tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51710370452125599942024-03-13T13:27:13.946-04:00Best PerspectivesB-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-55235776190400505242012-09-25T12:04:00.000-04:002012-09-25T12:05:01.160-04:00Conference Championships<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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A few weeks ago, the strength bid allocations came out for
the series, and my region (mid-Atlantic mixed) got one bid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I changed my gchat status to “Well, I got
what I wanted” with a link to the official USAU announcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This triggered a flood of questions of why I
would only want one bid to Nationals.</div>
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This has been a funny year for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent part of the spring/summer out of the
country and moved out of Philly in August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I went from thinking I should take the season off to seriously considering
playing with my old team to ending up on a non-practicing mercenary squad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While my current team is a ton of fun (and
rather talented), it’s a low investment team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Someday soon, this type of team will be just my speed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But not quite yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year, I still wanted to be in the
trenches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want a team I can put a lot of
myself into and get a lot out of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
that’s just not possible on a team like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not that kind of team.</div>
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So why is one bid a good thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it gives more meaning and consequence
to Regionals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For most of my club career,
if not guaranteed, making Nationals was more likely than not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My focus was to peak at Nationals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But on a team like this, setting lofty goals
at Nationals is pointless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d do
alright and upset some teams, but we wouldn’t be rolling in looking to win
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve used a college football analogy
of “Regionals is like our conference championships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nationals is a bowl game.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe that’s another way of saying we’d “just
be happy to be there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the key is
we’ll have to play not just well, but Really well if we’re gonna qualify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there were two bids, I’d give us a better
than 50% chance of qualifying*.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With two
bids, we could qualify for nationals and go all season with no meaningful wins
in consequential games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the higher
barrier of entry, the challenge is of course greater, and there will almost
definitely be consequential games (hopefully meaningful wins too).</div>
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Now this is purely a selfish attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This team is not one built around meaningful
or consequential experiences of this type.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s built around enjoying the ride and each other’s company for as long
as the ride goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly it would be
great if that ride ended in Sarasota rather than Poolesville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s hope we all get what we want.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">* I’m saying this with 3-4 regional opponents quite capable
of beating us, so that 50% number is purely based on gut feel and
over-confidence.</span></div>
B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-78075506566572579642012-05-29T21:03:00.000-04:002012-05-29T21:16:21.846-04:00Dogma and Diversity - Deconstructing Dogma<br />
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If you read the previous two posts, don't get me wrong. More is not better. In my college days, we were fans of having a dozen different offenses, none of which we could run well. I think it's important to limit one's team's strategies to only as many as you can properly execute. If you only have the time to get good at vert stack/cuts from the back and man/force flick/beat them under, then hey... that's all you have time for. But i'd also add if you're a club team and that's all you can manage over the course of an entire season (let alone multiple seasons), then you might want to evaluate how efficiently you are using practice time.</div>
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And don't get me wrong. All the strategic concepts i look at below are ones i am generally a huge proponent of and often can be heard espousing to my teammates. Just saying if you hold to them too strongly, you're closing your other options off. That's how dogma works.</div>
