On Subbing . . .

I mentioned this in a comment on Luke's "Priorities" post. Last year, I really thought that our team had reached a kind of "critical mass" of talent, and so I decided that it was time for us to play like the big boys and girls. Accordingly, I created an O- and D-line.

What a disaster.

(This recalled a thought I've often had, about exactly how youth ultimate differs from the adult game--a topic for another post, perhaps)

But it got me thinking, really thinking, trying to break outside the box and come up with a good subbing "philosophy." Naturally, this idle pondering produced nothing of lasting value.

So, how 'bout it? What do your teams do? What have you seen out there as far as subbing goes? HOW do you sub? And why?

2006/2007 Potential Powerhouses

An interesting questions was posted in the comment section of the "priorities" article:

Just out of curiosity, what juniors teams that didn't have a great spring season last year are potential powerhouses for the fall?

Please leave your team's potential in the comments section...

Priorities...

About a month ago I posted this question, but due to the YCC & WJC, it didn't really get noticed... So, let me post this once again.

What priorities do you have for this coming fall season? Whether you're a player, parent, or coach, I've created my own list of things that might be going through your mind...

If you want to see what i've listed...

Priorities:
1) For many of you, you'll be having new coaches, captains, core groups, parent teams, or some other derivation of leadership. There may have been a number of seniors who graduated last year and now the question is who will be stepping up from the underclassmen. Maybe you've had a bad experience with your team's leadership and you're wondering what problems will continue to remain and what things will finally be fixed. The leadership and direction of the team will be a priority for you as they are what makes playing ultimate fun or not.
This was one of our top priorities as

2) Many of you are eager to start using the skill sets you've developed over the summer. Maybe something you've learned at one of the many ultimate camps across the country or from the numerous throwing sessions with Nord, Roth, or some east-coat elite. For you maybe the priority is the new plays your team will be developing or how practice will run to teach those things. Your priorities will be how your team will develop the new skill sets and fundamentals.

3) Others of you get most excited about the new players and friends you'll be making. What 8th graders from last year are coming up (or 6th graders if you have a middle school team)? Who will be the stand outs and be competing for the top spots? How big will the team be this year? Will you have an A & B team or maybe even a C team for the first time. For you the team dynamic is the priority and you're wondering what preseason BBQ, pool party, or other such event will be starting things off right and who will be on the field with you this year laughing and throwing the disc...

4) Others of you on a new team or first-year team are wondering what name you'll be going by, what your logo will look like, and what gear you will be wearing. Questions on whether you'll be using Patagonia, VC or Gaia are on your mind. For you the priority may seem like what you look like, but we all know that this too is about the team and being part of something unique at your school.

5) And even others, and I may venture a guess here and say most of you, are wondering what traveling will be done. For many of you on teams that are newer or first-time, maybe you've never traveled to a tournament or event. But, for the vast majority of you who have, it has been the traveling part of ultimate that has been one of the deciding factors in you playing this amazing sport. For you the priority this fall will be what tournaments, how many, and how far away is the team going to travel this fall and spring season.


What other priorities do you have as you begin to think and dream about ultimate this coming fall? I've thrown out a couple, but I'm sure that there are more priorities out there to you players, parents, coaches, and others.

If you choose to add a comment, please indicate if you're a player, parent, coach (or something else)...

WJUC 2006: Reflections

Another chapter closes in the history of the World Juniors Ultimate Championship and two winners are crowned - USA takes home the gold for the second year in a row in open as the USA women also took first place in a repeat of the 2004 finals with Canada.

Most players im assuming have made their trips home at this point so anyone wanna share some thoughts or reflections? Does it seem to you as if USA will continue to seperate itself from the rest of the pack in coming years, barring unforseen levels of expansion in high school leagues in other countries?

The tournament itself got some very positive press coverage nationwide - in The Denver Post, the Sentinel - (Article 1, Article 2), and the Lowell Sun among others im sure, if you saw any coverage post a link, as im sure people would be interested.

Other media from the tournament:
WJUC Site: Official Photos
Brian Cook Photos
Scoreomatic Results
Kevin Draper (coming soon?)
UltiVillage (more clips of the day coming soon?)

thoughts or comments?

WJUC 2006: Final day

Final day of WJUC:

USA vs Canada in the finals

In open its Colombia vs. Australia for third place, in girls its Finland vs. Australia.

