Pod Practice

Part 4 of our 4 part series where we check-in with a player from the top 4 seeds of the Men's and Women's divisions heading into Club Nationals. We look at Pool D for the final episode of this little series. Thanks to Nhi Nguyen of Molly Brown and Brett Hulsmeyer of Chain Lightning for joining us! Nhi has been playing for Molly Brown since before she was a freshman in college. The only def...

Part 3 of our 4 part series where we check-in with a player from the top 4 seeds of the Men's and Women's divisions heading into Club Nationals. Today from Pool C we have Simon Higgins from Revolver and - not one, but two! - guests from Fury - Magon Liu and Dozer aka Shayla Harris. Since the turn of the century, Revolver and Fury have won more Championships than any other team in their res...

Part 2 of our 4 part series where we check-in with a player from the top 4 seeds of the Men's and Women's divisions heading into Club Nationals. Moving onto Pool B - we have Linsday Soo of Phoenix and John Randolph of PoNY. Phoenix is a confluence of rising young stars who have dominated the college division and world class, proven veterans who have won at the highest level. After winning...

Part 1 of our 4 part series where we check-in with a player from the top 4 seeds of the Men's and Women's divisions heading into Club Nationals. We're starting with Pool A where two DC teams sit atop the standings. Christian Boxley from DC Truckstop and Lisi Lohre from DC Scandal share their thoughts heading into Nationals. Truckstop has dominated each of the last 2 regular seasons. Si...

Quinn and Mike jump on talk about losing to Doublewide, again, AUDL Awards, and look ahead to Club Nationals. We are also soft launching a few (hopefully) recurring segments: Coaches Corner, Wecommended Workouts (Working Title), and Finer Things (those small, simple pleasures that we make our days). Kikko Socks Use discount code: POD15 for 15% off your next order. More from Pod Practice: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Inst...

AK aka Akshat Rajan is one of the best videographers in Ultimate, having captured some of the biggest moments in the sport over the last few years. AK also gives great perspective on covering the sport as a media person, the role of USA Ultimate, and how different levels of ultimate (like the legendary MCUDL) are important. Kikko Socks Use discount code: POD15 for 15% off your next order. More fro...

HAK joins to recap Chain's strong performance at Pro Champs. Full strength Pony and Truckstop have been the top 2 teams all season, but Chain cemented themselves as a contender in a field where the margins are increasingly thin. At Pro Champs they lost on universe to Truck, but notched three universe point wins against Pony, us, and Revolver. They pulled on universe in all 4 games. We love tha...

Ben and Alex bond over talking shit and playing with a chip on your shoulder. Fresh of back to back AUDL Titles, Ben is one of the winningest and fiercest competitors in the sport today. He's a 2x AUDL MVP, 3x AUDL Champion, Club Champion, World Champion, College Champion, and known to ruffle some feathers on the field. We're here to tell you that competition isn't for the faint of hea...

This week we discuss the three things for creating a strong team as outlined in The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle. Those three things are building safety, sharing vulnerability, and establishing purpose. The best leaders consistently do a great job of centering their teams around all three. Kins also updates us on his role at the AUDL Championship Weekend wh...

Quinn broke his nose. Kins re-injured his PCL. This week we take some time to wallow in our sorrows while looking forward optimistically on the rest of 2023. We talk about the challenges of staying competitive by holding each other accountable and trusting that we don't have to. Plus, hey, Mike brought home the gold in the Grand Masters division with Johnny Walker! This week we also answered a...

Manu and Roddy stop by Mikey's house to tell the Pod about ultimate in Colombia, playing in the US vs Colombia, and the importance of gaining new perspectives in new settings. American players have dominated the sport since its inception, but Manu, and her twin sister, Valeria are arguably the two best players in the sport today. Roddy played his first season in the AUDL with the Colorado Summ...

Ari Nelson is pursuing their EdS in School Psychology and has been dealing with Mental Illness their whole life. In team sports we often ask and sometimes require our teammates to fit a certain mold, to buy-in, to always put the team first, or to always be positive. On almost every episode we talk about how important team culture is to a team's success. In fact, we often say it is the only imp...

In our Championship Series we'll be talking to players and coaches from the winners of the D1 and D3 College Championships in 2023. In Part 1, Coach MGH talks about what it takes to three-peat as a National Champion and the sports psychology behind dealing with pressure. He also tells us who is top 7 Darkside players of all-time are. Kins and Quinn debate the difference between a cerebral play...

