B Teams

Hey! I wanted to write a journal entry about B Teams.

I started out playing Ultimate on UGA's B Team, AKA the Chili Dawgs. I played on the B team for one year before trying out for UGA's A Team, AKA Jojah, and making that. Whenever I play B teams from other schools, I notice a couple of things.

1. They always have players that should be playing/starting on the school's A team. We scrimmaged the Chili Dawgs yesterday and were surprised by a couple of their players - Oliver, Kenny, and a taller guy I don't know the name of. These guys obviously are on the B Team because of the larger time commitment (our B team does not have track practices during the week). There are guys on the A team that don't have a lot of time and therefore miss a lot of practices. I would rather have people who play their heart out on the field (the B team all stars) rather than people who can make it to every practice. These guys could possible end up moving their schedule around to make Ultimate a higher priority. So, for next year's tryouts, I want to encourage all people with limited schedules to try out for your school's A Team. You might make it, and they might let you stay on.

2. They drop the disc a lot. For some reason, I have noticed that they cannot just hold on to the disc. It is as if all B teams forget the shape of a Frisbee, which ends up in countless turnovers. The B team's flow can be great at times, until it comes to that one player who comes in too hard on an in cut and doinks the disc. I learned the word "doink" quickly on the B Team. It seemed like every time we worked the disc against a zone defense, we would be 10 feet from the endzone and somebody would doink the disc. This is the second most frustrating aspect of B Teams. I remember doinking a frisbee in practice and just being completely upset with myself. I asked my coach how I could stop doinking the disc and he recommended that I just carry a disc around all day, gripping it in different ways, and switching my grip from the flick to the backhand. After two weeks of this, I saw how much better I got with catching. I concentrated much harder on the disc as it came to me, and every time I touched the disc, it would feel more and more comfortable.

3. They lose games not because they are bad, but because they think they should lose games. This is the most irritating aspect of being on a B Team. They are so caught up in other things rather than their own game. They are too worried about other teams in the tournament rather than focusing on the games they are going to play. They say stuff like, "This is how the A Team does it" or they name drop from the A Team. When I was a freshman, before we scrimmaged the A Team, our B team captains huddled us up together and psyched us all out. He said something along the lines of, "You can't screw this up. You have to play well. These guys are going to capitalize on everything we lose. We have to be extra loud on the sidelines. These guys beat teams X, Y, and Z. Do you understand how good they are?" I was just thinking the entire time, "These guys aren't monsters, machines, olympians, God's gift to man, etc. They're just a bunch of college kids like us but with more confidence in their skills." That night, we lost to the A team 15 - 3. Why? Because we had no confidence. Oh, and I didn't play but 2 points. Just kidding, but seriously.

If B Teams just focused on their game, on their strengths, on their weaknesses, and their game plan, they would beat teams more often. You can't tell me that Chicago, Georgia Southern, Valdosta State, etc. are better than our B Team? Sometimes, all it takes is confidence and passion to turn a team around.