Ubuntu

here is a lot that is going to happen this year. There is a lot we want to happen this year. Looking ahead, it’s a long road to nationals, paved with lots of running, injuries, disappointments, and hopefully triumphs. Yet beyond he winning and losing there is a lot still left to fight for and a lot still to find everyday. First and foremost, as Illinois ultimate, we are a family. We are a group of individuals that have spent a ridiculous amount of hours together, doing a ridiculous amount of things together.

Such a concept is not foreign, it’s not outrageous. In fact there is an embodiment of all these concepts South Africa has held in tradition for a long time called Ubuntu. Simply put, Ubuntu is the concept that the individual is defined through his relationship with the entire community. It’s a concept that strikes at the heart of self sacrifice, of what really makes a family. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it,

“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has proper self assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished.”

Remember this the next coming months. Many people are fighting for those spots on the a-team and fighting for playing time no matter where they end up. In the process we can take this so hard, we can blow up every drop, every missed assignment, and every errant throw. But remember, everyone that sacrifices their time and their body to be a part of this family belongs in this family. No number of mistakes will ever take that away from you. There is nothing but effort and sincerity required. So do not be threatened by your teammates. Do not enter into competition so deeply that you cease to remember this. That person you’re lining up against in practice is there to make the community stronger by making you stronger. They are counting on you to do the same.

This does not mean we ignore ourselves however. Concerning this Nelson Mandela says, “Ubuntu does not mean people should not enrich themselves. The question therefore is: Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to improve?” Keep that cemented in your mind in these coming months. You’re working everyday for that person next to you on the field and they are doing the same for you. This does not guarantee success but it guarantees effort, and it guarantees that win or lose its going to happen the right way. We’ve gone through the sub-zero practices together. We’ve cheered each other on through the cross fits. We’ve played through injuries. We’ve organized the summer leagues. We’ve kept each other awake during the endless drives. We’ve sacrificed our bed spots. We’ve sacrificed entire weekends to only come back for the next week more tired than when we left. We’ve been there for each other day in and day out, and boys this is only the beginning. Like I said the road ahead of us is long. Believe me there are going to be days you wished you didn’t join the ultimate team, Sunday nights when you get back at 3 in the morning, knees aflame and bruises abound only to realize you have a full week of school and practice ahead of you. It’s going to be a set of months that we won’t be able to get through, that we wont’ be able to succeed through unless we remember every single day that we are a family and Ubuntu is all that matters.

Practice Recaps

Practice Recap 10/29 and 10/31

Numbers were a little low at the beginning of practice, but picked up as time went on. I think a lot of the people were in class. We started out with some cut-to. The drill is not as crisp as it could be. There veterans and rookies a like who do not run hard all the way through the disc. The drill can be used to help your catching. If you sprint as fast as you can it makes the catch harder, and it will prepare you for game speed.

We moved to a hucking drill with a defender similar to Sunday’s practice. Having all team members throw helped make this more of a conditioning drill. There were some good plays in a lot of the pairs and competitive battles for the disc. Pat and Pavan seemed like they were having some fun going after the disc. Also, there was some trashing talking between Joel and Rip as they raced down the field. Kyle and Kurley had the speed vs. height battle going on. Waldo and Brad battled for handler supremacy. LT and Anthony had a good rookie battle as well as Zac and Connor. After forehand and backhand hucks, Illinois scrimmaged to finish off the practice.

10/31

Halloween’s spookiness could not keep the boys from the ultimate field today. As practiced started the fields seemed to have a crosswind going, but the wind seemed to die towards the end of practice. After a long inside out box drill, Illinois split into a Dutch drill and a zone defense drill. The Dutch drill exposed some of teammate’s weaknesses in throwing the short forehand pass. This is a difficult and often over looked when practicing your throws, but it is very important.

The zone drill pitted players against some of Illinois’ defensive line. For the most part, I think there were only 2 scores were the zone did not get at one d. The majority of the points had the zone getting a d, usually on a throw away by a handler. Mitch looked solid getting quite a few d’s playing the weak side flat.

One potential problem area with our zone seemed to be the handler crashing then the cup getting broken after that. It felt like maybe the cup would hesitate to stop the crasher and get caught in between jumping that cut or repositioning the cup for the new thrower. I think more practice and suggestions may help improve the cup. For example, I was thinking maybe if we see a team crashing a lot, we could pinch the middle flat in tighter and have the weak side flat pinch more towards the middle of the field. I do not know if this will work, but it might be something to try.

After the drills, Illinois played a rookie vs. sophomore game and a junior vs. senior game. The elders won in both matchups. The sophomores ran a zone against the rookies taking away their athleticism and capitalizing on their poor throws. In the junior senior game, the seniors were more effective at moving the disc, as they were handler heavy. The seniors brought out the old school playbook to try to confuse the juniors, but poor execution was the junior’s downfall.