We’ve got our first two events of the year next Wednesday, 8/25. The fall involvement fair is from 11-2. We’ll need people there all day, so please come out, hang out, toss the disc, and help recruit. Later that day we’ll have our first team meeting, where we’ll talk about the team a bit, and about our plans for the semester. The meeting will be at 6 pm in WPH B27.

See you all there!

Despite a tough loss to Cal in pool play, the women looked confident as they handily beat the two other teams in their pool. In pre-quarters, they took down Pitt and came across UCSB again, this time in the national quarterfinals. In a game worthy of a national semifinal (whichever team won had an easy road to the championship game), the Hellions fought valiantly but came up a few points short. However, it was the best season ever for the women’s team and a we congratulate them on a job very well done! Good work Girls!

-Das Bird

With the loss to the Tide, we were placed in the 2nd place bracket, and played 11th seeded New Mexico, a team unfamiliar to us. Kenny D grabbed the first two scores as the teams traded points 2-2. It remained that way until Ghetto got a break and took half at 8-5 thanks to some unbelievable layout Ds by Grant “Mr. Muni” Houghton and some equally as impressive scores by the same man, our captain. Rookie Chandler “Mutumbo” Shipley played fantastic defense as well as helped shutdown their main deep threat as they soon figured out they can’t huck it deep when he’s on the field.

The first half was long, but the Birds came out and took a commanding 9-5 lead. It looked like we had the game wrapped up but New Mexico wasn’t going down without a fight. They got 3 straight breaks to pull within 10-9 in soft cap. But with the game on the line, the Birds moved the disc down the field patiently and Rui Xu put a perfect inside-out forehand to a diving Kenny D in the end zone that turned out to be the winning score. Ghetto 11, New Mexico 10.

After that game, we knew were still in contention for a 2nd place finish, but we came up against a strong San Diego State team that was the 5th seed. We came out and played with them in the beginning, as the game went 3-3. We destroyed their zone defense they threw and they realized they couldn’t throw it anymore. However, after those first 6 points, SDSU turned up the heat and reeled off 5 straight points to take half 8-3. They scored another 4 straight points after half but then we got some life and got 2 breaks back before they took game 15-5.

With Saturday in the books, we were playing for 9th place on Sunday, which was better than any Ghetto team was done in the past. However, instead of only playing 1 game against UC Irvine, we played an exhibition against Air Force before playing Irvine. Air Force was tough, but we took half 8-6. However, we wilted under the pressure of the moment and they took the game 15-10.

Next up was Irvine, a team in our section that we knew we would need to beat in order to keep climbing up the ladder in the SoCal section. Both teams came out fired up and after a few breaks from both teams, we took half 8-7. It went point for point in the 2nd half until Irvine got a much needed break at 13-12. But we broke right back and received the pull down 14-13. But after a turfed disc near our own end zone, Irvine easily scored to take the game.

Still, we ended up as a tie for 9th place which was better than any season we could have imagined! We met our goal of going to regionals and broke seed which was fantastic. With the bar set, we aim to fly even higher next year. We will miss our seniors, Grant Houghton, Matty “Ice” Erstling, Justin Crawford, Andrew “Ginger” Tomlin and Mike “3D” Alpert. They were a tremendous part of the team and it will be very tough replacing them.

Have a great summer!

-Das Bird

However, we didn’t make it easy on ourselves.

After going 3-1 on the first day, the Birds got 2nd in their pool and set themselves up with a promising scenario for Sunday: win one of the first two games, and you go to Regionals. That turned out to be tougher than it sounded. Ghetto drew UCSB, a notoriously gifted program, in the first game and hung in there for the first part as we were only down 4-3 thanks to an assist and score by Kyle Obergfell. However, we must’ve caught them by surprise as they amped up the pace a little bit and threw a zone at us that we couldn’t quite figure out, and ended up winning 15-3.

With that loss, we had 2 scenarios to make regionals- win the next game of if not, win the last 2. The next game was against UCSD-B who beat us in sectionals last year. They jumped out all over us and drew a couple breaks to go up 8-4 at halftime. They came out firing after halftime and took a commanding 11-6 lead and it seemed all but over. But using a 9 man rotation, we clawed our way back to 14-14 with universe point to go to regionals. We played some great defense and had the disc, but turned it over on an errant pass and the Squids converted for the heartbreaking loss.

After putting all our energy into coming back in that game, we were exhausted, burnt out and mentally drained. But we knew that there were 2 games left that we had to win against teams we’ve beaten before to still have a shot. The first team was Redlands, a very unconventional team who we beat 13-7 just the day before but also who we lost to last year on the second day of sectionals. We took an early break to go up 1-0 and from there we traded points back and forth. The game hung in the balance late as we were up 12-11 with the disc and managed to score 3 straight points to put it away. Fittingly, the game ended on a 20-yard backhand put into the endzone by 3-D (Mike Albert) that Kenny ran down and caught just inches from the ground on a bid.

