Hrvatski ultimate

Many things happened from different perspectives in Paganello. It could be said that we laughed, cried, and became a better team. I am putting this post in hopes that others who went to paga will drop in and type their comments. The hope is you will be able to check back periodically and read someone else's perspective on an amazing tournament.



Some of my favorite remarks include...

..."This is great meat...you will make a great wife someday."
..."It is day 2 team 3."
..."If my tiger is not with me, you will take me."
..."There is enough sand in the shower to build a castle!"
..."You have to push it...In an hour we will circle back up and talk. When I say 'we' I mean 'I' will talk..."
..."He is looking for his hat, his sunglasses, and his robe."..."Sounds like he is looking for his dignity too."

Paga day 3 started out sunny and still windy as the team played for an upper seed. We beat Lucky 7 by jumping out to an early lead that featured Miguel with layout block. The afternoon would not be as nice. The down pour started before the second game against the French team. We let them earn two points going up wind and that became our downfall. They were impressed that we never let up and they would have to battle the whole way. The team went to the hostel wet and saddened, but we trudged back into the freezing rain for the third game. The Russian team did not arrive at the field until the exact moment the game was supposed to start. We had been through warmups and were singing in the miserable conditions. The game was tight the whole way as we exchanged points with the Russians. In the end, our sidelines pushed the team on the field to victory. Their sideline voice stayed huddled under a tent.



That night the Greek Gods headed to the party tent. The party is rumored to be below average in size for Paganello, but we represented the team well. Over half the teams were partied out before us.



Paga Day 4 was bright and sunny. We had one game against Yellow Fever, the Czech team Migeul and Veu will sometimes join at tournaments. We came out fighting and every player that walked onto the field came off a little dirtier. In the end, the fever beat us and asked us to join them for party games.

The tournament numbers showed a team that went in seeded 30th coming out in 14th place. We were 5-5 in ten games, but won the important ones. The team stayed mostly healthy minus a couple of stomache bugs, muscle tweaks, and sleeplessness. I think everyone left the tournament happy with their heads high and most of us are already thinking about next year.

Two wins and one loss was the result of the day. Making our team 3-3 at the tourney. We started the morning hot and out played a team that matched up well against us. Go-Go (Goran) had an amazing layout D to keep the other team from scoring a crucial point.






In the second game we lost two quick points. The whole team dug in and played an amazing zone. With the sidelines involved we took a 4 point lead and came out on top of the second pool. Unfortunately, the Paga re-seeding is not perfect and we had to replay the Horned Melons in the last game. We kept the first four points tight. Our team proved to the Melons that we are quick learners and we would not go down without a fight. Uncle VJ sent a rocket to Champ who made an amazing layout for the goal. Unfortunately, the result in the win lose column was the same.




Tomorrow we have another match before we head in to the seeding pools. Whether or not we make it into the top half of the mixed division, we are proving that we are not a 30 seed!

If you are not following the team on the Paga site, we are 1-2 after the first round of games. We were seated 30 of 32 and already pulled off an upset. The first game we played tight for the first half keeping within one point. However, the old players had to learn the new players and we lost a couple of points. The wind kicked for game two and we played an up wind down wind game. Our zone was incredible and we took down a higher seed. There were amazing layouts and great handling from Tovar.




Champ made a clean layout block that stopped them from a big score. Our last game featured a wind that was periodically blowing cross field. We played a team that won the tourney a couple of years ago. They abused any defense we tried. Veu (Neptune) had an amzing game with blocks and layout scores. Tomorrow we will be working to earn ourselves a mid-division placement. Competition is amazing and the spirit high! We wish the rest of the team was here.

1800 igrača iz 28 zemalja od 21.-24. ožujka natjecati će se na plaži u Riminiju na najvećem europskom ultimate turniru na pijesku - Paganello 2008. Među njima biti će i 19 igrača našeg kluba, o čijem smo nastupu neposredno prije puta za Italiju ekskluzivno razgovarali s Chrisom, potpredsjednikom našeg kluba i strastvenim igračem ultimate frizbija.



Po čemu se Paganello razlikuje od ostalih ultimate turnira?
Zato što se radi o najvećem turniru na pijesku za kojim luduje cijela Europa. Naprosto svi žele zaigrati tamo i biti dio tog velikog događaja za naš sport.

