E girls Online

Lina For Callahan

2007-04-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Written by Miranda Roth
I am proud to announce that Melina Coogan is UW Element’s Callahan award nominee for 2007. She is deserving of this award in all the right ways.
The Callahan Award is given in honor of Henry Callahan who played for the University of Oregon with all his heart. The award has come to be something of a college ultimate MVP in recent years. However, this award is different from the heisman trophy in football and other MVP awards in that nominations are given from players on individual teams, not given by the coaches or the media. Also, all players across the country choose the winner. In this way, the award is truly an award given by the players of our sport based on talent, good sportsmanship, leadership and general contribution to our sport.

Lina is an excellent teammate – I had the pleasure of being her teammate for a year and she was always there for me, on and off the field. She plays with a tremendous amount of heart, not for herself but for the good of the team. She never questions her role on the team – she only does her best to play her role and help others play theirs.

Lina has very good sportsmanship – in a sport without referees at a level where not everyone knows the rules and not everyone has the best intentions, Lina always rises above and plays good, fair ultimate. I have never seen her be angry or condescending to an opponent. She often sucks it up and even when the opponent lays out into her with questionable intent, she simply stands up and calls a foul, typically with a genuinely friendly smile on her face. Other teams love us and want to party with us; high school girls want to come to UW. Lina embodies what Element should represent to the greater ultimate community – agreeable, welcoming and fair.

Lina is a fantastic leader – Lina has captained the team and has been an on- and off-field leader her entire career. She helps run practices when coaches and captains are absent, she welcomes rookies with open arms, she takes extra time from her busy schedule to work with people on what she and they need to take their game to the next level. She leads by example from representing Element at fall tournament parties to coming home early when the next day matters most. Lina makes good decisions and others follow her direction.

Lastly, and mostly, Lina has made an incredible contribution to our sport and the UW program in particular. Lina is the beloved coach of the Nathan Hale girls’ high school team, the Seattle YCC girls’ team and a regular coach of Seattle Moho. Before Lina took an active role in the Washington Element program, the team was lucky to qualify for regionals. Since then, the team has been 2-time sectional champions, national finalists, Seattle ultimate carnival team competition champions and competitive at tournaments across the country. In looking back on the three years I’ve spent with the program, I realize that this improvement is due, in no small part, to Lina. She has made this team what it is and will leave it a better team for those already here and those yet to come. She gets tattoos. She gets layout blocks. She makes gifts for her teammates. She is the all around Element girl and more than deserving of our 2007 Callahan nomination.

-- Miranda Roth

UW Element Coach

Element Teammate 2004-2005

2004 Callahan Award Winner

This Was eLeMEnT Winter 2007: HIGHLIGHTS and supEr-highs, low lights and SUPER lows and all thE strangE things in betwEEn

2007-03-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

We stayed Classy

Not all of us

Did any of us stay Classy

Any One?

No One?

Really?

I'm sure SOMEONE on this team stayed classy...

There we go....

We Sun-Dodged

SHANNON GOT BETTER

We Won A Lot

We stayed alive on the sideline

Washington Ultimate was represented in hostile territory

We stayed Hydrated

Heather Ann Survived. And we made sure of that.

We got Media

We got older and all that

Nora Went Nuts

Nora Joined Team S

Mir Got Bit by Hawaii

Sarah Got Engaged

We Got SweatShirts.

And then we Beat stanford.

Jaquie Sarah.....stayed

Stuff was VideoTaped.....

We Beat Stanford (twice) (in one game)

AMY WENT OFF

the Silverdale Injuries....

we kicked stanford out of their own tournament...

Vegas Was Nate Robbed

Rookies were initiated

After the Deep-Freeze...

2007-01-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

Our try-outs this year were made extra-grueling do to the insane weather. We tried to keep our throws low in record high winds, struggled to come to the disc hard with numb hands, and did conditioning in a snowstorm that left our hands feeling like this:

Yet we all survived and once more we all made the team...here are some of the things we do to revive after cold, snowy/windy/icy late night practices:

Strip off our wet clothes, watch sensless TV, eat the first thing we can find in the kitchen....more than 4 of us do all this while defrosting in a hot bath. Lisa watches the west wing, Nora watches south park, Lina watches whatever show ABC.com puts up for free. The girls in the Club house ( I like to call it the "VA"...you know, vetrans something or other...since it's mostly vetrans...?) discuss practice. The coaches soak it up in a hot bubble bath while playing hand held yahtzee and thinking over what worked and what didn't work at practice.

