reed college disc golf

1st hole (par 3)
from the swing set on the front lawn, throw your disc past the north plane of sallyport.

2nd hole (3)
from the north end of sallyport, hit the ash tray next to the southeastern doors of gcc, just above the eastern stairs.

3rd hole (3)
from behind the light post next to the eastern entrance to the gcc, strike the bulletin board near the blue bridge.

4th hole (bonus)
with one throw, tee off from within the smaller circle on the pavement adjacent to the blue bridge. your objective is to strike either of the two doors on the northern entrance to eliot hall.

5th hole (3)
tee off next to the stairs that lead to the entrance of eliot and throw your disc over the vent to the south of the admission office entrance. it is also acceptable to strike the concrete sides of the vent.

6th hole (3)
tee off next to the vent and strike any of the white metal parts of the flagpole.

7th hole (3)
tee off from behind or on top of the paved path to eliot and hit the monolith at the entrance to campus from reed college way.

8th hole (3)
from behind the stop sign, go around the library to strike the sculpture on its eastern side. throw your disc through the sculpture without touching it on your third throw and receive one stroke off your score. if you throw it through on your fourth or worse throw, you receive no bonus.

9th hole (bonus)
straddling the wall between the bench and the biology building located on the north side of the breezeway between the library and the paradox lost, strike the sculpture that is also the objective of the eighth hole.

10th hole (3)
from the diagonal pathway that cuts between the etc and the library, break the near (eastern) plane of the bio/physics breezeway.

11th hole (bonus)
with one upside-down throw, land a disc on the bridge between vollum and the library.

12th hole (3)
from within the triangle marked by the cracks on the pavement between the dog fountain and the light post just outside the library, strike the eastern entrance to eliot hall.

13th hole (2)
tee off between the rock and the lightpost on the diagonal path that leads from eliot to the library. your objective is to hit the pterodactyl sculpture to the south of eliot. throw it through the sculpture without touching it and receive one stroke off of your score. stick your disc in the sculpture and receive two strokes off of your score. knock out a stuck disc and receive three strokes off of your score.

14th hole (3)
tee off from the area immediately in front of the pterodactyl and strike the ashtray that rests at the entrance to the student union and radio station.

15th hole (4)
tee off from between the two stones on the path next to the fire hydrant and strike the frog sculpture to the west of the quad. land your disc right-side-up on the frog sculpture and receive one stroke off your score.

16th hole (3)
from the front of the frog sculpture, throw for the reed college map near the parking lot and the basketball gym.

17th hole (3)
from the handicapped spot to the south of the planter and adjacent to the map, throw for the transformer outside the southeast corner of the tennis courts.

18th hole (4)
from behind the parking spaces immediately to the east of the tennis courts, strike the map of reed college just outside of macnaughton.

thoughts from worlds

this weekend, i capped a five-city swing by taking some time to myself and traveling up to vancouver to watch the world championships of ultimate frisbee. i had never been to vancouver before, and i was really excited to get to spend some time in the city and watch some of the best players in the world. rami and joe would meet my flight in british columbia and we'd head off to ubc to watch for two full days. it's the first time i've traveled to a tournament just to be a spectator, and it was outstanding. we got to see some incredible teams from all over the world, and the subtle differences between various cultures of ultimate. it was fascinating to watch the japanese team and the way they let the game come to them without worrying about calls or arguments. we got to see the masters teams from australia and new zealand in a grudge match for the bronze. the aged warriors from down under yelled random, hilarious, and completely unhelpful things at their teammates: "run down the field!" at least five times before the disc was pulled, "hold the force!" as the seven defensive players were still standing on the line, and "jesus will! you're going to get yourself in trouble!" as a player (will) held the disc without dumping it, a few yards from the end zone.

saturday was fantastic. we got to the fields at a little after nine to watch the bronze medal game between japan and great britain. the brits were pretty argumentative and i would say downright mean to the japanese, making horrible calls and generally taking advantage of the fact that their opponents spoke no english. as a team of players, gb was really interesting because all of their guys looked remarkably unathletic. joe and rami thought it was the result of their blue, nondescript shorts. i thought it might have something to do with their socks and shoes, or perhaps their posture--each of them seemed to be hunched over a bit with his neck sticking out diagonally. they didn't have the swagger that we see all the time from guys like lugsdin, seth, chase, or mike grant. nonetheless, the british made some remarkably athletic plays, each of which caused us to pause and evaluate exactly what had just happened. while the japanese were significantly faster, the brits made up for their lack of speed with considerable length. all over the field they were able to box out the japanese on high throws on offense and get around them for huge bids on defense.


