Review of Try outs Day 1

DC, Maryland, and Virginia Ultimate players showed up last Saturday morning at Woodland Tiger Field for the first day of tryouts with the DC Breeze. Over 60 players reported representing some of the best college, high school, and club Ultimate teams from the DC area: Maryland, George Mason, George Washington, U.M.B.C, Radford, American, Salisbury, Bethesda Chevy Chase High, Woodside High,  Pacme, and Medicine Men to name some. To no one's surprise no players reported from Truck Stop. Most were likely trying out for the MLU’s DC Current; coached by former Truck captain Keven Moldenhauer.

The weather did not do anyone a favor as when players arrived there was still an inch or two of snow on the turf and temperatures were in the 20s with the wind. Coach Coffin and owners Aaron Foreman and Marvin Graves were quick to introduce themselves and their mission to win a championship before starting the events. Players ran throwing lines, scrimmaged, and timed 70 and 40 meter dashes.

While player’s spirits were high at the start, the cold and wind quickly drained anyone not involved immediately in a drill. The scrimmages to three were long and left most of the players on the sidelines waiting their turn, never really able to stay warm. Most found themselves warming up over and over again in order to perform. With an AUDL size field many college players commented on the struggles of defense, not familiar with having to guard receivers with so much more cutting room. This was not the only surprise for players, some unfamiliarity with AUDL rules and lack of referees did create some confusion and debate on plays.

Observing the scrimmages it was clear that this biggest impact on the day was the weather. The points got sloppy as the day went on, turnover rates increased as hands grew colder, throws were getting taken more and more by the wind, and moods were not the best after being exposed to the elements for four hours.

After all was said and done though, the players had shown a lot of promise and talent. All were invited to return for round two of the open tryouts this Saturday.

Afterwards some players revealed how they were a little let down leaving comments on: the low number of touches on disc, the general athletic focus instead of a tighter Ultimate focus, mishaps with timing some of the heats, and the overall quality of some of the scrimmages.

As the Breeze staff become more familiar with these players it will be interesting to see what kind of performance will come out of them this weekend and this season.