Jim Parinella

Primary receiver and popper in zone O. I was both a deep threat and a possession receiver. Up to age 35, I also played a lot of D, usually on receivers or as wing or deep in the zone.

I was a key part of the DoG dynasty that won six straight national championships. We had so many great players that it’s hard to claim that any one of us was indispensable. I made Nationals 20 straight years, the last five in Masters, and made semifinals at Nationals 11 straight years. For most of those years, I played virtually every offensive point and was the first downfield cutter in the called play more than half of the time.

I was always able to get open with the force and I always caught a lot of goals, many of them where I was so open that I could catch them flat-footed. While I don’t have the classic “sweet throws”, I became an effective thrower, adding deep throws and break marks to my game as I matured. I was the key popper in our zone offense, which helped to redefine the way to play zone O. We became so good that teams just wouldn’t play zone against us (more than once).

I was a primary downfield cutter. We had some great receivers (Chris Corcoran, Fortunat Mueller) and many good ones on a team that won 52 straight games at Nationals, so we all were called as part of the four-person play. I would both throw and catch a lot of goals.

I would be hard-pressed to pick a particular year as my peak, with anytime between 1992, when I was 27 and at my peak physically, and 1998 being possible. I think my single best performance was in the 1995 Nationals. I was the first cutter on probably 75% of the points and led the team in catches in the finals (usually a handler touches the disc the most), which we won 21-10 while committing only three turnovers. Steve Mooney commented that he had a hard time finding a good picture of me from the video because there was never anyone else in the frame when I was catching it. As late as 2002, when we came close to winning both Worlds and Nationals, I was still capable of carrying the team on occasion. From 2000 (when I was 35) to 2006 (my last year in open), I played almost exclusively on the O line and became more of a possession receiver (and occasional handler, especially near the goal line) rather than a deep threat.

I had a very long career with a prolonged peak that placed me as one of the top players in the game for a number of years. I was a versatile player who had great field sense.