If you fancy yourself a fan of Ultimate, you know Revolver. You know the players: Beau, Bart, Mac, Cahill, Chicken, Kanner and Sherwood. You know the records: Two time defending Club Champions, 2010 Club World Champions, 2012 WFDF Ultimate Champions. You know the expectations: Number two overall seed in 2012, never finished worse than a quarterfinals appearance at Club Championships. San Francisco has been the face of the sport and the standard of excellence for the past three seasons in the open division.
So who better to tell us about their team’s mindset heading into the 2012 Championships than the players and coaches of Revolver. A third straight championship would elevate Revolver to the great dynasties of the sport like NYNY, DoG and the Condors. In the face of such historic circumstances and with the weight of great expectations, Revolver manages to stay outwardly humble and grounded. Regardless of Ironside’s record or Doublewide’s high profile talent, the champions are always the ones with the biggest targets on their backs. Here’s how Revolver is dealing with those expectations.
Skyd: What was your reaction when the pools were posted and you found out who you’d be playing on Thursday? What are you expecting from that first day?
Martin Cochran #28: The nationals format is structured such that if you want to win you’ve got to beat some very good teams. There are no free passes, which is what makes the challenge exciting. We had a close double-game point win over the 4th seed in pool, Madison, at Labor Day, and we expect we will have hard-fought games between all our pool-play opponents, as usual.
How do you keep a team focused in the weeks just before nationals?
Beau Kittredge #50: We don’t worry about things that we can’t control, we have been preparing for a long hard battle no matter where teams are ranked, we know each game this year is going to be test of will and energy. The first day will be no exception, we hope that our team is deep enough so that we can [sic] turn games into long grueling ordeals and be successful.
What team outside of your pool would you most want the opportunity to play in the course of the tournament and why?
Alex “Dutchy” Ghesquiere, Head Coach: Ironside. Only because it would most likely represent the fact that we had made it to finals.
How do you keep the team focused on each game when it can be easy to look ahead to Friday or Saturday?
Robbie Cahill #10: Stay humble, stay focused on working hard, and take each moment as it comes.
Joshua Greenough, Assistant Coach: Every tournaments starts with 0 wins, every game at zero to zero. The team has been there before and nobody wins nationals on Thursday but some people have lost so you worry about Friday & Sat if you get there with chips still on the table.
Of the top eight, who would you most like to see in semis? Least want to see in semis?
Joshua Greenough: Honestly this is not something we really focus on, one game at a time and we have game film on everybody thanks to NexGen.
It’s impossible to preview Revolver 2012 without talking about a potential three-peat as well as the Worlds-Club Championships double in the same year. Does your team try to shut out historical context when preparing for Sarasota, or do you embrace it head on?
Ryo Kawaoka #19: Our history, our foundation has been built on a high degree of IHD (Intensity, Humility, Discipline) and it will not take anything less this year. During the course of the year, we have continued to use our past championships as a reminder that despite everyone else’s expectations (and our own desire) to win every game, no team is going to roll over for you, each point is extremely valuable, to win is hard work and you have to play your best.
If you could pick one song to be the theme song of 2012 Revolver, what would it be?
Adam “Chicken” Simon #2, chief iPod Executive: “Will You Be There?” by Michael Jackson.
Feature photo of Robbie Cahill throwing to Beau Kittredge by Brandon Wu – Ultiphotos.com
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