4th Element of the Week!

Niki Lesniak, a 2nd year Element, blew up on the fields at OFUK and played an essential role in helping the team claim their 2nd consecutive OFUK championship, as well as seal off a fall series with no losses. We can't wait to see what this girl, and her brand new shot gun of a long forehand, will do in the college series
Niki played Ultimate after cross country practice in high school. At UW, when she saw a sign at the IMA, she figured it would just be a bunch of old cross country kids. Like many, she didn't realize it was played competitively let alone at collegiate or world levels.
The five adjectives she uses to describe element:
Cuddly, Strong, Potential, Amusing
He favorite on field memory is catching her first layout grab at the Stanford Invite in the game against Berkeley. With honesty she writes, "that tournament was so bad for me, it was nice to walk away with something good."
He Favorite Off Field Memory is The Centex tournie party in the hotel, and four Elements sharing the bed the night before and staying up late talking. (There were 5 for half the night, the author would like to point out.)
NIki wants to go to nationals, she knows that this team has so much potential. She thinks the only thing that would hold us back is ourselves. "We have to want it and not let ourselves self destruct, I've seen it happen and it sucks." Personally, she wants to be a play-maker on the field. She wants to never let my defender score and to make the other team nervous when she's on the line.

I asked Niki what she wants Element to be, years down the line, when she is a fifth year senior: "I want us to be multiple team national champions, I want people to want to hate us, but they cant because we are just to damn fun, I want people to feel
like they don't have a chance against us."

Niki ran cross country for 4 years! In her senior year she was most improved,
captain and mvp. She ran track for 6 years. She ran hurdles, 400m relay and the
400m. She's broken 3 school records, 2 of which still stand, she went to state
track twice, she captained the team her senior year. In other arenas of athletic talent, she rode horses for 5 years, snowboards, and played soccer for 4 years before high school. I've even ran a half marathon, a feat that is only 1 upped by running 10 miles for ice cream, a tradition her high school team still does.

Her non-ultimate world consists of drawing all the time, since she's a design major. "They have to be in perfect perspective so it is much harder than you'd
think."

And some final Niki Trivia: She's scared of the dark. She has double jointed wrists. And, she's a wuss for puppies or kittens, its a sure fire way to make me melt.

This season, Element will work hard to keep their sideline free of puppies and kittens, to make sure Niki remains strong. We'll send the puppies and kittens to the other sideline, so that the opposing team can console themselves with them after they are (skied/broken/D'd/score on) by our own and only Niki.