The 2009 Callahan Award - Why You Should Vote for Andrea Romano (Part 1)

My original intent was to provide a number of profiles highlighting the top players in the women’s division. I started something similar last year with profiles on Katie Barry and Angie Sanan, but I simply got busy with other things this year. Perhaps one day I'll get paid to write these profiles. While I'm being unrealistic, I might as well dream of getting paid to run an individual's Callahan campaign once I'm done with coaching.

Anyway, I was planning to take a fairly objective stance on this year's Callahan Award, but after sifting through RSD and getting a general sense of the Callahan hype, I felt deeply that a gross injustice was taking place. The current frontrunner, Georgia Bosscher, is a very strong candidate but it is insulting to the entire women's division to think that she is a singular talent that is miles above the rest of the field. I love Bosscher's game and folks in Wisconsin are fully entitled to promote her as much as they can. That said, I think the case for Andrea Romano is more compelling and deserves a lot more consideration from all of the voters.

ANDREA ROMANO
Over the past three years, the UC Santa Barbara Burning Skirts have emerged as one of the dominant programs in women’s Ultimate. This year, they have had a very impressive run, notching tourney wins at Pres Day and the Stanford Invite. After a close loss to Ottawa in the Centex finals, UCSB was just short of winning the equivalent of the women's division's Triple Crown.

Beyond this year, UCSB defied expectations in both 2007 and 2008 by reaching the finals at the College Championships. In 2007, they eliminated UCLA, one of the most talented college women's teams I've ever seen. In 2008, they were up 8-5 in the finals before running out of gas.

The disparity between UCSB's accomplishments and the amount of hype they get on RSD and other blogs is enormous. The fact is that they demand considerably more attention and recognition for their rise to power. When you examine the factors responsible for the Burning Skirt's success, you will see that Andrea Romano has played a gigantic part in their ascent.

Andrea (aka Dre) grew up in San Francisco where basketball was her primary sport. She discovered Ultimate when she got to college and credits Karen Ko and Steve Dugan with her early development as a player. She recalls that Karen would "[stay] after practice and [throw] with me... encouraging me to play club after my rookie season." Her growth as a player took another big jump forward when Steve Dugan recruited her to play with the Gendors in 2006. That team qualified for the Club Championships and made it to the semifinals.

That same club season marks one of the most difficult times in Dre's Ultimate career and life. On the return trip from the Southwest Mixed Regionals tourney, just hours after celebrating their qualification to Nationals, Andrea was involved in a tragic car accident that took the lives of two of her teammates (Doug Baker and Will Wiersma). She spoke about this during CSTV's coverage of the 2007 finals against Stanford, and suffice to say, the accident was a very emotional event in her life.

The accident would also have a lasting physical effect on the field. When the 2007 college season began, the first signs of a mysterious foot injury stemming from the accident showed up and sidelined her early in the season. The same problem would put her on the sidelines for the bulk of the 2008 season. "Spending hours captaining the team and having an injury doctors can’t explain is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It’s hard not to be able to lead by example and be stuck on the sidelines not being able to work hard and run sprints with your team."

Andrea's ability to confront these adversities owes a lot to her work ethic. The Burning Skirts practice four times a week on top of conditioning during the winter and spring quarters. Their tourney schedule was among the most demanding in the women's division, and the fact that they remain highly motivated and perform consistently well is a testament to the team's leadership. Kaela Jorgenson and Carolyn Finney took on the role of captains this year, but Andrea has clearly remained a vital leader both on and off the field.

This year, UCSB has capped off their ascent by entering the College Championships as the number one seed. While she won't assume credit for it, there is a clear correlation between Dre's time on the team and their path to the top. She considers this journey to be one of the highlights of her Ultimate career. "When I started playing on the Skirts, the veterans were ecstatic to just qualify for Stanford Invite. When I was a rookie, we set a goal of making it to Nationals in 2007. Winning Centex in 2007 and transitioning from a team that was not guaranteed an invite to big tournaments to a national spotlight team was definitely one of the highpoints of my career."

Their success during the season was particularly impressive since last year's Callahan nominee Katie Barry had been on the sidelines prior to Regionals. All the while, Andrea has still been dealing with her foot injury (she sat out during their loss to UCLA at Sectionals). As part of this process, I have personally witnessed the evolution in Dre's game. Her nagging injury has at times limited her ability to dominate as a cutter the way she did early in her college career, but she has become a much smarter player and a steady handler that the rest of the team can depend on. Her presence on the field provides a great deal of confidence to her teammates, and her significance becomes more and more noticeable with every game you watch UCSB play.

Romano's confidence and demeanor also have an important impact on her teammates. By the middle of this season, the Burning Skirts looked like an unstoppable mack truck until they hit a few bumps at Centex and Socal Sectionals. Dre's manner of handling those losses provided a great example for her teammates and helped to motivate them to a dominant performance at the Southwest Regionals where they looked like the best team I had seen all season. Romano explains, “I am a very competitive person and I hate losing. However, [losing to Ottawa at Centex and UCLA at Sectionals] motivated our team to step it up at practice and work on our weaknesses."

Going into the College Championships, Dre and the Burning Skirts have their eyes on the prize. "Our goal is to bring the best possible team we can to Columbus and leave it all on the field." While there are a number of championship-caliber teams in the field, UCSB looks like a good bet to end the Northwest's reign. If the Burning Skirts are the ones hoisting the trophy on Memorial Day, let there be no doubt that Andrea Romano will be a major reason why.

------

I will be posting part two of this article tomorrow, and offer a detailed analysis on why I think Andrea Romano is the best candidate for the Callahan.