Another year, another nationals. This year it was back in Sarasota. The weather was hot, but the location is the best - the fields were beautiful, the ocean was amazing (even at night, and even despite the jellyfish), and the Daquiri Deck was even better than I remember it. The only thing lacking was our game. We lost all our games on Thursday (9-12 Blackbird, 11-12 AMP, 11-12 Toro), then won the next 4 games and clawed our way back into the top 8 before losing the 7/8 game to Drag'n Thrust (13-10 Love Tractor, 14-11 Steamboat, 12-11 Blackbird, 15-9 shame, 9-15 Drag'n). So, no finals appearance this year, but we did win the spirit award, which is almost as big.

Personally I played fairly well. I was only in 2-4 points a game, so I was fresh overall. I had 3 turns total - a drop against AMP and two throwaways on hucks. Both were good decisions, decently well-thrown, and just a little off the mark. We talked about taking calculated risks, so I stand by them. I scored 5 goals, threw one, and got a D. I felt I could have contributed more, esp filling in as an O line cutter when our O was tired (like the last game on Thurs), but we ran a fairly tight rotation so I did my best to help from the sideline.

Another nationals highlight was watching AMP make it to the finals for the first time ever. They played really well, but ended up losing on universe to Mixtape in a very exciting game. Despite that, I’m really happy for them. Their team is very young and they’ll be strong for a few years at least (if they stick together).

Finally, the best part (as always) is spending time with people you know and like. I had a great time bonding with the team (chai time, skinny dipping every night, getting kicked off the beach at 4am, dirty dancing at the Daquiri Deck, spikeball vs Truck/Scandal) as well as people I don’t get to see that often (again at the Deck, and at the fields, and the beach, and random places in between).

Hope to do it all again next year.