Zašto je Paganello tako važan baš za naš klub?
Kako smo jedini klub u Hrvatrskoj, od organizatora smo dobili pozivnicu za turnir, što je velika čast, jer su kriteriji za sudjelovanje izrazito visoki i brojne europske momčadi ih nisu ispunile. Turnir je važan za naš razvoj zbog stjecanja iskustva i činjenice da ćemo igrati sa jako kvalitetnim momčadima, od kojih možemo puno naučiti, a možda im i otkinuti koji bod...

Kakav rezultat možemo očekivati?
Siguran sam da možemo doći do nekoliko pobjeda, te da niti jedna momčad protiv nas neće imati lak posao. Cilj nam je također da prezentiramo našu igru, sportski duh, kao i klub u cjelini na tako velikom natjecanju. Naravno, želimo se prije svega i dobro zabaviti..

Paganello se za razliku od većine ostalih turnira na kojima smo bili igra na pijesku. Po čemu se ultimate na pijesku razllikuje od igre na ostalim podlogama?
Pijesak usporava igru i teško je na njemu postići veliku brzinu. Također, takav način igre jako umara, zbog čega će najbolje rezultate postizati upravno one momčadi koje su fizički najbolje pripremljene.

Više zanimljivosti o turniru potražite na www.paganello.com

On Saturday, 10 of those leaving Croatia for Paganello and other team members were training on sand. Being the most challenging surface to play on, Mali Dim has been working extra hard so that we represnt our team well.
The sand will slow everyone down including Hanzo...


but it makes a great surface to dive on.


The best part is even if you are not going to Paganello, you can train with the team.


Four different nationalities were represented and the difference in age between the oldest and youngest was 12 years. Yet Phantom and Tovar (the old ones) ran most others into the ground.


Stay tuned to the blog.... there is a chance live updates will appear while we are at the tournament!

Another weekend well spent playing our favourite sport, basketb... ultimate frisbee. This time we went to a tournament held in Innsbruck, some 600 km from Zagreb. The drive was long but interesting as we tried to come up with a new name for our club (some of the ideas were "Flying bears", "Spinning Stroudels", etc.). We arrived late at night after some sightseeing (read: we got lost) we finally found the gymnasium where the tournament was held.

We spent the day playing (you can read about it in detail from Josh's post) and resting from playing. We were so tired from playing and driving that we didn't want to go to the party that was organised. Instead we spent the evening playing a drinking game that Doormouse introdouced to us. Remembering what happened to me on the last tournament I decided to "discreetly" get rid of the Pelinkovac so no-one has to repeat my mistakes. The mission was a success and we retired to our sleeping bags soon thereafter.

The next day was filled with matches that were more challenging than those on the first day. The team that impressed me the most was Woodchichas. They play hard, sing great and drink vodka after every game. It seems that one of our players (try to guess who :) ) made an impression on them too since they offered him a place on the team if he had a sex change operation.



The ride back was shorter as this time it was Andrea navigating (or maybe it was because we found a gas station that sells, wait for it, ultimate diesel :) ).

I had a great time :).



Ruki

We just returned from a fun-filled frisbee weekend in Innsbruck. Without any further ado...

Players: Djurkovic, Andrea, Ruki, Frki, Doormouse, Josh, Uschkaffee and 1-2 guest German women for part of the time



Tourney: indoor 5-on-5, mixed men and women

Our goal: start strong and improve our performance with each game. With some bumps in the road, we accomplished this goal, and emerged with lots of playing time (especially Andrea and Marina Dj) and big-game experience for younger players to build on. Several times we ran playbook plays to perfection, and achieved some of that oft-sought-after flow on the field.



Game-by-game:
Stack Overflow (Austria): putting a weak start behind us, we captured the 2nd and 3rd mini-games to 3 and ran away with the game. Our defense in general failed to attack the disc, but Stack O provided us with enough turnovers that our victory was not in doubt. As the game progressed we focused increasingly on Mali Dim's hallmark, refusing to give away the disc on offense. Mental focus and decision-making. A couple of our players abused their 1-on-1 matchups, and the explosiveness training (especially for Andrea) started to work its magic. Stack O is a young team trying to make its name, and we are one of the teams they will consistently look to knock off. On this day, a Mali Dim victory.

Voladora (Italy): the best memory of this game is Ruki consistently getting open out of a vertical stack and then passing the disc cleanly, often to the player in the dump/breakmark position. He's a player who models doing more with less - clearing space, making hard cuts, sticking to fundamentals. He's a young player who knows it doesn't have to be flashy to be what the team needs. He shows much promise and commitment to the team mentality. Mali Dim victory.

