No Contest

The first thing that came to my mind after we played No Contest on Saturday was that the match felt like a real ultimate game to me. There was good handlers and athletes, advanced strategies on both sides, and a great deal of intensity. It was a good game, one in which our team probably improved to play some its best ultimate ever... but it was still a tough loss. Afterwords it seemed like everybody had a good time mingling at the BBQ and getting to know each other. Hopefully this develops into a strong rivalry, although we need to work on winning against our rivals, but still we pick our rivals well- tough teams with cool dudes on them. As Captain KC said, No Contest will probably be one of the better teams of the entire league, but that doesn't mean we can't compete, or even win, against them. Here are my thoughts.

Things We Did Well:
1. Transition Defense and Huck Defense- compared to the last few games we played this looked phenomenally better, and as experience grows, so will these areas.
2. Offensive Flow- There were some real moments when we just cruised down the field without any problems.

Things We Didn't Do So Well:
1. Execution- We had several bad throws and a few drops. Obviously this stuff is going to happen occasionally, but the key is to cut down on it as much as possible. This was the main trouble for us last year. During the No Contest game, we would flow really well and then we'd make one mistake and they would punish us for it. We would also have the occasional stall on our offense (whether because of bad handler motion or lack of cutting). We really just need to practice and drill this stuff so that it becomes natural and easy.
2. Endzone Offense- not the number one priority on the list, but important. We just can't seem to get everything together to score. Isolation plays have never really come together as much as we've liked, and everything just seems to fall apart.
3. Foul Calling- Read the rules, it is really simple. You won't be a tool if you call a foul when a dude hacks you or tackles you.

Neither Good Nor Bad:
Man Defense and Intensity: The other team was tired by the end of that game- which is great- but so were we, and I'd say we got burned on the whole a bit more often than them. We need to have the legs to ensure we don't get beat, especially to the force side! Playing more intense ultimate should help.

OK that's it. Hopefully we can work on this stuff in practice, and hopefully next time we meet No Contest we can show them what we've learned.