Weeks of showing up at the field, long before the other players, and running hours of drills under the watchful eye of Coach Kevin 'Big Can' Curry paid dividends for the Tippinators. Of the two squads entered in the event, one starter division and one novice division, both finished on the podium plus there was a stellar individual performance at the Top Gun competition.
The Tippinators rookie squad of Chris 'Fuzzy' Landry, Justin 'KossaK' Landry, Trevor 'Awkes' Colwell and Mark 'Tinman' Miller put in a strong performance ending the day in 1st place of the starter division. While getting ready for the tournament to start the squad was on pins and needles wondering if the hours of practice would make a difference on the field. Chris Landry commented, "I sure hope all the effort we put into getting ready for this tournament pays off. I really want to get out there and put all this practice to the test." The efforts in practice did pay off on the field with the squad dominating every game and not allowing another team to make a single hang during the entire tournament. The squad's pinpoint shooting, excellent communication, aggressive fire and movement coupled with Justin 'KossaK' Landry's superb snake play resulted in more than half of the games being max'ed.
The squad of Austin 'Juno' Flaherty, Scott 'Hired Gun' Knowles, Jim 'Jimbo' Langlois and Bruce 'Charon' Johnston joined their teammates on the podium with a strong 4th place finish in the novice division. The novice squad didn't enjoy the same domination of their division, as did the starter squad, but they played well against some very talented teams. Of the squad's performance Austin 'Juno' Flaherty said "We have improved so much that every time I step on the field I now know that we can win. I can see us getting better with every game. I love playing against these great teams, it makes us better players." Flaherty continued "If we keep practicing the way we have been there is no reason that we can't do even better the next time out." Scott 'Hired Gun' Knowles echoed Flaherty's feelings "We are improving and the gap is getting smaller between us and the other teams. It's starting to come together thanks to Big Can."
The team accomplishments of the two Tippinators squads during the day were accented by an impressive individual performance during the, one-on-one, Top Gun competition held during the lunch break. Playing against representatives of the other teams, Austin 'Juno' Flaherty was able to fight his way to a strong third place finish in the competition while at the same time showing his woodsball roots. Flaherty vaulted himself into the finals by scoring an elimination, in the round robin, while shooting from a prone position under the center X after a belly crawl from the 30. This unexpected and non-speedball move brought an eruption of cheers, whistles and applause from the gathered crowd of players.
Both Tippinators squads gave their all during the tournament and are pleased with the results. Bruce 'Charon' Johnston expressed the feeling of the rest of the team when he used two words to explain why there has been such an improvement the in every member of the team. "Big Can" was all Johnston would say.
Kevin 'Big Can' Curry has given hours of his own time to coach the team and was very pleased with their performance at the Meltdown. "I've always believed that the more you bleed in practice the less you will bleed during a game." Curry said "The Tippinators proved that today. I'm really proud of all the guys, they worked their butts off during practice, played hard during the tournament and won with class." Curry continued "The only thing better than playing an honest game, is playing and honest game and winning. They proved out there today that you can play fair, treat your competitors with respect and still win." Curry concluded "Two teams, in two divisions, both on the podium at the end of the day, what more can a coach ask for?"
After seeing success in the March Meltdown the team is eager to increase their practice schedule and practice intensity in an attempt to become stronger players and a better team. The indoor season is now over and the team looks forward to sliding on grass, playing in the sun, and with the help of Coach Curry, taking their play to the next level.
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