Dear Diary ....

Firestorm completed its first full week of training last week, and Mike had the clever idea of getting a few people to write up a few reflections, and then of suggesting I post them here. Even if you have nothing to do with Firestorm, these are interesting reads to discover what all this 'training' thing is about.

First up we have the ever awesome Liam:

Tuesday 8 January saw the first training session of Firestorm for 2008, and the first training session ever for FS for some people. Although there were some new faces in the crowd, the mood was just the same. Everyone rocked up early, got in some early throws, and then the warm up was back on. The pace was surprisingly good for a first session, although the shock to the system was more than usual with the January heat, compared to the August “heat” of last years training sessions.

After a quick talk from Mike “Space Needle” Neild it was into a hundred throws drill. This drill didn’t have the same running and other rewards between throws as last year, but that will undoubtedly come with time. After this drill we were told that there would be no “reward” tonight for the completion of that drill but were told this would also come later, the rookies don’t know the fire and hell their legs are in for, look forward to it boys!

After some long huck drills (boys, remember to cut up the middle of the field!) and a few games of “3-points” it was determined that neither yellow or black had won, therefore no one deserved the rewards that were on offer, and everyone was resigned to doing 100 star jumps, a very aesthetically pleasing activity…NOT!

While the session make-up was very similar to last year’s sessions, the enthusiasm was higher than I had expected. This reflects the make up of the squad and, while we may not be the most highly skilled team in terms of Frisbee experience, we will certainly beat a number of teams based on raw heart, athleticism and height, lots of height.

Special mention to 2 “rookies” from the night. Ben “Beej” Blackman (who is only a rookie in terms of games played for FS) with a huge layout D that he later admitted he was trying to mack into the endzone (only about 20metres away) and Julian “Jules” Sacre with the only other block on the night.

FS is looking good, I’m feeling pumped and I think with the height and heart of the team, we can perhaps adopt Thong’s motto of “Too big, too strong”.

And then, from the Fantastic Jules:

So Mike has asked me to reflect on the first week of training from a “first-season” player’s perspective. I fear that this can only strengthen the “Rookie” tag that Spinner loves to throw at me, but anyway…here goes.

The first training of the year on Tuesday night saw a pretty impressive turnout. No doubt, people were pretty keen to feel a disc back in their hands – if you are anything like me, withdrawal symptoms from lack of frisbee were definitely an issue over the christmas and new year break and the prospect of getting back to playing some high level men’s ultimate was exciting. During a few warm-up laps, many of us took the opportunity to introduce ourselves to other guys on the team, and while most of us knew each other, it was good to finally put some names to faces we have previously only seen on opposition lines at BPL.

With almost all of my frisbee experience pretty much limited to our various nightly leagues during the week, it was a new thing to turn up solely for the purpose of training for frisbee, rather than going to play a game. And it became pretty clear that organised frisbee training is very different from your warm-up drill before league or going for a casual throw on the weekend. We completed an extensive throwing drill, a hucking/deep cutting drill and some gameplay. What I found really beneficial was being able to practice some skills that you normally wouldn’t try in a game. I guess being presented with a challenge forces you to improve, and that in turn makes you a better ultimate player which is what this is all about.

The night concluded with some gameplay – short games of 3 points from O and D. I think it was at this point that many of the guys were starting to feel the effects of the repetitive sprinting - and possibly regretting the indulgences of a few weeks of overeating and long periods on the couch watching cricket. Fatigue probably contributed to a few turns and some competition for spots on the sideline, but overall the standard was kept high with some impressive plays.

In case we 1st seasoners needed reminding that this isn’t YUFL, Thursday evening saw a bunch of us get together under some grey skies in the Roma St parklands to thrash out Beej’s ultimate fitness program. Very challenging, but there’s nothing like sharing some pain to promote a bit of team bonding. I was impressed with how specific the circuit was to ultimate – a lot of lunge-type power exercises and short sprints. It was good to do that stuff in a group too – I’ve always received some strange looks when I do those pivots with a disc on my own in the gym.

So, overall a great first week. I’m sure I speak for all the Firestorm ‘rookies’ in saying that I’m looking forward to training hard over the next few months, learning from some of the best players around and playing some high level ultimate.

Hopefully Jules and Liam will be able to keep up the diarising as the Firestorm campaign goes forward!