Sarah has a similar routine which she expresses as "strip down, hot shower, hot man, and hot food."

And Katie's boyfriend better buy her lots of expensive dinners out, because she doesn't even strip out of her wet clothes before calling him right after practice.

Out of everyone who answered this poll, no one said anything involving the root word 'study.'

Featured Element of the Week

2007-01-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

Amy chose her library school based on three things: Ultimate, good music,
and good food.Lots of cities have the second two, but Amy's best friend
grew up in Shoreline and she suggested Amy apply to UW. So, she checked out
the Ultimate websites to see what was up. When I saw how high UW was on
the UPA standings, her application was ready to go. And, of course, it
cinched the deal when Element took 2nd at Nationals. Plus, Lina e-mailed
her back right away when Amy e-mailed from Iowa expressing interest.
"So, whether you wanted me or not, I'm here!" And she's loving it. As it turns
out, UW is the 4th best library and information science program in the
country (ahe also got into the top ranked, but for the reasons stated
above, it wasn't even an option :))

Like many previous E.O.T.Ws, Amy ran cross-country all four years of high school as her main sport. Also all four years, in the off-seasons, she was on the bowling team, did track (tried high jump, the 200m, triple jump, and the 400m before settling
down with the 800m), and swam (backstroke is her specialty, it seems
rather appropriate that she sucks at breast stroke **her words...he he he**). She also has been horseback riding for years. After one season of cross country
at college, she switched to her first ever team sport and she's never looked
back! "Hurrah ultimate, and sigh for my last year of college eligibility."

She was team captain for the Grinnell Sticky Tongues for a year and half
and helped build it from 7 dedicated girls and one librarian (her
inspiration, Jen Green) to probably a core of 15 girls with 20 coming out
for pick-up. The scene was way different than UW, though. :)

I asked Amy why she decided to be the world's youngest, hottest librarian. A major reason is that she didn't want to go to grad school for math or Russian (her double major at Grinnell). So, after working at library circ desks and various other brief library things for 3 years and her inspiration from the previously mentioned Jen, she decided that was the way for her. She started reading blogs like www.lipsticklibrarian.com andlibrarian.net and again, never looked back. The hardest thing for her is being so young. She's the only person in my program (in her year, '07) that she knows of to come to the School straight out of undergrad. It's kind of scary, and sometimes she worries that gray hair is contagious. So, Element is her keeping young. :) And hott, actually. Amy adds, "Feel free to ask me any questions about being a librarian! Or to ask me for help with your research. :)"

Amy's favorite off the field moment are car trips. Talking with Megan for the 5 hours non-stop to Eugene about everything and Niki's mom (Niki's Indian food
virginity!), riding with Hannah while Lina ate whole cucumbers and ate
half of Hannah's grilled cheese sandwich from In & Out, Kara (or was that
Lisa?) peeing outside of the van (IT WAS JENNY!! AUTHORS NOTE) Sarah's patience with her getting her (our captain!) to the fields late at OFUK and driving around looking for coffee (you can totally walk through those drive-in things).

When it comes to on field play, Amy had a few side-line d's by talking to the dump, which were hella sweet. She also loved being in the cup. This year at OFUK, pretty much every time Claire picked up the disc (and that one time Nora did) and she just ran it down.
:)
~best tournament memory (if it's different from above)

Her best tournament memory occured at Grinnell. They went to the Mardi
Gras tournament outside of New Orleans every year. She went for 2 of
those. She writes, "The last year we played our last game in ridiculous wind, fairly
cold weather, on fields that were used as corn fields (think lots of
ruts), against a Texas school (I can't remember which one). Both teams
agreed to take off articles of clothing for turn-overs or pretty much
anything we wanted (hot plays, for instance). Myself and the other
captain (Lexi Abel-Lina, you met her when you played with us, I think,
she's also a Seattle native) ended up pretty much naked...no, entirely
naked except for cleats. Yeah, we won. :)"

I asked Amy to tell us what is it like to be ENGAGED!!! and how She decided
to pop the question herself. In her own words:
It's pretty awesome. :) I think I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Jason within 2 months of dating him. But I was 18 and we went through some crazy, not so good times, and I kind of forgot about that. Then I realized that 5 years was coming up and that he had supported me through so much stuff, including moving out here (although he was also down with the good food and good music). And he's
my real best friend and so much fun to hang out with, and that feeling that I wanted to spend my life with him never really went away, and was stronger than ever. So I decided, why shouldn't I ask him first? I get my mother's engagement ring, so I can get him a ring and screw tradition. I didn't want to wait for him to get the courage, anyway. :) Man, love rules. Too mushy?

