AZ States

10/07/10 - 10/10/10 in Phoenix, Arizona

OPEN Division

WOMEN Division

MIXED Division

One could easily ask the question, what the heck happened to the usual  
 timely reporting of major DDC events? Especially the 2011 WFDDF World  
 DDC Championships that you yourself hosted!
 Well, what can I say. Could be just being flat out exhausted after a  
 grueling long weekend of stuff, could be getting back to the work  
 routine, could be trying to figure out who is going to be the Player  
 of the Year (yes, a new thing I am just throwing in there, more at the  
 end of this e-mail) or it could be nursing my own fragile ego after  
 getting whooped in the finals, or could even be trying to decide what  
 to do with my balky knee.
 Anyway, there was fantastic DDC here in the desert, as usual. Mixed  
 Pairs started it all off on Thursday (long ago, October 7th). Only 5  
 teams when all was said and done as 5-6 teams pulled out for various  
 reasons before we got started. PDF results can be seen here:
 http://web.mac.com/tmbanzai/iWeb/DDC%20/Results_Stats.html
 And of course, all recent results are posted there as well.
 The teams went through a double round robin with the top two playing  
 in the finals. There is a new hot pod of players emerging in the LA  
 area of California as both top teams came from there. Mark and Susie  
 Horn teamed up to finish with two loses (to the 3rd and 4th place  
 finishers), while Beth Verish (defending champ, who dumped her partner  
 for a new guy) and Ronnie Vingerelli (OK, not really a new guy) went  
 through with their only losses being to the aforementioned Horns. The  
 finals saw excellent play where Verish / Vingerelli turned it around  
 on the Horns and took the WFDF title for Mixed Pairs in two straight  
 games. Third place went to Diane Harris and Rick LeBeau, 4th place to  
 Lori Daniels and Tony Pellicane, and 5th place to Stephanie Chan and  
 Jon Freedman (also from the LA group).
 The Women's Division portion of the event was hurt by the previously  
 mentioned drop out syndrome. And we needed to wait for full action as  
 one of the main women competitors was called into emergency action in  
 the Open Division when a player took ill. Diane Harris only stayed for  
 Mixed but she was replaced by newcomer Diana Elsner, who had  
 unfortunately missed the Mixed (would have partnered with her dad,  
 Jim) because of mechanical problems on their flight. Using a Queen of  
 the Court format, Lori Daniels and Stephanie Chan (another newcomer  
 from LA) tied for first place. Diana and Beth tied for second, and  
 Susie Horn took the bronze. From what I heard, it was a high level of  
 play throughout. I missed most of it as I had to be involved in
 The Open Division, which  brought out a solid if smallish 13 teams,  
 including the Swedish Champion team of Dieter Johansson and Niclas  
 Bergehamn. Can't say enough about how happy we were to have them here  
 and how well the acquitted themselves throughout the weekend.
 We used a full round robin of games to 15 on Friday, with a semi of  
 the top 4 teams and finals to be contested on Sunday. Saturday was  
 reserved for total pick-up action as well as some golf. This is  
 because I cannot get a field on Saturdays and I need the insurance  
 that a PDGA golf event offers.
 Every team was competitive for the whole day, no one was getting off  
 with a "gimme" game at any time. Even though many teams would have  
 liked to see some different results, I hope all teams realized that  
 this was about as high a level of DDC as can be gathered. 5 teams  
 clawed their way to the top of the rankings as we were nearing the end  
 of the day, creating a real separation. Defending WFDF World Champs  
 Harvey Brandt and Rick LeBeau managed to squeak out a 12-0 record to  
 win the pool. Number one ranked Conrad Damon with partner Tony  
 Pellicane finished at 10-2, losing to Brandt / LeBeau and also  
 dropping the game against the Swedes. Then it got real interesting  
 with 3 teams tied with records of 9-3. Any number of games could be  
 reviewed by each team to find a place where they could have busted out  
 of the log jam as no one wants it to come down to the dreaded tie  
 breaker. But it did come to that. Of course each team had gone around  
 in a circle beating each other to go 1-1 against the others. It came  
 down to points and sadly, the Swedes were the odd team out. The  
 computations are on the results site with all the other PDFs. Had the  
 Swedes not lost an early game against a lower finishing opponent  
 (Freedman / Kaye) they would have survived. But they also came back  
 strong from that loss, coming back from 11-14 against Dave Hesselberth  
 and Blair Paulsen to win that game and taking the previously mentioned  
 victory from Damon / Pellicane. It was almost enough but not quite.  
 Advancing to the last spots in the semis were Hesselberth / Paulsen  
