Melee has had a love affair with Colorado Kali as long as I can remember. It may have been JFast’s incredible moves at the dance off or the fact that she could pull of the bald look better than anyone I know. It may have been Bucket running around with that hat. Nice as can be. Sitting with their team at Vegas 2008 waiting for our next game. Or Emory grad Amy Smith and her gold cleats playing her last year of eligibility. Or maybe just Double Trouble doing what they do best, getting in trouble. But after nationals in Boulder 2008 there was no denying it. We were in love. There were a handful of us who stuck around for a few days. Some staying at their houses. They took as around town. We went to a Rockies game. Went on a hike. We even saved a lost dog! I taught them to use a blender.
Last year at Pres Day Kali gave Melee a Valentines day card signed by all of them. We sent them a Christmas card.
Shannon Waugh, Kali captain, and I had a great plan. We were going to meet each other in finals at nationals for our final year. And then, sitting in an airport in Houston on the way to Chicago Heavyweights, I got a text. The new regions were posted. Of course my phone was incredibly slow that day just to make it more painful, but when I finally saw the new regions I was in shock. Colorado. The bigger shock was the bid allocation. I love my team. I love my region. But I’m going to be honest. The chance of us getting more than one bid is not high. The second round put WashU back in our region so at least we now have 3 teams that qualified for nationals last year but two of us were ranked in the bottom 4.
College 2001 South Central Region
I want to interject here yet another one of my clever creations. SoCow. Look at the region. It’s basically the south + colorado + wyoming. In my head I actually say SoCo but I want to be a little more pc and recognize the fact that wyoming exists as a state although I’m not actually sure they have a frisbee team. I also want to call it TexaCo. This does leave out a lot of schools but love is blind and we only see each other right?
As for the region. There are so many things to think about. For now I am assuming there is only one bid and first place at regionals is our only option.
Washington University
I expect WashU to continue to be about the same. They lost Abby Stephens who I claim single handedly willed her entire team to nationals in 2009. It was a great celbration to watch. They stayed on our sidelines and watched our game for the second bid (which we did not win). The support was great. She’s now coaching this year along with another talented player, Iowa State alum Melissa Gibbs. I’m also looking forward to seeing captain Sam Huo play at 100%. She’s been out the last two college seasons with an acl tear captaining WUWU last year without stepping on the field until regionals. Many of them played on the club team RevoLOUtion (get it, play on st LOUis?) and I actually had the privilege of watching them win the 3rd bid to nationals at central regionals. It was first year the STL area had a women’s team and I’m quite impressed and proud of them. I admit I’m friends with a lot of the team and really don’t want to play them in a game for the last bid to nationals.
University of Colorado
Colorado is always up in the air. This is definitely a rebuilding year for them but the last rebuilding year turned out very well for them. Somehow they always pull it off. Shannon reminds me of that all the time and I 100% believe her. They are coming from an incredibly strong region with tons of elite level experience, I wouldn’t discount them if they lost their entire roster.
As for the rest of the the-region-formally-known-as-the-south I don’t see much competition.
Kansas
Kansas lost their biggest player Tasha Parman who will be coaching them this spring. I will say I have been very impressed with their captain this year, Christy Cheung, considering its only her second year and I really want to see her do well this season. The fact that Backpack Girl is still playing makes a huge difference. It’s often intimidating playing such a big celebrity. Speaking of which, I was BPG for Halloween. Lets see if I can dig out a picture.
St. Louis University
The St. Louis players who brought SLU out of completely obscurity (maybe not “complete” obscurity, but I very surprised by them that season) are all officially out of eligibility. Last year we couldn’t discount them because we knew there was a chance they’d come back for the series. I’m pretty sure Kara and Trisha showed up for sectionals but didn’t make it down for regionals.
Arkansas
Considering the size of their roster Arkansas did very well last year. By the time we played them late in the day at regionals they were exhausted and just couldn’t keep up. Steph Wong played her fifth year at Arkansas and is done. We are also best friends now after I was instructed to seek her out and give her a hug by a friend of mine. there’s something about running at someone who you don’t actually know and seeing them turn and smile as you leap into their arms that just brings joy and best friendship to my heart. Andrea Ritchie was on the field at JPN so I’m assuming she’s playing. We had the speed and athleticism to shut her down but every time I see her she’s better than I remember. Either I’m remembering wrong or she’s just getting a lot better. Probably both.
Vanderbilt
I was going to write about Vandy but I just realized they aren’t in our region. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I was so excited about this one too. Not really but I was prepared.
Missouri State
MSU gave us a run for our money at JPN but once we played with just melee it was like we were playing a completely different team. I will give them credit for having many athletic players and I could see them doing well this season if they want to work for it but I don’t think they will be a top contender in the region.
The other CoW schools I know little about.
Colorado State
We played Colorado State at Harvest Moon this year. They were the only college team that gave us a run for our money and they also had excellent Braveheart costumes. We do, however, have a big advantage over them. There is a girl on their team whose name sounds enough like “melee” that she is constantly confused by us yelling our team name. We will take advantage of this at every opportunity. I will also admit Janel and I tooled it up and I hope to be their friends. I had a few really fun matchups and once I play them again without their William Wallace outfits and faces all painted blue maybe I’ll be able to pick them out.
Colorado College
I know nothing about Colorado College except the fact that we shouldn’t discount them.
Wyoming
Wyoming is like a thief in the night. Do they exist? I don’t know! I just like mentioning it because they are in our region. Technically our region reaches as far north as Wyoming and as south as the Guatamalan border. Thanks to google maps I discovered that you can drive 3000 miles from north to south (in a direct route of course, find a roundabout and you could go on forever) and still be in the SoCow region. It’s tricky when you get to colorado. There is a very small area where colorado and oklahoma meet. I’m convinced they only included oklahoma because it’s weird having regions that don’t actually connect. Everything is bigger in Texas. And all things associated with Texas.
As we see more teams throughout the season I’ll be sure to update.