Woodchicas (Germany): this is the women's side which came in 2nd in Europe last year at Euro Championships in Basel. Worthy of intense respect. And, worthy of intense competition. We trailed for much of the game, but proceeded to exhibit the hallmark of an underdog - we shut down one of their offensive weapons at a time, until they began to run out of options. Their greatest strength is breaking the mark and punishing their opponent down the break side. First we shut down the hammer; when they used the inside out throw to break, we flattened the mark; when they went up the line, we poached from the dump position. Working our way back into the match, we used almost every chance we had on offense to preserve possession of the disc and eventually to score. In the last moments, we scored to even the tally after the buzzer sounded. Strangely, a tie is sometimes possible in ultimate, so the score stood at 7-7 at the end of the game.

Mucche (Italy): this team dominated with strength and speed. They won almost all of the positional matchups, and even scored deep against us. Throughout the weekend we worked to prevent the deep shot, and this team had the size and strength to go person-to-person and win almost every time. Back to the weight room, back to the track.

Catchup (Austria): halting a 3-game Mali Dim win-streak in this matchup, Catchup took the victory in the first game of Sunday. Marina Djurkovic's defensive block on a deep throw easily represents the highlight of the game (and perhaps the day), as she stepped up and put those sticky fingers to use. We kept the game tight, even as Catchup abused our marks. We learned a good amount about punishing a weakly poaching defense, striking deep and to the break side with ease when Catchup players deigned to poach. With one or two different decisions on offense we might have pulled this one out. Despite the loss, our hopes for a good placement game remained alive heading into Sunday afternoon.

Isostars (Austria): our match against Isostars represents some of the best of what Mali Dim brings to European ultimate. We handled our substitutions, play calling, on-field communication, sideline communication, and clock management proficiently. Using three stack formations, we created space on the field in places that the defense failed to anticipate. With a well-timed timeout, we drew up a play from Ben to Josh to Andrea, which ran to perfection. The highlight of the game came on game point. Mali Dim up by one, with the potential for the opponents to tie it up. We had the disc around midfield against their zone, which ran 3 defenders across the endzone. We banged it around the front of the zone for 10-15 passes before backing the offense out almost all the way to our own goal line. Frki anchored the offense and kept the disc alive, penetrating the cutting lane and offering consistent reset cuts. Uschkaffee exhibited his solid, conservative play in zone as he had in the man offense all weekend. We ran out the clock, created field space, tired out the defense, and then attacked rapidly to score the winning goal. Despite physical play (bring it on) and a couple of dreadful calls on the other side, we scrapped our way to Mali Dim victory.

Woodchicas (Germany): in the placement game, we were again matched up with the fantastic team from Germany. With a combination of deep throws (playing to our height and speed advantage) and solid open side cutting we took the lead and maintained it until late in the game. Andrea and Frki did a great job reacting to play calls during the flow of the game, and Andrea reminded the crowd of the threat she makes as a strong fundamental cutter. We shredded their poaches and invited doubleteams on the mark, freeing up downfield cutters. Meanwhile, they abused our marks with little challenge, and kept the game within striking distance. With one strong goal-line stand and two well-executed cuts in the endzone, Woodchicas handed Mali Dim a loss and marched their way into 5th place. Again, with better decisions and a refusal to give up the disc, MD might have pulled this one out. Chalk it up and get back to the gym.

Coming in 6th out of 12 presents a nice reward for the team, and we spent energy throughout the weekend breaking down what led to our successes and what will enable us to train and rise above our shortcomings. The single greatest factor on offense that this team would need to step up: refusal to give up the disc. A sense of demanding that we maintain possession no matter how tasty that tempting option looks. On defense, our group will look to improve on marking, setting a new standard for middle European ultimate. As for downfield defenders, we will keep giving attention to triangulation, or constantly repositioning in order to see both the cutter and the disc.

Broadly, it's fair to say that Mali Dim has stepped up its intensity at trainings in the past few months. Transferring that drive and intensity onto the match-day field lies ahead, and this Innsbruck tournament offered these players a great chance to do that. All was well, and the team pauses to respect the hard running of Ruki and Frki, the crazy distance that Ben traveled (both on the field and off) and the savagery of our two women delegates, Marina 'sticky hands' Djurkovic and The Phantom.

- Josh