Tula B - September 20th

Read the A team post for today it contains a lot of useful links and tips about going to a tournament.
If you haven't got everything sorted out for this weekend on the BBS - rides, hotel, etc. - hurry the **** up.
We do not have an official practice tomorrow. I encourage everyone to get out and throw as much as possible tomorrow.
Our first game on Saturday may be our most important one... please keep that in mind on Friday night.

Today we split into two (hopefully) equal lines for Easterns

Sticks' Line:

Sticks
Krish
Adam R
Rich
David
Me
Jeremy
Oliver
Mike

James' Line:

James
Eric
Adam (Scarberia)
Grady
Jeff
Merrick
Ben
Sasa
Rob

If you're not on this list and you're coming to Easterns, let us know.
If you're on this list and you're not coming to Easterns, let us know.

We scrimmaged, taking a few long breaks to talk about what was working and what wasn't. Emphasis on taking time to set things up, calling plays before we pick up the disc, and focusing on possession and high-percentage passes. Cup or wall still need to get better at working as a unit in the zone.

There was a point in practice when there was some ambiguity about whether a point had been scored and everyone stopped. Unless you have the disc, you should never stop unless you're 100% sure that the play has stopped. Whether it's a foul, a line call, a pick, or something else, if you're on offence you still need to catch the disc, and if you're on defence you still need to play D. If you have the disc, and you think there's a pick or a foul or whatever, please stop and don't throw the disc away.

I really want to focus on the idea of trust. It's incredibly important as a team that we maintain a high level of trust in each other on and off the field. We have to trust each other to play the right force, to play hard D, to be in the right spot at the right time, and to make the right plays. We need to make sure as well that we live up to that trust, and don't let our team-mates down. When people stop trusting their team-mates and start trying to do too much, the whole team falls apart. When you look off an open cutter or a poach or you take a cut that cuts off one of your team-mates, what you're really saying is "I don't trust you" and that's always a mistake.

If you're sharing a car with guys from the A team, that's a great opportunity to ask questions and learn as much as you can... they've got a lot of great players with a lot of experience, and you can hopefully learn a lot. If you're going up with guys from the B team, talk over the plays and zones, and make sure you understand everything.

Tom