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And don't get me wrong. I don't think these concepts are unique to Philadelphia.</div>
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Anyway, to get to the point of this post. Some of the strategic concepts that have codified into
dogma in this neck of the woods:</div>
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<b>Don’t get beat up the line:</b>
I’d say getting beat up the line is only bad if it’s for a goal or if
it leads to significant yards or if it leads the dump catching it with momentum
(so called "power position") that can lead to a huck. Too often i see dump defenders play so far upline that contesting the break swing is impossible. We played a team last year at regionals who we dump-swung and continued to the breakside over and over, and their downfield defenders who kept getting scored on would come off the field all pissed, "C'mon guys, no break!" The problem was their team's defensive strategy overemphasized stopping upline cuts and underemphasized containing the swing.</div>
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There are times when keeping the team on the sideline is more important than stopping the upline cut:</div>
<ul>
<li>when you have the deep space covered. (e.g. you are bracketing a vert stack.)</li>
<li>when they are far enough up field that the upline cut to huck isn't extending the amount of effective space you need to defend.</li>
</ul>
Put another way, there are times i'd rather them huck it because we're ready for it, rather than letting them break us all the way across the field. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'd also add against teams that move the disc well from
the handler positions, it’s possible to play over top of the handler and hedge
them into bad angles, which may not deny them the disc but contains their
subsequent throw.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Beat them in:</b> That is
position yourself underneath and force their cutters to go deep. This underestimates throwers’ abilities to
huck it, overestimates the other team’s abilities to work it underneath with
tight coverage, and on many of the team’s I’ve played on, overestimated our
ability to close on deep shots or contest discs in the air (my teams have
always been short).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My biggest problem with this strategy is that it means the turnovers you're looking to generate will be in your endzone. If you're the d-team, this means you now have to work it 70 yards to score (and since you're the d-team, you probably can't throw).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Always forcing your opponent deep is like always forcing flick. After awhile, teams get used to the same defensive look point after point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See Lou Burruss' <a href="http://winthefields.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/dip-d.html">post on backing</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Win with your legs: </b>This one is tricky as it's not a strategic concept as much as it is a mentality (and again, i have been heard preaching this one for years). Husting, running hard to give your throwers easy open looks, and resisting marginal decisions with the disc are all good concepts to emphasize. There's nothing inherently wrong with this message. To say it in the game to go at regionals when your team's delirious from fatigue is probably the right message. To go back to my boxing analogy, when it's the last round, it often comes down to heart.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where i see this becoming problematic is in what is unsaid over the course of a season or multiple seasons and what is de-emphasized.</div>
<ul>
<li>Throwing is de-emphasized, and over multiple seasons around here, few young club players around here go from good to great with their throws. Didn't Dusty post about how we do 6 workouts a week and only touch a disc on the weekends?</li>
<li>Going to the right space is de-emphasized (in the name of beating your defender in on the openside). Sometimes, your team just desperately needs to have someone pop into the break lane or just go deep, but your cutters just want to be the hero and prove they can get open in the one place the other team's defending by going in on the openside. Geoff Buhl used to call this the "man cut". This is a vitally important cut that your team must be able to make, but if "beating your man" starts to obscure "winning the point," you're gonna run into problems.</li>
</ul>
Winning with your legs and your heart is critical in sport (no duh). What i'm saying is that over the course of the season, don't overprioritize it at the expense of all the other assets you need to develop to be good. Too often, teams and players focus on the physical because it's more obvious, and they lack the knowledge or sophistication or communication skills or mental discipline to work on other things. If you gave up one workout a week to go over game film, would you and your team be better or worse off?*<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<b>Be Chilly**: </b>Like "win with your legs," being chilly is a mentality and often the right one to have. What i'm getting at though is that your team's conservativism/risk taking should not be constant but rather should be dictated by the circumstances (opponent and playing conditions). I don't think you want to be all over the map, but as a coach, you would want to be able to ratchet the risk taking up or down***.<br />
