This weekend Kali drove to Kansas City, MO for the Elite Eights tournament. Overall, we had a great time and learned a lot. We brought a small squad of only 14 girls, so everyone got tons of playing time and experience. Some highlights from the weekend:
Emery scored almost all of our end-zone transition goals. She also had several sick hucks over the course of the weekend!

Harvard played deep in the zone a lot of the weekend, and got several D’s from this position. She also proved to be a key puller for the tournament.

Sheila and Kirsten get most improved for the weekend. They both made great cuts and got several D’s (especially during zone) that we were able to convert into scores.

Waugh was a crazy deep thrower this weekend, and she had super chilly throws in zone, and crazy break marks all day long. She runs really hard, and was a huge leader on the field, by calling and running our plays.

Trouble was a deep-cutting machine this weekend, running down several almost “out the back of the endzone” deep hucks from Courtney, which she caught EVERYTIME for the score, leaving her defender choking on her dust. Trouble is finally trying out her longer down field throws!!!

Bucket and Shannon have been breaking the mark like crazy! These two spent the majority of the weekend practicing their new throws, assisting goals, and picking up the disc (a lot).

Dana was delirious and sleepy for most of weekend. On Saturday, during one of the few points that she was able to play, she got a HUGE D on a huck with her straight-up mark that probably left a welt… She was able to play on Sunday, and was great at being chilly and making good decisions when behind the disc.

amERIKA was a superstar this weekend, putting out 200% effort all the time, no matter what she was doing. During one point, she got 3 SWEET run-through D’s because her man defense was so sick! Erika runs deep and cuts all the way in…. over and over again….EVERY POINT SHE PLAYS. Sick.

Courtney was ridiculous all weekend. Determined to win a pair of sweet shorts, she got a ton of indescribable layout D’s, plus some of the sickest catches on O that I’ve seen in women’s ultimate. Her break throws are also looking siiiiick.

AZ had some trouble with her (very painful) toe this weekend, but pushed through and was able to play all but the last game of the weekend. AZ is a very good downfield cutter, is super chilly with her throws, and makes really good decisions on the field.

LT skied lots of bitches, coming away with the disc on many crazy throws that went up. She also proved her handling skills when Whit made her 1st or 2nd in pull play on Sunday basically every point she was on.

Not only did Jfizzle lead us in every ear shattering cheer, but she hustles like its her job, she cuts so hard! Jfast had an amazing layout catch which got interfered with when the Michigan player bit Jfizzle’s face. She rocked the quasimoto look the rest of the tourney and it was HOT. Jfast handles with ease and runs hard 100% all the time!

Overall, the tournament was exhausting and awesome! Every player got a chance to improve their skills, and we meshed a ton as a team. Plus, newbies got a taste of the ENDURANCE factor at tourneys! Sick playin’ Kali. Can’t wait for Spring!!

-Waugh and Shannon

sponsored by a pregnancy week by week

Oh, club sectionals—that chaotic early season tournament full of firsts. The rookies are able to see what ultimate can and will look like for them in the future, and the vets are able to see how much the rookies have learned in just 3-4 short weeks. Plus, it’s just that much fun. At this year’s Colorado Club Sectionals, played in Boulder, Colorado, Kali faced some tough competition. Our club region includes Rare Air and Box Lunch, two national caliber teams, Rare having played in the semis of the 2006 Club Nationals. In short, our day was destined to be a (good) challenge.

Our first game on Sunday morning was against Rare Air. In facing Rare we were not only facing one the best club teams in the country, we were also facing the past and present of our own team. Playing Rare gave the rookies (and other vets too) the opportunity to see just how talented some of our players are. Heather (Waugh), Ali (Hammer), Julie (Jfast), and Brenna have all been busy this fall balancing school, Kali and Rare. Sectionals was a chance for everyone to see just how awesome these girls are. During the game against Rare we put up a good fight, but we are a young team, and we had a difficult time connecting.

Our second game of the day was against Box Lunch. Box Lunch, too, is full of Kali alumnae and we are always excited to play them. This game ended the same as the game against Rare without Kali scoring a single point. But, the score doesn’t in any way reflect the amount of improvement in Kali’s game. So many young players had the “ah-ha!” moment during this game and it was sweet to seem them go from confused running around to hard sharp vertical cuts! (Not to mention the money layouts.)