In loving memory of Leila, Rubi, and Boss. Lisa Picaithley joins for Episode 16. DJ Suh gives us insight on Mike's Ennegram number. She also talks about her beginnings in the sport, and what it was like to be on a men's team. Quinn tells us how to adopt a Potato, and we go down memory lane to talk about our loyal companions and best friends, Leila, Rubi, and Boss. Finally, LP talks about b...

Jonathan "Nutt" Nethercutt joins us in person as we take on the wings of death in the Hot Ones Challenge. While navigating the gauntlet, Nutt tells us about North Carolina's ascension in ultimate over the last decade, the influence of Mike Denardis, transitioning to Colorado Ultimate, and the importance of coaching. We also talk top 5 throwers of all time and answer an email question...

Grant is back to talk a little bit more about his book and we dive a bit into his career. He's been at the pinnacle of the sport at every level - YCC Champion, College Champion, Club Champion, World Champion. He gives some advice on evolving as a player and finding reasons to continue competing at the highest level. Indie Pubs: https://indiepubs.com/products/mediocre-monk Amazon: https://amzn....

We recap the first Summit road trip of the season. Road trips are exhausting, but the best time for bonding with teammates. We talk a bit about building team chemistry and what kind of adjustments we might make game to game. Ian Toner also joins us to talk about about a Kins Bomb, and give a little insight into what it's like being an Ultimate commentator. More from Pod Practice: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram...

In the 12th episode of Pod Practice we ran into some technical issues recording so Grant will be coming back for Part II to finish the conversation and answer some fan questions! Check out his new book if you haven't already. We'll link to it below. Grant is incredibly thoughtful and one of the best players of his generation. In Part I we talk about what stood out to us after reading The M...

Over the last half decade, Rowan has done as much to push the sport forward as anyone. Putting yourself out there on YouTube, Instagram, and other social platforms has its pros and cons. It can have effect the way your peers look at you. It also opens up opportunities to connect with communities near and far that you otherwise would never be able to. He also talks about his holistic approach to tr...

On the tenth episode of Pod Practice we are joined by Devynn Miller. She shares the ups and downs of supporting Quinn's obsession with ultimate. It takes big sacrifices to achieve greatness in pursuit of our dreams. It's easy to forget that our loved ones are also making huge sacrifices to support us in that pursuit. Quinn is lucky to have found a partner who provides that support. We coul...

On the ninth episode of Pod Practice, we talk to one of the most accomplished players of the last decade, Sean Keegan. Since 2014, Sean has been to 5 National Semis, 3 National Finals, won 2 Championships (Bravo 2014, Pony 2018), won a WUCC title with Pony in 2022, and made the team USA roster. Sean has gone through a lot of ups and downs from a reputation standpoint and coming back from injuries....

On the eighth episode of Pod Practice we're joined by Liam Searles-Bohs. LSB has been a super-star talent since playing YCC with Triangle Triforce. A top 5 Callahan finisher, Liam was an immediate impact player for UNC Darkside as a freshman and helped lead Darkside to 3 National Titles, helped lead Ring to their first title in 2021, has played on many national teams, and most recently will be...

On the seventh episode of Pod Practice we're joined by Akane Kleinkopf of the Colorado Alpenglow. She also coaches Fairview HS in Boulder. After playing at Whitman during undergrad, Akane helped lead Quandary as a Grad Student to a Finals appearance at USA Ultimate College Nationals in 2022. She went on to play with Love Tractor during the Club Season where she and Jack McShane served as a dyn...

In the sixth episode of Pod Practice we chat with Pawel Janas about the best way to eat a potato. He also gives us an economics lesson on the future of the sport and why we need to invest in youth. Pawel's favorite way to eat a potato: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017491-ash-roasted-potatoes More from Pod Practice: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠Twitter⁠ ⁠YouTube

In an attempt to release a shorter episode, we topped 2 hours in our convo with Joe Flight. On the fifth episode of Pod Practice we reminisce with Joe White on some of his best plays and toughest defeats. Joe also tells us how to become an elite cutter & thrower, touches on differences in team culture and integrating remote talent with Machine, and predicts the future of the sport. Bonus - he...