The UCLA Men's Club Ultimate Frisbee team had their first tournament this weekend. The players were split into three teams, X, Y, and Z, for the tournament. Each team had an even mix of rookies and veterans.
"We split the teams up making sure there were equal numbers of returners on each team and also that each team had enough handlers and cutters. It's important early on because it allows the captains to better focus on each rookie and see how well they're doing as well as get to know all the newcomers better," said Matthew Yee, President of the Men's Club Ultimate Frisbee team, adding, "It's especially helpful to get some of the less experienced returners more reps, so once winter comes, our depth is better."
The team finished strong with each of their three squads going 3-1, including a UCLA X team that fell 10-8 to Laguna Beach in the finals.
A huge part of the team's success was the involvement of a vocal sideline during the game. Throughout the game the sideline would communicate to the players about the movement of opponents behind their back and signal the type of throw the opposing team was going to release. This communication clearly gave the UCLA players an advantage during tough match-ups.
"During practice we make sure whenever the disk goes up, we yell up and let the defense know where the disk is," said Yee.
The importance of a vocal sideline goes beyond communication to the defense, it also rallies the team and increases energy.
"We really stress high energy whenever we are screaming. It's a good way to get the sideline involved and get everyone on the field a little more determined," said Yee.
The focus of the tournament was mainly on developing and scouting young talent for the team, which was clearly effective as rookies Michael Peng and Bryson Levisay, and former B team players Preston Carroll and Alex Gu stood out for their improvement and impressive play.
Ultimate Frisbee has a tournament next week for which the teams will continued to be split up in order to find the best 22 players to make the final roster.