The third and final game of Sectionals was against a local high school team, Colorado Academy. The girls on Colorado Academy had been working hard (pre-season summer practices, practice 5 days a week) and it was evident. However, Kali had been hard at work too. The game was tight, both teams remained even and we saw so many players step it up with huge d’s and sick marks. However, just as our momentum was accelerating, there was lightning in the area and the game had to be called at a tie.

Originally we were supposed to have scrimmaged the Colorado State women’s team but the weather turned sour for the rest of the day and we were unable to do so. Never the less, sectionals fulfilled everyone’s expectations: it was super fun, everyone learned a lot, and we were able to see our unlimited potential this season.

In my quest to find words that were both adequate and excited enough to describe the Kali squad this coming season, I kept coming up short. Not short in the sense of a lack of information, but more so as a result of how completely overwhelmed I am about how awesome every single one of the new girls is (not to mention the veterans). Luckily for me, Whit sent out an email this past week praising some of the girls for toughing out a practice in nasty weather. Even though it was directed at about half the team, I feel like it accurately describes the sentiment of our team as a whole:

Big ups:
- for battling to double game point in the rain
- for throwing and catching with confidence
- for laying out during four corners
- for running hard in throwing suicides
- for launching themselves into that huge puddle
- for pushing through injuries, sickness, and busy schedules to play
- for doing it all with smiles on their faces
- for supporting from the sideline and during warm ups even if not able to play
- for showing how much character, fight, and scrap this team has
- for being hard core

This season is the first one since I’ve been on Kali (so I in guess in three years?) that Whit has been around in the fall. As a result of Whit’s guidance we are learning things right now that we didn’t even begin to introduce until early/mid spring last season. Kali is also really excited about having so many new freshmen girls some of whom already know how to play and others who are beyond exited and motivated to improve. With Whit here to teach us and with a ton of enthusiastic players (old and new) the 07-08 season seems to be shaping up to be pretty awesome.

-Aaren

Kali began the 06-07 season knowing we were on the verge of developing into a completely new and fresh team. We had lost six of our most experienced players to that terrible monster: graduation. However, our faith in the resiliency of Kali was not shaken. As soon as we saw the new crop of freshman, all of whom were committed and ready to learn about that strange sport of ultimate (and others who were already rock stars); we knew we were destined to have an incredible season.

Once again our coach, Michael Whitaker (aka: Whit) was off adventuring away from Boulder, leaving us to spend the fall developing with the help of our awesome assistant coach Leah Brooks, and also the lovely JV (Colin Gotlieb). And so, with the assistance of said coaches and the steady guidance of veteran players (many of whom were balancing Rare Air and Kali) we improved steadily.

With Whit’s return we began to plan for the spring season. Following tradition, we started off the season playing in the club tournament “New Years Fest” in Tempe, AZ. As is customary, we won some games, and lost others but most importantly we saw the rookies learning a mile a minute and witnessed the new vets step up their game. After the cramping flight/drive home we knew we were ready to take on the spring season.

Kali’s spring season consisted of five college tournaments: Trouble in Vegas from February 9-11 in Las Vegas, NV, the Stanford Invite March 3-4 in Palo Alto, CA, Centex March 24-25 in Austin, TX, Colorado Women’s Sectionals April 15 on the CU campus, and Southwest Women’s Regionals May 5-6 in Scottsdale, AZ.

After the previous year’s win, we were anxiously awaiting playing in Vegas as a whole new team. Our first day at Trouble in Vegas marked a rough start to Kali’s ’07 college season. We lost to NYU (6-13), Santa Barbara’s Burning Skirts (3-13), and UBC (8-12). However, we started our first game of the second day with a big win over Dartmouth (13-4). Having gained confidence we were ready to answer to NYU in a rematch. And answer we did, beating NYU in the second game with a score of 9-5. Unfortunately, Kali’s momentum began to fail in the third game against Washington, with a final score of 5-12. On our third day of play the windy conditions were a huge obstacle and with so many young players we had a difficult time connecting. This struggle was reflected in the score against the Berkeley Pie Queens (1-13). Our second game, another rematch, against the Burning skirts fared a little better, although we still lost. Always resilient, Kali came out strong in her last game of the tournament against UBC. The game began with a ton of momentum, and incredible improvement, but ended in another loss, giving Kali a 2-7 record for the tournament.

