#5: Tiina’s Takes from Club Nationals

10/23/2017

Note: Tiina, three current Zoodisc players (Chris Bartoli, Pat Barron, and Tannor Johnson), and many Zoodisc alumni were in Sarasota, FL for the USAU Club National Championships this past week. We plan to make a few posts throughout the week about their experiences.

By Tiina Booth

I just spent four days in Sarasota at club nationals. Four gorgeous, windy hot days as a fan, amateur photographer and armchair coach. I also wrote a series of articles for Ultiworld called “Tiina’s Takes.” Here’s a few photos of friends and alums of UMass, as well as links to my columns.

Photos

Our boys contingent on Dig after beating DC’s Truck Stop in their first game of the tournament (Left to Right: Ben Tseytlin, Ben Sadok, Jeff Babbitt, and Chris Bartoli)

Alumnus Six-Sev Kev(in) Norton checks out the stadium action at the end of his day with NYC’s PONY

Pat Barron, Caitlin Go, and Tannor Johnson finished fourth in the mixed division playing for Boston’s Slow White

Kenyon College’s own Paul Rutherford (Ultiphotos) and Ben “Londy” Sadok with two of the greatest smiles in all of NUTC Nation

Tiina’s Takes

Tiina’s Take: Nationals Eve

Tiina’s Take: Nationals Day One

Tiina’s Take: Nationals Day Two

Tiina’s Take: Nationals Day Three

Tiina’s Take: Sarasota From Z To A

Tiina’s Take-Backs to Zoodisc

I shared a lot of my observations in my four columns from Ultiworld but I have a few more specific to this team:

1) we do a lot of things right, particularly when it comes to the sideline. Watching you play at the RI tournament showed me that everyone had bought in on why sideline energy is so important. I cannot say the same for every team at nationals. So many of them would immediately hunch their shoulders and put their heads down when they had been scored on. That is simply not our team.

2) we need to embrace every chance to throw in the wind. And you know the northwest winds from Canada will give us many opportunities all winter. So when you arrive at practice and it’s windy, don’t complain and see it as a gift. Because many players were annoyed for the entire tournament that it was windy. Success is all about reframing adversity.

3) our defense needs to get much better as soon as possible. Building a foundation of strong habits is our main task in the fall and it will pay off in huge rewards come spring.

Heading out for my flight now. Looking forward to productive practices this week, as always.

Thanks to Russ and Brett for holding down the fort while the rest of us got to take a mini vacation.

If you like what we’re doing here please feel free to become a patron and support us at https://www.patreon.com/zoodisc