Hrvatski ultimate

Our trip to Weiz 2009 was different from in previous years – we particularly saw our women's team played aggressively, with confidence and a level of competition that we haven't seen in the past. Sticky breaking the mark and throwing deep, Ines showing how fast an athlete can convert to ultimate skills, Linda attacking the disc, Chie streaking deep...Chicks with Disks, on the rise. They will have their own blog post!

The difference for our boys was good but not ideal – we did not have the full results we sought. However, the change from previous years, even from last year I think, is that we were competitive in every game. Every game was winnable. Can you imagine that being true, say, three years ago? Think back...but now to the game recaps.





Vs Lolka (Hungary) 4-9
One of our favorite teams, an honor to play with. We came out flat, unaccustomed to having break mark throws or any cuts being shut down. This highlighted our need to organize friendly matches with neighboring teams.

Vs Barbastreji 6-3
Longtime friendly rival, with whom we have had contentious matchups. Spirit was high, as was the intensity. Our first aim was to stop them from going up the line from the dump position. The first point of the game, they beat us in this, but from then on we shut down their handler cuts. We can count on a higher level from them in the future, as their offense becomes more cutter-centric and less handler focused.



Vs Frizmi 7-4
Our neighbors came out with an attitude and intensity topped only by, well, ours. Frizmi loves to beat us, and I think they expect to beat us too. Their top explosive athletes match up well with ours – Spooks vs Josh, Statik vs Vid, Blaž vs Dario, etc. One player might be a bit better than another, but these matchups are tight, not much separation. This game was decided not by superstars but more by two factors: role players and zone defense play. Our role players, such as Jan for example, won their matchups and exposed certain weaknesses on the other side. And indoors, Frizmi's zone D was no match for our zone offense, on this particular day. On the other hand, our transition defenses confused some of their players enough to create one or two blocks that made a difference. Respect to young player Olli from the other team, who displayed the level of work ethic in that game to which we should all aspire. It's good to have young blood in this rivalry, ain't it? It's also good to be on top, and we know that puts the target on our backs once again...





Vs Wunderteam 8-9
This team was eventually a finalist, and otherwise untouched throughout the tournament. The game was hard-fought, and anyone watching the game could see that the opponents were rattled by our intensity. Perhaps they even seemed surprised that a young, exciting, fun team from Croatia would think to beat some biggies of the Austrian ultimate scene. Early on, a few of their players lost their temper so we backed off the marks and gave them some more space. With a two point margin, we subbed a bit deeper into our lineup, which is when they pounced back and scored easily on the open side. With our starters back in the lineup, our reliable deep game saw one or two crucial errors that opened the door for them to create a game of 8-8, double game point. We worked the disc up to mid field, at which point I busted up the line from the dump position, catching a leading pass and then throwing a goal to Vid, a large if goofy young stud. 9-8, game over, Croatians win!

But the play was called back on a travel call. My defender said that I had changed direction after the catch and before the throw, and I did not argue. Having reviewed the tape, this call turns out not only to be wrong, but so obviously wrong that it is hard to see how such a call could be made in an honest way. More importantly than the call is that we proceeded to deliver a turnover and lose the game. The only consolation to losing this game was the knowledge that, fair and square, we felt we had won, and that we represented ourselves well. This experience left us with a bitter taste in our mouths, and yet another team descended from Hapsburgs leaving us wondering, what exactly is spirit of the game? When strong, skilled, veteran players, like those on the Wunderteam, make calls like this, it exposes gaps in the rules that can are only filled by spirit of the game – and when spirit fails us, our sport is the worse off for it. With leadership from our younger players, seeking to build their own meaning of spirit of the game, we spoke of this in the spirit circle after the game.

Saturday night party. Even I was there, even I had fun, so well done everybody!



Vs Outsiterz 7-8
This game has to be described by a lack of focus. We built up a two point lead, at which point we needed one more to put the nail in the coffin. We failed to lock this in, failed to own the open side on defense, and in the end we gave up the game after a really nice poach defense from one Outsiterz player. That loss, in a winnable game, falls squarely on our shoulders, and we will be watching and breaking down every aspect of that game tape to go forward and improve.



Vs Ufozd 4-7
Against our good friends Ufozd, we subbed more evenly and sought to bring some of our reserve players into the gameplay more. Ufozd always plays strong, and they are a good benchmark for our team, to see where we are throughout the roster. We had our zone cutting disability exposed, but showed a great resilience and attitude, something to build on. Dominance without a good attitude is nothing – but given a great attitude and lacking dominance, we can begin to build excellence.