Live scores from Scoreomatic, but if you hear anything before they do feel free to post a comment.

WJUC 2006: Final day preview - USA vs. Canada

Both USA and Canada took their semifinals fairly easily in both division setting up the final day of competition tomorrow with the battle of the 49th parallel, rumor has it the teams have wagered Montana and Saskatchewan respectively.

My preview/predictions will come as no surprise it will be USA grabbing the gold. The boys from up north might be able to give USA somewhat of a game, but the red white and blue crew will prevail as a result of their deep bench.

The first matchup between the two open teams went 17-7 in favor of the electoral college and apple pie and i dont see the final being much different. (The girls' went 17-8, interestingly enough)

Live scores will be posted on Scoreomatic. Comments and contrary predictions welcome.

WJUC 2006: Day 4

Day 4 begins with the last round of pool play looking into the brackets. USA looks poised to capturing both titles with Canada looking at a distant second place.

Whats left of competition -
Open first round today...
USA 6 Australia 0 (first half)
Canada vs. Great Britian
Sweden vs. Israel
Finland vs. Colombia

If everyone holds seed this sets up the following semifinal today at 1:30pm
USA vs. Colombia
Canada vs. Australia


The girls will be starting semifinal play today at 10:30am with the following matchups...

USA vs. Finland
Canada vs. Australia

Look for USA to take both of those semifinals relatively easily, the dogfight in both will be between Canada and the Aussies. If there were an upset id wager it to be on the guys' side of things, but as of right now its looking like a North American world championship is in order.

Other links and media from the past few days
UV Clip of the Day: USA vs. Sweden
UV Clip of the Day: Canada vs. Colombia
Kevin Draper: WJUC Wednesday (w/ pics)
WJUC: Wednesday Writeups, Thursday preview
WJUC: Photos
Brian Cook: Wednesday photos

WJUC 2006: Day 3

Day three commences, first round of play is over -

Open...
Canada 17 Finland 7
USA 17 Israel 0
Sweden 12 Australia 15 - (Tied at 10s before the Aussies took control)
Great Britian 5 Colombia 16

Round 2, set to begin at 2:15pm, buts USA vs. Sweden, Canada vs. Colombia and Australia vs. Israel. Im seeing USA, Canada and Australia come out of those on top, but Colombia might have something of a surprise stored up, ya never know. Showcase game is at 3pm with Finland vs. Great Britian which should be a tight game.

Ladies...
Canada 8 USA 17
Finland 11 Australia 13

Round 2 pits Finland vs. USA, and Canada vs. Australia - USA and Canada both won these matchups earlier in the week, it will be interesting to see which opposing teams [if either] can cut the goal differential, thus far USA has outscored their opponents 82-22

The revolution will not be televised...

But i imagine its results will be published online and in Ultimate News. From the UPA newsletter sent out a few hours ago -

[...]

The UPA (and Ultimate) is thriving - youth participation has exploded (from 342 in 2001 to more than 4300 in 2006), total membership has seen a 62% increase over the past five years, almost 600 have participated in the UPA Coaching Clinic program, College Championships are broadcast on CSTV, Ultimate is a medal sport in the World Games - but where can and will it go next?

Your UPA Board of Directors and staff made a decision in July to embark on a sixteen month journey to develop a comprehensive strategic plan based on feedback from thousands of voices in the Ultimate community, and we are committed to involving both members and non-members in every stage of the process…including the assessment phase which will take place over the next six months. The first phase of the assessment, a one page survey, is being distributed at a broad spectrum of club and league tournaments throughout the country right now! Please let us know what you think by filling out one of the surveys.

In the spring of 2007, a series of regional community summits will be held where the results of the assessment will be shared and participants will use the information to envision the future and strategize and prioritize together.

Look for announcements on the UPA web site, Ultimate News, at events on how you can share your voice. Ultimate Revolution – It All Comes Back to You. Help the UPA create a revolution in sport.

i imagine a more in depth discussion of the survey itself and what peoples responses might be will develop in more depth after WJUC, but in case anyone wants to talk about it here and now. anyone wanna take a guess as to whether in the first sentence they were talking about players or teams with those numbers? im gonna guess players but by my calculations there are roughly 350-400 teams currently playing high school disc, and even at 15 per team thats 5,000+ on the conservative side. also are those just the numbers for youths registered with the UPA? because i think that would explain a little bit of my confusion, i assume so, but who knows.

id add a link to a source so ya'll see i wasnt making it up, but as far as i can tell the message was only sent out by email. WJUC coverage resumes tomorrow by 10am, im personally looking forward to the USA vs. Sweden game and Great Britian vs. Colombia should also be a tight game, looking at the scores at least.

