Thanking the masses

Thanks to the small crowd that attended last nights do or die quarter final in the BPL between our own Heroes and the fresh Los Banditos. The game was a cracker with the Heroes starting very strong early and getting away to a convincing win to put a stop to the inform Banditos winning ways and subsequently their season.

The Banditos big guns started slow but in the mid section of the game came out and found their flight. In particular JJ, Gref and B-dub... It was a credit to see the improvement of this brand new team and everyone from the outside did not expect to see them on the winners sheet this season. Proving us all wrong the Banditos really stirred the pot of the BPL tipsters this season.

As far as the Heroes boys were concerned, we put together smooth and coherent passages of play and easily put scores on the board for the majority of the match. In particular stand out form was our adopted son Myall (formally of Kaboom and team happy :P ) easily MVP for the game. I think he assisted in something like 10 of our 15 points. Other usual suspects were Jangles hucking from the power position (which don't count as hucks apparently, Jangles words - not mine) and the ever likely brown-town points. Once more these Heroes of the HUC played as a team and were able to make a good positive start which ultimately set the game up for the win.
I think in the end it was a 15-7 win to the Heroes (someone correct me on that) and a great boost of confidence in the arm to finally put on a strong display over Dojo in the week to come.

Sunday Training

Training is on again this Sunday. Look forward to more kill drills and skills work!

Time: 3-5pm
Where: Oakman Park or UQ 7
Bring: a WHITE and BLACK shirt please to avoid confusion, drink bottles, discs.

See you all there!

The Incredible HUC calls out all supporters

Tonight's game against the Los Banditos is a do or die game to progress to the finals.

So we just had a look at ourselves and we've realised some thing. We have the largest non-uni based club in Brisbane and what we need tonight is YOU and we need YOUR voice to help cheer on the boys to victory.

But you ask, What can I do?
WELL

Bring signs - be imaginative with them, like these people:

 

(Hehe this last one is funny cause JJ plays for the Banditos for those playing along at home)

You could bring signs like:  

:: I'd layout for Silent

:: Jangles smells 

(I dunno I couldnt think of any, but YOU can!!!)

Time: 7.30pm

Place: BPL annerley fields

Who: YOUR HEROES

WHY: WE CAN MAKE THE FINALS
EDIT INSERT: All are welcome to bring along canned or bottled drinks, noting that the HUC does not condone public drinking but we sure do condone having a good time

Cya all there

I want to be the very best, the best there ever was...

Pokemon!

Before this blog post gets completely off track and I sing the complete Pokemon song in my head. I wanted to pen some ideas on how to improve an individuals ultimate frisbee game. Ultimate is a team sport and as such a lot of the focus in training and on the field during games is on the cohesion and ability of the team as a whole. This is of course necessary to get results as a team, but what can the individual do to improve his or her skills outside of the team?

As a foreword, I don't claim to be an Ultimate frisbee training guru but these are two of my observations. From what I have been reading of late (sorry no references) and from what I've seen there are 2 distinct ways in which the individual can improve their game outside of the team arena. These are fitness and skills.

These points may seem obvious but I'll explain further. Fitness can be seen in a variety of ways. You could have a good general level of fitness or you could train specifically for playing ultimate. A combination of both is probably best for pre-season training. General fitness could be jogging for 30 minutes, or cross training with cycling or swimming or rock climbing. Sport specific fitness would be training in a way that would most benefit your play on the field and is similar to the movements you make on the field. Last week at training we started doing the side to side kill drill and the away and in kill drill. This is a good example of sport specific training. This can be adapted in a number of ways.

You can train your anaerobic and lactate threshold (energy systems used during the first minute or two of high intensity exercise) by doing sprint work, HIIT (high intensity interval training), or sets of kill drills. If you have queries regarding exercises or a plan for training as an individual or as a small group please ask me and I will be able to help you out.

Skills to focus on as an individual would be mainly throwing skills. If I can use Jamie as an example, over the Firestorm season Jamie was throwing on a daily basis. His throws improved dramatically over only a few months to the point where he was impressing a lot of the big wigs with his throwing ability. Practice makes perfect. Throwing on a daily basis is obviously not feasible for everyone. By adding another one or two throwing sessions (30 minutes, deliberate, focussed throwing) on top of BUML and Sunday afternoon trainings will result in tangible improvements.

