Browntown Takes One In The End Zone!!

After scoring early, Heroes fell asleep on the sideline and on-field with some uninspiring play and sloppy marking, allowing Slamtown to huck to unexpected receivers. Heroes were down 4-1.

With a demand to improve on the basics (completions, aka throwing and catching) and a request for more sideline talk, the quality of play lifted. A few Jangles to Bevan plays came off and Adam D went on to have a blinder, beginning with some hard puppy pressure to force throw aways. Adam used his reach (he has height, but have you ever seen him jump) to swat the disc away from the outstretched hands of receivers. He hit every dump, but my favourite Adam play was when George made a great cut under on Horo and Adam came streaming and screaming through to collect the Dishy in power posistion and wind-up that big arm of his to huck to score (Morrell receiving? on the back line in the middle).

The positivity definitely lifted and the sideline talk kept everyone in the game. I remember getting caught out early on with players streaming down my wing and no sideline talk, but this changed in the second third. I think Slamtown took the half after long discussions saw a spirited Fox backing down to a solid argument Slamtown's best politician.

There were some exciting moments, when we got SFC to stall count 9 a number of times, but they got away with stuff like scoobers to Jody and the traditional Heroes-mac-on to Al. James Larkin was one player we failed to shut down. For the amount of D's we got and shots we had, our conversion rate was very low.

Sebastian worked really hard in the second half, but the real Brown-town belonged to neither Sebastian or Jody, but that of little brother, not-the-rapper Chris Brown. Chris Brown had 16 attempts to score in the end zone. Often perceived as cutting hard, handlers would float it out in front of Chris, only to see him time and again, labouring, stumbling and seeing the disc float out the back of the end zone. This lead to much taunting. To claims that we thought he was cutting, Big Brother Sebastian lamented "People often think that about Chris?" Jamie was of usual harshness: "Are you going to catch it this time, Chris?" Yes, it reminded this blogger of those who had come before him. Like Trevor, Watto and Tomsteve, the young Ceasar seemed cursed.

Finally, I think it was Bevan, pulled one out of the sky and Chris was found all alone in the middle of the end zone. Bevan put it in at about the height where all our hearts were, the throat, with Chris finally obliging and taking a sitter. The crowd went wild!!! (*insert tumbleweed)

In the end I think we went down 14-10, but I may be wrong.

Heroes at Nationals from an (insider's) outsider perspective.

HUC had a truly outstanding representation at Nationals across a number of teams.  Given I was able to play with and against a few of you, I thought I'd give a brief review of what I saw.

Quoll
Dan and Gavin acquitted themselves in outstanding manner with the Tassie team.  They both slotted seamlessly into the structure of Quoll and had a number of critical and inspiring moments on both O and D.  Dan was his usual irrepressible self, constantly cutting hard and going for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th efforts.  Dan took a crucial layout grab backing up for a poor throw, and Quoll went on to score the point.  Gavin similarly had fantastic positioning throughout the weekend, with very solid throwing and catching.  Although an injury slowed him down in a few games, a standout moment was a great read and top-of-the-jump D off a threatening throw.

Firestorm Ignition
Playing for 15th was a fierce and competitive game, and I got to see a few Heroes in action that I hadn't seen before.  Jamie had a great game, taking a number of fantastic grabs and getting a D or two at critical moments. His talent is very clear and it will be good to watch him become a superstar. Adam Dowley was solid in handling and a lynchpin of Ignition's attack.  Safe hands at the back with reliable throws, it's great to see Adam at HUC.
Sebastian continues to improve every time I see him play and this was no exception.  He took two super grabs that I can recall, one a full stretch layout to score.  In this game, Sebastian's confidence and assuredness was the most improved aspect of his game.
Although I was often too busy grinding my teeth to notice the opposition, I do recall Chris using his super-leap and hands of iron to take a screamer of a one-handed catch above a pack of friend and foe alike, all of whom where comparatively standing still.
Super-sub Carl came on for a point, and I had the pleasure of marking him.  Ignition scored, and I didn't shut Carl down well enough, so he takes the points on that one. Apparently two stuffed ankles trumps a tweaked hamstring.

The Betties
To my chagrin and disappointment, I didn't get to watch any of the Heroes girls playing at Nationals.  The feedback I got was they enjoyed themselves and got a lot out of it. I'd love to hear more from those who played/watched.

It is great to see so many HUC players out and about at national tournaments.  I can't wait for more!

