Author: revolver

The title of this is a nod to Lou’s series of articles on SkyD about men’s ultimate.  To help people add some facts to their various league models we will talk about the costs of running a high level men’s team these days.  This post is meant to inform the public of our season and is not an endorsement or attack on any particular system.

Lou’s articles are a summary of the variety of changes that are being discussed via the proposals for TCT, NexGen, AUDL and MLU.  His four part series is a great read for anybody that wants a short-hand version of the months after the finals in Sarasota.

The charts below show Revolver’s season expenses for 2012 as a breakdown by event as we well as category. Worlds will have it’s own cost post later this week.  It is important to note that none of this is subsidized by anybody other than the efforts of the 26 members of the team.

Excluding Worlds & Flowerbowl

• Tryouts (March-April)
• Practices (May-Oct)
• ECC @ Burlington, Washington
• Labor Day @ Santa Cruz, CA
• Sectionals @ Stanford
• Regionals @ Ripon, CA
• Nationals @ Sarasota, FL

You can quickly see that tournaments requiring travel make up a massive chunk of the annual expenses.  Regionals was cheap because it was a “home” year.**  Worlds is an unusual expense although non-trivial and in a non-worlds year Revolver takes July off from tournaments so the above set of events is a normal season.  Practices get a fair chunk of the expenses because like many teams in major metro areas to secure time on non-injury inducing fields we have to pay for them.

If you further break it down by category you will see that flights are a major cost driver.  For competitive reasons our team provides food during the tournament because we have found that younger players don’t always know how to manage their day and if left to their own devices they will sometimes fail to supply correctly or be too cost conscious in the moment to be athletically successful.  We also does group meals at tournaments to simplify logistics and make sure people are well rested and refueled.

The cost of a tournaments* has risen in recent years to $350-550 but rising field costs, better availability of trainers and having more games with observers creates value that is generally worth it.  Being a competitive men’s team means that we are looking for value at the event itself and not something more widely community oriented or social as was traditional 10 years ago, it is all about the games.

Note that the team only flies to two tournaments in a normal season and avoids holiday flights because they are more expensive.  Revolver is lucky to have Labor Day be a home tournament since Memorial Day, July 4th & Labor Day are the peak travel cost weekends during the season.  You can see the charts below from FareDetective.

Revolver is a group of 26 young men who play Ultimate for the reasons we outline in our values.  Lots of people are very excited about the future of Ultimate and Revolver is no exception but as one of the stakeholders affected by all of these decisions/discussions we want to make sure that everybody remembers the reality of today.

*Note tournament bid + “nationals player fees” make up over 50% of the costs for tournaments which is above and beyond the $50 annual USA U membership fee.

** Regionals was hosted in the Bay Area so there was no flight, a year with a flight costs $5K more based on 2011 data.

***2011 mirrored these costs but with an extra $5K or $200 per player in flights due to “away” regionals.  We expect to be “home” once every three years.

Revolver would like to announce that the captains for 2013 have been selected.  The team has a long tradition of excellent leaders who play the right way and lead in IHD by example as well as their voice.  It is important to have continuity year over year as well as allow younger players to have a voice in the future direction of the team.

Revolver will be lead by 4 captains next year:

• Ryo Kawaoka (returning)
• Cassidy Rasmussen
• Nick Schlag
• Ashlin Joye

The team would like to thank out going captains Martin & Beau for all of their efforts in 2012 as Revolver achieved an additional world championship and made finals in the club tournament.  Their leadership, along with Ryo, was critical in a long, challenging year physically and mentally.  A pair of photos to commemorate their efforts.

“Big game, Big Venue, should be… well… Big.”
 ~Dutchy

These words are from the immortal coach who has a way with, well, words…

If you haven’t followed or heard about the NexGen Ultimate Tour you are missing out.  This was a crazy vision founded by Kevin Minderhout and against all odds he managed to get some of the best college players  from the previous season on a bus to play elite teams all over the country, again!  You can read about their adventures here.

This is a big time tour and the players are showing that they are big time players, so this Friday should be crazy.  They have wins over notable club teams like Bravo, Ironside, the AUDL Spinners and yesterday DoubleWide.  Click for full tour results. With Patagonia “Plays of the Game” videos like this one, it should be a barn burner.

