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    • 1995 UCSB Black Tide
    Jason Seidler
    This was the year of highs and lows. The season started with a bang when thirty players were coming to practice regularly in the Fall. The team seemed to have a lot of athleticism, so everyone was very positive about the upcoming season. When the Winter rolled around we had twenty-six players on our squad with a great core of about 10 veterans. The team was led by captains Andy Crews and Jason Seidler. The entire pre-season was a blur. Every college tournament we entered we seemed to keep on winning. Our pre-season was so successful that perhaps we didn’t prepare well enough for what really mattered.

    After Sectionals, we were one of the favorites to win Regionals. Unfortunately, Gav broke both of his wrists and Mike Namkung was told he was ineligible (which he technically wasn’t, but didn’t want to risk disqualification for his teammates). This was a devastating blow for the team to lose two of the top players before Regionals. We took our team up to beautiful Santa Cruz but couldn’t ever seem to locate the magic flow we had all season. We had a very frustrating loss to Las Positas (Chabot) that ended our season and many of us could not sleep for quite a while. Fortunately, as we usually do, the Tide took this loss and turned it into a powerful motivating force. The pain from the loss was ever-present, but we will not die.
    "When you start accepting losses graciously, when it doesn’t tear your guts out to lose,
    there's no meaning. But when you find meaning, anything is obtainable."