Vs Vertigo 4-6
A fitting touch to end the tourney in a placement game against our other neighbors, Vertigo. Led by an excellent leader and coach, Bostjan 'Bond' Babić, these guys play hard and fair. They kept the game tight as we ran quite an even rotation of substitution. The opponents were no match from top to bottom. Vjeko scored a big goal in the zone offense which created perhaps the single most exciting goal celebration of the weekend.



The tourney was an early season check-point, revealing strong zone offense handling and weaknesses in zone cutting. Decent marking but weaknesses in downfield open side defense. Games of great focus and intensity, the flipside being a lack of depth to carry us deep into a longer and more competitive tournament. We've had a taste of training and preseason. Those were some recaps. Now, back to the gym and the training grounds.

Josh

2008 was a great for FDKZ. Darija asked me to offer some thoughts to sum up as a head coach and, as everyone knows, I am happy to oblige



I am most proud of the development of our women’s program, which has seen leadership and increasing recruitment under the steady hand of Marina ‘Sticky hands’ Djurkovic.

We must also show great respect to the success of the initiative of our recent former president Verno the Inferno - his goal was to have games of ultimate happening around Zagreb on a regular basis, open to everyone. In his term as president Verno succeeded in this goal, and turnout for organized trainings as well as pickup games (not to mention nighttime Zlocko league) is through the roof.



When I arrived in Zagreb in February 2006, we played winter ultimate in a gym so small it is barely suited for the current team’s warmup laps. We struggled to field a full roster for tournaments, borrowing players on a regular basis. By now we are in the rewarding (if challenging) position to make selections for tournaments, fomenting a drive among players to ‘earn a spot’ on the roster. This surely is a competitive sport, but what makes it special is that this is friendly and spirited competition, building on the legacy of our founders, Ogi Livada and Marina Piria. (And congratulations to them on the birth of their baby boy, Vilim Livada!)





In the past year we not only hosted the best tournament in this region’s history, one of the teams we sent emerged as tournament champions and another of our teams won the spirit award. At the same fields near Sveta Nedjelja, we later hosted the third annual players and coaches camp, Scoops Camp, featuring our good friend and recently named coach of Team USA, Greg ‘Scoops’ Connelly.





One trend I would point to also is the development of the intellectual side of the sport in Zagreb. Though in the past we had truly relied on guest players to power our offense and call our plays, we now are in a position that players who grew up playing here in Zagreb are the engines, the play-callers. Yet we maintain a truly welcoming attitude and we capitalize on the experience of our guest players and coaches, whether it be learning from Coach Scoops, our friend Matt Roeder who passed through Zagreb, or friends like Veu Sedova and many players from neighboring Slovenia or Austria who join us from time-to-time.



There is no substitute for home-grown players, but our athletes in Zagreb have set a trend of being absolute sponges when it comes to learning the game from experienced veterans. We have also sent players to the regional select team (BASE) and to various other teams (including Switzerland’s Freespeed), in order to gain new and different perspectives on the game. This is always growthful.



To sum up the year, I would say that 2008 was a year of transition, a year of change. Perhaps every year is that, since we are such a young and dynamic club. But 2008 was special in that we began to see a few factors emerge in a noticeable way:
(1) A smooth and organized leadership transition from the administration of Verno the Inferno to the new hotness Marko Miljevic, with much of the ‘civil society’ leaders in the club remaining in their positions
(2) A level of media coverage and sponsorship effort previously unparalleled, under the watchful eye of Darija Krasevac
(3) Not only a new level of athletic ambition (through our monthly Dinner Club workout plans) but also a general growth of the club in the form of different people who are into ultimate for different reasons.





The third factor gives us a glimpse into the future. The club is absolutely open to anyone and everyone, and I think that we are beginning to see the formation of clusters of people who share certain common interests. Some are into ultimate for the blend of competition and sportsmanship; some folks love the parties best; some want to play disc in Zagreb with their friends, while others can’t wait to pile into cars and travel to organized competitions in countries far and wide.

I see these various interpretations of the game, and these various creations of meaning through the sport, as a strong suit of our organization. Some might fear the emergence of such diverse dividing lines but I think we are in a position to embrace it - within a matter of months or maybe a few years, we will have a number of teams in Zagreb, hopefully some Croatian clubs outside of Zagreb, and an enhanced range of ways for people to be involved in the sport. If there are still any doubters out there, I respond, yes we can.



Josh