THE DOUBLE DIP

Inception 2013 - All smiles after making the game-to-go, but you can see the wheels already turning for an even better 2014 in each and every face.

Written by Tim Hopp
Edited by Coit 
When a club ultimate Frisbee team qualifies for worlds they attempt to “double peak” in one season – winning club worlds and USAU club championships – not any easy task for any team. Recently this has been done by Revolver, the bay area club team that has been on a tear over the past 3 years. Revolver has won 3 out of the past 4 championships with Doublewide taking the other. In 2010 Revolver bested Sockeye at the world games in Prague and came back to win their first national title in Sarasota, Florida. 

Why do I lead with this? Because I experienced the opposite on a much smaller scale – losing back to back league finals.

In my small section of the world, the biggest games I am able to get up for are the South Central Club Regionals. Inception is entering its 5th year and has not cracked Club Nationals. That is the goal every year for any competitive club team and is something that is within reach. The talent pool in the Denver / Boulder area is enough to possibly even send 2 teams to natties. 

2014 will be Inception's year. I can feel it. 

We are excited about it. One more year of experience under the belt. Mamabird kids are gaining that important sense of confidence crushing the college level. Bravo is going to worlds – surely some talent will slide Inceptions way. The offseason is for working in the gym, on the track, and on the field.

Mile High Ultimate is the best league in Denver. I can say this with complete confidence because I have played in all of the leagues. Sure DSUL has a very fun atmosphere and has been around forever but I cannot get over driving through rush hour traffic to get in 1 game. Kegs after the games help but in my estimation, not worth it. MHU makes playing league fun and easy – and the competition is decent as well. To the casual observer, league may not seem like the same level of play. Because it isn't. But in some ways playing against friends in a local league can make the games feel more powerful. I know the movements of the 13 other players on the field. I know tendencies, strengths, weaknesses, who has the killer instinct.

Sucks to Suck

MHU's Regular Season's Best Reflect Hometown Donkeys

In case you are completely immune to suggestive language, the record breaking undefeated run for Incep-twaff(cic)le in the MHU league circuit for the past two seasons came to a less than championship end at the hands of an experienced Master's team Monday night in the 8pm Final. Injuries and untimely mistakes proved too much for the MHU Finals favorites.

So learn. Much good.

Learning from the Colorado Ultimate National Team (1/25/14) -

My last post touted the benefits of playing offseason ultimate as much as possible in order to stay sharp. Today I'd like to add-on to that post by saying that while playing ultimate in the winter is good, monotony is not. 

I really try to make sure I don't get burned out on the sport by not differentiating between offseason tournaments and regular season tournaments. Basically, I'm saying to mix it up. If you're an Open Club player, find some Mixed tourneys in the offseason to work on whatever it is you need to work on, and probably boost your self-esteem a bit in process. Don't go to ALL offseason tournaments that exactly mirror your regular season weekends. Also don't forget to capture important lessons from these seemingly meaningless tournaments to apply to the games that matter. Allow me to elaborate:

Offseason Ultimate

Still Perfect (2/3/14)

Ok, I'll admit it. The only real reason I'm blogging today is to boast about two things.

1. Team Twaff(cic)le, which includes the likes of Inception-ers Hopp, House, Slow-mo, Stache, Seemon, Regular Joel and myself, just completed back-to-back undefeated seasons in the Mile High Ultimate A-League here in Denver! We ended up sealing the deal and taking the title in the fall, now we have to do the same in winter (next week). Plans are already solidified to bring the team back for Spring A-League. 3 PEAT!...?!? 
2. And more importantly to my fellow Inception guys, I GOT MY TIM HOPP REPLICA JERSEY for my bday from the legend himself. Good gifting, sir. Hope you like old school GAIA...

Offseason

Gym Rats (1/16/14) - 

An interesting thing happened in the gym today that completely reaffirmed my motivation and dedication to Inception. But first, a bit of background.

Although our 2013 season ended with a loss in the game-to-go to eventual 3rd place finishers at Nationals, Johnny Bravo, there was plenty of reason for Inception to hold their heads high. From day 1 of tryouts, the goal for Inception was to get to the game-to-go in the South Central region because while a loss meant missing nationals, the simple fact of earning a spot into the game would open up the possibilities for Inception to compete in higher quality tournaments in 2014. This includes our home-based tournament in August, Colorado Cup. In 2013, Inception was snubbed a bid to CC despite having a better 2013 ranking, as well as having beaten some teams invited to the tournament. Why? Because regular season event invites are divvied up according to the results from the previous year's Conference Championships (Sectionals) and more importantly, Regionals. Suffice to say, Inception had a...less than impressive result in 2012, finishing 5th in the region for the second year in a row, which cost them bids to the higher tiered tourneys the following year.

So, jump forward to the 2013 Regional game-to-go loss, and it's easy to see why Inception was content with the 2013 campaign. Or so I thought. It wasn't until our weekly gym/lifting session this week that I learned I was not the only one whose content had quickly worn thin.

Let's Begin with a Loss

Bittersweet Motivation (9/21/13) - 

For every two-to-three teams making it to the Open Club Nationals ultimate tournament each year from the eight respective regions, there are 10-20 teams that barely miss the cut. This blog is the following of one such Open Club Team - Inception - based out of Denver, CO in the team's journey to break through to the Club national tournament in 2014.