If all of the above information seems daunting, start by changing or adding one session per week. Do not train every day of the week if you usually only do two training sessions a week. Add one extra 30 minute fitness session, either general or sport specific, and one extra 30 minute throwing session. If you can do this for a month then you will have a solid training base to reevaluate your goals.

I hope the above information and observations are helpful. Feel free to comment queries, questions and/or any criticisms.

Let's Dance To Joy Division

By now most will have heard that frisbee tonight is cancelled because of rain so come along to Archive (100 Boundary Street, West End) for some company with frisbee friends. Friends and family are welcome too!

If interested in dinner (Monday special is $10 burgers) come along at around 7pm or any time after for liquid training and/or the darts competition.

P.S. This counts as training so people wanting to play Mixed Nationals NEED to come.

P.P.S. That last part is a lie.

The Times They Are a-Changin

As the title suggests, Sunday training times are changing slightly to accomodate for the winter months. This Sunday training will start at 3pm! This gives us a bit more time in the sun. Let your friends and peers know.


Time: 3pm - 5pm
Where: Oakman or UQ 7
Bring: multicoloured shirt (which seems to be the preference of late), or old-fashioned black and white shirts, drink bottle, sunscreen etc.


Thanks, see you there!

Training

Current HUC member Kelly is celebrating her 21st year on this earth tonight! Happy B'day! For this momentous occasion quite a few of the HUC crew will be in Dalby. However, we are expecting to be back in Bris for training and pick-up tomorrow afternoon.

Where: Oakman Park or UQ oval 7

When: 3:30

Bring: Light and dark shirts, discs, watter bottle.

See you there!

Heroes play their first full match of ultimate ever

After 3 seasons, we finally have played a game where we can say we played well all night. The match started with Heroes on D, and a mistake from Cobra's near our end zone saw us take the first point. Defensive pressure saw another 2 turn overs and Heroes take the first 3 points. The fourth one was a bit longer, and I don't know who scored it, but we got out to 5-1 from some inspirational play from Bevan and lovely shots from S.G. Chris Brown got involved with some grabs in the end zone, and also some lovely flick hucks, one out of two coming off.

Sebastian didn't get any help with some throws his way being wayward, but he ended up with some nice grabs to finish off. Cobra's got angry with themselves but this only meant that Kailin & friends would demand the disc so that he could huck it to a 50/50 option. It turned out more like 80/20 I guess.

It can be said that Cobras did not play well and had a number of unforced errors. The pleasing thing is that we cannot recall any drops that we had that were uncontested and we managed to capitalise for a change. Confidence was high as we went to 8-2, taking the half convincingly.

Some desperate huck plays came off for Cobras, but it was neither enough to lift their team or to phase us. We won the second half 7-4, so that's 15-6 final score, the first time we have closed out a game before time cap.

We've beaten the Cobras 3 times now, and they have beaten us 3 times. We haven't beaten any other teams, but that's gonna change over the next 3 weeks!

Training

Training is on again this Sunday afternoon.

Time: 3:30

Place: Oakman Park or back-up UQ Oval 7.

Bring: a light and dark shirt, sunscreen, positive outlook on life

See you all there!!!

Runway Fashion Show

In a pre-emptive strike some loyal readers may have already read that the HUC has received the new uniforms for all teams. Hence this blogger is pleased to announce that our jerseys have actually been first shown in a local Brisbane runway show much like this:

BUT IN BLOG FORM!!!!!

The first of our little creations has obviously got to be the iconic Heroes green shirt. The designers of this number felt it appropriate to stick to the lovely green that the club is known for. The new season style however has gone with the slogan "Bigger & Better" and that is reflected with the new portrayal of the incredible HUC on the shirt itself. The figure has been straightened up and the majestically thrown disc, now gracefully wraps itself around the shirt, bringing the eye to the rear of the garment.

 The second team brand that the HUC created has been drifting in and out of local leagues for some time now. Having experienced rapid growth in our club numbers it was well over due that the Agent Orange team should get real jerseys. With the gradual branding elements coming through from the design team (ie the new Agent Orange figure) all was set to get orange back out there on the field. This beautiful top in what is called 'designer orange' has been loaded up, guns blazing by the incredible HUCs arch nemesis and wrapped around the torso. With great styling we here at the secret lair think these outfits will turn some heads and put lots of scores on the board.

