Name:
Mark Sherwood
Photo: cleaning up after Taylor Cascino’s D in 2010 Nationals semifinal against Doublewide.
Nicknames:
Helios
Jersey #
14
Height:
5’11”
Date of birth:
14 April 1985
Place of birth:
Scarsdale, NY — home to the legends Fortunate and Mattias Mueller, although I didn’t know it at the time
Current city of residence:
San Francisco, CA
Occupation:
Engineer at Mission Motors. It is true that Jit recruited me, but I am now his boss. Nonetheless, Nancy Sun (captain of Fury) is more respected at our company than both me and Jit combined.
College team(s):
Stanford Bloodthirsty (2004-2008)
Former teams:
Revolver (2006-present)
Accolades:
4th in Callahan voting (2008)
World Champion, Club Worlds (2010)
National Champion, Club Nationals (2010)
Revolver **** Lifetime Achievement Award (2008), passing the torch to Cassidy
Revolver Defensive MVP (2009-2010)
How I came to join Revolver:
The Revolver Farm System: five years on Stanford, five visits to Kaimana, one year as a practice player on Kaos, and a low but respectable “top 5” Callahan nomination.
Funniest moment or joke on Revolver:
1. Chappie’s Pigeon Story in Prague 2010, “Kwrwrwrwrwrwrwrwrw, rwrwrwrwrwr”
2. Cassidy’s 21st Birthday in Davis, and our run home in Sarasota 2009
3. Boo’s tirade, Sunday night of Nationals 2010 (Most Belligerent award recipient that year).
4. The moment during warm-ups of Regionals 2010 that Schlag helped me realize what I needed to do, which had completely eluded me up until that point. What a rare epiphany.
5. Any number of ice bath sessions.
Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver:
1. Our first Regionals (NW Regionals 2006), when Handler and Payne’s vision started its journey toward building something special. We won it the right way, on double-game point over Rhino, with the right attitude, positive spirit, and our core values intact. This was a pivotal moment, because it was the first elimination tournament where we faced a lot of adversity, including very different team attitudes from Justice League and Furious George, cold wind, and a downpour. The culture has built on that foundation ever since.
2. Bart and Taylor have talked about various semis games. But I’ve had some early scarring experiences in semis (College 2004-2008), so I’ll stick to finals games. Club Nationals 2009. Revolver lost this final, but I finally broke the curse of Stanford.
Favorite game or tournament moment outside of Revolver:
Without Revolver, I only have one other team to choose from (Stanford). I’ll take Kaimana in my Freshman year. After a fall tryout and a couple of tournaments playing competitive college Ultimate, Kaimana introduced me to the “other side of Ultimate.” I learned that Ultimate has deep roots, is based on mutual respect and positive reinforcement, and maintains lifelong (if incestuous) community. I now know that in naked points, girls are not excluded, and very swirly hucks tend to go up that rub bodies up against each other under the disc. Mondo’s naked body parading around the field reinforced the “lifelong” aspect — even in 2005 he had some years beneath him. It has been Kaimana that has inspired my transition from a competitive, zero-sum-game, self-righteous athlete to a positive, gleeful, more respectful Frisbee player. (I admit that this transition is still on-going, just ask Danny Karlinsky. He has been witness as an opponent and teammate since Santa Barbara Invite 2004.) (Or maybe don’t ask Danny.)
Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years:
1. On Stanford/Revolver: Nick Handler, Danny Cox, Zack Wyatt, and Robbie Cahill as players; Mike Payne and Daryl Nounnan as emotional fathers; Chris McManus and Chris Ashbrook as workout visionaries (DISCIPLINE); Jit Bhattacharya for his INTENSITY and HUMILITY. All of these players are incredibly selfless, which is a testament to the sport.
2. Opponents: Timmy Gehret for his game and his attitude (which was all the more commendable given that he started his career on some notorious Florida teams); Kevin Cissna and Gabe Saunkeah for their fast-paced give-and-go style.
3. I should also give a shout out to Coach Spurrier’s invention of the Fun N’ Gun offense for Florida (the Washington Redskins went 12-20 in the two years that Spurrier introduced it, but no matter…)
What makes ___ so dangerous?
I am only useful and differentiated as a player on the goal line, where I can throw an I/O flick that is more around than Robbie’s two-handed backhand.
Theme song:
Snoop Schlag-eee-Schlaaaaaah-aaagggggg
Pre-game ritual:
1. A lot of touching, hugging, and other forms of slightly inappropriate physical contact. This is a general ritual, not just pre-game.
2. Anything that allows me to take my shirt off. Which means that I can’t practice laying out until just before the game, where I’ll do a little ground contact practice (it can look like the worm).
What I like to eat on Saturday night of a tournament:
Same as always: mangoes (with skin) and Dried Mango Slitties, things with eggplant, and avocado. I try to hold off on ice cream since it makes the Sunday night Dairy Queen run that much sweeter.
If I didn’t play Ultimate, my main pastime outside of work would be:
Haven’t I made it clear enough to you all that Ultimate is just a side pastime of my quiver of activities? Surfing with Handler, tennis with Robbie, soccer with Tyler, squash with TJ, skiing…
Favorite sports team outside of Ultimate:
Oakland Raiders, screw the haters
In terms of Kanners, how tan are you?
0.99 — I’ll let you have this one Kanner. I should add, though, that I always wear sunscreen, and I’ve seen you let it slide sometimes.
Something unknown about me:
I run barefoot, I stand at my desk, and I always hated pre-game stretching. I’ve been relentlessly telling everyone I know to do these things too, but the world is only partially catching on.