the japanese were certainly the most entertaining individual team to watch, not necessarily because of their abilities, but because of their mannerisms. they all seemed to love playing with each other, gathering in a huddle after each score to celebrate and cheer with one another. they had a really entertaining halftime fire-up speech, which would probably have been less interesting if we had any idea what they were saying.


mostly, on the field they were fast and quick, determined and fearless. they play a different brand of ultimate from what we're used to seeing. they have at least three unique kinds of zone, each of which is effective at containing upfield throws while sacrificing a really aggressive mark. the patience that the us had in the semifinals on friday was able to expose some fundamental problems with the zone, but the brits had a much harder time advancing upfield with the defensive pressure from the japanese. offensively, they had extremely efficient handler cuts and used short and quick bursts of speed to gain advantages around the frisbee and move the disc up the field. unfortunately, their brand of ultimate would not be enough to get them to the finals in the world championships. they had less depth than most other teams and were required to rely on a few studs rather than drawing on the advantages of having a strong roster from top to bottom.

on tap for the rest of the day were three "gold medal" games: the womens' final, the mixed final, and the open final. the first two of these games were intense, and we got to see them from seats in the fourth row of the stadium at ubc.

the japanese women played the american women in the final, and again the physical and cultural differences were palpable. the japanese were quicker but significantly shorter. they had superior leaping ability, but were without the length of the american women, and they simply couldn't make up ground when a disc was in the air. i was floored by the athleticism of the japanese women--they laid out all over the place in the early going, and were a lot faster than their american counterparts--but they ultimately fell as a result of their lack of depth and the us size advantage. alex snyder, a callahan winner of two years ago, went down with a nasty looking injury when she skyed a japanese defender downfield, but returned after a quick tape job and the application of a knee brace. her return would be pretty irrelevant though, as the us had pulled away while she was on the sideline. i was really impressed with the throws of the american women, especially julie baker who put backhand after filthy backhand into remarkably small space for scores. gwen ambler had a pretty questionable 50 yard crossfield bladey backhand for a score, which caused the crowd to ooh and ahh, but led me to remark to rami that there was no way that would be thrown, or completed, in open play.



the finish of the game was pretty sad. the japanese women, who had all executed their drills with constant smiles on their faces, were crushed at losing in the final. it was a stark contrast to their preparation for the game, in which they gathered around each other in a circle and sang in japanese, while a crowd of their countrymen chanted behind them. after their defeat, almost all of them were crying, and it seemed as though the chanting of the crowd (now everyone, not just the japanese nationals) would do little to ease their pain. all said, this was the most fun i've ever had watching a women's game, and the skill of the players was pretty far beyond anything i've seen in that division.

mixed was boring, and always is. while it helps to have some men on the field to increase the level of the athleticism, it's frustrating to watch a game of 4 on 4, in which the women are relatively unused. the mixed division will never draw the level of interest as the open or womens' divisions because all of the best players in each of those divisions would rather compete against the best in their own gender than subject themselves to second-tier mixed action. there were some decent plays in this game, but nowhere near the kind of team experience that you get to see in the open and womens' divisions.

the open final was the best game of ultimate i have ever seen. the weather of the day had gone from rain to cloudy skies to sun and back to gray again over the course of the day, but as soon as the players took the field, a light rain began to fall and never let up for the duration of the contest. we would get to see sockeye versus furious (plus some extra players for each team), a matchup with which we were familiar but a matchup that we'd never seen on this level.

perhaps it was the most fun to watch because we knew the players so well. the three of us could talk about who was guarding who, what kinds of offenses the teams were running, and what we could expect as the game developed.