Quasi-Mid-Week WJUC Breather

WJUC 2006 is well under way, with some very interesting, and occasionally surprising results through the week thus far. It will definitely be interesting to see how the rest of the week turns out, however, i for one am suffering from a slight bit of WJUC overload. Team USA Team Canada, rsd, scoreomatic, WJUC so many acronyms.

So heres a thread to talk about whatever ya want non-WJUC related, for example Alex Peters at http://ultimatefris.be just released the rest of his YCC pictures which are looking very sweet. Anyone know why Eddie Peters has a professional looking microphone in one of those pics?

Saturday pics
Sunday pics
[edit 12:04am - 8/17] - and Finals pics

WJUC coverage will resume tonight or early next morning...

WJUC 2006: Day 2

Day one is in the books, Canada and USA came out 2-0 in the open division, as the USA Girls lead their division.

Stuff from Day 1:
Kevin Draper writeup and pics
WJUC Tournament Photographer Photos
Brian J Cook photos from day 1
WJUC Tournament Writeups and results

Todays Scores (c/o Score-o-matic):
Open...
Sweden 8 GB 8 at Half
Canada 16 Israel 1 game

Girls...
USA 13 Finland 2 in the second half
Canada 5 Australia 6 in the first half

should be a very interesting day, but alas im off to work again so everyone will have to rely on each other's comments for updates - until then, peace.

WJUC 2006: Day 1

As of right now according to score-o-matic...

USA beats GB 11-2
Finland over Isreael 12-1
Colombia over Sweden 7-4 in the first half
Canada over Australia 8-6 at half time

the games for the girls dont start til 10:30 unfortunately, but heres what the first round schedule looks like -

USA vs. Australia
Finland vs. Canada

Looking at those results and in progress scores from above some very interesting trends beginning to take form. Colombia is definitely a surprise to me and Finland is also somewhat unexpected, it seems as if all the pre tourney chatter was USA, Canada, Australia. The second round game between Finland and USA should be one to watch, as will be the Canada vs. Sweden, and Colombia vs. Australia for that matter.

If you've got scores later in the day post em as comments, im off to work.

WJUC Opening Ceremonies

Kevin Draper over at "The Enemy's Gate is Down" has some really cool pictures and writeups, which you should definitely check out.

The teams are set to begin competition tomorrow at 9am if im not mistaken. Last minute predictions? All previous commenters seem to have USA coming out on top, homeland pride or the sheer impending facts? Whos gonna be that guy to call something different?

Score-o-matic will be there with live scores coming in as they happen, i will unfortunately be at work until 5pm and will not get to follow the action, so if you hear anything by all means post a comment and pump up the community hive mind.

WJUC Tournament website should you need anything else before im back to blog - http://www.wjuc2006.org

Long story short if you are looking for anything related to high school level ultimate keep it tuned here, if it happens PlayUltimate is on it.

(and if we miss something email us at playultimateblog@gmail.com and yell at us)

Non-WJUC thread

well im sure someone out there might want to talk about something other than WJUC so heres a thread to do it, anything ya wanna talk about non-WJUC.

want food for thought, well on a whim i submitted a link to the Beau Kittredge video of yore on Digg seeing as they have new sections for videos, and specifically sports videos. It will be interesting to see how many people watch it, and then Digg it, perhaps a little added publicity for the sport for those who might not have otherwise encountered it.

