2011 Preview – University of North Texas Envy

[stextbox id=”alert” color=”050505″ bcolor=”6cc3f8″ bgcolor=”ffffff” big=”true” image=”null”]School Name: University of North Texas
Team Name: Envy
Captains: Kaylin Durmick, Elise Calhoun
Year Founded: 2004
Jersey Colors: Green & White
Website: facebook.com/group.php?gid=2200922466&ref=ts
2010 Record: 8-19
Score Reporter[/stextbox]

How did you get involved with Ultimate at North Texas?

Paige Curtis: When I came to UNT, I had zero experience in the realm of sports. At one of the welcome week activities, there was a stand for Ultimate Frisbee. They were selling bracelets as a fundraiser, and were some of the coolest looking people I had ever seen. Despite my inhibitions concerning sports, I decided to go out to a few practices and see how I liked it. During the very first practice that I ever attended, we scrimmaged at the end. As we were running from the line to begin the first point, it started to rain. If you have ever played Ultimate in the rain before, then you will completely understand when I say that from that moment on, I was hooked.

How did your team do last year? What was the highlight of your season?

Page: Our team did very well last year in my opinion. Although our ending ranking wasn’t a super high one, we accomplished several things last year that we have never done before. We were lucky enough to get to attend Midwest Throwdown, Roundup Division in March, which was absolutely amazing. We also, for the first time in the history of our team, made it to Regional Competition. It was awesome!!!

Who is your favorite team to play against?

Page: There are a lot of teams that I like to play against, for different reasons. I love playing against Tx. State’s Women’s Team, our two teams mesh really well together and anytime we play them, it’s more about getting to play Ultimate than about who’s winning or losing. I also really enjoy playing both UTA and UT’s B team, because those are two teams that I like to beat. Sometimes it’s hard to make sure you’re leaving it all out on the field, but whenever we play these two teams I don’t have to fake myself into wanting to fight to the bone for the win. The most memorable game that comes to mind right now would probably be our last game at Regionals this past year. We were playing with a small line, so we were all pretty exhausted. Our last game was against Tx. State, so we all decided to play a barefoot game. It might have been silly, but it was a really fun, chilly way to end an awesome weekend.

What do your captains bring to your team?

Page: Our captains this year are awesome! They are both very athletic ladies with a lot of passion in them. They’ve done an awesome job of running practices and finding good workouts for us this year, in addition to them both being very strong players. One of our captains, Kaylin, is only in her second year of playing Frisbee. Within the first two or three months, however, she was already grabbing a lot of attention. Her commitment to learning as much as she possibly can to pass onto the team is really inspiring. Our other captain, Elise, really pushes us to lay it all out on the field when we play, regardless of whether it’s a scrimmage or just hot box. Her positivity while pushing us to the limits makes the whole team want to give more.

Are there players on your team who deserve consideration for Callahan, All-Region, or Freshman of the Year?

Page: All of our players are awesome, but Blake McGlaun is a truly amazing athlete. Last weekend, she actually went to Nationals with the club women’s team that she played on over the summer. At any given time, you can see Blake on the field getting sick D’s, awesome catches, and making beautiful layouts. Her throwing has also REALLY improved over the summer. She’s growing into a triple threat, as handler, receiver, and defender.

What player is most likely to make a huge play as a thrower? As a receiver? On D?

Page: Christina Sevier, one of our rookies, has some mad throws in her. At our first tournament, in 30-40 mph winds, she was making hucks upwind that not only made it down the field, but were catchable. A lot of our girls make great plays as receivers, but Blake McGlaun is probably the most likely to do something epic. That girl will lay out for anything and everything, and she always looks like a badass when she does it. One of our players that has really picked up her D game this year is Erin Lipinski. When we’re on the field, she seems to just appear out of thin air to smack that disc down. I hate it when we’re scrimmaging and she d’s my throw, but I can’t wait to see her when we play at a tournament.

Who’s a player you have to watch more carefully to see how valuable she is to your team?

Page: This one is definitely a tie between Megan Guinn and Scottie(Meredith) Perry. While both of these ladies have AMAZING Ultimate skills, their value to our team runs a lot deeper than that. When these ladies are around, our team just kind of clicks on a level that we don’t experience when they’re not there. It’s hard to define exactly what it is that these women do, but the difference in our attitudes and our playing is very noticeable.

How does your team bring new players up to speed?

Page: Practice, practice, practice! At every practice we try and go over some new terms and plays used often in Ultimate. We also have a very open communication line, and try to make sure we’re spending time outside of practice with our rookies. The more time you spend around Ultimate people, the more you tend to pick up!

Has your team set any goals for this season? What are they?

Page: Our goals are to play hard, have fun, win some games. We’d really like to do well at sectionals this year, and do better at regionals than we did last year. We also have a few teams that we’ve decided we HAVE to beat this year, but I’ll let our spring season speak for itself when the time comes.

What has your team been doing this fall to prepare for the spring season?

Page: Again, practice, practice, practice! We try to encourage our rookies (and ourselves) to throw on a daily basis. We are also attending as many tournaments as possible, and encouraging everyone to sign up for a Winter League.

What tournaments do you plan to attend in the spring?

Page: Bid D, little d, hopefully Midwest Throwdown again, possibly Frostbite, Centex (Div. III), Mardi Gras, Sectionals, Regionals.

What does your team do to get pumped up for a big game?

Page: Do a really loud cheer. Goof off to get hyper.

What do you think about the USA Ultimate College restructuring?

Page: I’m not a big fan. The whole changing of websites has already made it really difficult to find info on tournaments, I’m dreading finding out what other challenges this restructuring will create.

Which team has the best shot at winning the 2011 USA Ultimate Women’s College Championships?

Page: US!! Haha just kidding, it’s honestly any teams game at this point I think. You never know from year to year which team will lose key players and which team will explode from nowhere and take everyone by surprise!