<br />
If you're a college basketball coach for a 16th ranked team going into the first round of March Madness, maybe you know you need to have a big night from the 3-point line if you want a chance of winning. Likewise, if you're outmatched downfield, maybe you throw more hammers**** or abide less stringently to the rule of thirds.<br />
<br />
Again, there's a reason certain strategies have become conventional thinking. It's because they've proven effective. The danger is when we accept them as dogma without developing a deeper understanding and we close ourselves off to other ways of thinking.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div style="color: #666666;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Depends of course on where your team is and if you have any idea how to use the information available.</span></div>
<div style="color: #666666;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">** Do club players still say this? "Chilly-O" seems like "shit ultimate players say."</span></div>
<div style="color: #666666;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*** The championship Sockeye teams in the mid-2000s always impressed me with their apparent ability to dial down their risk taking based on their opponent. Pike beat them in pool play and then lost to them in the semis at 2004 Nationals. There was a marked difference in their o-team's risk taking in that second meeting knowing they could work it under against our defense, compared to the supposed "huck and hope" strategy the northwest was accused of having.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">**** Hammers are seen as riskier throws in this area. Is that true in other parts of the world? </span></div>
</div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-92020853828320665012012-05-23T04:49:00.002-04:002012-05-24T01:02:40.132-04:00Dogma and Diversity - an Australian Aside<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am currently in Australia for
a couple months, and I went to my first pickup game the other night. In one night of playing 6v6, defensively we ran
man with various marks, 3-2-1 zone, and 1-3-2 zone; offensively, we ran vert, ho, and German. We were just goofing off, but it was nonetheless impressive that we tried so many things and with a decent level of competency. And my teammates were not all veteran players by any means.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By contrast, the last team in Philly to my
knowledge to have a German style offense in their bag of tricks was the Philly
Peppers back in the late 90s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Why is that? Well, in
Sydney, they have to travel more to find decent ultimate. It doesn’t seem uncommon to find someone who’s
only been playing a few years who has been to Worlds, so the average player
here has been exposed to a broader range of teams. Just as I believe traveling is important to
having a balanced view of the world, gaining
exposure to a diversity of ultimate strategies is important to having a balanced
view of our sport.</div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-78295245960713504182012-05-23T04:22:00.000-04:002012-06-02T23:36:32.911-04:00Dogma and Diversity - the Philly scene<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have recently had a few different conversations about how
the teams in these parts (Philly) are so strategically similar. While it’s probably quite common for a
particular geographic area to have ideologies that dominate the local teams, my
sense is that Philadelphia is more of a closed ecosystem than most metropolitan
areas of its size. Certainly the Boston
teams don’t all run a 6-person stack, right?
So where do these ideas that are so prevalent in Philly come from, and
why is there not more diversity in the strategic gene pool? (Disclaimer:
I’m just gonna ramble and I’m sure I’ll say something I disagree with
tomorrow).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Where do these ideas come from?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A current teammate of mine was recently crediting the
philosophies and plays that are run around here to the Pike teams of the early
to mid-2000s. While that was a NJ team,
we drew a lot of the recognizable faces from the Philly scene, who in turn
disseminated these strategies to other area teams. So I wouldn’t argue against that lineage as I
see PADA summer league teams calling plays by the same randomly chosen names
used in the 2002 Pike playbook.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But to give proper credit, that playbook was pilfered
straight from the UCSB* teams that 3-peated in the late 90s brought east via
Jim Regetz (though he made considerable improvements). And the style of play (conservative,
possession-oriented offense) comes from the dominant mid-90s DoG teams. Before them came Earth Atomizer and Big
Brother? (Before my time.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not saying any of those strategies aren’t still sound, but I
think there’s something to be looked at if there’s been minimal innovation on
16+ year old thinking in a sport as young as ours.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Why isn’t there more diversity?</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can only speculate, but I’ll throw out some
ideas.</div>
<ul>
<li>Philadelphia is not a particularly transcient
community. People don’t move here for a
few years and leave. Not that many
people move here from other metropolitan areas.