And of course, the most important question was saved for last. I asked Amy what HER reasons were for deciding to sign on for another year of element,
despite the $$ and time commitment, excruciating workouts and
demands on top of her hectic class schedule!?

"How could I not???? What kind of a question is this? :) That's what credit cards are for, and the best way I know to get great thighs, buns, and abs. And I have a really personal reason for needing you guys that some of you already know and that will probably come out with lots of tears at one of our team meetings. Seriously, I need you ladies. You're amazing. Including all the newbies. :)"

Amy, we're glad you gave up your side carreer in super modeling to be our teammate. We love you!

2007-01-11T22:31:00.000-08:00

Winter Quarter

2006-12-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome Back practices run by captains and Jenn:
Wednesday 1/3 8-10pm,
Friday 1/5 4-6pm,
Saturday 1/6 12-3pm,
Monday 1-8 8-10pm

Try-outs, run by coaches:
Wednesday 1/10 (happy birthday amy!) 8-10pm,
Friday 1/12 4-6pm, (run by captains)
Saturday 1/13 12-3pm,
Monday 1/15 8-10pm

after that, team practices will be:
Monday and Wednesday 8-10pm
Friday 4-6pm
Saturday 12-3pm

Tournaments:
Las vegas (3 days of play February 9- February 2/11)
Stanford: Palo alto generally early March

You will be responsible for paying for your own flights and hotels and transportation. There will probably be one more full day of round robin
scrimmages in seattle in early spring.

Then we will have sectionals (local),
regionals (probably in california = another plane ticket
and nationals (memorial day weekend 3 days of play in columbus, ohio) if we qualify.

that's what's up.

Sleep Over

2006-12-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

Neighbors

2006-12-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

Element and RIOT joined forces to heat up the dance floor at neighbors on capitol hill. href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2578/4101/1600/167278/4.jpg"> The party, which lasted for some until 2:30am, started at Lina and Jenny's place in the evening...
where really good guacamole, body shots and some other light debauchery went down...
until miraculously we were able to convince ALL of those in attendance...with the exception of katie who had to run off with a fine young man...
...to go out with us...

...and although the all ages thing turned out to be a bit of a miconception...it was still an element adventure for all...

The Stories We'll tell...

2006-11-29T23:27:00.000-08:00

At the end of this year- if we all survive- will be epic. Oregon Fall's Ultimate KickOff gave us all a run for our money, and we came out victorious. We won the tournament, going undefeated against every college team. The finals of the college division was an epic rematch against Oregon. We went up 2:0 immediately, and they answered back to tie the game at 2:0s, then it was off to the races. Oregon steamed ahead the entire (short, capped) game and took half 7-5. Somehow UW battled it out and tied it at 8's, when we were alerted from Miranda that it was suddenly universe point! All our hard fighting D had payed off.

Although we started off on D, there were three turnovers in that final point, resulting in Makayla on the goal line with no stall count and every element girl screaming 'chuck it!' She remained cool in the midst of chaos and put up a nice forehand to the corner of the endzone, over the heads of all the fugue girls on the field, into the hands of Lina, who held the disc up for a few seconds before throwing it up in the sky to celebrate the culmination of an undefeated preseason.

Element went strong at the party. Particular props to Nora and Christina for staying till the bitter end, Christina for the plungers, Marisa for pushing her boundaries and being labeled 'epic'...Heather Ann for wearing not one stich of clothes, and to Lina and Lisa because they were proud to have finally found the VIP room, after four years.

4th Element of the Week!

2006-11-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

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.