most of the focus of our attention was on the sockeye defense. furious worked sockeye consistently on offense, and the first break sockeye got wasn't until the very late stages of the game. we watched as the sockeye offense struggled in the early going--largely due to andrew lugsdin marking up on ben wiggins--but eventually righted itself to match the consistency of the furious offense. even though the us caught up to the canadians on the offensive side of the disc, sockeye's defense had a very hard time figuring things out. we knew the us would have to get at least three breaks to win the game, and they were really struggling to put together any kind of defensive stop against the canadians, whose offense was nearly flawless.

the centerpiece of the furious offense was mike grant, a cutter, and a quick handler (#3) who was extremely difficult to shut down. the success or failure of furious centered on grant and his ability to get open out and under. on the shoulders of his success or lack of success as a cutter, the rest of the offense was able (or not) to function smoothly. alex nord drew the early duties on grant and was destroyed. it was remarkable how slow nord was around the field. mike grant worked him up and down the field. he had an early under cut in which nord was late getting to the mark, which allowed a big backhand breakmark huck for a score. nord also was consistently beat out by grant, who roasted him on cut after cut. in the latest stages of the game, nord found himself on grant again, and completely botched a switch attempt. grant drifted to the endzone uncovered to score the 16th point of the game as nord stood in the middle of the field, miles away from anyone.

it was inexplicable to us that nord kept playing, though i suppose that teams ought to stick with what got them there. i don't know what was wrong with nord, but he did nothing on offense except a sky in the early going, and could not make any defensive impact to speak of. nord was also responsible for two inexcusable turnovers, in which he miscalculated his handler's dump cut and threw the disc backwards and far out of reach. after the second of these, he was looked off by his teammates when he made open under cuts and furious, reacting to this deficiency of his, simply forced him under and kept him from making an impact deep.

the sockeye defense was most successful with either seth wiggins or nate castine (21 years old!) on grant, and with roger crafts covering the squirrelly furious handler. crafts did a decent job of neutralizing this handler, but couldn't make enough of an impact to slow his contribution to the rest of the team. the canadian handlers remained solid throughout. downfield,seth did a great job of at least pushing grant underneath so that he couldn't beat him deep, and he was successful at putting on the mark to curb grant's effectiveness as a thrower.

castine, on the other hand, did more than contain grant. he stayed with him step for step, whether going out or under, and was on his hip for the entirety of his cutting. i can't overstate how incredible this defense was. most footage from ultimate follows the disc, but being at the game allowed us to watch the matchups we wanted to see, and castine's defense was some of the best i've seen--on one of the best cutters in the world, no less.

at one point, rami asked joe and i why castine was covering grant when seth was on the field. joe and i both said that he was a really good defender, and just as joe said "he's probably better than seth", castine got a disgusting layout catch d over grant on a swing in which grant came back to fill the handler spot. it was the bright point of the sockeye defense for the game, and the turning point that allowed the us to make a small run at canada for the win.

the atmosphere at this game was pretty remarkable. other notable plays came from tim gehret, who was probably the best player on the us side of the field. he had a couple of risky deep throws that were executed to perfection, and was able to keep his footing on the slippery field better than almost anyone else. his quickness made a lot happen for the united states on offense. chase was a beast as usual, and had two heart-stopping defensive bids that i am looking forward to seeing on video. oscar pottinger was nasty on defense in the early going, and had a layout d over gehret as he was making an upline cut from the handler spot. he had absolutely no business getting to that disc, especially not the way that he did. john hassell of goat was a solid cutter for furious and mike grant had a couple of layout grabs for scores and generally kept his team fired up by being the best player on the field.

canada pulled it out in the end with a 17-15 victory. the us made a couple of questionable calls in the last few points of the game, but i thought that they had a legitimate reason to make most of them. the fans, expecting foul play, were quick to jump on the americans for these calls. it was unfortunate to see the crowd devolve into that kind of attitude, and it pointed to some of the serious problems with ultimate. in the end, the players were able to work through the disagreements and the team that played the best won the game.

the stands at thunderbird stadium were full of people cheering for their respective teams, and i don't think i've ever been around a group that large, that knowledgeable, and that excited to be watching frisbee. i was tingling with excitement in the latter stages of the game because despite the pressure, all the players responded with incredible plays. the rivalry between the usa and canada only made the atmosphere even more electric. getting a chance to go to worlds was definitely an opportunity i'm glad i took, and i look forward to the opportunity to coach (and hopefully play again!) in the coming months.