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Lindsey Hack just finished a successful club season where her team, Backhoe, finished second at the UPA Club Championships. Hack is a co-captain of the UNC-Chapel Hill Pleiades, which has its sights set on qualifying for the College Championships this May. Read below to find out more information about her ultimate beginnings, history, skills/profile, and upcoming college season.
| Ultimate Beginnings: | ||
| What other sports do you have a background in and when did you play them? | ||
| I have an extensive background in running. I ran cross country and track all through high school and I continued to pursue running on the indoor track and field squad at Michigan State University. I ran any race between the 800m and 2 mile, but specialized in the 800m towards the end of my career. In addition, I used to play basketball in high school and I coached track and field during undergrad at a nearby high school. | ||
| Where and when did you first learn to play ultimate? | ||
| East Lansing, MI. I never even heard of ultimate frisbee until college. I began playing random pickup my freshman year with friends from the dorm. One day, a guy who was on the men’s college team (Casey Madura) came and played with us. He saw me playing and told me I should play for the women’s team at MSU. I laughed and said “they have teams for this game?” The next year (2001-2002), my junior year, I sought the team out and became immediately hooked. I got lucky because many of the club players (Clutch and BAT) took me in immediately and let me tag along to tournaments and challenged me at pickup right from the beginning. If it weren’t for many of them, I would not have progressed as quickly as I did in the sport. | ||
| What about the sport has made you continue to play since then? |  |
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| Recently, I have realized how much the ultimate community is family. I know many players from all around the nation and I enjoy everyone’s company and their undying support. In addition to the family feeling I get on and off the field, I also love being a part of a sport during its developmental stages. At MSU, I would like to think I played an integral role in founding and sustaining the women’s team during its reemergence. In addition, I have enjoyed attacking such administrative projects such as the East Lansing Summer League and Sectional (MI) and Regional (AC) coordinators. Overall, my need to be competitive keeps me closely tied to the ultimate scene. I value the challenge of becoming a better player and pushing my body to new limits. | ||
| Who would you describe as your main mentor(s)? | ||
| Oh dear, there are really too many players who have helped me along the way. Early mentors would include, but not be limited to, Trish York (TY), Mary Thiel, Amy Young and Aaron Bongard. Since moving to North Carolina, I have had the pleasure of playing for and working with such ultimate masterminds as Brian Dobyns, Mel Proctor, Jessi Witt, and Beth Stagner. | ||
| Ultimate History: |
| What teams have you played on? |
| I started off on the Michigan State women’s college team and played for them my junior and senior year(captain). Unfortunately, I lost a year of eligibility the following year as I did not immediately move on to graduate school after finishing undergrad. But, I did get the experience of coaching the MSU women’s team that year, which proved to be an invaluable learning experience. Since then, I have been a member of the University of North Carolina women’s team – Pleiades. On the club scene, I played on Clutch (Ann Arbor, MI) for two years – qualifying for Nationals in 2002 and making pre-quarters in 2003. When I moved down to Carolina, I began playing for Backhoe – Nationals semi-finalist 2004 and finalist in 2005. Besides college and club teams, I am a regular at poultry days (Roosterfarians) and Mars (the dynasty – Yank My Doodle). |
| What has been your greatest ultimate achievement/memory? |
| The best is yet to come. |
| What has been your worst (most heartbreaking, most challenging, or most embarrassing, etc.) ultimate memory? |
| College Regionals 2005. A disaster of a semis game left us out of the running for the one and only bid for college nationals. I played awful, NCSU played great, and we were sent packing. |
| What type of recognition/honors/awards (if any) have you received for your ultimate play? |
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Ultimate Skills/Profile: |
| What position do you play? Has this differed on different teams you may have played for? | |
| For Carolina, I typically handle the disc. On Backhoe, I have the freedom to go deep a lot more and use more of my speed and cutting ability to help my team reach our goals. | |
| What do you view as your strengths on the field? | |
| I would like to think I am an effective deep. I have always been able to see when and where to cut on the field and typically I have put in the training time so I can run hard all game. Strength throws? Well, I am not going to tell you guys everything ;) | |
| What are you working on most to improve? | |
| Laying out. I have been visualizing this and trying to do this effortlessly for years. I have spent too much of my athletic life upright and protecting my body from serious injury (running) that it has been really difficult switching to such a skill. | |