To those aspiring ultimate film makers out there i suggest that when you post clips or anything like that submit them to digg, its basically free publicity for your stuff and for the sport itself. Right now the only sports videos that are being posted are the like "amazing basketball shot" "hardest nhl hit" etc, it would be nice to see some disproportional ultimate video representation.

and while your at it, if you are creating high school ultimate videos post a link here or send a link to me and ill put it on the site (down on the right hand side) yet more fun free publicity.

so yeah if you use digg feel free to go on over to the story and digg it - woo hoo ultimate!

edit - whoa, craziness i literally just posted it and already 3 diggs, well i for one am impressed, ultimate more appealing than old stalwarts once thought? meh

WJUC Preview open thread...

anyone have predictions out there? team USA dominance? Wonder from down under? Tiina posted her review of the Team USA vs. Amherst warmup game in a comment on the last post, here it is again for you fools out there who dont read the comments and thus miss out on all the wonderful PlayUltimate banter...

Amherst vs. Team USA

ARHS scored first and went up 2-1 before it was tied at 3's. USA took the half 8-5. We couldn't get closer than 3 or 4 for most of the second half, with our best being 13-10, I believe. USA then scored the next 2 to win it. (Captains for the USA boys are Sam Kanner, Darden Pitts, and George Stubbs.)

Having been on both sides of this equation (USA coach and today trying to challenge USA), I would have to say that they are exactly where they should be. Both teams had lots of unforced turns and neither looked particularly crisp for long periods of time. I know that Team USA has been working very hard at camp and now they need to rest and recover. I am certain that they will continue to grow and improve throughout the week and, of course, I have to pick them to win it all again.

After I left NMH, I went to watch another juniors match down the road in Leverett. Great Britain, after having some monstrous problems flying in to Boston, was playing the NE YCC team. NE went up early, but GB took half 8-7. NE eventually won 15-12.

We have been very lucky in New England to be able to host many of the international juniors teams. I heard the Israeli team was playing Needham this past week, and many ultimate players in western Mass. had a chance to play Australia, GB and USA. I suspect that there will be HUGE crowds in Devens this week to see how it all plays out. I know I'll be there!

also, there have been some reports circulating of players from other national teams being injured? anyone hear anything about that? post it if ya got it.

UPA WJUC Writeups - 8/9 and 8/10

cross posted for convenience, here they are...

Thursday, August 9th - Thursday marked the first full day of practices for the two US Juniors Teams. Both teams took the time over their six plus hours of practice to focus on individual defensive skills that require teamwide understanding and execution and basic offensive strategies.

The US Junior Girls used their morning session to focus on man offense including cutting skills, some set pieces, and finishing up with a scrimmage. In the afternoon the focus switched to man defense including talks and drills on the mark, dump defense, basic man defensive strategies, and downfield defensive positioning. The afternoon session finished, as the morning one did, with a scrimmage.

After a thorough warm-up in the morning the US Boys went straight into a scrimmage. The scrimmage was followed by a "pace" drill (focuses on pushing upfield and clearing), discussion of the vertical stack offense, and focused (prescriptive scrimmages). The afternoon included marking, defensive positioning, and concluded with more focused scrimmaging. Unfortunately, Columbia HS star Stephen Panasci reaggravated a hamstring early in the day. While his talent will be missed on the field, he has already begun to make an impact from the sideline.

Dinner was followed by interteam socializing, whiffleball, and ping-pong. At 8 both teams retreated to team meetings where the boys talked more about offensive strategy, goal setting, and the mental game while the girls bonded through charades.

Both teams looked crisp for their first days together.

Wednesday, August 8th - Today the top under 20 players in the United States arrived at Northfield Mount Hermon in Gill, MA to begin their quest for two world titles. Players from around the country flew in to Boston's Logan Airport and met and greeted each other as they waited for the bus. The bus, which arrived 30 minutes late, transported the players to the beautiful Northfield Mount Hermon campus where at 8pm regional players and players that arrived earlier met them. The players and coaches enjoyed box lunches (the cafeteria was closed) and then separated into their respective teams. Many of the players on both teams had never met before.

The players spent the evening in team meetings and playing outside and in the plush Northfield Mount Hermon dorms. There is a lot of work to be done over the next 10 days to mold 18 boys and 21 girls from highly skilled and athletic individuals into championship teams. But the work will be exciting and fun and the players and coaches are up to the task.

[Kyle Weisbrod writeups c/o UPA.org]

first day of training camp

It was awesome - everyone (girls and boys) worked very hard and are beginning to gel as teams. The site is beautiful and it is raining now a bit so we'll be looking to work on zone tomorrow - perfect.

