This year's team is going to have a very different feel. I'm excited to see how the personality of the Cascades develops throughout the tryout process and pre-season!
Tryouts start off the same as the past couple years with The Combine. However, we're having a second (closed) tryout weekend in order to spend more time with the top few players who are vying for a roster spot. The decision to build it this way revolves around the selection process itself - instead of overlapping our on-field leadership with Seattle Sockeye as we have done the past couple years, we'll be operating independently. In other words, the team we select in February will represent the Cascades throughout the season regardless of how Sockeye reforms its roster in the spring-summer.
I expect there will be some roster turn-over, more so than this past year. While this normally is a bad sign, in our case it's an opportunity to craft a really strong new identity. We'll be a mix players with different backgrounds, including some players from the Seattle Rainmakers, who recently closed shop.
The behavior of our leadership plays an important part too. While we haven't established official "captains" we have four people slated to select the team and set the tone in February: Khalif El-salaam, Mark Burton, Rohre Titcomb, and Xtehn Titcomb. Khalif ("Leaf") and Mark are going to be our on-field spiritual leaders, while Rohre and I are taking a more global perspective on the players & team. One of the other topics we four are working on is what kind of coaching staff makes sense for the Cascades this year.
2017 Seattle Cascades Selection Committee:
* Khalif El-salaam
* Mark Burton
* Rohre Titcomb
* Xtehn Titcomb
We've announced three key players before the Combine: Khalif El-salaam, Mark Burton, and Adam "Chicken" Simon. I'm really proud of these players and what they're going to bring to the team this year in terms of their work ethic, their teamwork, and their genuine passion for ultimate.
Cascades Tryouts are going to begin next week. It's going to be another groundbreaking season for the Seattle Cascades and I can't wait to update you on some of the other stuff that's in store for 2017!
Xtehn Titcomb
General Manager
Seattle Cascades