Toronto Ultimate Festival 2009 - Manster

"Hey, Juan. That's a funny name." The tournament hadn't even started, and already the trash-talking began. What was weird was that I'd known the speaker for about 10 years, and the best he could come up with was my name was funny? I asked him to clarify and he said, "Manster! That's a great name for the Open version of Monster!" Oh yeah...maybe I'm too sensitive. And thus, did Monster's foray into single-gendered Ultimate begin.

Seeded first overall, Manster had high hopes. Hopes founded on Goat's request to play their teams against one another in their starting pool and thus seeding them 2/3. Number one by default still counts as number one, right?

Roy
Manster's first game of the day was against Roy, the third team in Toronto's Open club system. With almost two lines of Monster men plus pick-ups compared to 21 hungry Open players trying to make Roy, there was a slight disparity between the teams' urgency of play. After a turnover near Manster's endzone, Roy went up 1-0. Roy almost scored another, before they turned it over on Manster's goal line. Manster was about to start their comeback, but a torrential downpour halted the game. The rain soon turned into hail, but luckily most people were hiding in their car. After everyone cleared the ice chips from the field (seriously), the games resumed. Roy pulled ahead, but Manster managed to keep it close and eventually squeaked out the game by the end.

Manster Win: 11-10, 1-0

Grand Trunk 1
Although Grand Trunk's talent was watered down by several of their prospective players playing on the Goat squads and splitting the rest between two teams, GT1 was a solid squad. Manster did not adjust to the faster pace, and GT1 pulled ahead to a 7-1 half-time advantage on the strength of quick movement followed by precise hucks. During the half, Peyton talked about pride and playing our game and the team clawed back. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late as time ran out.

Manster Loss: 8-13, 1-1

Foshizzle (Fossil)
Manster's third game of the day came against the previous year's bronze medalists in the Masters Division: Fossil. Well, their try-out team Foshizzle anyway. The rain returned, and Manster's speed was nullified by the muddied fields. Foshizzle took the half 7-2, and Peyton recycled his "take some pride and let's do it" speech. Manster went on a big run to start the second half, and the horn sounded at 10-10. Manster managed to win the game on Universe Point, and the silverbacks reminisced about what might have been.

Monster Win: 11-10, 2-1

Too Bad
After a bye, Manster faced the longest running touring team in Toronto (and possibly Canada), Too Bad's roster changes from tournament to tournament (sometimes from game to game). Greg Lang and Ian Brooks formed the backbone of this team's edition. With the strong wind blowing, huck and pin became the dominant strategy for both teams. Lang tried to force a few upwind, but even he couldn't muscle through it. Too Bad threw a 1-3-2-1 wall defense on, but Manster scored the first upwind break. Manster had another chance at an upwind score, but failed to convert and Too Bad scored immediately after. Too Bad then scored an upwinder to take the half 7-6. With Manster receiving and going upwind, they gutted out a score when a Manster player snagged an overthrown disc for the point. With the wind dying down, Too Bad looked to open up their offense going against the upwind, and they worked it quickly against Manster's zone defense. Lang caught the disc on the sideline, and attempted an O-I backhand that never came in. A Manster played picked up the disc and threw it back to where Lang stood. Lang then informed Manster that it was a turnover. After some heated arguing, Too Bad kept the disc and started moving it again. On a desperation huck, Lang threw it to Brooks in triple coverage, but Ian couldn't bring it down. Manster had another chance to win the game, but turned it over. Too Bad worked it up the field another time, and on stall 9, Lang threw a disc that sailed by Peyton's hands into Brooks'. Although there was a lot of bad blood over the turnover call, Manster lost the game when they failed to capitalize on the upwinder and subsequent downwinder earlier in the game. Regardless, finishing top three in the pool meant a 10:30 start time the next day.

Manster Loss: 7-8, 2-2

11 PM E-mail Check
"Due to fields becoming unusuable, blah blah blah...please find attached the new schedule, blah blah blah, 9:00 - Manster vs. Goat 1"...WTF???

So. Angry.

Goat 1
Goat 1 was short-rostered at the start of the game, but every player they had were tall (or could jump really high), athletic and a good player. They attempted big hucks against Manster, but their completion rate was low. Manster methodically worked the disc up and played tight defense. With Goat 1 up 8-6 at half and Manster playing the best it had all weekend, there was hope for an upset. Unfortunately, Goat 1 woke up after the half and pulled away for the win.

