Yah, you read that right, a chameleon! The weather was phenomenal and the Ultimate was even better. We had our first full morning practices, chilled at the pool (layouts!), and played some more Ultimate in the evening. Training Camp 2013 is in full swing!

Flickr Photo Album – 6/26/13
YouTube Video – 6/26/13

While I did manage to get to sleep earlier than any other night this week, that didn’t turn in to me getting up an earlier. Instead I made it out to the Mohadoun by 7:30, which meant I had a fun scramble to print out the day’s issue of Get UP! and make it to breakfast. Alas, Tomer and I got the printer working and the issue looked great! Over in the dining hall we enjoyed pancakes and chocolate sauce, before all the teams headed out for their first full morning of practice. The boys bussed up and traveled to Tamra and the girls walked over to the Manof field.

Just as my kids got to the field, look what they noticed! Meredith got him off the ground…

And I got him safely to a nearby bush.

With the chameleon excitement getting us pumped up, my team got cleated up in the far quarter of the field that we had claimed for our practice session. After warmups, we ran through Go-To, played some Hot Box, and then I explained the positioning for a horizontal stack. After an hour break, we combined with team Maroon Mamas and ran through some defensive drills followed by a 15 minute scrimmage.

I was so impressed by the strength of all the kids! Ruba, a 12 year old girl on my team, scored twice with her amazing speed and great catches. Gal, a Jr. Worlds player, had careful throws, and asked me if she could work on her I/O throws during Go-To. Awesome. What I liked best was that my girls did what I asked — Play quick offense and throw to open people as soon as they were open.

At 12:30 we had spirit circle and then the girls had about 20 minutes of free time before lunch. I rested in air conditioning, although it was that needed since they day was party cloudy and breezy, such a wonderful treat after all the hear we experienced last summer. In the dining hall we all experienced the spirited cacophony, and filled up on standard lunch far.

Afterwards there was a quick meeting in the auditorium and then a bunch of the kids took a bus over to the pool. The rest stayed on campus and participated in a slew of activities. I worked on media and planned more of the rest of the day. I also spent some time taking photos at the slip and slide. Needless to say, the kids were having a “decently” good time :)

At 4:30 team pink was finishing up putting on their cleats back in the far corner of the Manof field. After warmups, and Go-To, we ran through a marking drill. Next we transitioned to talking more about horizontal stack, and then drilled the primary cutting pattern. The girls figured it our quickly! Next we worked on a 3-person weave drill, following by some long cutting. Practice went really, really well. Everyone left tired, content, and ready for our first games tomorrow!

After practice we had 30 minutes before dinner. In the dining room we were thrust back into the awesomeness that is eating with our family and table cheers. By 7:40 we were all in the auditorium where we watched a couple Ultimate top 10 videos and then Zolo and crew explained the evening activity.

All the kids are now out and about all over campus on a hunt for Linda. In about 90 minutes they should be tired enough to overcome their UP excitement and get to sleep.

Tomorrow is another big day!