Here’s the Jammers post on the 2010 VA States Frisbee Championships. Another fine gathering with the amazing Laszlo’s Wienie World as the epicenter for a weekend of frisbee fun.
(Complete Results Are At The Bottom Of This Post)
By far the biggest story from the 34th Annual Virginia States Frisbee Championships was the two teenagers from NYC: Daniel O’Neill and James Wiseman. These guys are fresh to the jam scene, having been playing for around 8 months now, and they both are shredding. James is from Austin, TX, and got hooked into tossing and jamming via Dan Yarnell. When James headed up to New York City to attend Columbia University, Dan connected him with the Meadow Brethren. James hooked-up with Daniel at University, they both headed to the Meadow, and the transmission began.
One casual observer of the scene at VA said, wow jammers younger than 45! (true that day except for Jake Gauthier, Pat Marron and Emmanuale "Zanardi" Faustini. Anyone else who was there under 45?)
Daniel and James not only brought their own enthusiasm and shredding to the field, they fired up all us older folks to go for it, to pump them big Z’s, show them moves….They were an amazing energizing force for the whole weekend.
A weekend that saw, in the words of Eric Wooten, the deepest field in VA States history. It all began with 41 folks breaking bread together Friday night at the Poppy Hill Tuscan Kitchen, the now annual Friday night re-connect. The weekend also saw the return to competition of, still high flying, Mikey Reid. Mikey arrived a day late after the passing of Christy Brinkley, one of his prize milking cows, who left this world after giving birth. May she find bliss and joy on the next great grazing field of life. Mikey still shreds the field with joy and energy, and it was great to see him back in play for the weekend.
The first round took place on Saturday night in the Fieldhouse, with 40 players making up 17 teams in two large pools.
Pool A saw some great play from many jammers, with the highlight move of the evening being Jay Moldenhauer’s 5 perfectly executed consecutive heel kicks into a re-delay and Gitis catch. Really wonderful. Jens Velasquez was in the house, showing us all the (hopefully not lost) art of throw variety. How about a blind around the head upside down Z throw?!?! Greg Hosfeld pulled out an Oliver Pull to a splits delay that had some of the judges wondering what the heck just happened. There were three stellar jams in Pool A: Jonathan Willet and Jeff O’Brien put together a great show, hitting a variety of moves to their music, and took 3rd in the pool. Jeff did all his wild stuff, and Jonathan re-set his shoulder at the end of the routine for extra added drama. Rob Fried and Mikey were next, and they put on a great show of speed flow, quick moves, great use of space, and shredding indies to take 2nd in the pool. Mikey flew very high, hitting massive Gitis and Roots. Rob did his technically challenging moves that end in casual spinning seals per usual. 1st place in the pool went to Murf, Dave Lewis and Toddy Brodeur. These guys had big energy, a bit of trouble with their co-ops, and huge individual moves. Murf hit a triple spinning flamingo, Lewis pulled out his multiple spinning consecutivity, and Toddy hit all his signature moves.
Both pools were deep, and many hot players were not able to make the show the next day.
Pool B had the difficult task of judging first, then getting ready to jam as the night was growing old. As a result, the Pool wasn’t quite as hot as the previous. Due to a brain fart by the seeding panel (oops, sorry about that) and a re-shuffling of other teams that lacked proper oversight, the team of Zanardi and the teenagers, Daniel and James, played first in Pool B. These guys played solid, with all 3 hitting their moves and playing well. Daniel and James belayed the fact that this was their first ever competition, playing under control, catching their stuff, and all around looking like pros. If this had not been such a deep tournament field, they would probably have made it to the finals. They did, however, seed bust from 8th to finish 5th in the pool. The 2 hot routines of Pool B were turned in by Jake Gauthier/Lori Daniels, and Larry Imperiale/Bill Wright. Jake and Lori played smooth and solid to take 2nd in the pool. Jake went dropless, and Lori hit all her moves. Jake loped around the field with calm shred, as is his way, ending the routine on a brushing run that culminated with a huge under the leg brush followed by a casual flying Gitis. Larry and Bill flowed wonderfully, bashing, cuffing, speed flowing, and hitting their moves nicely. Bill went dropless and they won the Pool.
The Finals began in a dicey wind that died down over the course of the round. The first few teams did their best to deal with the conditions. Harvey Brandt, Rick Sader and Greg Hosfeld were unable to continue the magic from the previous night and took 8th. Doug E. Fresh, Joey Hudoklin and Roger Meier played solid and under control in the swirling conditions to move up a spot from 7th seed to take 6th. Jonathan and Jeff also were unable to re-capture the magic from the Fieldhouse and moved down from 6th seed to take 7th. Pat Marron and Dan Yarnell made the best of the conditions to hit some hot moves, drop very few, and moved up from 5th seed to take 2nd. Rob and Mikey almost had it going, then didn’t, and moved from 4th seed to take 5th. Mikey hit two massive Gitis catches that had the appreciative VA States crowd hollering their approval. Jake and Lori again played solid, though not with the amazing execution of the night before, and moved from 3rd seed to take 4th place. Larry and Bill played well, continuing to show off their years of experience playing together, with Larry playing clean this time. They moved down from 2nd seed to take 3rd. Top honors for the day and the tournament went to Murf, Lewis and Brodeur. They were clicking on all cylinders in the Finals and came through with top honors. Murf lit up the crowd with his tooth delay (always a crowd favorite), among other shredding moments, and Dave and Toddy pulled off more hot moves to seal the deal.
An amazing weekend of jamming, fellowship and competition came to an end with many smiles all around. 161 people officially registered for the tournament, a record for VA States, with the jamming family making a solid contribution to the effort. With Jammers, the U.S. Open in Minnesota, Seattle Worlds, AZ States, and Beach Stylers in San Diego County coming up later in the year, I hope folks continue to show up for the fun, friendship and joy that is this thing we love so much, Freestyle Frisbee.
Peace,
Rodney
HERE ARE THE COMPLETE RESULTS
Round One, Pool A
Tied for 8th: Chris Horn/Tim Mackey
Tied for 8th: Ronnie Turner/Brian Steffan/Rob Knapik
7th: Donny Wallace/Jason Urroz
6th: Gary Auerbach/Jens Velasquez
5th: Tom Lasher/Jay Moldenhauer
4th: Harvey Brandt/Rick Sader/Greg Hosfeld
3rd: Jonathan Willet/Jeff O’Brien
2nd: Rob Fried/Mikey Ried
1st: Toddy Brodeur/Dave Lewis/Dave Murphy
Round One, Pool B
8th: Hunter Wooten/Bob Cooksey
7th: Phil Cappa/Dale Crawford
6th: Alan Caplin/Steve Scannel/Z Weyand
5th: Daniel O’Neill/James Wiseman/Zanardi
4th: Doug E. Fresh/Joey Hudoklin/Roger Meier
3rd: Pat Marron/Dan Yarnell
2nd: Lori Daniels/Jake Gauthier
1st: Larry Imperiale/Bill Wright
Finals
8th: Harvey Brandt/Rick Sader/Greg Hosfeld
7th: Jonathan Willet/Jeff O’Brien
6th: Doug E. Fresh/Joey Hudoklin/Roger Meier
5th: Rob Fried/Mikey Ried
4th: Lori Daniels/Jake Gauthier
3rd: Larry Imperiale/Bill Wright
2nd: Pat Marron/Dan Yarnell
1st: Toddy Brodeur/Dave Lewis/Dave Murphy