Featured Element 3: Shannon O'Malley

2006-11-16T13:35:00.000-08:00

The start of the 2006-2007 College Season (preseason, whatever) marks a new era in college women's ultimate: Shannon O'Malley is finally eligible. This woman/immortal morph is taking the field with Washington Element (duh) alongside longtime highschool teammate and fellow baby riot girl Claire Suver. Below is an exclusive interview:

"Alright, I started playing in 6th grade, which i think means I started my
9th year of playing ultimate this september. I started with Eckstein
Middle School (seattle ravenna area) and then played with Nathan Hale
(coed city league champs, state champs 04 and 05, kinda nationalish
champs 04, westerns 05....uh maybe you can tell im proud of my hs team
heh heh) ***interviewer would like to interupt to announce that HALE RULE!*** I found element by practicing with the ladies in the fall of my
junior year. They invited the suvers out and I kinda tagged along because
I was addicted by that point.

There been a lot of highlights....I'd say the best was winning
the last ever high school nationals with a combined team. 5 of us from my
highschool (Molly and Claire Suver, Hana Kawai, Alyssa Weatherford and I)
joined up with a canadian team, Yale, and we went in as last seed, no one
expected anything from us. But come semis on sunday we beat the 6 year
undefeated Amherst Varsity 11-10. It was epic. Then we went on to take
the title against a Eugene team. Both teams, Amherst and the Eugene team
bageld us or came close the day before.

Playing for RIOT is pretty intense. 4 practices a week for a good chunk of time is reallya commitment. I didnt realize how crazy it was until I finally started
college and had more than Ultimate in my life. Theres up and downs as
well. I think it was a huge shock for everyone to go from an undefeated
season to a not so undefeated one the next year, people just gotta know
to watch out for next year. But, yeah, its still the most amazing
experience, plus everyone on Riot is just awesome at the game and in
general.

Q: how does club differ from college? what are you looking forward to
about this college season?

Oh man! So I hate to say it but I was dying to play college all through
the club season, shhh dont tell anyone ;). Ever since being the water
girl at last years regionals Id been edging to play the game. Itd say the
biggest and most obvious difference is definately a different skill set.
College is where most people start their careers and thats sweet. Its
actually what Im most excited about because seeing everyone improve is
awesome and I love passing knowledge about the sport on. I love it so
much I just want to keep spreading its seeds!

Q: what have you enjoyed about element so far?

Well, considering what ive experienced isnt too much so far but Sundodger
was awesome. I hadnt really met anyone yet and I was actually kinda
nervous to just come out and start playing without any real practice with
the team. But everyone was awesome and nice and I was really impressed
with everyone, especially when I would say "That was an amazing play!"
and someone else would go "yeah, shes never played before!" It was so
cool. It psyched me up like nothing else.

Q: what are some of the crazy things you have done for a team (shaved
head, ect) that has made you famous??

Well, I dont really know how crazy it is anymore but I usually dye my
hair different colors for every tournament. Whether its the teams colors
or just random its usually dyed and put into a fauxhawk if its a big
tourney. But last year for club natties I went as far as to shave the
words RIOT into the back of my head.

Q: tell us a few more cool things about yourself!!!

Coaching Ultimate is a huge part of my life too, my middle school kids
teams took 3rd in each of their divisions! Pretty cool for pretty new
(and small!) players. I really like indie music, or really, just music in general so if you have some cool sweet music, i probably want to hear it and you should
pass it on. I totally rock at beer pong. But only if im completely wasted. Re: UW
Kegger 06. Techno music = also the shit. Not to brag but I have 5 gold medals...oh and two silvers...those are okay too ;P

Im so Awkward. Like right now. Like through this whole answering process.
Oh and im going to be in "go girl go" magazine, or something weird like
that.

....The end.

Check out shannon on ultivillage clip of the day archive! See you on the field, bebe...it's about time we was teammates!

Element Victory

2006-11-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

damn right, fools, aint' NObody out there could beat the E-L-E-M-E-N-T. two slightly insane days of driving and running and we DID it. It feels good to have sundodger in our pocket. What's next? OFUK? Vegas? StanfordsectionalsregionalsNATIONALStheworld??

i think Perhaps.

Go ahead y'all and post your favorites from the tournament. Hey, I'll begin!

