly building upon the previous ones. It is really inspiring to be part of a group like this and I am sure I am going to keep on learning a ton.

First practice

Yesterday was the first big post-combine practice. It was so much of fun! We worked on cuts from the flex stack, got started on a zone called Fuck Shit Up (or FSU), and played some games.

It is a bit weird to practice and try out at the same time. On the one hand I want to learn as much as possible. Playing on the edge of my comfort zone, I make more mistakes. On the other hand I want to play my best game and show that I can play without making any mistakes. I guess it's a bit of a balance, but I think about trying out as little as possible since it distracts me from my game.

One of the things I need to learn here is to not make small in cuts when people are backing me. Instead of stepping in for a small pass, I need to to work to get open deep or come under for more yards. I am getting a bit better at cutting deep successfully, but I still go for the easy mini in cuts to often.

Practice was also tiring. Four hours of running with only a couple of breaks, just enough to get something to eat or fill up your water bottle, is a lot. The 45 minute bike ride through hilly Seattle left me exhausted and hungry. I kind kind of ate all the food I had an then crashed onto my bed to wake up an hour later...

Next: Track on Tuesday, pod on Wednesday.

I made it through round one!

I made it through the first cuts of tryouts. Along with 17 others I got selected to the next phase in the tryouts for Sockeye '11.

The next part of the tryouts last for three weeks. In this three weeks there will be track workouts and pods for the selected group. At the end of the three weeks, on June 4th and 5th, we play a tournament in Vancouver with two teams.

I think my biggest challenge is (still) to change my game from demanding every second or third pass to getting less discs for more yardage. I'm also not fully accustomed to the physical game here, although I am getting more and more comfortable with the constant bumps.

I am very excited to play at this round of the tryouts. Everyone is really good, so the level will be high at the practices. The level will keep rising as there will be more returners at the practices. It will be exciting to see if I can keep up :)

The Combine

Vandaag was eindelijk de grote dag, de Sockeye combine! Op de prachtige velden onder een stralende zon speelden ongeveer 100 man voor een plekje in de volgende ronde van tryouts.

De spelers werden opgedeeld in 5 teams, elk team speelde één keer tegen elkaar. Twee van de vier wedstrijden werden gespeeld op het ‘showcase’ veld. Deze wedstrijden werden extra goed bekeken door de Sockeye captains.

Ik werd ingedeeld in het team van 2006 Callahan winner Tim Gehret. Verder zat ik in het team met veel college spelers, waaronder de captain van de University of Washington (UW). UW heeft zich voor het eerst in tijden gekwalificeerd voor Nationals. Dat is over twee weken, die gasten zijn dus allemaal top fit. Ik had zelf nogal last van m’n hamstrings. Afgelopen dinsdag was er een erg intense track workout met erg veel sprints. Iedereen die daar was had nu, na drie dagen, nog steeds last van zijn benen. Er waren zelfs gasten die eerder moesten stoppen.

Er werden stats bijgehouden voor de wedstrijden, ik was nummer 5.

De eerste wedstrijd begon meteen goed, we speelden op het showcase veld en waren veel sterker dan het andere team. Ik speelde ok met een paar scores, een layout D en een forehand huck tegen de wind in.

De tweede wedstrijd ging niet zo lekker. Ik had last van de hitte/zon, m’n voeten (nieuwe schoenen) en hooikoorts. Mijn hele team had een beetje weinig energie en we verloren dan ook met bijna dubbele cijfers.

Na anderhalf uur rust was onze derde wedstrijd weer op het showcase veld. Het was een lekkere, harde pot die we wonnen op universe point. Ik speelde lekker met een poach layout D, een D op universe point en later in hetzelfde punt een poach waardoor de tegenstanders de schijf weggooide.

De laatste wedstrijd was een uitputtingsslag. Iedereen zat er flink doorheen na drie wedstrijden in de hitte. Er waren ontzettend veel turnovers, maar wij waren toch wat consistenter. Ik gooide de winnende pass over drie kwart veld.

Ik was onder de indruk van het niveau van de combine. Het was de meest competitieve combine van tenminste de afgelopen vijf jaar. Er waren geen echte super sterren (die nog niet voor Sockeye spelen), maar iedereen begrijpt het spelletje, kan hard rennen, hoog springen en goed gooien.

Het was een erg leuke en vermoeiende dag, ik hoop dat ik morgen nog een beetje kan lopen…

Ik hoor morgen of ik door ben naar het volgende deel van tryouts. Hierin wordt er drie weken met een groep van zo’n 40 man getraind en het wordt afgesloten 3 en 4 juni tijdens een toernooi in Vancouver.

Welcome to What's Krakken?!

Day 23 in Seattle, and I finally got around to starting this blog :)

I'll try to update it about once or twice a week. I'll write about my life here in Seattle and about playing ultimate in the US of A. There are probably a lot of people interested in how it is to play ultimate in North America. Therefore, I'll tag every story about frisbee with "Ultimate", that way you can read about American ultimate only and skip the other bogus.

I am not sure yet whether I'll write in English or Dutch. I might switch it around a bit, but I'll try to stick with one language per post. I don't have a camera or hipster phone (yet), so unfortunately I won't have any pictures at first.