 The most recent team to join the HUC is the Discheads, the reigning BUML champions and subsequent benchmark of the league. If you dont know or havent heard before, the Discheads are actually an alien race of ultimate players that have come here to learn more about the human race. In this process these aliens were first recruited by the incredible huc to fight the fight against the evil agent orange. The designers of this jersey took inspiration from the galaxy and homeland of the discheads and created the logo to suit the feel of the race. The crop circle on the side is a reminder to the players of their new home here on Earth.

 To finish the new catalogue of uniforms, the range could not be complete without the contribution and overall panties-nes of these dashing HUC branded shorts. With the players individual playing number right there on the right hand side of the shorts, wearing these will make you feel at home. Or maybe you ll just always wear these at home - not exactly sure on which one it is.

Thanks to our sponsor Zone Ultimate Clothing for giving us discount on the overall range.

Training

Yes, training will be on this Sunday, weather permitting. We will again persevere with Oakman Park as the primary option for training. If there is AFL this weekend (I will go early and check) we will try and use UQ oval 7, which is the one at the round about at the start of Fred Schonell Drive in St. Lucia.

3:30 - 5:00

Oakman Park or UQ oval 7

Bring light and dark

Fun

See you there!

BUML news

In today's day and age sometimes we can become too expectant of our governing bodies. We want information right now and sometimes its hard for others to keep up to the demand of everyday life.

Now, for your convience, one man (insert :: no its not me) stands above the rest and promises to maintain a website that will automatically display a leaderboard based on the recorded results of the matches. No more will you have to differentiate between Div 1 and Div 2 teams. No more will you wonder why Heroes are third last even though they have only lost 1 game. No more will you wonder why on earth QUTies appear to be the best Monday night team around, despite the fact they are in Div 2 (no offense).

You'll find the website at www.bumlladder.info. The official draw is still available from the BUML site, but it is fairly hard to read. Importantly you should know that bumlladder.info is not the offical BUML ladder but this still is, if you can decipher it. View the (unofficial) deciphered version here.

If you would like to help keep this ladder up to date, please submit the results of your match on the bumlladder.info contact page ASAP after the game.

Agent Orange In Vietnam

New Jersey's have arrived for the entire HUC. Yesterday, being a day when we remember the atrocities of war, I considered the irony of having Agent Orange shirts made by Zone in Vietnam....


.....lest we forget.

Tactic of the Week: The end-zone pass

That last pass into the end-zone is always the most difficult.  We have all, at some point, been guilty of rushing a throw or celebrating a catch before we've caught it and turning it over.  Here is my perspective on strategies to maximise scoring and minimise turn-overs.

Why do we turn it over?
There are two main reasons we turn it over in the end-zone: Space and Psychology.
When youre on the endzone line you only need to pass the disc half a metre to score and all too frequently we try to only pass it that half a metre to one of three cutters trying to get to that half a metre distance which is being clogged by their defenders as well while the dump is screaming at you and the sideline is screaming at you and the count on eight.

You will notice that the above sentence is long without any punctuation.  It gets a bit confusing and frenetic to read, and this is what happens on the field near the end-zone.  We crowd each other, everyone tries to get involved cutting all over the place, and the thrower's arousal levels shoot up.  When you combine this with the tendency of both cutters and throwers to want to make it easy to score by passing it half a metre, the naturally limited space of the end-zone, and the extra pressure of a throw 'to score' and a catch 'to score', it becomes easy to see why there are so many turnovers in or near the end-zone.

How do we fix it?
There are a number of things that will help, first and foremost is:

Stay calm
Above all, stay calm.  No matter how much a cutter gets frustrated with you, take your time and throw good options.  You're in no rush, and there is no extra pressure on you. it would be the same if you were passing it out of your own end-zone.  Remember that it's just a throw like any other you've done a hundred times.

Dump
Dump, swing, score.  There's a reason the drill is called that, but how many teams do you see in game situations actually dumping and swinging it a few times before attempting the throw in?  Lots of patience at utilising your dump will help you score.  Handlers should be able to dump at 90-95%, so use it!  Each team and player will have a preferred count or situation to dump in, which leads onto....

Have a plan
Too many teams assume that everyone knows what to do in the end-zone, and it ends up the usual frenetic scramble.  The more disciplined your players are, and the more you create and implement a plan for scoring, the more often it will happen and the less you'll turn it over.

