On Saturday, the masterful and energetic captain, The Commish himself, asked for a Nasty Heather roll call to the sound of exactly three players able to fully commit to the first regulation game of the season. What followed was a series of legitimately excused absences that range from food poisoning to the responsibilities of parenthood. So, Nasty decided to fuel up Taquitos and hope that it would be enough to sustain them on what turned out to be a warm and gorgeous afternoon of ultimate.
Jenny Rodriguez, the real brains behind the new and improved Gainesville Ultimate League, was surrounded by the full roster of the Back in Black pack. The tiny Nasty cohort looked over at Back in Black in their huddle and basically looked at one another with this expression :/ Jenny lead Back in Black in a very resolute cheer that was as loud as two teams cheering, and Nasty collectively said, “Welp let’s do our best,” as they fielded 7 of their 9 players.
Back in Black started on offense and I am not entirely sure how it happened, but they went up 3-0 within the first ten minutes of play. Best I can recall is that in a blur Asa, Raul, Ross, and Steven succinctly moved the disc through all three defensive strategies Nasty applied and capitalized on each of the successful turns they caused. It also did not help that the monster that they call Brett provided Back in Black with two devastating D’s right as Nasty was about to score on the same point! Nasty reassured themselves before each pull that they were doing the right things, just that Back in Black was simply doing them more consistently.
At 4-2 a lot of things started going right for Nasty: Jeremey started catching everything with the fingy tips of his right hand at the apex of every vertical and horizontal leap; Nasty also decided to play all their ladies in the GenZone, a very intimidating lineup: Bari (No further explanation required), Emily (Knows where to be in any given field scenario), Matya (a handling phenom who chose to split their time cutting), and Emory (who is at least 6 ft 20 inches, DOES NOT STOP MOVING, and cannot drop a disc)…Schimmel, Lyle, and Tommy did a couple of things to help; Jack who is newish to ultimate, but not to sports, is an athlete and already has the field and skill awareness to know when to throw the disc forward or safely dump it; And finally Chris, who is likely the darkest horse of league this season, knows how to pull in any wind condition. These ingredients led to four unanswered breaks turning the game on its head with Nasty over Back in Black 6-4. Nasty ended up taking half 8-7, with Nasty receiving out of half.
During half time, Nasty wondered if they would finally succumb to fatigue and allow Back in Black to capitalize on Nasty and take the game. The final score does not accurately portray all the work that each team put into every single point during the second half. Similar story with the ladies of Back in Black: The guys are fine and all, but the ladies are the strength and backbone of the team: Jenny Rodriguez played a crucial point knowing that she was being bad with a knee injury that was still healing; Brittney’s first game EVER produced a score and a D in the second half, creating an awareness from both teams to remember the name when it come to drafting next season; Asa was all over her marks, simultaneously shutting them down and exhausting them; Jenny Nguy was a huge target for Back in Black in the endzone. Jono is another new player to league and comes from The Corner Cru pick up team that made their debut at Frostbreaker this year. Jono, after just one league game, seems to already be learning when it is time to advance or dump the disc. Solid playing out there.
Nasty Heather ended up winning this game 15-9.
The biggest shout out for this games goes to Raul. Tommy made a strike cut and laid out for a throw from Matya that he caught…the old boy still has it. Raul made a split-second decision to not lay out into Tommy and instead jumped over him. To everyone in ultimate, please play by Raul’s example to compete with safety in mind above all else. Tommy and Raul were observed sitting together on the sidelines for the last point of the game appreciating one another for their shared sense of comradery and respect for each other and the game they both love.
Thank you, Gainesville Ultimate Leadership and Community, for working so hard to create an inclusive and first class league experience.