Manster Loss: 8-15, 2-3

NADS
North Bay's Open team was the only team that had a smaller roster than Manster, with two female members. Having played North Bay women before, this wasn't a drawback for the NADS and they would be playing as hard as most men in the tournament. They agreed to play a slightly shorter game (to 13) as long as we allowed behind-the-back scores to count for two points. Knowing this was a sucker's bet, Manster's captains still accepted. By the end of the game, NADS scored three behind-the-backs, but Manster prevailed due to the NADS' short roster and general exhaustion.

Manster Win: 14-7, 3-3

Conclusion
Overall, Manster went 3-3 to finish 5th out of 10 teams at TUF. The team didn't play up to its potential on Saturday, and it was unfortunate that it took until Sunday to finally realize what it could do. Overall, it was a fun time and there were relatively few injuries for such cold, wet weather.

MONSTER gets hungry at TUF

Photography by Jim Hui

Groundhog's Weekend

When the news came that we would be starting at 9 am on Saturday as the number one seed, team spirits were fairly dejected. When that was compounded by the fact that we had to play a fourth game at the end of the day that did not matter for us, emotion turned to anger. Thankfully, we went through a deep breathing yoga session where everyone re-focused their chakras and cleared their head. (That's a lie. I was still complaining when we arrived for the 8 am warm-up and continued throughout the rest of the day. I'm normally a sprinter, but I'm a marathoner when it comes to complaining.) The major consolation was that the weather was gorgeous compared to past TUT/TUF tournaments. So we had that going for us, which was nice.

Banana Cream Pie (Toronto)

Our first game was against a very familiar team: Banana Cream Pie. A league team full of former touring players (some of whom had Nationals and Worlds experience), we knew that we would have our work cut out for us. Especially since they were the second seed in our pool. Since many teams can start slowly in their first game, we knew we had to capitalize on our numbers before their veteran savvy could get them an early lead. We went with our quick flow offense and they seemed uninterested in running with us for the most part.

Final Score: 13-4

Practice (Ottawa)

Our second game was against a casual Ottawa team of former touring players. They wanted to test themselves against other touring teams to see where they stood and hoped to make a run at Nationals if they had fun. We made few mistakes and capitalized on their's. They had several almost catches and d's, so the final score wasn't indicative of the game.

Final Score: 13-4

Glory (Brampton)

Brampton's Co-Ed team decided to get serious this year, and it definitely showed. The team was full of players who made every disc a battle, but there was a disparity with the overall athleticism and the desire. The team was a mix of older players with a few inexperienced ones. The game was tighter in the first half, but Monster eventually pulled away when we finally decided to play a more disciplined running game. We assumed they would just roll over as the sixteenth seed, but they definitely deserved our respect.

Final Score: 13-7

Crisis (Kitchener)

Waterloo's second team has moved away from any liquid or water-based names. I think this is a healthy step for a team trying to establish its own identity within a club system. It isn't healthy to solely define one's self as the younger sibling, and the team was full of excited players getting into touring Ultimate. The game didn't matter, but the captain asked us to play hard so they could see what touring level Ultimate was like, as well as to get a better estimate of individual player skill. We went up quickly against the team, but lost focus as the game went on. This is something we need to work on as a team: developing a killer instinct and not stopping until the game is over.

Sidenote: Reason #587 Not to Play a Spirit Game - During a game of butt boxing (where you match-up "cheek to cheek" and try to knock the other person over), our captain, Peyton, squared off against the tallest guy on their team (it's much better to have a low center of gravity for the game). Not only did the giant knock Peyton over, he also fell onto Peyton's throwing wrist. Peyton was okay, but the damage to our collective psyche was palpable. Luckily, Pam, our smallest (and some might say scrappiest) player was on hand to avenge Peyton in the butt boxing final by taking down the giant and restoring balance to the universe.

Final Score: 13-3

Photography by Jim Hui

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Bytown Flatball Club (Ottawa) - Quarterfinals

Ottawa's top Co-Ed team and last year's runner's up at Nationals...has seen better days. After winning last year's TUF, there was only a small number of alumni from the team. They still had some strong players and were very hungry to prove that the people who were on the team trumped the people who weren't. With a few exceptions, the team lacked the speed, size and experience of the year before, and Monster used their advantage in those categories. BFC had a few unlucky drops and the game was closer than the score indicated.

