Freedom Fest

I was pretty stoked for Freedom Fest to tell the truth. After playing with so many iffy teams in the past year or so (and after the PaB-fest of Solstice) I was ready for a change. ISUC brought a solid team to the table, naturally some of the normal ISUC players plus Dunlay, Greg, Torin, M. Lun, Gibbs and Derscheid.

This was my first tournament since YCC with Dunlay, I was curious to see where he'd fit in in regards to the ISUC team. After seeing and hearing so much about Lun I was pretty happy to finally play with him. Gibbs I hadn't really heard much about, just mostly her name tossed around and the word "captain" included, so I just assumed she was amazing. And Derscheid I knew to be an outstanding player through Des Moines League, and a player with an incredible grasp of the game (one day I too will have that grasp).

There were the normal crazy antics on the way up and when we got to Duluth, which turns out has an absolutely gorgeous cityscape during the night, although in the day, it's loses a bit of its luster. Whatever lake we camped at, Superior maybe(?) I can't remember, was breathtaking, although the newb-like forgetting of my sleeping bag was not. Torin and I slept in his van. I wouldn't recommend it.

The tournament fields were nice, a slight crosswind from time to time, but the type that can easily be eliminated after adjusting your throws accordingly. On the way to our first field we encountered a large, puffed up mama bird, who was nesting and/or protecting its children. That thing was fierce. Cones were eventually erected around the perimeter of its territory, although not before some mean-spirited players tried to chase it off. It must have been one of the most stressed out birds in the entire US during that tournament.

As for the ultimate, it took me a while to get used to the cutting of the ISUC offense. I can see where its strengths lie, but it really seemed that we didn't use it to the best of its abilities the whole tournament. That offense needs continual cuts and movement, but a lot of times we ended up getting stuck and the handlers had to work it up. Bad ISUC! Bad.

As mentioned below, I think in the first two games I had already chalked up four or five layout D's, I was quite happy with myself, but I didn't really feel like I got comfortable enough to play my best until later in the second day. A lot of the ISUC guys were impressed with my play, Tim especially it seemed, but I don't think they had ever really seen me play very much.

My very first deep throw in the tournament was a really badly curled backhand that ended up completely missing Ellsworth's deep cut. After that throw I resolved to not handle at all. My backhand has always been the worse of my two throws for some reason. I've been trying to even it out distance-wise with my forehand, but I still have yet to be able to get the correct grip and release point to get it to do what I want. My last practice with ToP I was trying to pull with it and it was working pretty well, but still nowhere near where my forehand is. I'm definitely going to need to work on that if I'm going to do anything worthwhile at UNI.

I'll spare you the details of the games of the first day, we played the way our ranking allowed us to. Our offense needed some work, there were a lot of times where I had the poached deep cut ready, but another player was clogging so I had to just reign it in. Being able to cut deep is a pretty big thing for me, I feel like I'm underestimated a lot in regards to my speed / ups, and that tends to end well for me/my team. And, as I mentioned earlier, that offense needs continual cuts, and we really weren't giving that many. I was thinking about trying that with UNI over the fall, but from how that went I'm definitely going to go with my gut and try the ho-stack. Here's hoping they're able to learn it.

I ended up being too sore / dead feeling to go out to the party. Not to mention I'm not exactly the huge ultimate party type of guy. I'll take a tight-knit group of friends to drink with over a party in a heartbeat. I ended up staying in the hotel with a few other people. Notable happenstances: the RPS National Championships and Master Roshambollah, the apparent citywide shortage of functioning milkshake machines, and the first time sleeping in a bed with another person since the week I was in Maine with Ali. Torin was not amused.

The second day, first game. When I think of Freedom Fest our game against Climax (Luther Alum team) is the first thing that springs to mind. There was an extended warm-up period before that game due to some breakfast choices that left something to be desired. The Luther team looked...tall. Also not very creative in regards to their hair choices, all of them oddly seemed to have the same haircut. A large majority of the time I had trouble lining across from my man, due to sheer uniformity of the Luther team. I suppose that's a desirable trait to have.

I had heard horror stories from my fellow UNI players about Luther teams. You see, back the last time UNI actually went to sectionals (I think three years ago?), they were utterly crushed and thoroughly mocked by the Luther players/Gods of Ultimate. The previous captain of the team actually harbors a deep resentment toward them, and fancies them our rivals. (Hah!) Apparently I, like the rest of the ISUC team, strangely enough, had something to prove.

For some reason while waiting on the line I was able to psych myself up to contest the disc each and every time, and I think my play reflected that. I was put on Jamie (no last name) from Sub-Zero, captain of the Luther team from the previous year, for every single point that he was in. It may have been due to his lack of effort, but I felt like I completely shut him down for the majority of his cutting, and it was only when he started to do more handling that I let him back into the game. Note to self: work on mark, also handler defense. My cutting defense was also eventually what led to my personal highlight of the tournament.

This was the game which contained one of those magical moments. One of those moments where you shuffle off your pitiful human limits. One of those moments where the stars align, where the caprice of karma holds no sway, and where fate gives you a helping hand.

I was told later by Greg that he so badly wished he could've had a picture at that moment, for my feet were at my defender's chest. My sentiments echo his exactly.

We played hard that game and we ended up winning, Deservedly in some ways, not so in others. The last point ended up being somewhat of a letdown due to a player's belief that he could fast count his way to a stall (turns out, if a second fast count / contested stall is called immediately after a previous one, the stall count goes down to six. That would've been handy to know).

The second game of the second day...happened, and we lost. After the Climax game I and a lot of the team didn't feel quite up to playing a bunch of Sub-Zero players (plus Jamie and Dill from Climax, unfair!). We were all too beat to end up playing with Ding Wop for 3rd, I'm unsure of how well we would've done, but then again, I've never played Ding Wop before.

Well, technically I played them at Moustachionals. I distinctly remember Dave skying one of our players (UNI) with both a beer and a cocktail in his hand for the score. Typical.

The post-tournament ride introduced me to the joy of Vanilla Frosties, the promise of the 5 for 5.95 shake challenge, and probably some other things I guess.

The player by player recap?
Greg: Stellar, Solstice-esque. (I'll join his fanclub with gusto!)
Dunlay: Spectacular, he didn't do as much handling as I would've expected, considering he's really going to need to step up next year for ISUC, but as a cutter he's amazing.
Torin: See below.
Misra: Excellent. None of the problems at Solstice were continued at Freedom Fest.
Myself: Superb, throws needed work (addressed at Iowa Games)
Gibbs: Fast/quick, didn't see enough of her play though. I also felt bad as I felt like I should'veMcDonalds where it was just her and me sitting at the same table. It was probably my bad, you were just staring so intently at the table I was unsure of what to do. Or maybe it didn't really matter and I'm making more of it than there really is. Hm.
M. Lun: I could tell his shoulder was probably still bothering him, but an amazing handler nonetheless. It's interesting trying to work with him / I wasn't used to it at all so it was a bit awkward trying to make handler cuts with him. Meh. Deep throws = love.
Derscheid: As solid as I remembered her, whenever she got the disc I felt at ease. Also, her randomly shouted explicatives after points brightened my day, there need to be more people like her. I also felt bad for not being social, but she is a grizzled veteran of the sport and I am not. First rule of ultimate: greenhorns never address their superiors unless addressed first. Appendix: Unless prompted in question form i.e. in the search for greater knowledge.

Freedom Fest: a great tournament overall, with only a few slight things that could have been improved. 8.5 out of 10 stars.

Edit: Also M. Ellsworth: He was like, there and stuff. He did some things.