1) Heather Underwood's sick bids, putting those missed bids in the bank so at OFUK she can check out some BIG ones
2) Maddy's D increasing exponentially with every game.
3) CLAIRES FUCKING HANDBLOCK CALLAHAN you bitch I can't beleive you did that before me!
4) I got handblocked...and then caught it...that was sweet....
5) beating Oregon on double game point....*hand snap thing!*

bring it.
Good job ladies.

Element of the Week 2: Kristan "ninja" Emi

2006-11-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

i (really) like anything matcha green tea.

this is what i do when i am at work

Congradulations to Kristin Emi Okinaka for being our second Featured Element of the week. After a year of this ever surprising beauty, people have started to ask questions. How is she a ninja? How can she disapear and repear like that? Where does she get her powers of invisibility? What are those colorful jello things her mom made for us at sectionals? We know that she can catch what others have given up on. We know she loves disney on ice and that she can dance (if you didn't see her at the mixer, sorry, because that was, in the words of L.Niemann, 'pretty much the most amazing thing ever.') We love you ninja girl!

Krstin was led to element by the big ugly tape poster on kane, and the small flyer in the HUB. She kept seeing signs everywhere so she had to check it out! She was firstintroduced to the sport a little back in high school from her cross country coach. Her favorite memory from the 05/06 college season, when Kristin was a freshman, is 'Jack hack hiding under her jacket when we flew to stanford!' (Jack hates flying...more on Jack in a few weeks.) Other favorites include getting a hand block at regionals, meeting fabulously fun people! "I cannot pick one favorite memory." Writes Kristin. "I don't like favorites."

Krstin ran cross country for four years in high school an distance track for two. She played on a rec basketball (that's right, basketball) team for several years too. She love bowling. She writes, "I had one awful experience with mini golf and never went back to it."

Oh Kristin, please elaborate on that some day.

This college season, The Ninja is looking forward to watching everyone make sick layouts; also her plan with Niki to conver the team to HP-ism. (Ask her.) Her personal goals are to become a better thrower and learning to lay out. Also, she'd like to manage her time better so she can get more sleep.

Interesting and strange facts about Kristin, as told by the Ninja herslef:
i like french onion soup. i want a shiba inu. i am really good at playing legitimate "Christmas" songs in November so the Christmas Nazis do not hunt me down.

(silly, christmas nazis ENCOURAGE christmas music, at all times, during all occasions. It's the antii-christmas nonfestive jerkpants who hate.)

these songs can include "there's no place like home for the holidays" or "baby it's cold outside." (they do not say the word Christmas in these songs.) there
are way more that i can inform you of at a later time.

Our final query to Kristin was where she gets her power of invisibility. To this she replies, "i have connections with harry potter so he lets me use his invisibility cloak from time to time."

Lagaan

2006-11-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
Tomorrow Night!
Check your emails for more information!

-Marisa

ps This is ultimate related in a convulated twisted way. It was my high school ultimate's team official movie that I think we've watched 2-3 times together. And it relates to the forming of a team overcoming adversities and learning a game(cricket) just as our team is just coming together and learning a game(ultimate). Inspirational sports movie!

FYI: I'm not obsessed. Really.

Sundodgers is only 3 days away! Get Psyched!

Help Me too!

2006-11-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

So I had quite the potty mouth today and that's just not cool. Sorry girls! So, I'm following Niki's example and whenever I swear, you should call me on it because I need buffer arms anyway. This will A)Help me not distract myself and B)get me strong! Whoot! Sweet practice today girls. I will be posting pictures from Indian night soon!

Lay out D baby clinic

2006-11-03T14:54:00.000-08:00

baby meaning short. meet at 5:15 at the IMA turf fields where we have practice. Today, friday the 3rd. Wear something to cover arms and legs. Plenty of time afterwards to pretty-fie yourself (thanks paige!) before the social! Rides to social available.

Be there!

Help me out

2006-11-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

So in my attempt to widen my throwing range, I am going to try and throw no high release forehands autumn quarter. Weird I know, what other forehand do I have? None, which is why it will be difficult. So, if during practice you see me throwing a high release forehand, let me know and I will do ten pushups... Its a habit to throw them... so I will either A) get really buff doing this or B) learn to throw other throws... yay win win situations.