So we put ourselves into a do-or-die situation. We had already used 2 lifelines and there were no more left. We played Cal-Poly Pomona, a familiar foe, who we have beaten and lost to in the past. But we have been in this situation before and lost, and we weren’t going to let that happen again. Pomona came out with a trap-zone that we easily broke and worked the disc downfield for a score the 1st 2 points and that they quickly abandoned. Even though we were tired, they were exhausted and we were able to do anything we wanted to on offense. We traded points to start off after getting the quick 1-0 break but then the crucial break came at 4-2 and then again at 5-2 and we took half at 8-3. From there we didn’t let up as the team played as one and earned our spot to regionals when V-Neck put it to Rui in the end zone for the game winning score, 15-10.

Overall, it was a great tournament for the Birds. We set out to achieve a goal we set after sectionals last year, and through the team’s hard work and dedication, earned that goal. Now, it’s time to see what noise we can make in Colorado during Regionals May 8-9.

-Das Bird

Part 1- Field Vision

Part 2- Throwing Lanes

Part 3- Rotation of Throwing Lanes

Part 4- Video Example

Part 5- Ghetto video examples

Part 6- Nationals example

Part 7 (last)- Nationals example and Joe McKnight move

We drew Chico State as our first match of the day at 9am. Chico finished last in their “power pool”- the tournament was designed with 2 power pools consisting of the 10 best teams, and then 2 other pools of everybody else. Every team in the power pool made it to the Championship Bracket but only the top team of each of the other 2 pools made it in, so we were one of those 2 top teams. Long story short, Chico was seeded higher than us.

We came into the match sore from the day before, but fired up.

Starting out on defense, the Ghetto took it to Chico early and scored three straight offensive points without turning the disc over. Kyle found Tall Will Price in the end zone on a deep forehand huck for the first score, then Kenny found Will again on a backhand huck to tie the game at 2.

After going up 3-2, we battled point-for-point with Chico. Using great, fast Ghettobird offense, Kyle was able to find Kenny for a quick dish and a score. Then V-Neck sent a forehand huck deep- good decision but the wind carried the disc- and amongst a crowd of people, Kyle skied everyone and came down with the disc- left handed! However, Chico got a quick break before the half to take the lead 7-5.

Coming out of the half, the Birds scored two out of the next three points to reel it in to 8-7. Kenny found Chicago for a score off smooth give-and-go with 3-D. But Chico got a quick huck off the pull and then another score and was looking to put the game away as they went up 10-7.

Yet, the Birds weren’t finished. Coming out of a timeout, we scored 3 of the next 4 points to bring it to 11-10, but Chico got a few lucky breaks and ended the game with two unanswered points to take the 13-10 win. Despite the loss, it was probably the best Ultimate that Ghetto has played in the last few years, and we were just a drop here and a throw-away there from taking the win. Due to his great defense and efficient cutting, Alan won King of the Game honors.

After being bumped for the Championship Bracket, the Ghettobirds moved down to the fields were we went 4-0 the day before to take on Santa Barbara B. We had beaten them in the fall in a tight game and we knew it wouldn’t be easy the 2nd time around.

Santa Barbara came out throwing zone defense, which the Ghettobirds dissected to perfection. Jay-Bird found Grant for a score on which Grant made an unbelievable layout catch in the endzone. Thomas also caught a score as did Tall Will off a nice 30 yard throw through the zone from Grant. Jay-Bird added another assist when he found Kenny iso-ed in the end zone.

However, it went point-for-point as our defense was showing it’s fatigue, giving SB many breakmark throws leading to downfield scores. But just before half, the Birds got a crucial break to take a 7-5 lead. Yet, SB wasn’t fazed as they quickly tied the game up at 7-7 after halftime.

It was neck and neck the rest of the game as neither team could get the crucial break. The points became longer as SB starting calling questionable fouls and making iffy calls, and both teams were feeling fatigue as the turnovers increased. Kyle was able to get a great D right on the end zone, where he quickly found Grant for the score to put us up 8-7. SB countered took a 9-8 lead as hard cap blew. One more point for SB, and they would win.

But the offensive line didn’t relent. Despite a few turnovers, we played very tough and courageous defense. Grant came down with an unbelievable sky right on the endzone line while almost being tackled by an SB player. With the game on the line, Ghetto calmly dumped-and-swung until Kenny found Chicago up-the-line for a front-cone end zone score to knot the game at 9.

