Month: October 2011

Name:
Jonathan Levy
*Photo by Margo Hasselman: power pool versus Sockeye in Prague at [Worlds] WUCC 2010, with thunderclouds fast approaching.

Nicknames:
Levy

Jersey #:
4

Height:
6′ 1.75″

Date of birth:
9 June 1984

Place of birth:
Philadelphia, PA

Current city of residence:
San Francisco, CA

Occupation:
Doctoral student in Neuroscience at UC San Francisco

College team(s):
Stanford-B (2003)
Stanford (2004-2006)

Former teams:
The Oaks (2005)
Revolver (2006 – present)

Accolades:
I went to school with Robbie Cahill.

How I came to join Revolver:
I wanted to keep playing Ultimate with my Stanford teammates after college. A bunch of us tried out for Revolver at Cal States 2006. I was really excited about the team, and during Saturday morning warmups I eagerly laid out for an errant disc, landing awkwardly on my right (throwing) hand. I heard a pop, it hurt a lot, and was very swollen. I was way too annoyed at myself and embarrassed to tell anyone, so I taped it up (to cut down on the swelling) and played lefty for the day. I got it looked at that night — broken 3rd metacarpal, out 8 weeks. I made the team despite the fact I was clearly pretty dumb.

Funniest moment or joke on Revolver:
Nationals 2008 — after we lost in the quarterfinals we had dinner at a small, family-friendly Italian place in Sarasota. As a large group, we were inevitably a bit louder than the other patrons would have preferred. To diffuse the situation, Chuck brought out his fiddle. He proceeded to walk over to each of the other tables, ask for their favorite song, and bang it out on the fiddle. The entire team would sing along, and he would move on to the next table. People either loved this or pretended to love it. After Chuck was done, Daryl tried to make things right by buying dinner for the entire restaurant.

Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver:
1. Colorado Cup 2006 — My first full-length club tournament, coming off a broken hand (See Cal States story above). We brought about 16 guys and somehow pushed our way into finals, where we got absolutely crushed by a more experienced and talented Bravo team. Martin Cochran (then of Bravo) got an in-cut D on Robbie during that game and yelled “NOT TODAY!” as he swatted the disc away. I generally had no idea what was going on and loved every minute of it.
2. Worlds 2010 — Brian Garcia was unstoppable, Prague was amazing, and I got to watch Andrew Fleming do one of the most ridiculous things ever. (At no point did I think he had any shot at catching that disc).

Favorite game or tournament moment outside of Revolver:
1. College NW Regionals 2005 finals — Stanford vs. UBC. I knew I would draw Morgan Hibbert as my defensive assignment. I had guarded him before and he generally had done whatever he wanted. I was determined this time to make his life miserable. It was wet and rainy, and we spent two hours battling, taking turns getting layout D’s, point-blocks, and deep goals. When the game ended, I was completely exhausted and could barely shake his hand. Stanford eked out a win and the regional title.
2. Kaimana Klassik 2005 — Stanford vs. Voltron. Voltron was loaded with top-tier club players, including Chase and Nord. I was happy just to have the opportunity to play against them. It was the first time I’d played against the best atheletes in ultimate. Plus, after we lost we got to watch Volton in the finals against a very talented Nada Mooger team.

Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years:
1. Brandon Hyde — One of the team leaders at Stanford. He was hurt my entire rookie season but still made it to essentially every team event. Seeing him rehab for the entire year and watching it pay off as he returned for Regionals and Nationals was inspiring.
2. Nick Handler/James Herbert — The captains my rookie year at Stanford. They taught me an incredible amount about Ultimate. Both of them are fantastic players and leaders.
3. Jack Kuecker/Ben Dean — The other guys in my sophomore rookie class. During games, we generally spent a lot of time huddled together on the sideline trying to stay warm.

Favorite tournament:
Nationals. The emotions I feel during the moment of pure silence on the morning of the first day before the national anthem starts coming in over the tinny speakers are absolutely indescribable. Everything — a mix of pride, determination, desire, nervousness, and pure joy — comes rushing out. The emotional attachment and incomparable level of play make it my favorite tournament.

What makes ___ so dangerous?
I’m much quicker than I look.

Theme song:
I love music.

Pre-game ritual:
I start by wishing I could skip to the part of the day when I’m already warm. I struggle through plyos and by the time I make my first deep cut during warmups, I feel like my legs are ok. I grab someone to do some marking drills with me before the game starts, and I’m ready to go.

What I like to eat on Saturday night of a tournament:
What’s good.

If I didn’t play Ultimate, my main pastime outside of work would be:
That’s a great question.

Favorite sports team outside of Ultimate:
Philles and Eagles.

In terms of Kanners, how tan are you?
Kanner is 0.5 Levys.

Something unknown about me:
I really hate distance running. I’ve never run more than 2 miles.