Regionals

2015

In 2015 I was on Bolt. The week before Regionals that year the team made a big emotional push via email. Each member of the roster sent an email talking about what the team meant to them, how much they believed they could win, etc. I read every single one and wanted to be a part of it.

The tournament was in Rockford, so we had a small round robin with Boomland and Notre Dame B. NUT came to watch us during our last game and I remember being quite nervous and wanting to impress them. Nobody looked happy, though I did not understand why until later. They had just lost their last pool play game to Michigan State and would now be facing Michigan in quarters.

On Sunday I watched a very fast, nerve racking game between NUT and MagnUM. I had not watched NUT play in a tournament before and it was intense. I honestly didn’t really understand the stakes at the time, but the tension was palpable. Every throw and catch put me on edge & the loss was crushing. I remembered my last races from high school.

2016

We faced Illinois in quarters. I did not play. I was ready to go for pretty much the entire first half and then realized that I wouldn’t be getting on the field. I don’t really remember much from this game, the only thing that stands out is KJ’s concussion. After the game was over Spielman had a moment with me and told me, “Next year – you’re on the field. And we aren’t going to lose.” I took this to heart over the summer.

2017

Saturday this year was the most wind I have ever played in. Every game was reduced to a huck to zone squabble. I think we might have scored in the upwind endzone once the entire day. GungHo played a 70 minute point a couple of fields over.

We played Purdue in quarters. I have relived this game and the heartbreak many times. It was an exciting game with many ups and downs. I think that we played well but did not reach our ceiling.

The waterworks really came out when this game ended. I remember sobbing into Jeremy’s shoulder and him being like, “Dude. We’ve got another game to play.” I was very sad to see this team go.

2018

We knew the region was wide open. Michigan was no powerhouse and we knew we had the ability to beat every team if we played well. We had just gotten a large dose of Humility at Sectionals two weeks prior. The weekend before the tournament, we shared some of Yiding’s thoughts on mentality with the team (although they were not attributed to Ding at the time, sorry!!). A couple of these really resonated with me:

·      It is within our team to finish at any placement at regionals, say 1st through 10th. Regionals is all about execution, and if we execute to our true ability level, we can win any game we play in.

·      We believe that the series is a celebration of the season and all the hard work we have put in.

For my own sanity, I had been beating down any & all dreams of winning the region since the beginning of winter quarter. I knew that I was going to have a difficult time parting with the team, so I did my best to mentally prepare for a loss on Sunday. Yiding’s second point above helped smooth everything out and frame my state of mind going into the weekend:

·      NUT 2018 was already a good team. We had had an excellent season and grown immensely from top to bottom.

·      Our Regionals finish would not affect the identity of the team which we had already established.

·      The opportunity to play one last tournament with the guys wasn’t something to be overlooked. I wanted to focus on staying in the moment & cherishing the weekend.

Regionals arrived and I was ready to rumble. I was ready for anything – I wanted desperately to win but knew that a loss would be OK. This was just another tournament. Saturday came and went. We played well and was happy to see everyone in good spirits heading into Sunday. I waited for the pre-Sunday nerves to hit me. To my surprise, they never came. I slept well & woke up the next morning feeling great.

In previous years, I had been racked with nervous energy, not only for myself but for my teammates. I had a lot of thoughts along the lines of, “We can only win if the offense is executing” and “Man, it’ll be a tough game if there’s more than 15mph winds”. The tension and the moment were overwhelming and I worried each time the disc left someone’s hands. This year was different. The tension was still there, but I knew we would rise to the occasion. I slacked with Yngve about this later.

Me: I was never worried. Excited for sure but UChicago and ND just felt like another two games. There was no weight.

Kevin: Perfect

Me: I want Natties to feel like that as well

Kevin: It will. It’s about trust and expecting to play well. I’m psyched it resonated with you this year

Afterwards, I talked with a lot of people and received a lot of congratulations. I boiled down most of my thoughts from various conversations & interviews into a couple of points:

·      We cashed in on our good fortune after years of misfortune. The tournament format favored us with an easy quarterfinals matchup, UChicago slayed Michigan, the weather was great, etc.

·      NUT has been ready to go to Nationals for a more than a couple years – 4, 5, 6, perhaps. Definitely before I got here. Last year’s team most likely would have qualified given this year’s conditions.

·      NUT 2018 was a very mentally sound team. We continued to play well and improve despite early season losses, a poor Sectionals performance, and other factors that may have derailed other teams. We trusted each other and always expected to play well.