-Niki

Workout 11/1

2006-11-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

So, I have to say that you girls better watch out because today myself, Niki, Katie and the wonderful Heather Brown got our hops on and did a great arm and ab workout. Who's gonna get skied this weekend? It's sure not going to be any of us...

There's another chance to do it tomorrow at 8pm with Amy and Sarah. It's an easy workout, so there are no excuses.

Be ready for Western, oh and I can't forget Simon Frasier who let me know they were stopping by...

Michelle

Be Proud

2006-11-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Element ladies rockin' it out at Nationals. These images totally fire me up!!

A sick grab by Miranda!

Jen about to sky some Cali chick!

Claire rocks my world!

Sweet catch Shannon! (and amazing hair)

Former coach and teammate Carla, layin' it out!

Nationals Photos are up

2006-10-31T20:17:00.000-08:00

Jimmy with a ridiculous D bid

Sam being Big

The dreamiest of all dreams

Bil Elsinger's photos:

www.pbase.com/elsinger

Frost on the Sideline

2006-10-30T23:04:00.000-08:00

That's right, that's how cold it is. Yet we still had the best practice of the season. After warm ups, we headed into split box drill. After trying for 10 completions and immediately getting 35, we combined for a huge box drill where we learned what it means to be 'the 8th man.' We'll practice it again, 'till we keep our sidelines so hot they'll be hot springs, not frost.

ROOKIES!

We spent the majority of the arctic practice doing a whistle scrimmage. Just a normal scrimmage only a vetran would blow Marisa's ear-splitting safety whistle, and explain the situation that she wanted to correct. We went over: cuts off a dead disc, picks, fouls, fast breaks....

Vetrans!

Heather Ann had a beautiful, unlikely layout grab. Her 2nd best ever.
Marisa was an outstanding mid, all over the field cutting at will. And Debbie began to throw connections under pressure.

Vetrans, look for the write up of today's meeting in your inbox soon.

Thanks everyone for a sweet practice!! Log on and write your own write up! If you noticed anything that fired you up, put it up right here.

Featured Element #1: Heather Underwood

2006-10-30T17:12:00.000-08:00

Heather was chosen to be the first featured element of the 2006-2007 season because of the dedication she has shown to the team during these first few weeks. She's been at practice, throwing clinic, power hours and more, through math midterms, near freezing temperatures, and flues. She had already mastered propper layout form and is ready to break out the D's in the upcoming tournaments. With her exponential learning curve and willingness to work diligently on the little things that makes a player great, we cannot wait to see what kind of player she will be by the spring series.

Miss Underwood turned to ultimate after an already very long and industrious career in sports all over the map. For nine years she was a gymnast, and retired after placing first in the state of Washington on the uneven bars. (This helps explain the aptitute for long throws). Afterwards, she broadened her range of sports to become a triathlete, cross country runner, backpacker, soccer player, and a crazy snowboarder who became significantly less crazy after multiple knee surgeries. She rowed for the University of Washington as a freshman.

Miss Underwood was led to ultimate by her highschool classmate, Niki Lesniak, who will surely be featured up here soon as well as rewarded with cupcake royale for converting such a seasoned athlete. Heather is a sophmore majoring in math and computer science and is contemplating a minor in chemistry. (In layman's terms: she's whicked smaaaaht'). Instead of letting her intense schedule bring her down, she states: "With this kind of class load, it has been such a
great relief to find a sport that can help me focus my energies in a physical
and productive way."

Thus far she has enjoyed her time as an element, "from the bruises to the cupcakes." She is looking forward to kicking some a** at the tournaments this fall and traveling to compete in the spring. She can't wait to improve her skills and strategy and learn more about all "the amazing people on this team."

She adds, "I love that sports offer an opportunity to be part of a team
and the chance to have a great time and be outdoors. I am so psyched for this
season and to learn more about this great sport!"

Follow her progress, and the whole Element team through the 2006-2007 college season at www.elementultimate.blogspot.com, and www.students.washington.edu.

To nominate a player to be featured, email blugrass AT u DOT washington DOT edu

E girls Online

2006-10-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

E girls Online

I don't know how excited this made everyone else but I'm stoked. We're now going to have a full team and coaches! This is pretty much going to be sweet.

Lina thanks for getting us all super excited!