 and the father and son team of Cody Kirkland and John Kirkland.
 Again, full results are here:
 http://web.mac.com/tmbanzai/iWeb/DDC%20/Results_Stats.html
 Before the Sunday semi and finals action, Saturday brought a wonderful  
 opportunity for players to really mix it up and get tons of high  
 quality games. Three courts were in action most of the time as all  
 sorts of teamings took place. A real plus for attending this event  
 each year.
 Sunday saw top seed Brandt / LeBeau picking Hesselberth / Paulsen  
 (originally seeded 6th) as their opponents. Leaving Damon / Pellicane  
 (original seed of #2) to fight it out with the Kirkland family (seed  
 #3). Brandt / LeBeau were able to overcome the solid play of  
 Hesselberth / Paulsen in two straight - 21-19 and 21-17. Definitely  
 hard fought and as close as the scores indicate. Damon / Pellicane  
 took the first game 21-17, but the Kirklands fought back to take the  
 second 21-18, setting up a third game for the match. With solid  
 defense, precise attacks, and a slowed Pellicane due to a nagging foot  
 injury, the Kirklands prevailed 21-16.
 The finals then saw the rising star of Cody Kirkland paired with his  
 ancient and decrepit (not!) father (former world champ, inventor of  
 every throw ever thought of, and legend in his own mind - and  
 everyone's actually) John Kirkland facing off against multi time world  
 champs (and the defending WFDF champs) Harvey Brandt and Rick LeBeau.  
 Brandt / LeBeau jumped to an early 8-2 lead in the first game and led  
 13-12 but lost 15-13. They came back to win the second game, 16-14,  
 squaring the match. Then it all gets a little fuzzy for me. Given that  
 I ended up on the losing end of all this, let us just say that they  
 threw more discs in the court than we did and out played us completely  
 in taking the final two games in dominating fashion, 15-10 and 15-9.  
 Wish we could have made it more competitive for them but give credit  
 where it is due, the best team won.
 To top it off, a brand new DDC court was offered up by the tourney  
 director to the person who most accurately predicted the finishing  
 order to the top ten teams. Wouldn't you know it, Cody Kirkland was  
 quite on with his picks and took home a new court, as if he needed any  
 more practice!!
 Now for a new feature that just popped into my head as I tried to make  
 sense of the pummeling. Why not name a "Player of the Year"? So here  
 it goes. Contenders obviously would come from those who won tourneys  
 this year. Narrows it down a lot.
 Dave Hesselberth and Harvey Brandt won VA States.
 Harvey Brandt and Dave Hesselberth won the US Open (changed the order  
 because they changed who played front and back)
 Conrad Damon and Cody Kirkland won East Coast DDC.
 Cody Kirkland and John Kirkland won the WFDF DDC.
 We'll throw out John and Conrad as they each only won once. John  
 didn't make it to VA, had a third place finish at both the US Open and  
 East Coast. Conrad also was not at VA, a second place finish at the US  
 Open, and the third place at WFDF.
 For the last three:
 Harvey - played back in winning at VA with Dave. Then played front in  
 taking the US Open with Dave. Fell off by finishing tied for third at  
 East Coast (with John Kirkland, go figure) and the runner up at WFDF.
 Dave - the VA and US Open finishes with Harvey, obviously, then  
 beating Harvey and John K at East Coast (with Mark Horn) before losing  
 in the finals to Cody Kirkland and Conrad, polish it off with a third  
 place finish at WFDF (actually a tie for third but used a tie breaker  
 for the bronze medal awarded to third place) losing to Harvey and Rick  
 in the semis (sweet revenge!)
 Cody - a no show at VA this year (he is a former champ actually, his  
 first major title a couple of years ago with Harvey), then a tie for  
 third with his dad at the US Open, losing to Conrad and Carlton Howard  
 in the semis. The victory at East Coast with Conrad and then the WFDF  
 title with dad.
 Would be so easy to say, well it looks like a tie, two victories for  
 all three. Or to say, how about co-players Dave and Harvey, each with  
 four solid finishes all year long. But no, the victories at the two  
 highest level events of the year go a long way towards making my  
 decision easy (as I did not consult with anyone else on this)  
 elevating Cody Kirkland just a bit above the rest. So for our first  
 time award, Player of the Year, Cody Kirkland.
 Hope you enjoyed the visit through memory lane on the 2010 WFDF World  
 DDC Championships.
 Don't forget to check on the 2011 events at
 http://web.mac.com/tmbanzai/iWeb/DDC%20/INeedaDDCPartner.html
 Contact me if you have anything to add to the schedule, or anything at  
 all to add to anything!
 And check the AZ web site soon for goodies from the 2010 event. A cool  
 DDC shirt design, DDC hats, and of course, DDC discs.
 http://web.mac.com/tmbanzai/iWeb/2010AZStates/Welcome.html
 your dutiful scribe