Tryout information, tentative tournament schedule

[Bill Blinn]

Hey everyone,

Wednesday Tryouts at Ebersol

We're having tryouts tomorrow, Wednesday, at Ebersol field from 7-9. It's been a while since we were last on Ebersol, so here is the Ebersol information again. There will probably be a lot of people, so we'll manage things as best as we can.

• Parking at is limited, so you are encouraged to take public transportation or bike wherever possible to avoid having to search for parking spots. 
• We play on the softball outfield at Ebersol and must stop playing immediately if a ball is hit into the outfield to give way to the fielder. If we get in softball's way, we can lose our permit so please be respectful of this rule. 
• If you are biking, don't ride your bike on the grass. When you get to the fields, get off your bike and walk them to where we're playing.

Please pay me $5. I prefer electronic payment to bbl...@gmail.com via paypal, venmo or Bank of America. Yes, I finally signed up for Venmo so if that's your thing, you can do Venmo.

Returner information

I also wanted to give you guys a bit more information on how the tryouts process is going to work this year. In the past, we've given strong preference to returners and invited just about everyone who wants to play back. This year, we are going to give preference to returners in cases where things are equal. The goal is to give returners an incentive to come to tryouts and bring their A game while giving a fair shot to others. We are also saying this earlier on in the tryout process to give people an opportunity to look at other teams if you'd like. I also think that going to other tryouts can be good experience, whether you make the teams or not.

We are also planning on having practice players this year. Depending on availability and performance, there might be opportunities to be promoted from the practice squad to a full roster spot. And of course if there are spots at tournaments, then practice players will be invited. But one of our goals is to play people who are at the tournaments. We've always had issues bringing too many people to tournaments and leaving some people out, so we would like to be more up front about what type of playing time you can expect based on your role on the team.

Tournament schedule

I also wanted to share with you guys a tentative tournament schedule

Mixed Easterns (Devens, May 30-31)Northeast Open (Middletown, NY, June 20-21st) - new tournament, see below
Northeast Open (Middletown, NY, June 20-21st) - new tournament
Ow My Knee (Albany, NY, second weekend of July last year, dates unannounced this year)
Chesapeake Open (Poolesville, MD, August 1-2)
Chowdafest (Seekonk, MA, fourth weekend of August last year, dates unannounced this year)
Sectionals (August 29-30, http://www.usaultimate.org/resources/champ_events/)
Regionals (September 12-13)

There is also a tournament called Antlerlock happening in Burlington, VT on June 6-7. We're not planning on going as Mixed Nuts, but there has been some talk about organizing a pickup team with some Mixed Nuts people.

We also may not go to Chowdafest depending on the scheduling because it is generally just the same teams as sectionals and could be right before sectionals.

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Bill