Breakside Blog
DISCLAIMER: This blog is an open forum for the Breakside contributors. Â The opinions and views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the WUDi organization.
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Rafe Steinhauer was hoping he and two of his teammates would miss the WSL playoffs Aug. 11.  Now he expects to be there. Because the Connecticut Constitution pro team has suspended operations due to its conflict with the AUDL, Steinhauer and pro teammates Andy Bosco and Nick Judson are free and clear to play for a summer league title Aug. 11 instead of in the AUDL championship game in the Pontiac Silverdome.  All three are members of the first-place Royal Blue team (9-1 entering Wednesday's action).  "Andy, Nick and I will be available for finals, but we'll be severely hurt on the ladies side," Steinhauer told ZAG's RAG.  "Kendra Frederick will be with Bent at ECC. Mary Glickman has Slow White practice up in Boston. And Lauren "LD" Doyle, who has been a stud for us all year, will be on vacation."  Not every WUDI team will have its pros, though.  Kamil Skwarek, featured previously in this space, will head to Seattle to play with PoNY in ECCs instead of playing WUDI.  Steinhauer was my teammate last year on the Charcoal "Charks" team which won it all under co-captains Adam Goff and Kelly "Beezus" Hyland, but he skipped finals to play with D-5.  Now, he plans to be around.  "I'd like to think we are the best team in the league, but the truth is this title is as wide-open as it is every year," he said. "And by 'wide-open' I mean the ngravers should start practicing the words 'Royal' and 'Blue.'"  As for the future of the AUDL, it remains uncertain.  Both Connecticut and league favorite Philadelphia could bail next year and play in a new pro league of some kind, or they could simply play a series of exhibition games the way NexGen does.  "Everything is still uncertain, including whether or not Connecticut and Philadelphia leave," Steinhauer said. "If the league significantly restructures, we'd love to be a part of what was started this year."  *If you have an idea for a blog post, feel free to email Adam at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
**And check out the popular ZAGSBLOG.com for the latest news on the Knicks, college hoops and basketball recruiting. Â Comments
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 A 21-year-old native of Poland, Skwarek is playing for not one, not two, but three Ultimate teams this summer.  The 6-foot-3 Skwarek is balancing playing for the Connecticut Constitution professional team and the New York club team, PoNY (Pride of New York.)  Oh, and (full disclosure) he's also playing with me on the Burgundy squad in the Westchester Summer League. (Actually, we're all playing with him.)  "I'm a pretty young player," Skwarek, who has only been playing Ultimate for thee years, said Wednesday at SUNY Purchase after helping Burgundy down Charcoal, 15-9, to improve to 3-2 on the season.  "I'm trying to get as much as experience as I can this summer. It's been great playing with the Constitution, but that ends early August. So I would love to play with a team through August, through September, up to [Club] Regionals and Nationals."  Skwarek, who is majoring in allied health at UConn and hopes to be a physical therapist, is one of just two players -- Chris Mazur is the other -- playing for both the Constitution in the inaugural year of the American Ultimate Disc League and for PoNY.  Sometimes that has required some delicate travel arrangements.  On the weekend of June 2-3, Skwarek and Mazur had commitments to both teams. The Constitution played at the Buffalo Hunters on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., yet PoNY was playing both days at the Cazenovia (N.Y.) tournament. So rather than pick one, they played both events.  "I tried to play for both teams," Skwarek said. "So on Saturday I played for PoNY for two games. Then I went up to Buffalo to play for the Constitution. From Cazenovia to Buffalo was a three-hour drive.  "[The car ride] was pretty bad. We were both tired and sweaty.  We didn't get to shower or anything. We played a 6:30 game in Buffalo [with the Constitution winning, 17-13]. And after the Buffalo game, we didn't get to shower or anything. Came right back to Cazenovia that night, came in at 1 a.m. And then played all day on Sunday at Cazenovia [losing to Boston Ironside, 15-13, in the semifinals]. So it was a total of six hours back and forth."  Last weekend, Skwarek opted to skip Connecticut's two road games -- a loss at Philadelphia on Saturday and a win over Rhode Island Sunday -- in favor of playing with PoNY at the Boston Invite. PoNY again lost to Ironside, 17-16, in the championship game.  While the captains of both teams would obviously like a full commitment from Skwarek and Mazur, they seem OK with the current situation.  "Luckily, there haven't been too many conflicts between Connecticut and PoNY given that their season ends in early August, and we generally take most of July off," PoNY captain Jack Marsh said. "Both guys showed throughout the tryout process that they would make great teammates and are able to make the commitment that we ask of all of our guys."  "In the first year of the pro league, [captain John] Korber wanted to make sure that our players would feel free to pursue their other Ultimate interests, as long as their was a balance with their responsibilities for the Constitution," Connecticut co-captain Rafe Steinhauer said. "That may change in the future, but for now, Korber needed to allow that in order to make it easier for people to commit to playing in the AUDL.  "Kamil is a true 5-tool player: speed, agility, throws, field-vision and toughness.  He started the year as a handler sub on the D-line; subbing for Lucas [Murphy], Izzy [Bryant] and Mazur has been a great opportunity for him to learn how to play that position.  But he is going to be a monster for us and PoNY going forward.  He's an obvious pick as one of the next great metro-NY players, whether that's in club, the pros, or both."  Skwarek's busy summer is just getting started.  On Aug. 11, the AUDL championship game will be played in Detroit's Pontiac Silverdome, the Emerald City Classic (ECC) club tournament takes place in Seattle and the WSL playoffs will be at Purchase.  Unless he can clone himself twice over, Skwarek can't make all three events, meaning two of his teams will be without him (assuming Connecticut makes the championship game).  Such is life when you're performing the Ultimate juggling act.  *If you have an idea for a blog post, feel free to email Adam at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  **And check out the popular ZAGSBLOG.com for the latest news on the Knicks, college hoops and basketball recruiting. Â
ZAG'S RAG NO. 2 -- RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY  Here we are in mid June and we've all only played two summer league games. Out of a potential five. More games have been rained out (3) than have been played (2). Still, at this early juncture a few things are starting to take form. Two teams -- Burgundy and Charcoal -- sit atop the standings at 2-0. Between those two teams, only one pro player -- Kamil Skwarek of the Connecticut Constitution -- is represented. As his biased teammate, I think I speak for our Burgundy team when I say that Kamil has been nothing less than spectacular thusfar. With his full-field hucks (to teammate Mandy Myers), leaping grabs and defensive blocks, he's got to be an early contender for league MVP honors. Four teams are 1-1 right now -- Kelly Green, Black, Orange and Royal Blue . And the surprise of that group may be the "pro team" of Royal blue which features (in the words of LeBron James) "not one, not two..." but three pros in Andy Bosco, Nick Judson and Rafe Steinhauer. The early betting line had these guys going unbeaten a la the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Burgundy figures to be tested by the "pro team" Monday when the squads square off on Field 6. Gold and White are bringing up the bottom of the standings at 0-2, and this despite Gold featuring pro Seth Canetti and a slew of talented teammates. Julie Sussman is hardly to be blamed for White's 0-2 start. According to her co-captain Rick Kahn's Facebook page, he's still rounding into form after a series of knee injuries to the former Lakeland High debate sensation. "After overcoming the fear of the first hard cut, I plan to be spectacular," Kahn wrote. Hey, Rick. We're waiting... BUSY WEEKEND OF ULTIMATE I'm writing this on Friday and odds are you won't read this (if you read it at all) until after the weekend. Still, there was/is a busy weekend of Ultimate ahead locally. Becca Tucker and Joe Gara are hosting their inaugural "Ultimate Peace Fundraiser, Farm Warming & Frisbee Festival" at their place in Warwick, N.Y. It sounds like a great event. For more information, check out their Facebook pages....The Connecticut Constitution also have a big home game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Arute Field against their rivals, the Philadelphia Spinners, with first place in the AUDL on the line. Sounds like some folks will play/watch that game and then head over to Ultimate Peace....As if all that weren't enough excitement, there's a Beach Tourney in Coney Island that will draw a large New York contingent....That's it for this edition of Zag's Rag. Remember, "When a ball dreams, it dreams it's a Frisbee."   **If you have an idea for a blog post, feel free to email Adam at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .   And check out the popular ZAGSBLOG.com for the latest news on the Knicks, college hoops and basketball recruiting. Welcome to the first edition of ZAG'S RAG since it last appeared in the pages of the UPA Newsletter in the early 1990s. Like some of our favorite old bands -- KISS, Van Halen and The Dead (Furthur) -- it's time to ramp up the old act for the younger generation. Each week we'll have a "Five for Friday" with some thoughts, observations and smack talk about the 2012 WUDI Coed season.
Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp cluck chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp cluck cluck chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp cluck cluck chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp cluuck cluuck chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp cluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!! |
PURCHASE, N.Y. -- Kamil Skwarek
Ya, it wud a swarthy swagger, it wud.