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| November 15 2001 Us 6 Them 10 Attendance: Everyone, except Pat, who's still in Costa Rica. Ross showed up even though he couldn't play due to a stress fracture in his foot. He even gave Noriko a ride to and from the game! A big group hug for Ross, please. Synopsis The 11:15 start time was an ultimate first for everyone. Congratulations to that raver Pete who had the most crazy costume (and probably the most comfortable)!) I'll never forget the sight of the pacifier being picked up off the field after a huge bid by the diaper-clad man. Everyone else dressed up in pajamas and nightgowns. Cocaptain Kathy was totally full-blown in a teddy. Right on! And nice headwear too. The game started a bit late and it was indeed intense. We weren't playing the team 12 on my list I thought we were playing. Again, the game was close until around midnight, when Jen Kwok's team rallied and scored a few points against us. A strip was called on Kim and Colin stood up against a foul call. The play was generally fast paced. Luckily, no-one got hurt.! Some embarrassing things for myself were having them score a couple of long bombs and us not calling off our marks on one point. Yikes! Ms. Kwok said some stuff about spirit at the end but we were all pretty bagged by the end of it and ended up doing a kind of circular group cheer. Why We Didn't Win If you fumbled the disc or made some bad cuts or throws, don't feel bad - that happens to everybody, and we all learn from it. But we were at a disadvantage for two main reasons (three if you count the pajama factor!) 1) Experience - Jen's team had three national-level players: Jen Kwok, Mike (the tall guy) and Gosia (the girl in the black shorts). They all played pretty much the whole game. Nothing beats experience in how to handle, how to judge (or "read") a disc in the air, and how to cut offensively and defensively. This just takes time. 2) Flow - Often, a smaller team with fewer subs outperforms the larger team. I think this is due to the fact that everyone on the smaller team gets involved in the game a bit more, communication is tighter, and everone becomes comfortable in a routine with their teammates. Plus, a team gets a great psychological boost when they score against a bigger team. I'm not suggesting we need fewer players - it's just that we should be aware of this phenomenon and try to work with it. Having a larger team means we have to rotate lines often for even playing time - and that means having rookies battle it out on their own now and then. I'd rather have it like that and maybe lose a few points than having people upset that they never got to pull or even touch the disc. |
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