| What is your role on your college team (include leadership roles on and off the field)? | |
| I am one of two captains (Ellie Bolas – Olio). As captains, we distribute the administrative load as much as possible, but as captains know – you need to know a little about everything and have your hand in every project to “just make sure.” Currently, we are proud to announce that UNC will have a B team for the first time ever. This has been taking a lot of Ellie’s, Jared’s (our coach) and my time. But, the time is well spent and we look forward to having our B team give some A teams hell and be one of the best B teams in the country. | |
| What type of pre-game or pre-tournament rituals (if any) do you have? | |
| Listen to hip hop…lots of hip hop. | |
| Upcoming College Season: | |
| Describe a little bit about your experience on your college team last year. Despite failing to make Nationals, how did well did the team meet its goals? | |
| Our team did exceptionally well last year. I think we only lost 4 games and were missing half of our A team roster in the fall (due to other commitments and abroad programs). Plus the addition of a personality like mine was hard to adjust to and our captain was new to the position. Despite our "struggles" we had a great time and beat some great teams (Texas and NCSU) in classic battles. | |
| How did that compare to previous years for the team? | |
| Last year was the first year I was on the team so I can not really say how things compared to previous years. I did hear that we had more ballers on the team than ever before. Thank goodness most of those ladies have returned for another year. I remember at Easterns, the wind was gusting at 35+ mph and we worked it up wind time and time again with well executed throws and decisions usually only characteristic of a club team. I was ridiculously proud of my team after that tournament. They are all champions in my eyes. | |
| How strong do you think your team will be this season? Any new recruits you are especially excited about? |   |
| I do not like to brag that much about my team on a public forum, but I will try. We lost stand out players Sara Stanley and Kelsey Clark from last year, but the addition of the B team has allowed us to focus our team a little more this year and our new recruits are outstanding. We have more runners, more defenders, and more ladies dedicated to our goal of making nationals. I am especially excited about all of our new A team members – Kelly Gillis (tireless cutter), Ginny Clayton (defender), Julie Ellison (great mid), Kristin Stroupe (favorite deep target), Angella Rinehold (crisp throws), Steph Urbin (MSU soccerite turned ultimate), Kristin Post (experienced league player now grad student), Charliss Fenton (Chapel Hill HS standout) and Amanda Hobbs (transfer from NCSU). In addition to these new additions, our core group of returners played at the club level this spring (Olio) and improved their skills dramatically. Look for Kate Morrison, Hannah Giles, Amanda Hobbs, and Ellie Bolas to make a resounding impact on the college ultimate scene this year. | |
| What are your personal and team goals for this season? | |
| Personal goals: I would like to see my throws and throwing decisions become more dependable. During the club season, I am best used downfield as my greatest strengths are my speed and cutting ability. Therefore, it is always tough to transition back to college where I am expected to be making more of the big throws. It usually takes a few months before my break throws and hucks start working effectively again. Team Goals: Nationals. Enough said. |
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| What do you think is the biggest difference between college and club ultimate? | |
| Oh wow, this is a pretty complex question with probably even more complex answers. I used to think college ultimate was more emotionally taxing, but I disagree after my experience with Backhoe this year. Any team that you dedicate your heart to for a whole season can be both emotionally and physically exhausting. College is different because the team will be comprised of ladies with less skill and less familiarity with the sport. In that respect, college is rewarding in its own respect. If you can take part in turning a bunch of rookies/less experienced players into a lethal, efficient TEAM, then you have really accomplished something special. Technically, you have the opportunity to hook a player for life to a sport you already love so much. Club, you do not have to do that. Those ladies are already hooked but, that is what is great about club as well. You do not have to worry about dedication or love for the game. You can just concentrate on skills and pushing it to the limits. I would like to think our college team will be more like that this year. Also, Club is a place where a bunch of rounded players, with exceptional skills, come together and your biggest challenge is playing as a TEAM. In college, typically, a few individuals can lead a team and play 90% of the points. The challenge with college is not so much getting ladies to work together as a team, but bringing up everyone’s skills to that of your best players. |
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| Now that the club season is over, what tournaments are you most looking forward to with your college team? | |
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