The Junior Open team talks about the Showcase game
USA Ultimate
Posted: July 30, 2010 12:25 PM
This August, 44 of the best youth Ultimate players in America will be traveling to Germany to participate in the 2010 World Junior Ultimate Championships. But first, the Open and Girl’s teams will meet at Amherst College next week for a weeklong training camp hosted by USA Ultimate.
Five members of Team USA have agreed to blog about thier experiences for usaultimate.org - Bethany Kaylor, Sally Landefeld, Maddy Roorbach, Nick Stuart and Matt Barnes. Follow their progress here as they train, travel and compete throughout the next few weeks.
The seventh entry is from Matt Barnes as he and some of his teammates reflect on the showcase game.
Joining me today on the blog is Jordan Taylor (#27 also from Brown University) and Carter Mize (#11 who will be playing at Old Dominion in the fall)
We are sitting in Terminal E of the airport (which by the way is actually pretty nice) eagerly awaiting our 10 PM departure on Lufthansa for the far away land of Germany. At this morning practice, we refined our offensive sets, which showed some promise in Wednesday's showcase game but could always be improved.
And now, on to the showcase game:
Beginning in warm-ups, the team came with fire and intensity. Wearing white on white and lining up for the national anthem made everyone remember why we are here, we are Team USA. After the national anthem, Team USA took the field against Tiina Booth's International All-Stars (a combination of Bodhi / Ironside / Former Team USA Players). The game gave Team USA an opportunity to take everything from practice and apply it in real game situations. The first half was very evenly matched with scores being traded on both sides of the field. The first break went to Tiina's crew and they were able to hold on and take half at 8-7.
The next half was much the same. Team USA adjusted to the other team's intelligent defense (read: bracketing cutters) but couldn't come up with the necessary breaks to win. Game International All Stars 14-10. Some amazing plays were made on both sides of the disc for Team USA and the game left everyone feeling good about the progress we've made but knowing that there is still work to be done. A post game huddle with the opponents provided some inspiration from former players who have been in the same position in years past as we are now.
Germany, Here we come.
-Matt Barnes