Check out the upa website (upa.org) for a more in depth writeup from day 1. As a personal comment, the kids are great and are very excited to be playing together - so sweet to see and be a part of it.
cheers,
miranda

WJUC Schedule Preview (c/o Tony Leonardo)

This was posted to RSD two days ago in preparation for the WJUC tournament that will begin on sunday...

MONDAY

9am Canada versus Australia (Boys)
2pm: Canada versus Sweden (Boys)
Yes, Sweden has won a record SIX Junior Worlds tournaments but the
recent history belongs to the North American squads. Canada should be
in a comfort zone after a great tournament wake-up[ at the hands of the
Aussies. Sweden must not play flat to put a scare into Canada. In the
AM, the Australia match could be a lot closer that people expect. With
4 days stateside behind them, Australia should be well-prepared for the
time difference and truly amped to get their first game in.

4pm: USA vs Canada (Girls)
In Finland in 2004, Day 1, USA beat Canada 15-11. By the time the
tournament finished, they met in the finals and Canada walked off
champions with a 17-8 victory. Not too many of those 2004 players are
returning for either side, but the line has been drawn. This year Team
USA is coached by ladies behind the best club team in recent memory --
Seattle Riot. Surely coaches Vida Towne, Miranda Roth and Julie
Weese-Young and their bevy of Seattle players on the roster (I count 7
including O'Malley and Claire Suver who currently play for Riot) will
be familiar with Team Canada and their 8 players from Vancouver. It
should be great!

TUESDAY

Boys Rivalry Round: 2:15
Sweden plays Finland! These two teams meet in the finals all the time.
Finland has lately gotten the best of the swedes. Ikea vs Nokia.
Great Britain versus Australia! The former penal colony likes to rankle
the stodginess of their colonial ancestors. UK won 18-17 in 2004.
Colombia vs Israel! No rivalry yet for these countries, but coming in
as the low seeds and seeing international competition of this sort for
the first time suggests that this is the game where a team will get its
first W.

4pm: USA vs Canada (Boys)
Get ready for the fireworks. Ought to be some serious high-flying
action. Has this game ever disappointed since 2000 Worlds? No, right? I
don't even know who to call out for this one, just watch out for USA's
repeat contestant Darden Pitts playing in his backyard on fields he's
familiar with.

WEDNESDAY

9am: Canada vs USA (Girls)
Round-robin rematch. Ro-sham for shirt color anyone?

10:30am: Sweden versus Australia (Boys)
This seems like a game the Aussies would need to win to cement their
international standing as the third-best Ultimate country behind USA
and Canada (specious, I know).

2:15pm Finland versus Great Britain (Boys)
In the club division, the UK has surpassed FInland recently after years
of Finnish success. Finland has tradiitonally been stronger in Juniors
however This game should be a good one.

THURSDAY

9am: Spoiler Round
Semifinals is just around the corner on Thursday. These last pool-play
games shouldn't be make-or-break, but they could be when USA and
Australia tangle and Canada faces off against Great Britain. Expect a
scare but not an upset.

10:30 AM: Girls Semifinal #1 (1 seed vs 4)
12:00: Girls Semifinal # 2 (2 seed vs 3)

With four teams at the tournament, these semis will be the 3rd time
teams have played each other

1:30: Boys semi #1: (1 seed vs 4) According to seeding, this would be
USA versus Finland, but I wouldnt be surprised to see GB or Australia
here. USA will be here or, if they lose the Canada game, in semi #2.
3:00pm: Boys Semifinal #2 (2 seed vs 3). Seeding says Canada vs Sweden,
but like the other semifinal I think that any of the four teams in the
next tier (Sweden, Finland, GB and Austrlia) have a great chance.

FRIDAY
11am: BOYS FINAL
Would be shocking if this wasn't USA versus Canada.

1:00pm GIRLS FINAL
Would be shocking if this wasn't Canada versus USA

comments? opinions? I would like to know more about these juniors
teams!
Tony L.

The west coast take on YCC

I was at the YCC this past weekend as an assistant coach for the Seattle boys (Sunshine) - here are my thoughts:

The boys division:

On Saturday, it became clear early on that the pools were uneven (in a tournament like this, it's nearly impossible to create realistic seedings so this wasn't surprising) as Seattle took their pool in three relatively easy games, subbing evenly and using different defenses to beat each team. Pittsburgh was the strongest out of our three opponents (along with Texas and Madison) but our boys stepped up and played particularly well at the end of the day. Madison clearly had some strong individual players but were not deep enough to put a full strong game together against us.