(apologies to anyone I missed)

OnThePitch - Chasing a Reciever

OnThePitch talks with ChrisB one of the stars of the Heroes this season. In what has been a recent rise to ultimate acknowledgement he has taken the MVP for the club for the season that was. Lets have a look at what he has to say about it.
OTP: So have you mounted your trophy on your desk yet?
Chris: it is sitting on my desk but not mounted yet
OTP: so how do you think you played last night compared to the rest of your season?
Chris: for the first half of the match I was definately playing terribly, couldn't seem to hold onto any catches, most that I would normally have taken easily.
Chris: but by the latter parts I was getting some good run and free space which helped me get back some of the form i was showing in the rest of the season
OTP: so you've become a go to reciever for heroes, are you comfortable with this with your height or do you have handling ambitions?
Chris: I'm loving it to be honest. I feel that with my speed and height I could beat most people on a long throw. Especially now that I'm a designated handler for my UQ league team, the chance to run hard on a Monday is much more valued
OTP: so how would you compare the two leagues? Can you tell me the differences, whats better to play in etc?
Chris: the overall standard of BUML would be slightly higher than UQ league but that doesn't mean that the competition isn't still high in both. UQ league has a lot more newer players mixed in with some very exceptional players however this doesn't detract from the fun because generally the disk is shared round by all teams.
OTP: cool
Chris: UQ league also decided that no one was allowed to play zone until late semester 2 since the majority of players are new to the game which opens up the opportunity for sweet cuts both under and long
OTP: oh really, no zone D thats interesting, fair enough too for in-experienced players i guess
Ok so more about your latest award, who was your MVP for the Heroes this season, if it wasn’t you of course?
Chris: MVP is always a tricky decision in my opinion since it depends on whether you rate the person doing the most glory scores / throws / etc or someone who consistently performs at a high standard. I would probably say either Sean or Dave (who even at 30% effort is leaps and bounds above most)
OTP: haha i cant believe that 30% comment has had such an effect
fair enough answer
so with the browns taking 2/3 awards, what do you say your secret is?
Chris: It must be the German blood in us
OTP: German blood ay? Well now I definitely think no one is going to mess with you now after that. What do you think the missing element is for the Heroes not making the final this season?
Chris: I don't think there was a missing element as such, we just didn't perform well when it was needed. In both finals Heroes started sloppy and had to struggle to get back into the game. Heroes generally finish strongly probably because of the team numbers but we need to switch on from the start and play consistently for the full 60min
OTP: Ok and the last question, what do you think we should do for a break up party?
Chris: beers + cowboy + house + heroes = fun times

Top 4 finish

Last night saw Heroes take on exQUTisTe for the 3rd place showdown. Unfortunately they did beat us quite easily in the end but we did manage to produce some good plays, in fact scoring the last 3 or so points was good to finish the season with. So quickly getting over that I am pleased to annouce the three winners of the Heroes awards for season 1 2010.
Heroes Spirit Award:  Alana Folkes
Heroes Most Improved: Vannessa Brown
Heroes MVP: Chris Brown

Well done to these threee people, they all really deserved theses acknowledgements and they were all excited to take the trophies home :P

Uncovering a Brown treasure

Lasts nights match has resonated with me and after deep reflection I've still come to a loss about where we found our little 'pop' princess. Vanessa tore up the pitch with well timed cuts that easily burnt her opponent. Then she almost knocked people over with the pace of her FOREHAND. Somewhere over the week little nesDog found a pock rocket of a forehand with perfect spin and execution. I'm pushing this girl up for big things, I reckon we found a great new target through the mid field of the stack.

And then it was a night where the Browns dominated, Chris, not to be out done by his little sister played a stella match and was right in the thick of it in just about every point Heroes made. I don't know whether it was training, a special warm up or extra coaching but these two Browns were magic on the field last night. Their efforts I felt were committed and well done all round to the both of them! (Now if only they could rub off onto their older brother... Hi Seb)

The final score was a nice 10-6 and Heroes Ultimate Frisbee Club is back on the winning trail

Great Bloody Mess

Tonight's match against Baby Chimi's saw us muck about a lot, with no discipline whatsover, at least from us old bastards who have been around long enough to know better. Vanessa became the reliable option, making the most reasonable cuts and also moving the disc on with confidence. Well done Vanessa! Her brother Chris must have been inspired, because he made some bustling cuts to the end zone, burning it up. He was also spotted warming down.. alone. What a man of commitment.

Starkey and Sean also threw some good ones, and some Carl to Laura sickening play :P saw us take the game 9-5.

Heroes Vs Cougars

Well last night saw the Heroes take on the Cougars. I liked our chances coming up against what seemed to be a very unfit team of teachers, however I did not take into account the crazy skills of their incredible player Mike. An impressive display of skill took the cougars to an early lead of 2-0 over the heroes.
We were somewhat in awe of Mikes efforts, Laura was quoted during the game to say "WOW, he's good"

However we weren't totally beaten, as we scored two quick points in succession and the team got a bit of a roll on which helped the cause.

Highlights of ChirsB hucking the disc to Benfer in the end zone to score was quite fantastic to see. Also impressive possession game to combat the cougars pretty intense zone was very pleasing to see, we just needed to wait for the scoring opportunity to come instead of going for the glory pass (which happened on a few occasions) might have meant the game finished more evenly.

Final score was 11-5