Final Score: 15-4

RIP (Montreal) - Semifinals

RIP was one of the teams that Monster could not beat last year. Quebec teams have a well-deserved reputation for being the non-stop underneath team. This year, there were several new faces on the team, but the philosophy remained the same. Several players from Montreal's second team, Les Bouettes, moved up to RIP and fit in seamlessly. They had a much closer Quarterfinals, with a 7-7 tie turning into a 15-7 win. The mental toughness they showed in that game carried into the Semis. After scoring the first point, Monster watched as RIP scored seven straight points. Thanks mostly to their up-the-line cuts and the dominance of Ray (Gender Blender's fastest man several years ago), they cut apart Monster. Monster came back before half, but the score was still 4-8. RIP's momentum carried them even further in the second half, and Monster saw the first defeat of its 2008 campaign.

Final Score: 6-14

Liquid (Waterloo) - Consolation Finals

It wouldn't be a tournament if we didn't play Liquid. The hardest running team in Ontario, they wanted to play one more game to decide third place. They are very hungry and had several additions to the team. We agreed to play a game to 9 on an unused field away from the main tournament action. There was a reason the field was unused, as it was higher and much, much windier. Several players decided to sit out the game for both teams, so we ended playing two lines (upwind and downwind). Monster scored a break, to take the first half 5-3. Something Liquid's captain said woke them up and suddenly they tied the score 5-5. Having never lost to Liquid on a Sunday last year, there was a chance to break a proud Monster streak. Monster rallied back and fought off some amazing d's and grabs from a new Liquid player, but like losing to RIP, the streak against Liquid continued.

Final Score: 9-7

Tournament Recap:

Due to the size of the tournament and the number of teams in the top bracket, the Saturday games were mostly a warm-up for the Sunday games. Sunday's games continued a trend from last year that we can address earlier this year. We did not play RIP until halfway through last season, and we didn't adjust to their type of game. This year, we have an entire season to build on what we learned and hope to advance on last year's sixth place Nationals finish. This year, no one will underestimate us and we will definitely have to come out running from the first horn.

RIP ended up winning the tournament on universe point against Big Hammers. Our only loss being to the tournament champions was very little consolation, as it also means that the Hammers get bragging rights as the top Toronto team until the next set of tournament results. Tundra had a top six showing, very promising for a group of players who had mostly not played together. They lost to a solid Mayhem team in the 5/6 game, but we'll get a chance to see them firsthand on Thursday for a scrimmage practice. Will the Beast beat the Landscape? Find out Thursday!

Toronto Ultimate Festival - Season Start Up

With the start of May comes the unofficial beginning of the summer touring season: the Toronto Ultimate Festival (TUF). One of the rare tournaments that caters to the big three divisions (Open, Womens and Co-Ed), it's an opportunity for nearby teams to finalize rosters and see friends in other divisions before the summer splits off into single-gender/Co-Ed tournaments.

After last weekend's agonizing decision making process, the leadership is looking forward to the opportunity to match or beat last year's third place finish. Expectations are much higher this year, especially since the team is now seeded first overall in the Co-Ed division. Changes to Bytown Flatball Club (last year's second best team in Canada according to Nationals) mean a shift in the eastern powers. The Quebec teams are (in)famous for their ability to run all day, Waterloo will field the hardest working team in Ultimate and Big Hammers and Tundra will look to become Toronto's "number one" team. It will be an exciting first look at what to expect from other teams for the rest of the year, as well as test out possible line-ups, plays and strategies. It will also be a chance for Monster to change its winless streaks against both Mayhem (Hamilton) and RIP (Montreal-area), all games last year being decided by one or two points.

The biggest problem with sustaining a competitive touring team is not being complacent after a good year. With most of Monster returning, there's a strong core and the addition of a few new players should solidify the team. After our first practice, people seemed to get in tune with the team's philosophy and began the process of learning each other's tendencies. Hopefully this translates into a strong result at Sunnybrook this weekend, but in the big picture, it's not wins early in the season that matter so much as the ones in July and August. Come this weekend, let the games begin.