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Ryo Kawaoka 2011

Name:
Ryo Kawaoka
*Photo by Tish Fagin: Revolver vs. Jam during quarterfinals of Nationals 2008.

Nicknames:
Yoconut, Reeyo

Jersey #
19

Height:
5’8″

Date of birth:
23 April 1981

Place of birth:
Hagi, Japan

Current city of residence:
Berkeley, CA

Occupation:
Project Management at Location Labs

College team(s):
University of Greater Metropolitan Oakland (Cal-Berkeley 2000-2004)

Former teams:
MoFoPoHo (1998-2000)
Oaks (2005)
Revolver (2006-present)

Accolades:
Is that a new sports drink? I’ve never had one before.

How I came to join Revolver:
It was the summer of 2006 and I was pretty disillusioned by open club Ultimate. I had vowed that I’d be at club nationals that year no matter what (even as a spectator) and was trying to start a new Bay Area co-ed team with a core of UC Berkeley men’s and women’s players. Brian Garcia and Nat Kinsky suggested we go to the first practice for “some new Bay Area team.” Let’s just say I had some significant doubts about this team, a mishmash of folks at a variety of skill levels. (Oh, and I didn’t even know that it was tryouts.) But I really enjoyed Nick Handler and Marc Weinberger’s leadership (and encouragement) and did whatever I could to get on McManus’ good side. Managed to show some competency in running a stack offense and the rest, they say, is… Revolver Ultimate.

Funniest moment or joke on Revolver:
NC: pigeon poop pillows
PB: Baylis oops
MT: spirit circle hurling
CK: “I heard that Jonathan Bravo guy is really good at Ultimate.”

Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver:
1. 2008 Nationals – Tom James 5, 7, 10? layout Ds in the second half against Johnny Bravo in power pools and winning. We were down 14-9 or something. Legendary.
2. 2007 Northwest Regionals – Revolver didn’t make it to Nationals, but I achieved every personal goal that I set out that year/tournament.

Favorite game or tournament moment outside of Revolver:
1 Portuguese flag, 1 girl, no clothes.

Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years:
1. HH Valdivia – a mentor and friend, motivational as he was always one step/year ahead of where I wanted to be.
2. Dan Hodges – he’s both the angel on the right shoulder and the devil on the left.
3. Chris McManus – showed me my best wasn’t good enough, so I needed to get better.

Favorite tournament:
The next one.

What makes ___ so dangerous?
I’m like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Theme song:
Ray Charles – Greenbacks

Pre-game ritual:
Eggs, #2, shower. Everything else takes care of itself.

What I like to eat on Saturday night of a tournament:
Totoro.

If I didn’t play Ultimate, my main pastime outside of work would be:
I don’t know how to respond to this.

Favorite sports team outside of Ultimate:
Manchester United

In terms of Kanners, how tan are you?
Are we talking 2010 Kanners or 2011 Kanners? 42.

Something unknown about me:
I never really wanted to play college Ultimate, but I did.
I never really wanted to play club Ultimate, but I did.
I don’t really want to play masters…

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Eric Greenwood 2011

Name:
Eric Greenwood
*Photo by Scobel Wiggins.

Jersey #
18

Height:
5’6″

Date of birth:
18 April 1985

Place of birth:
Montreal, Canada

Current city of residence:
San Francisco, CA

Occupation:
Affiliate Manager at Buzzillions.com

College team(s):
Oregon EGO (2004-2008)

Former teams:
Rhino (2006-2007)
Mischief (2009)
Wolf (2010)

How I came to join Revolver:
I moved from Oregon to SF in 2008, played with a few other Bay Area teams before finally making the cut in 2011.

Funniest moment or joke on Revolver:
The “whoop” cut.

Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver:
Labor Day finals 2011

Favorite game or tournament moment outside of Revolver:
College Regionals in Vancouver with EGO, 2006. 2 bids to nationals. The team was really young with 9 true freshmen we went in seeded 3rd behind Stanford and UBC. Saturday started miserably cold, windy, and rainy. Pool play games against Stanford-B and Humboldt went relatively easily. Whitman’s morale had been decimated by the weather and injuries. We finished the game very fast, setting up a 2-hour bye before our crossover game against UBC. We spent the bye in a laundromat, drying our clothes and refueling, then opened the game against UBC with 3 straight breaks — since known as a “laundromat” — before fighting out to a 15-11 victory. Beating UBC set up a finals against Stanford, who we beat 15-10 to take the first bid to Nationals!

Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years:
1. Elden Montagne
2. Rodney Jacobson
3. The Wigginses
4. Markus Brown
5. Doug MacKenzie
6. Brian Linkfield

Favorite tournament:
Potlatch

What makes ___ so dangerous?
No look backhand hucks.

Theme song:
Treehouse – I’m From Barcelona

What I like to eat on Saturday night of a tournament:
Super chicken burrito

If I didn’t play Ultimate, my main pastime outside of work would be:
Bouldering/sport climbing

Favorite sports team outside of Ultimate:
Go Ducks!

In terms of Kanners, how tan are you?
0.3

Something unknown about me:
My high school coach built Score Reporter.

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Josh Wiseman 2011

Name:
Josh Wiseman
*Photo credit unknown.

Nicknames:
Iceman

Jersey #
6

Height:
5’8″

Date of birth:
13 December 1982

Place of birth:
Wilmington, DE

Current city of residence:
San Francisco, CA

Occupation:
Software Engineer at Facebook

College team(s):
Stanford Bloodthirsty (2000-2004)

Former teams:
Kaos (2003-2005)
Revolver (2006-present)

How I came to join Revolver:
It was the natural progression of the early ‘aught Stanford crew. The leadership from Nick Handler and the other founders was exactly what I was looking for in a team.

Funniest moment or joke on Revolver:
There are apparently two Popocafepetls in Prague. We passed out invitations to our massive Worlds party at one of them and showed up at the other. I don’t remember the rest of the night.

Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver:
A gritty, fast game against Buzz Bullets in the semifinals at Worlds 2010, with a [quarter-]stadium full of people.

Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years:
Shreyas Vijaykumar, Stanford. He was ultra-reliable with the disc and on defense, stepped up in the big games, and had a completely cool and respectful demeanor on the field.

Favorite tournament:
Worlds 2010, Prague

What makes ___ so dangerous?
I run fast in straight lines and chase things. Like a dog.

If I didn’t play Ultimate, my main pastime outside of work would be:
Work. Wait…

Favorite sports team outside of Ultimate:
Philadelphia Eagles

In terms of Kanners, how tan are you?
0.5 Kanners

Something unknown about me:
For my first couple years of Ultimate, I was convinced that I could be a great player without ever throwing a flick. Eight years later, I’ve barely recovered.