On Saturday at Flowerbowl it rained. Then it rained some more and continued to rain harder and softer for the entire day. Some of our guys weren't prepared for this, but this is the one condition that you need to be ready for. This is even truer if it gets cold because cold and wet are a nightmare combination.
My choice for attire was compression shorts, tights, lined sports pants, long sleeve VC shirt, short sleeve VC shirt, jacket when I wasn't on the field, baseball hat, armband, dry fit socks, and cleats. The jacket and pants were the most important pieces of that entire getup. My legs and core stayed reasonably warm throughout the day and the tights underneath the pants avoids that wet feeling you get with wet plastic against sweaty skin.
Pictured Above: Our team at the end of Flowerbowl (photo courtesy of Lexi Marsh). Top row Left to Right: Colin Green, Brett Taylor, Graham Withers, John Hassell, Andrew Ouchterlony, Patrick Moony, Kirk Nylen, Andy Corey, Inian Moorthy, Evan Phillips. Bottom Row Left ot Right: Anatoly Vasilyev, Chris Lee, Scotty Nicholls, Steven Tam, Malcolm Johnston, Jeff Lindquist, Peter Jamieson, Andrew Parker. Absent from photo: Jeff Sward.The thing I was having trouble on Saturday was bathtub hands. You know that wrinkly look that your fingers take on when the skin becomes water logged. One of the guys, Inian, had mittens that probably would have helped keep hands drier, but I worry that the inside glove would eventually get soaked. The solution, I think, is having a field tent to hang towels in so that you can go to the tent and dry your hands after each point. Then you put your hands behind your back and under your jacket so that they don't get wet and they can dry more in the air.
You'll probably need a number of towels to do this in conditions like we had, but I think it would have made my throws a lot better in our final game on Saturday. Every time I touched the disc I was nervous about the release. Even a backhand grip and throw was challenging and it felt like I was holding a soapy disc. Any other ideas?
PJ
2 comments:
Funnily enough, the only guy to lose his grip on a throw that game was in fact... Inian.
Biking gloves. I used them on Saturday, and they worked great, even when completely soaked. They have little rubber 'stickies' on the fingers which helps, but I think the most important aspect is keeping your hands warm so they don't get all numb and you starting dropping because you can't feel the disc, or your hands are seized up.
The gloves are thin enough that they don't affect your throwing too much, but I find I have to do a thorough warmup with them on to recalibrate my throw.
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