Details are as follow:
   Friday 8/17 – 7:30 start time
   Kezar Stadium 755 Stanyan St, San Francisco CA 94117
   $5 Students, $10 Regular
   Event link on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/events/235714319882816

Spread the word, come watch a great game or see it streaming online.

One of Revolver’s ECC experiences

We are excited about this game being our transition to the club season since we squared off in Semis at Worlds with these guys not too long ago.  In the interim, the Canadian team had been taking a lot of flak in various forums for a poor spirit showing in a power pool game in Japan.  No evidence of poor spirit in this game, as we play a respectful and hard-fought contest on the hot turf and we use our motivation leftover from worlds to close out the game 15-10.   At one point during this game Pat Baylis looks off a wide open Martin Cochran in the endzone, pumping several fakes before finally inexplicably throws a swing to Sherwood instead.  This photo perfectly captures that moment, and interestingly, the rest of our day.

Game 2 – Ironside (L, 11-13)
Having spent our leftover motivation from Worlds to beat Team Canada again, we find that there is not a lot remaining.  This game is a new low in execution and intensity for Revolver; at this point the Worlds hangover hits us very hard.  Boston’s offense uses the break side of the field to run 4 and 5 throw combinations to uncovered players, and our offense doesn’t keep up the clinical efficiency Boston is showing.  Boston is out to a 4 break lead before we get one, and then the hard-cap comes after one of our O points leaving us no chance at late-game heroics.  With no time to get the train back on track, we stagger into our next stop: New York.

Game 3 – PoNY (W, 13-12)
Hangover still strongly in effect, not to mention sore feet from two hot games on turf, and we can’t find our rhythm anywhere.  We give back a two-break lead at halftime and pull on double game point.  Luckily a miscue from NY gives us a 25 yard field and we score the winner, preserving a win at least on paper.  We are remembering now that ultimate frisbee against the best club teams in the country is very very hard.

Game 4 – Sockeye (W, 15-13)
A welcome bye, and even more welcome battle against the Fish in a showcase game under the lights.  We couldn’t be anywhere better to regain our lost motivation.  Our re-discovered enthusiasm to play shows and we are ready to battle, looking better on offense and defense than before – at least enough to forestall constant head slapping from the coach.  A good win for us here, given the physical status of the team, leaves us with good momentum going into tomorrow.

Sunday:
Rhino has won all of their games on DGP, a very impressive feat, and we are looking for help to get into finals to rematch Boston.  We don’t get any, and will have to wait till Florida before we see them again.  In the meantime:

Game 5 – Truck Stop (W, 14-10)
Knowing that the games today will be very hard was not the problem – accepting it was the key.  Revolver finally acknowledges this and begins to do real work.  Our intensity returns and we play well on defense to keep Truck Stop at bay.  We are pleased with this game, Truck is a good team and we played well to win –  a refreshing turn from the day before.

Game 6 – Doublewide (W 12-9)
We are all very happy to see Kurt again, and wish him the best for his knee recovery before the end of the season.  Mac beats him in a one-legged race across the field so we get to receive to start the game.  We drop a couple of breaks to their capable D line, but muscle back before half to preserve Mac’s effort getting us the half-break lead at the start.  The second half is very short due to the tight round times, and we get to earn some breaks to widen the score a bit before the game ends.  DW seems like they are also battling the injury bug, both teams are undoubtdedly looking forward to a high-power rematch in Santa Cruz in a few weeks.

Game 7 – GOAT (W 15-11)
Having heard Rhino kept their streak of DGP wins alive, we play our consolation against GOAT on the now-extremely-hot turf.  It is an offensive clinic to start the game, they score their first 5 goals on what seems like 12 total passes.  Luckily so do we, so when our D does get a break just before halftime we are still in the lead.  In the second half the Revolver defense finds a way to finally put consistent pressure on their offense and gets a few more breaks to close out the game.  On the whole a good effort against a very good team.

We conclude the tournament out of finals and disappointed with our lost opportunity for a rematch against Boston.  We know that, if tradition holds, the next meeting between our teams will be of significant consquence in Sarasota.  We do some humility running, and commit ourselves to the start of the 2012 club season.  Title defense: begun.