Instead of being discouraged by Vegas, Kali used the experience as motivation for the Stanford Invite. Kali’s hard work between Vegas and our next tournament, the Stanford Invite, was clear in pool play. On Saturday, the first game was a tight one against Claremont, ending with Kali’s success, 13-11. Our second game was against Washington. However, instead of being complacent about our loss at Vegas we came back on top, 13-11. Our third game was another rematch, this time against the Pie Queens. Our improvement was obvious, but Berkeley ended on top once more, 11-13. This placed us in pre-quarters against UC-Davis. Our earlier loss to the Pie Queens was discouraging, causing our confidence to falter which contributed to a 9-13 loss against Davis. On Sunday, we began playing our first game against Oregon, with a win of 15-9. The second game of the day was yet another rematch, this time against Santa Barbara. Like the Berkeley game, it was close, but another loss of 12-15.

Yet again Kali returned home, ready and willing to train harder than ever. These commited efforts lead to increased confidence as well as excitement about the playing at Centex in Austin, TX. Our Centex experience began with a game against the top team in the country – UCLA. This was our first game against them after having suffered a devastating loss (16-17) in Semis of Nationals in 2006. This time around we lost 6-13. Our second game on Saturday was equally exciting. It was the first time in over year that we had played against Stanford, the 6-time national champion of the previous ten years (and the 2006 national champion). Again we battled till we were on the verge of collapse which was reflected in our close loss, 11-12. Our last game of pool play was against Texas A & M. This game was a fun game with ample opportunity to see the improvement that was a result of the hard work put in during earlier games. The game was quick with Kali winning, 13-1.

Moving on to pre-quarters we faced Florida. Despite their speed our skills and energy made this game quick and successful. Our quarters game was yet another rematch (do I sense a theme here?) against the Berkeley Pie Queens. This game was the closest of all the Berkeley-Colorado rematches, ending with yet another heartbreaking score, 12-13. Our loss to the Pie Queens earned us a place in the fifth place bracket. In this bracket Kali faced Texas first. Texas put up a fight, but Kali won 12-9. The game for fifth place was yet another rematch, this time against Stanford. The game was close, in the beginning Kali took off going up early, but Stanford answered hard, and after battling for every point Kali was triumphant, winning 13-11. In the finals, our regional rivals, UCLA and Santa Barbara, ended 3rd and 1st. This display of the Southwest dominance was a reminder the difficult road to nationals we had to look forward to.

Sectionals was pretty quick, but by no means easy. Continuing tradition, Sectionals were held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. And, as always, it was a wind tunnel. Not just a small breeze, but hurricane force winds bombarded us, however Kali persevered winning against CSU (13-6), Colorado College (13-6), and Mines (13-0).

Yet again Kali trained hard and came to regionals with new skills. Regionals began with two easy 15-0 games against Caltech and New Mexico. Our third game was an intense, close game against Arizona, with Kali squeezing by 8-7. The final game of the day was a crossover match against UCLA, ending 5-11, putting Kali in quarters against UCLA-B. The young UCLA-B squad’s strength was not reflected in the score of 15-2. Yet again, we met the Skirts in semis, but lost the hard fight 8-12.

The loss to UCLA put Kali in the backdoor semis against Arizona. This was another close game, but not nearly as stressful, ending 12-9. The backdoor final, the game for the third and final bid to nationals, was against the previously unmet San Diego Psychos. The entire game was close, with multiple marathon points. The game got capped at 9’s, hard to 11. Both teams each scored again, tying the game at 10 – double game point. San Diego started on offense, and, despite hard Kali D, kept possession, ending in a forced short throw for the score. The game was ended, 10-11.

Kali’s season ended with 17 wins and 16 losses. But, regardless of our record, Kali emerged a new and united team with unlimited potential and all the motivation necessary to improve for the 07-08 season.