7/8

2006-10-30T10:44:00.000-08:00

Hey, in response to the below post (lisa, did you write that?) here is some more NW ultimate news:

This is nuts!! SEVEN out of EIGHT of the finalists at club nationals this year were from the Northwest Region!! All of open, women, masters were from the NW, and Mischeif, the mixed team that won, is from the NW! (Slow white, the one non-NW finalist, was from new england! woot woot!)

Geuss it's time for us to make sure that the NW represents during college season, too!

Go Seattle!

2006-10-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

Check out the results at score o matic if you havent yet! our riot girls finished an awesome second, and sockeye took first at natties! way to go Seattle we are so proud!

Anyone else totally fired up for practice after thinking about our friends and teammates, past and present, kicking butt down in florida? yea!

bring it tonight ladies!

Riot&Sockeye are in FINALS!

2006-10-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

Claire, sundodger alum Ray, Shannon, sundodger alum Ray, Element alum and former coach Carla, Element alum and coach Mir, Element alum Krisann, coach Jenn. They was taught by UW ultimate! (Or they're teaching us...or both...)
Both teams are playing in the finals of club nationals tomorrow morning against their nemsis': bay area women's team Fury and Vancouver's Furious George.

Follow the action at www.scoreomatic.com (ultimate, upa 2006 club championships) for point by point, and www.ultivillage.com for videos.

Good luck RIOT&SOCKEYE!

Halloween Practice

2006-10-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

If you missed today's practice, you missed.....the afformentioned cupcakes, abbs, pushups, singing total eclipse of the heart while enduring timed armed...um..things. things that hurt. I don't know what to call them. Also a lot of throwing, gradual throwing with a mark, and a SWEET cutting and defense drill. Those are the things to work on if you missed out.

Here is a quick run down of the very effective cutting defensive drill:

we set up cones in the shape of pattern running, as if we were one player on the field starting in the stack, making an out an in cut, running for a huck, coming in for a huck, then clearing back to the stack. We marked every place where we chopped/cut in with cones. We first sprinted through it, concentrating on chopping, getting low, exploding, and sprinting 100%.

Next we added field awareness, with Heather (who was sick and still came out!) standing with the disc giving us fakes. We worked on running hard while giving quick looks behind to see where the disc was.

Then we added defense, jogging slowly through it to work on body position.

Then we upped the speed, and added a thrower.

Lastly, we did a mega-quick tutorial on getting a clean, safe lay out D.

Then we scrimmaged, 6 on 6. Everyone played hard. Sabba and Debbie remarked that it was easier to cut, and they understood cutting more, when there were less people on the field.
Marisa had some beautiful break throws, and Niki broke out some incredible forehands. Rita was the MVP of the game, in a couple of points she was every other throw, threw an effortless high release backhand for a score, and showed well developing defense. Amy d'd every huck Lina put up, and Lisa got 4 handblocks, on the same person, who may or may not be writing this.

Further Enticement

2006-10-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Duing my routine google image search of 'cupcakes' I ran across this gem. This may or may not embody my personal feelings on playing superfly.

A Little Enticement

2006-10-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

For 10-28-06 practice : Come and yee shall receive throwingrunninghuckingcatchinglayingoutscoring insight. Oh and maybe:

Spoon

2006-10-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

E girls Online I can't wait for the spooning action!

Throwing Clinic #2

2006-10-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Rita and Maddy came out to clinic last night for some one on one throwing techniques. There were throws with a mark, persuasive fakes, throwing to a cutter, and beautiful long throws.

We learned how much harder it is to get off a decent throw when there is a mark on you, or even near you. It's 98% mental and can be overcome by practice.

This drill worked wonders: have a less experienced player emulate a player with strong throws. Strong throwing player (let's call her Lisa) will partner throw with less experienced player. Lisa will throw forehands, backhands, high releases, stepping out, stepping back, getting low, etc. Her partner watches and returns the throw in the exact way that lisa threw it. Exactly the same, from footwork to what Lisa does with her arm that's not throwing. There's no talking or asking questions; really there isn't much thinking involved. Just let your body copy exactly what the strong thrower is doing. This drill had R&M looking like very experienced players with a wide range of solid throws.

sweet!!

Element Online

2006-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Virtual Ultimate field. Post, read, reply, psych up your teammates.