On Sunday, the boys came out strong against minnesota and went up 6-0. Then suddenly it was 6-3. Then 7-6. We were dropping easy passes, throwing poor choices. With each of Superior's scores, we were visibly demoralized. With a team full of boys from State and Westerns champions, it was clear that we were unfamiliar with the mental game associated with a team truly fighting to come back and win. However, in the end, we took half and went on to win, though it stayed close the whole game. Minnesota has some very strong players, led in particular by Shock and Kaminsky. The team as a whole played very good defense and their zone was particularly instrumental to our first half staggering. We had about 4 minutes to prepare for the semifinals - while our boys were scrambling to get water, food, and reapply sunscreen, Colorado was warming up and looking ready to go. Unsurprisingly, they came out with a 4-0 lead. Again we were strangers to losing and did not quite find the proper mindset of 'get it done, now' until it was nearly too late. Colorado took half and we mounted a comeback at the beginning of the second half, but it was too late. The soft cap went on, and Colorado scored two points before we could score the 5 it would have taken for us to win. The game ended 12-10 and Colorado, deservedly, rushed the field and celebrated the upset. White Out played ridiculously good man defense - every one of our cuts was challenged, pieces were taken out of multiple throws by our top throwers. They also brought a strong zone to mix it up. During our comeback we too threw a zone as it was fairly windy on the weekend, but our multiple layout Ds in the cup did not make up for our carelessness near the endzone and misscues on longer throws.

I hear that Colorado was quite tired after our game, and Philadelphia was able to take advantage of this and take it all in the finals - i didn't see this game so hopefully someone else can post a recap. Sunshine took the 3rd place fairly easily in a rematch against pittsburgh. We were very proud to receive the spirit award, but the boys were disappointed. Looking ahead, we lose only 4 seniors and retain most of our handlers who will have another year of experience under their belts by this time next year.

The girls division:
I didn't get to watch that much, but what I did see was that the Seattle girls' general skill level was simply much higher than that of other teams. I think this was most likely accentuated by the wind, but I don't think it would have been much different on a calm day - Seattle Black Out was clearly dominant, from the top of its roster to the alleged bottom, all these girls played amazingly well. They had the experience from last year as well as multiple state and westerns champions to lead their way to the finals. However, I was very excited to see the strong showing from the Colorado girls in their first appearance at YCC.

The mixed division:
I watched even less of this, but I know that Winnipeg and Cinncinnati were very strong and split games, with Winnipeg winning the important one. Which leads me to...

Next week at junior worlds:
this is going to be very interesting - all the members of Team USA played very well this weekend that I saw, both on the girls and boys sides. They have all been training very hard and are beyond excited to play in Devens. But, the Canadians are clearly ready to bring it, too. It will be an exciting week on the west coast and i can hardly wait the 12 hours before i get on the plane to head out there to coach the girls.

Congratulation to all the participants in YCC - it was a great tournament with great spirit and we from Seattle can't wait to come back next year.

west coast out,
Miranda

Philly, Seattle, Manitoba win YCCs

You heard it here first (in the comments for the last post) -

Philadelphia wins Open over Colorado
Seattle wins Girls' over Denver
Manitoba wins Mixed over Cincinatti

if you were there (or even if you werent), we'd like to hear your thoughts, you can look for posts from other PlayUltimate contributors in the coming days regardings the YCC tournament. But for now, its the people's turn to speak, comment your hearts out.

Full results - Open, Mixed, Girls'
Tournament website

YCC Day Two Preview

and the dust settles on day one....

In the Girls division Seattle reigns supreme, outscoring opponents 55-9, Denver came the closest to them at 11-4, but from the look of the scores Seattle is looking dominant going into day 2.
[Full results.]

In Mixed - a dark horse gallops through the competition hailing from Cincinatti, Ohio. Leaving day one pool play with a 4-0 record, the only other team in the Mixed division which remains unbeaten is the bunch from above the 49th parallel, Manitoba barely escapes day one with 4-0 marks after close games with Minnesota (13-11), Des Moines (13-8), and New England (11-9).