Use the space
The end-zone is (I only just did the maths..... weirds me out a bit) 666 square metres, and the longest possible throw (across diagonal corners) is 41.15m.
Most of us have adequate throws to cover any of this area, and should not be afraid to throw to a good cut.

What can cutters do?
Similarly, Cutters can help make things more efficacious by:

Knowing when to cut
One of my favourite things to do when I find myself in the end-zone is stand still and look around.  Usually others will be cutting, and hopefully clearing, which then gives me the next cut.  Knowing when to cut is helped if you...

Have a plan
As above. Have a plan, stick to it. And...

Clear out (re-stack)
Use good faking and 100% effort cuts.  If you don't get it, bust back to the stack. Hard.  This creates more room and easier throws for your teammates.  Remember that it's a team sport, which one of you catches the disc doesn't matter, as long as someone does.

Use the space
If you use a three out, four in set up for end-zone plays, and you start with  one player standing five metres out of bounds laterally (each side), and 2 players out of bounds deep, you have massive amounts of open space to cut into (remember that with out of bounds, both your last as well as your next contact must be with the field proper).  Your job is to create high percentage options for your thrower, and you can be as creative as you want in doing so.  Remember that half metre passes to clogged spaces are much, much harder than you would like to think.  Sticking to a plan will help utilise the space.


In a nutshell
Stay Calm. Dump. Have a plan.

 

The last couple of Mondays have seen me rise from my bed to greet a cloudy day full of threats of a downpour. But it seems that today is different, today is the day the threats became reality. Keen Frisbee blog readers (trolls?) will have seen that the rain has lead to the closure of UQ and recently Annerley as well, with Griffith expected to follow shortly.

What does it mean for us? If you would indulge me for a second I will pull out, dust off and consult the Heroes Ultimate Club Guide to Life. It seems that and I quote "in times of trouble, when the outlook is dark, when the prospect of a regular league match has been torn asunder, the only option available to followers is simple. It is to visit a local drinking establishment."

This is where the HUC guide to Life finishes. Leaving the specifics up to any who would dare to don the esteemed mantle of HUC Party Officer. And as it happens, that would be me. Upon examination of previous material such the 5 P's, the 'other' 5 P's and when frisbee doesn't win; I would like to follow the tradition and invite everyone to Archive Beer Boutique from about 7pm onwards and it is located at 100 Boundary St, West End (the good pub below Uber).

This is a chance to get to know your fellow team and club members without the pressure and distraction of having to chase plastic. A chance to talk to that cute girl or boy from your team. A chance to wet your whistle on some good quality drinks or food if you desire ($10 gourmet burgers).

Skill of the Week- Attitude (What I've learnt from the best)

I love watching finals at Nationals. The superior skill, fitness, and structure is superb to watch, but one of the things I love watching is the attitude of the players.  Watching these games always reminds me that top players still make the same mistakes I do: they get broken, they get beaten, they throw it away, they drop it.

The big difference between me and these players (apart from the skill and fitness) is what they do after any of these things.  Where I get frustrated, down on myself and ruminate, these players do not.  Where I feel like a failure, these players have more resilience.  They use any lapse as immediate motivation and have a faster transition/reaction.

In the open final at nationals, one Colony player was wearing his heart on his sleeve, almost to the point of histrionics.  Some of his reactions were unpleasant to watch, and had a visibly negative effect on his teammates.  The effect of our attitude on our team is something we should never discount.  To be the best players we can be, we need to use any frustration from errors as motivation to do better next time, rather than self-indulgently wallowing.

The most important thing I have learnt from watching the best is about attitude.  Every player gets beaten and broken, throws away and drops the disc.  The best players approach any game with the attitude of acknowledging and minimsing this, and only ever responding to disappointment with improvement.  This is the attitude that I plan to emulate.

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.

Sunday Fris!

This Sunday, 3:30pm, Oakman Park. Get there a bit before to cleat up and throw. Will be running a drill or two and then playing some pick-up or ultimate style'd game.

Also I need to invest(igate) in(to) markers sometime... hmmm.

See you all Sunday!

Heroes ladies at nationals!!