Not that many people leave. Off
the top of my head, I can only think of a few male** players who’ve recently played
in Philly who had history with other top clubs (Joel Wooten – not much of a
Philadelphian, Trey Katzenbach – more on him later, and Carl Deffenbaugh). My impression is that in other geos, it’s
more common to find players who’ve played on multiple top clubs.</li>
<li>Trey really is a force unto himself. Through the sheer force of his personality
and his history of successes, his ideas on how the game should be played have
really pervaded the minds of a lot of the community.</li>
<li>What about all the different college teams people have
played on? Honestly, I don’t know. All of you who played outside the
Philly-metro area, why haven’t you brought back new zones or new plays or new
offenses?</li>
<li>It’s not a particularly cerebral scene here. Maybe I’m just not talking to the right
people, but there don’t seem to be a lot of players nerding it up over
strategy. Maybe Philly’s not an
intellectual town. Or maybe it’s because
there aren’t as many college teams with coaches around here. Regardless of the reasons, I think you’d find
the percentage of players who can articulate why their teams run a particular
strategy is lower around here than say… Boston, San Fran, or Seattle… or even
NY.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, I’m not saying being nerdy about strategy is critical
to success. But I do think diversity is
important for a community, be it an ultimate community or any other. Otherwise, you fall into “it works for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">insert top local club team name, </i>so we
should run the same thing” mentality because you aren’t aware of other options.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A real world example: Pike ‘02-’05 ran a vert stack with 2
dumps. There were no give-gos built into
our offense, so handlers never got the disc moving into a power position. In order to run this offense, you need
handlers who can bomb and break with a set mark on them. Our o-team happened to have Walt, Regetz,
Heckman, and Bailey, so we could pull it off.
Unfortunately, our d-team didn’t have the same depth of throwers (though
we did have Ian). If you were one of the
unfortunate college teams that adopted our offense, you probably suffered until
you gave up, or you got good at those types of throws.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even if you are good at running your strategies, I will
point back to a previous <a href="http://bestperspectives.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/gunning-for-goliath.html">post</a> about pulling off upsets: If you’re not the more
talented team on the field, playing the same strategy as your opponent is a
losing game plan. It’s the same as a
boxer who goes toe to toe with a slugger who is faster and stronger. Ali wasn’t The Greatest because he was the hardest
puncher.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next post: Deconstructing the Dogma. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #666666;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Funny enough the Condors and Pike had essentially the same
playbook when we faced off in quarters of 2004 down to the play calling system.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #666666;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">** I specify male because women and women’s team tend not to
drive innovation in our male-dominated world of ultimate. There have been some transplants of female
talent in Philly, but for various reasons outside the scope of this post, they have
not led any shifts/growth/evolution in ultimate strategy around here. If i'm wrong, and it's only because i'm a guy that i don't get to hear about what happens in the women's game, then i'd love to be educated.</span></div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-18486907108598203242011-11-29T16:01:00.001-05:002011-11-29T18:22:25.184-05:00Drive and Swerve<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hi out there. Long time, no write. I’ve taken the past month since Nationals pretty easy: made it to the gym a handful of times, worked on my winter league recruiting (we're vomit-worthy siiick), played in an early winter tournament, did a footwork workout once or twice, signed up for the Tough Mudder in April, did a 5 mile run on Thanksgiving for charity. I’ve been telling myself it’s ok to be a bit of a slob for the past month… but it’s been a month, and I can’t really afford to slide too far. So hopefully that means a return to not only fitness but blogging as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I spent a lot of focus in my training this year on SAQ, efficiency, and technique. While I understand it's the offseason for the club players, I try not to completely neglect game specific skills in the offseason. So some thoughts on cutting...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">With the rise in popularity of ho-stack over the past 8-10 years, the type of cuts I make on the field have changed. In vert, the classic cut is a buttonhook (run hard, stop and cut back ~180 degrees the other direction). In ho (as well as in sidestack), you’re more likely to see a cut that drives horizontally at your defender (putting him on his heels) and then a 90 degree turn deep or in. Not suggesting you wouldn't use either cut in any type of offense - Boston has been beating you to the openside with this cut since the mid-90s.