Today, February 1st, is National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD), a day to recognize female athletes' accomplishments and promote more sports participation by girls and women. Considering how important sports have been in my life, I felt this was an appropriate time to recognize some great initiatives happening for the promotion of girls' and women's ultimate.
Before Shannon laps me with another Flatballers write-up from Riot's off-season forays into the world of basketball, I figured I should at least create a placeholder for the Nationals write-up that I am working on. Sorry to disappoint those of you who clicked on this link ready to devour a full recap! The tournament's scores shouldn't be news to anyone (in case you missed it, we lost 13-15 in the finals to Fury), but I will leave you with a few stats to tide you over until the full story is told...
Long story short: Riot went 4-0 in pool play on Saturday to punch our ticket to Sarasota with an assured bid to the USA Ultimate Club Championships. On Sunday we faced Fury in the finals, playing for the #1 seed at Nationals, but we were unable to overcome a 4-9 deficit and lost 13-15. We then had to play the 2/3 placement game against Traffic where we also went down early and couldn't fight our way back out of the hole, losing 11-14.
Riot extended its 2011 winning streak to 21 games straight by going 6-0 at this past weekend's Virginia Fusion. It was a tournament full of building team chemistry and showcasing great play for the small, tight-knit roster that was able to make the trip out East.
Over the years I've come to believe that one of the biggest secrets to success for sports teams is tradition. Tradition through repeated rituals helps establish a sense of team identity and enhances players' buy-in towards a common purpose. Year to year, traditions help connect players to the idea of a program that is bigger than a single season's roster and accomplishments. Last night, Riot had a team dinner hosted by one of our most generous and loyal sponsors, Mary Ann Fordyce, in what has become a wonderful tradition each season.
Stringing together back-to-back tournament victories, Riot was undefeated at the Labor Day Ultimate Championships in Santa Cruz, CA last weekend. The full tournament results are posted on the Score Reporter, but here's a recap of how the weekend went down for Riot.
While the last throw of the tournament hung in the air, I had the time to say aloud, "That's not the look we want." Half a second later, Smalls out-read and out-jumped her taller defender for the game-winning catch and the title of ECC Champions. Instantly the huck decision was forgotten as Riot rushed the field to celebrate our double-game point victory over Fury.
After a month-long break and a grueling retreat weekend, Riot was back in action for Colorado Cup during the weekend of July 30-31st. This was the first time Riot has attended Colorado Cup and the tournament has grown in prestige and competitiveness over the years.
While the last throw of the tournament hung in the air, I had the time to say aloud, "That's not the look we want." Half a second later, Smalls out-read and out-jumped her taller defender for the game-winning catch and the title of ECC Champions. Instantly the huck decision was forgotten as Riot rushed the field to celebrate our double-game point victory over Fury.