Back row L-R Jo, Brianna, Carla, Robyn, Alana, Monica, Annie, Vanessa, Aurelie.
Front row L-R Laura, Izzy, Adilia, Justine, Chantelle, Bron
Lying in front - Sylvia



A number of the Heroes ladies represented Queensland as part of “Red Betty” the development team from Queensland's ladies' ultimate club, Black Betty. For the majority of these ladies, it was their first Nationals and the first time they had played a high level, multiple day tournament.

Red Betty, being a developmental team, were seeded second to bottom. Unfortunately, the bottom team pulled out of the competition a few weeks before. Red Betty were therefore seeded 15^th out of 15 teams.

One way of summarising Red Betty's results is to say that we held our seeded place, which is what a lot of teams aspire to do...

But to simply say that Red Betty came last is to discredit the hard work and development of the ladies that occurred over the weekend.

Above all else, I think the ladies walked away with an understanding of what high level ultimate really is. In Brisbane, unless you play these national level tournaments, there is just no high level ladies ultimate available to watch or play. Watching the ladies final, the Heroes ladies were able to appreciate that ladies ultimate is fast, it is aggressive (in the sense that the women attack the disc, do not give up and get fired up) and it is skilful. I hope that all the ladies implement this in to their league games (you have to play like it is high level ultimate to be able to create high level ultimate).

Heroes were represented by Jo Ashdown, Brianna Fyfe, myself (Robyn Dowley), Alana Folkes, Vanessa Brown, Adilia Murabito, and Chantelle Smith (apologies if I have left anyone off the list).

Even though only one week has passed since Nationals finished, the games and individual player's performances have honestly become a bit of a blur to me.

Some that I can remember:

• All of the ladies keeping on running and not giving up, despite being tired.

• Alana having sticky fingers and scoring a few points from wayward discs in the end zone!

• Jo running and running – in the cup, going long, cutting to the right places when needed. Jo also has brilliant forehands which she pulls out to use occasionally. Jo you should force your way into the handling line on Discheads on occasion to build your confidence in your throws. They are there, you just need to know it!

• Bri's constantly improving handling skills – I honestly think you are already a great handler, you just need to find that confidence! Bri was also another reliable cutter who bailed me out of a high stall count on more than a few occasions. Bri was also really great at keeping the spirit levels of the whole team up, especially me when I had a bit of a breakdown on day 2.

• Chantelle is another great receiver. She is quick and is fast developing a sense of field awareness. With a bit more experience she will be an unstoppable receiver.

• Vanessa came into the team at a very late stage, as we needed players desperately and she was kind enough to volunteer herself. This put her at a bit of a disadvantage as she did not have the build up of skills that the other ladies had acquired through the few months of regular training. However, she still managed to slot right into the team, picking up the few plays that we had and playing them efficiently. I also remember being on the sideline with Vanessa for a few points with Vanessa constantly calling to the on-field ladies, helping them with where they should be, calling out when their player was getting free in a zone etc. This was really encouraging to see as it is a very difficult task to get the players engaged in sideline play in ladies ultimate.

• Adilia being her usual steady handler self. It was great to have another experienced, steady handler in the team.

I look forward to being able to see the continued development of these ladies, particularly through WUFL. And given the new skills these ladies have gained, I am pretty sure defending champions Wonder Women will have a fantastic season!

Thankyou to all of the players in Red Betty. It was a pleasure to captain you all!

one we should have got

In a week of sore muscles and tired legs, the bpl continued as per normal and heroes stood against the new kids on the block the bandidos (sporting their striped alternate strip, one that I personally enjoyed more than their regular kit).
To be perfectly honest and in a strange turn of regular events, Heroes went in favourites and we certainly expected an easier win. But walking up to the far field (after being kicked off 3b as the rumour mill suggested to me) I past some fairly experienced throwers putting their cleats on so I thought I would have to play through my own personal illness. But in saying this the young Bandidos are very....Raw. And i didnt think we d have to much hassle dealing with them. And indeed we didnt with five mins to go at 12-8. Then, and whether it was due to tired legs or just not enough focus we let bandidos put five on the board to take the game to 13 all at hard time cap.
Readers will notice I went straight to the point (the end of the game) because alas the ultimate played was not at he highest quality and the game just played out.
Credit to the bandidos getting their first points in BPL.
To be perfectly honest Heroes will come out next time our two teams meet and the next game wont be so tight.

just a bump on our journey to holding the fourth and final semi final spot this season.