2012 BUDA YCC Mixed wins GOLD with a 13-7 win over Seattle!

Photos are online right here. A full write up will go online later tonight.

The BUDA YCC teams lit up the fields today in Blaine.

Photos from the day are online right here. Photos from yesterday are online here. Yesterday’s write-up is online right here.

The Mixed team went 3-0, beating Wisconsin 13-3, New York 13-1, and Minneapolis 13-3. The Open team went 2-1, beating Atlanta 15-7 and New York 15-6, and losing to Denver 11-12.

Full tournament results can be found here: Mixed, Open

Later this evening you should find detailed write ups of each division done by USAU reporters online right here.

Tomorrow morning, Mixed starts off the day with a quarter finals game against Chicago, most likely then followed by semis against Maine, and then almost certainly a finals matchup against Seattle. The Open team first faces Minnesota followed by their semis game against the winner of Pittsburgh and and Seattle. Who they will face in the finals is hard to predict (Either Delaware, Denver, Chicago, or Cincinnati. I’m pulling for Cincy)

Here’s how we got where we are:

The morning began with another round of early wake up calls — well, not too early since the team wasn’t too into the super early calls as invoked by… me. The Mixed team cruised through breakfast first and took off right around 6:45. By 7am we were at the fields setting up on the field we’d be playing on all day. The Open team arrived shortly after and began their warm up routine. At 8am we joined the coaches and captains meeting and by 8:45 our warm up routine was coming to a close. At 9am games began.

Mixed went up against an athletic yet small in numbers Wisconsin team. We broke them twice to start the game, then switched to a zone for a point which was thoroughly thrashed.  So, we moved back to a straight up person-D against their H-stack offense, and we shut them down. All of the potential we showed in warms up and with the raw talen on hand was fully realized and we rolled to a 13-3 win.

In their first game, Open played very well against Atlanta and won in convincing fashion 15-7.

In the second game of the day, Mixed came out on fire against New York and never looked back. Our shut down straight up person-D, careful precision O, and monster receptions propelled us to a 13-1 win.

Next, the Mixed team had a bye while Open went up against a physical Denver team. After going down 5-1 on some very tough Denver D, the Open team fought back to 5-5. After trading points the rest of the game, Denver ended up with the disc not so far from the end zone as hard cap was called. They scored, and BUDA Open ended up losing 11-12.

In the third game of the day, Mixed faced the #2 seed in the pool, Minnesota. We knew they had an athletic line and strong women, so we knew it was important to come out strong. We did, breaking them on the first two points before allowing them to score. We ended up taking half 7-3 off of some furious play by our girls who dominated. We ended up playing 4 girls 3 boys as often as we could. In the second half we sealed the deal by not letting Minnesota score.

Open ended up playing New York in their third game (a crossover with pool A), a matchup BUDA Open easily won 15-6.

After the games ended, the Mixed team took some group photos and then all the teams bussed up and drove the short distance to the tournament dinner.

We enjoyed several rounds of soft tacos and the lively social atmosphere of all the teams eating in one place. 10 players and coach Hourigan stayed to watch the coaches game and everyone came back to the hotel. All the kids are spread out either relaxing in ice baths, the hot tub, the pool, or watching TV in their rooms. Team meetings are in an hour followed by sleep.

A special shout out: The BUDA women are unreal.

YCC championship here we come!

I’m currently out in Blaine, MN coaching the BUDA YCC Mixed team at the 2012 USAU Youth Club Championships. This is my 7th time coaching at the event in its’ 8 year history. In ’05 the girls team I helped coach came in 2nd. In ’06 my open team finished 5th. Over the past 5 years my mixed team has come in 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd, and 2nd. I am very ready to take home the gold.

This morning began with early wake up call going out to all the rooms, followed by a pretty good hotel-provided breakfast. By 8am all the kids were grouped up in the lobby and we took the 4 vans the short distance to our practice fields, two of the same fields the tournament will be using this weekend. The morning was cool, bright, and slightly breezy. In other words, perfect Ultimate weather. For the next three hours the open and mixed teams ran through drills, strategy sessions, and some social games. The kids bonded, everyone had a great time, and the teams looked very strong. Before leaving the fields we took a group picture and then drove to a nearby grouping of various lunch establishments.

After a very relaxing lunch, we all headed back to the hotel where everyone enjoyed two hours of free time. Some kids took advantage of the pool, others watched Olympic coverage, and a few napped. By 3pm we were all back in the lobby and 15 minutes later we were pulling into the Bowling alley.

The kids partitioned themselves into groups of 5 or 6 and spent the next 2 hours bowling up a storm. A few kids with actual experience dominated the scores, but many new players held their own with special styles like “hopping on one foot and bowling slowly”, and, “I either miss all the pins or knock them all down”. We had a great time.

At 5:30 we got back in the vans and after making it to the Olive Garden which was totally packed, we drove the short distance to Victory Pizzeria which managed to seat our group of 50 in one area. The kids gorged themselves on pizza, pasta, calzones, and various other diners items, and quickly found themselves very, very tired.

After dinner I headed over to tournament central to go through check in while coach Westcott and Hourigan made the Target run. Less than an hour ago both teams had their team meetings and now everyone is in their rooms either sleeping or very close to unconsciousness.

Everything is set for a fantastic weekend of Ultimate!

The tournament webpage is online right here.

Mixed Schedule: Score Reporter, PDF

Open Schedule: Score Reporter, PDF

A few photos from day 1 are online right here.