NUT started the fall season off with a tournament in Wisconsin. Returners and rookies were divided into three Pokémon themed teams: Team Valor, Team Mystic, and Team Instinct. The leaders had the following to say about their teams:
Team Valor – Leader Jay Valdillez
Through strength, grit, and determination, Team Valor took Milwaukee by storm. A mix of experienced players and rookies helped us develop as a team and hone in our fundamentals. The odds were against us, but as a team we fought through many challenges.
With intense games against familiar opponents like Illinois, Team Valor fought hard with our fellow Pokémaniacs cheering us on from the sideline. Impressive handling performances from Keith Bohrer and deep cuts from Spencer Schaffer showed promise of good things to come. Our team focused on disciplined cutting from our vertical stack and hot man defense. Later, we faced challenges in the form of the mysterious zone executed by Team Rocket, who specialized at throwing strategies at us that we hadn’t talked about yet in our limited practices. We closed out Saturday with a battle against our own Team Instinct; Luke Mansour came up huge with a completely horizontal layout D. Sunday brought many injuries to our ace trainers, so our rookies stepped up in a huge way, with Raul Rosenfeld smashing D’s with the force of Moltres himself.
Improvement and discipline were the goals of the weekend, and we played with strength, heart, and most importantly Valor to lead us to the ultimate evolution.
Team Mystic – Leader Will Frolich
Using the powers of logic and wisdom, embodied by the mighty Articuno, Team Mystic took a powerful team to No Wisconsequences at the beautiful Milwaukee Polo Grounds. Sporting flashy blue jerseys, Team Mystic took a balanced team of rookies and returners in hopes of claiming the local Poke-gym.
Battling tough conditions Team Mystic worked hard to develop throughout the weekend to develop our young group through a long weekend of competitive play. Starting off very inexperienced with only a few weeks of practices under our belts, Mystic ran a steady vertical stack and employed ferocious defense to create turns and put pressure on teams from around the region. Come Sunday, Mystic was looking like an experienced team that had evolved far beyond the starter Pokémon we looked like at the start.
Strong freshman poised for long and successful careers in the Great Lakes Region include: Andrew McCabe, Andrew Patel, Evan Nixon and George Irving.
Team Instinct – Leader Ben Spielman
Team Instinct had a bit of a slow start to the long weekend. Our first game was against Notre Dame Y. We had an early lead, but it slowly dwindled away as they began to use a 4-man cup in the windy conditions. After a good effort, we dropped the first game by 2 points.
After 2 more losses to Wisconsin and Michigan, we had our final pool play game against Chicago X. We came out with a big run, then traded until it was 8-6. A few big plays by Chicago brought the score to 9-8 Chicago. Hard cap went off after the point, meaning that we needed to score and break to get the win. With our electric sidelines and high-energy play, team instinct was able to score back-to-back points and get the win.
Our next two games were against our fellow Pokémon trainers – team mystic and team valor. Using what we learned in the first 4 games, we were able to defeat both rival groups and claim the Northwestern gym.
On Sunday, we came out with 2 straight losses to start the day, but had a chance for revenge in the final game against Notre Dame Y. This was the final game of the day, and we were eager to show how much we’d improved over the course of the weekend. After trading the first 4 points, team instinct fired off a 6-0 run to take a commanding lead. We hit them with a few thunderbolts, a few thunder waves, and a few zap cannons, and they were paralyzed with fear. We ended up winning by 10 points, demonstrating how much we grew as a team and as individuals throughout the weekend. Play of the weekend went to rookie Paul Klatt, who had a ridiculous layout Callahan in the final game against Notre Dame.