Manitoba and Cinci face off in the final game of pool play tomorrow at 8:30am to decide who will arrive in the brackets as the number one seed.
[Full results.]

In Open - in Pool A Seattle cruises outscoring opponents 43 to 10 on the day. Pittsburgh's Impulse picked up the rest of the pool, allowing only 9 points in the first two games of the day. The only close game in A was between Madison and Texas which Texas took home with a 10-9 decision.

In Pool B though the matches seem to have been a bit more evenly matched. 4 of the 6 games in pool B were won by 3 points or less, with the Colorado team being the cause of alot of the ruckus.

Round 1 - Philly vs. Colorado - SEPDA squeaks by with a 10-9 win
Round 2 - Colorado vs. New England - Denver boys upset the #2 seed 11-9
Round 3 - Colorado vs. Minnesota - Denver takes the game 10-9

Minnesota beats a tired Philly squad in round two to leave SEPDA and Colorado in a tie with 2-1 records for the #1 ranking in pool b, Philly gets the nod with the head to head win over Colorado.
[Full Results.]

This sets up a very intriguing quarterfinal and possibly semifinal, the brackets....

Seattle vs. Minnesota
Texas vs. Denver

Philly vs. Madison
Pittsburgh vs. New England

anyone notice something peculiar about this? all westerns (area) teams in the top half of the bracket and all easterns for the bottom perhaps?

so what will this lead to? a true battle between east and west in the finals perhaps? what could these brackets lead to? a keystone state scuffle between Impulse and SEPDA?

can the Square State Squadron serve Seattle Sunshine their first loss of the year? Or will the left coast prove definitively that west is best?

7 hours til kickoff.

YCC Going on NOW!!!

well soon anyway.

All the teams [should be] now nestled in their Minnesota lodgings awaiting the beginning of competition in the most elite US high school tournament of the year.

Easterns yes, Westerns of course, but YCC - this is for real, take the best from both easterns and westerns, plus the tops from the state championship teams, throw em together to create some all-star littered showcase of regional rivalry.

for your prognosticating pleasure, the final seedings again below....

Open - (Schedule | Results) 1. Seattle 2. New England 3. Philadelphia 4. Pittsburgh 5. Madison 6. Minneapolis 7. Denver 8. Texas

Mixed - (Schedule | Results) 1. Minneapolis 2. New England 3. Cincinatti 4. Seattle 5. Manitoba 6. Des Moines

Girls' (Schedule | Results) 1. Seattle 2. New England 3. Minnesapolis 4. Denver 5. Madison

[edit 1:19am - also, at 10pm tonight (last night) the UPA posted the event program and media guide online, more in depth comments and analysis of that later, but for your reading pleasure you can click here for the full booklet.]

if you've got results ya better post em in the comments, cause people are itchin to hear. or if you see something of interest on the score reporter site, comments never hurt anyone.

(Lets go Philly!)

YCC Seeds/Pools/Schedules announced

The UPA YCC website has given us some info to get us ready for this upcoming weekend:

http://youth2006.upa.org/schedule.php has the schedules for all 3 divisions at the bottom. They're also up on Score Reporter.

Let's get some talk about this weekend's big tournament. I know Worlds overshadows it a bit, but there are plenty of great players and great teams descending upon Minnesota.

In the open division:
Pool A:
1 Seattle
4 Pittsburgh
5 Madison
8 Texas

Pool B:
2 New England
3 Philadelphia
6 Minneapolis
7 Denver

Teams reseeded into quarterfinals on Sunday.

Can Seattle defend their crown? Can a New England squad missing some top ARHS players but adding some depth from around the area win? Is Philadelphia's talented squad going to come together? Will Pittsburgh's months of working together pay off? What about Madison and Minneapolis, with Madison West and Hopkins having very good showings this spring? Or relative unknowns Denver and complete unknowns Texas?
It'll be good.

Mixed:
1 pool, 6 teams, top 2 seeds get a bye:

1 Minneapolis
2 New England
3 Cincinatti
4 Seattle
5 Manitoba
6 Des Moines

Can the hosts defend their top seed? Can Canada make some noise? Eh?

Girls:
1 pool, 5 teams, bottom 2 seeds play in on Sunday:

1 Seattle
2 New England
3 Minnesapolis
4 Denver
5 Madison

Another 1-2 punch of Seattle and New England. Who will come out on top?