It came down to Universe Point- next team to score would win. Jay-Bird came up with a great D on a huck in the endzone to deny SB the game. After a USC turnover, SB again threw it deep again, only to see Grant come down with the disc on their end-line. The Birds were then able to get it to 5 yards from the endzone, as Thomas caught a great pass near the line. However, SB was able to D the throw into the endzone targeted for 3-D. From there, after a couple passes, they threw a huck that was caught for the score. SB won 10-9. For his great D- Kyle won King of the Game honors.

Despite these 2 losses, we played our best Ultimate we’ve ever played and there’s definitely still room for improvement. We ended up getting 13th place as the next 2 teams forfeited- clearly scared of us. We hung around for another hour playing fun games within the team before heading home (while stopping by Portillos on the way home of course). A Special Thanks goes out to Tall Will’s mom, for making us delicious cookies that got us through our games. We have a few weeks off until our next tournament in Irvine- which we are already stoked about.

G-H-E-T-T-O!!!!

For the first time in recent memory, the Ghettobirds went undefeated in the first day as we went 4-0 to finish first in our pool and move into the Championship Bracket. We outscored our opponents 52-17 on the day.

First up was Long Beach B. The Ghettobirds came out hard and destroyed their zone defense they threw enroute to a 13-2 win. For his stellar offense, Souren was name King of the Game.

Next up was Arizona State. They put up a fight and had some physical play, but we prevailed and won 13-7. Matty Ice took home King of the Game honors here.

After the bye game, we came out against Cal-B and former Ghettobird (and Jeopardy winner Shadd) and shredded their zone to cruise to a 13-5. For his fantastic pulls and great enthusiasm in his first Ultimate tournament in 6 months, V-Neck was named King of the Game.

Lastly, we played San Diego (USD). We’ve had trouble with them in the past but they lost a lot of seniors and we prevailed 13-3. For his great pull that nobody knew he had, Thomas was named the King of the Game.

Overall, a great day for the Ghettobirds as we move into the Championship Bracket tomorrow. Stay tuned…

It was cold. It was rainy. It was windy. It was awesome.

The Birds were placed in a pool with Notre Dame, Whitworth and UConn to play on Friday. All of these teams come from climates with much more weather than Los Angeles, which is a good thing most of the time but not so much during Ultimate tournaments.

We played UConn in the first game, at 12:30 on Friday, and came out firing. After starting out on defense, we went up a break as Chandler caught a deep huck in the endzone (which he mistakingly threw back up in the air thinking he was out of bounds…luckily Alan was there to catch it) for the first points of the day. We went on to score again to go up 2-0 and it seemed we had more energy than Gus Johnson (if only he were commentating our games). Yet, UConn battled back and took half 7-5. We came back out of half fired and up, despite the unfavorable conditions, were down 8-7, yet UConn scored 2 straight points to take the game in Soft Cap 10-7.

Next up was Whitworth from Washington. We stayed with them but they were able to pull out the victory 13-7. Lastly, Notre Dame won 13-0. We just couldn’t put get our act together and just seemed out of sync.

On Saturday morning ,we woke up at 6am and played Colorado State, who went to regionals last year, at 8. We took half them won 11-9. It was a gutty performance and one we need to duplicate in the future.

After that, however, the tournament was canceled because the fields were too muddy and, like last year, we would have torn them up. Cultimate didn’t feel like paying a huge sum to repair the fields. So, we retired to our party house, hit the top tub and game room, then the Strip until 6am. Twas a great time. Next up, San Diego!

After getting breakfast (breakfast burrito at Whole Foods=$7/pound, Kyle and Kenny got $10 burritos- not the smartest choice as we later learned) many of us watched the Hellions play. They went 4-0 on the first day and had to play at 8am. We went 1-4 and our first game was at 12:30. I think there is a lesson somewhere in there and they can learn a thing or 2 from us (they did finish 2nd though, which is very good).

We played Westmont in our first game and came out hot. We took a 3-0 lead but squandered again and let 7-5 at halftime. We played with great intensity in the 2nd half and Mutombo has some great finger-wagging D’s. We shredded any zone that they tried to play, as J-Bird did a great job handling and Brendan, Alex Collins and Soren found some holes in the cup. We ended up winning the game 10-6 for our 2nd win on the first game of the day! GHETTOBIRDS!

We then had a bye before we played our last game, against Pomona. This is a team that is fairly even with us but we know we can beat. We played some fairly long points early on, as both teams struggled to get going offensively. They took half at 7-3 but once again we came back only to fall just short and lose 11-9.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend as the rookies continue to get better and the team improves. It was a very fun fall season and a pleasure for all the returners to get to know the rookies and visa versa. We hope each and every one of them sticks with us in the spring as we look to improve and peak in April when we hope to make Regionals.

Have Good Ultimate!