Whitman College Lady Sweets – 2011 Preview

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School Name: Whitman College
Team Name: Lady Sweets
Captains: Lindsay Cameron & Katie Rouse
Year Founded: 1842, or was it 1992? I can never remember…
Jersey Colors: Yellow, blue, spandex and sparkles
Website: http://www.whitman.edu/ultimate
2010 Record: 9-14
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Tell us a little about yourselves.  How did you get involved with Ultimate at Whitman?
Katie Rouse: I came to Whitman with little Ultimate experience: a soccer player with a strong need for a change of scenery. Two of my pre-orientation trip leaders played for the Sweets and urged me to put my soccer playing days behind me for the burgeoning sport of Ultimate. After playing pickup for a week with the Sweets I did just that. I was hooked by both the focus and fun of Ultimate and have been loving it ever since.
Lindsay Cameron: When I first came to Whitman I heard all about the Frisbee team through my brother who was a senior at the time. He had been raving about the Sweets on every call home and when I did finally make it to Whitman my freshman year, I kept hearing crazy stories about some Frisbee Captain Cammy. Little did I know that this wild jungle-juice carrying madman was actually my brother. Even though my brother graduated two years ago, the Sweets have always been like a family to me.

What is Ultimate at Whitman all about?
–It all starts with the name: Sweets. Now, Walla Walla, Washington is known for its sweet sweet onions, onions that don’t make you cry. The Whitman Sweets are a perfect representation of those onions in a team: we’ll rarely make you cry and if we do it’s because you’re laughing too hard.
–We don’t have a coach, which is something that really sets us apart from most teams we play. This puts more focus on team building and accountability from all players. While captains are in charge, input from all sides rounds out our team and help makes everyone feel responsible for our success.
–We’re also all about breaking down the social hierarchy of class boundaries (aka we’re all college kids, we all love Ultimate, we all like hanging out with each other: we are the same! No need for freshmen hazing or underclassman punishments).

How did your team do last year?  What was the highlight of your season?
Katie: The highlight of our season last year was at Regionals. After the long journey to the West Side of this great state, we came with determination in our hearts and ferocity in our eyes, we were there to do business. Rain, no shine, we came up against our rivals: both PLU and Humboldt. For the past 4 years I’ve been on the team we have never won against these ladies, but that day was different. We brought a new team with that new energy. The games were close, but we came out the winner in both battles. Driving back to Walla Walla that night was one of the most satisfying drives I’ve had in years.

Who is your favorite team to play against?
Lindsay: I’d have to say Western for sure. Whenever we play against them it’s always a tough match and I think we bring out a reasonably healthy competitive nature in each other. These past couple years we’ve been trading wins back and forth, but even when we haven’t won I always feel that we’ve played our best.

What player is most likely to make a huge play as a thrower?
Lindsay: Every player on our team has their specific play that they live for in a game. Me, I love seeing the back of my teammates jersey as they sprint down the field and I know they’re asking for a huge forehand huck—I hardly ever deny them.

As a receiver?
Lindsay: Margaret Wilson-Moses is one of our best cutters who would gladly play savage for 18 games straight and still feel a bit insulted if someone offered her wing position to rest for a point, I’ve never met anyone else with her kind of stamina and reliability.

On D?
Lindsay: I’m super stoked about our new freshman Sarg (aka Celine Valentin). In our first tournament of the coed season she had a layout-D against a mountain of a man and she got up and didn’t even realize how much of a baller she was. I could really just brag about all the girls on the team, but I’ll let ya’ll see them do their thang on the field—my complements don’t do them justice.

It’s easy to see when someone throws a huge huck on gets a layout D.  Who’s a player you have to watch more carefully to see how valuable she is to your team?
Lindsay: Our dear Alice Minor. Her handling skills are so consistent and relaxed that only now that she’s abroad in Geneva do I realize how much I depended on her on the field.

Without giving too much away, what does your team like to do on offense and on defense?
Lindsay: ZONE! Well, obviously not all the time, but we’ve been throwing the “Z” down this fall and it’s been cup-tacular.

What has your team been doing this fall to prepare for the spring season?
Strengthening, throws/catches, fitness.  Something that had been a major bummer these past few years are ACL tears. At least one senior each year has gotten one and this year we have only one senior…so in order to keep her ballin’ on the field we’ve been focusing a lot on plyos and hamstring strengthening to keep all of those stability muscles working hard.

What tournaments do you plan to attend in the spring?
Traditionally we usually start off our spring season in Vegas (but hopefully elsewhere this year), head down to Cali for the Stanford Invite, sometimes PLU BBQ, of course Sectionals and Regionals, And my favorite: Onionfest. I love that even a place like Walla Walla can attract people that love Frisbee as much as we do for a weekend.

What does your team do to get pumped up for a big game?
Katie & Lindsay: Lil Troy, all the way: Wanna Be A Balla

What song would you pick for the soundtrack to your team’s 2011 highlight video?
Go Go Gadget Flow by Lupe Fiasco

How do the Sweets call to each other from one sideline to another?
Call: APPLE APPLE APPLE!
Response: ONION ONION ONION!!  or…
Call: HOLLA HOLLA!
Response: WALLA WALLA!