A Callahan vs. a Championship


I've noticed a recent trend in college ultimate - men's Callahan winners winning championships in the same year. Five out of the last seven men's Callahan winners have also won the championship that same year, including this year with Tim Gehret and Florida. However, the women's Callahan winners have come up short every year since 1998 when Stanford was in the midst of their threepeat and also had a Callahan winner.
Why is this? If the Callahan really does represent the most spirited, most valuable player in each division, what is it about these recent men's Callahan winners that pushes their teams the distance? Why are Callahan women unable to carry their teams through til the end?
I have some thoughts. Perhaps it is that in women's college ultimate, superstars stand out even more against the backdrop of a team lacking in talent, experience, or big playmaking. Sometimes this is a self-perpetuating situation in which one player is better, makes all the big plays, her team depends on her for big plays, she has to make more big plays...she gets recognition. For example, I have no doubt that Alex Snyder was the best college ultimate player in the country this year - if I could had votes, they all would have gone to her - but would she have stood out as much had she played for Stanford? If she had played 5 years with the likes of Gwen Ambler, Jenny Burney, Jamie Nuwer, Enessa Janes and Lauren Casey, would she have gained as much recognition as she did? Alex has been the best player and a clear leader on Colorado for a long time and that is partially because Kali is just gaining steam as a true ultimate powerhouse and she is a huge part of it becoming that way. On Stanford she would have still been a great player, but nonetheless a part of the Superfly faceless army.
In my opinion, it is less about the Callahan winners dropping the ball than it is about the presence of some really excellent womens college ultimate programs. Of course, Stanford has great players every year, but they are typically go to players for 2 or 3 years rather than the 4 or 5 that people at lesser programs have. If you plucked Stanford's best 2 players and put them on other teams, they would probably win the Callahan too.
But lucky Superfly girls get to learn from the best coaches and team players and be part of the best program that college womens' ultimate has every known. Props to Dom and AJ for standing out that much more to win the Callahan from this program - it must have been ridiculous to watch.
This is a challenge to other players and coaches out there to take a lesson from Superfly and try to build a program (UCLA, CU, Wisconsin, Davis - you're clearly on your way) - because cool as it is to win the Callahan, all of us would gladly turn it in for a college championship. Let alone the three team golds that the Superfly graduates this year have for their trophy case.