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Does anyone have a name for this cut? I could have swore i read something from Wiggins where he called it a step-boom cut. I've also called it a drive and swerve (DS).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m a big believer in footwork and feel that’s an under-emphasized aspect in ultimate training. If you’re serious about your quickness, you should learn how to properly cut. I’ve been thinking a lot about the finer points of this specific cut and decided to ask an old teammate, MJ, for his thoughts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A little about MJ: I played club with Mike from 2001-2003. Mike was a college trackstar, has an absurd number of summer league championships, and has coached track, football, and basketball for a long time. He’s also a certified SAQ coach. After he got the text message about Pike’s run to semis in 2004, he wrote back saying he was so pumped that he went to the track and ran 200s until he puked, which for him I can only imagine was a lot of 200s.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">As an aside, what Tim Morrill is doing is the same type of work MJ did for years. This type of training is gold, and I would encourage anyone serious about their training to seek out the coaching of an expert like MJ or Tim.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, enough from me. Here’s an excerpt from my email exchange with MJ.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>Mike, i have a cutting question, and i figured you'd be the most qualified person to ask. I realize this would be much simpler to explain and ask in person, but hopefully you can follow along.</i><br />
<br />
<i> If i'm sprinting forward 5-10 yards and making a 90 degree cut to my right, i've been wondering on the placement and foot angle of my left foot on the turn. As i run forward, my toes are pointing north. As i near my break, i chop my feet still with toes pointed north. On my break, i jab step with my left foot out to my left and slightly in front of me (at about 10 o'clock) and then step east with my right foot (toes pointed east). Then accelerate.</i><br />
<br />
<i> My question is on that jab step on my break, should that step be at 10 o'clock? or 9 or 11 or 12 o'clock? and should the toes of my left foot be pointed north, north-northeast, northeast-east, or east?</i><br />
<br />
<i> And/or should my penultimate step also start to turn my body right/east?</i><br />
<br />
<i> Hope that makes some sense.</i><br />
<br />
<i> Thanks,</i><br />
<i> BL</i></span><span style="color: #888888;"></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #888888;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #888888;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Here's Mike's response.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #888888;"><br />
</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Hey B-Lo,</i><br />
<br />
<i> Glad you asked. I actually made a living on this cut as a deep threat and possession receiver in football (as you know, they complement each other). It’s a basic 10 yd out or crossing pattern over the middle. The key to that cut (in this case, cutting right on a 10 yard out) is to:</i><br />
<br />
<i> 1) Gear down at the closest point to the right angle that you can - this varies person to person, but (this is obvious but worth giving deliberate attention to and drilling in and of itself) the longer you can keep full explosive stride and the quicker you can gear down, the less time your defender will have to respond to your cut. You can drill this by doing sprint-to-stop repeat sets. Run to a line at top speed and work on lowering the hips and digging the balls of your feet into the ground for an abrupt stop. Start at 30 yds and keep shortening that distance. Work on selling the arm swing at full cranking motion. Less than full cranking arms is one defensive key that alerts the defender that you're not really going deep.</i><br />
<br />
<i> 2) Think of your right foot as the plant foot - NOT the left. This is counter-intuitive as we tend to think of the outside/opposing-force foot as the foot to plant on. It’s actually both feet working in tandem - but we like to overemphasize the underemphasized to sharpen fundamentals. The right foot should plant at 90 degrees in the direction you're heading in as you turn your hips and widen your arms for balance - THEN, you reach and finish the cut with the left foot to 10:00, it's almost instantaneous, but the right foot definitely plants first on a truly violent cut (think scissors), with the left foot finishing the momentum shift and starting the acceleration east.</i><br />
<br />
<i> 3) Yes, you're correct about the left foot extending to 10-11:00, but it’s also important that the left toe be pointing toward 4-5:00 because you'll need that backward force to compensate for your residual forward momentum.</i><br />
<br />
<i> 4) Lastly, don't think of it as a 90 degree right angle - think of it as an 80 degree acute angle. If you think of it as a right angle, you're likely to end up on an obtuse angle (10 yard cut to 11-12 yards out - not creating as much separation between you and your defender and giving your defender a chance to sneak underneath the cut for a D). If you think of it as an 11 yard cut to a 9 yard out, you'll end-up at 10 yards with separation.</i><br />
<br />
<i> Hope this helps!</i><br />
<br />
<i> MJ</i></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"></div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-16656946176361037922011-09-27T15:37:00.000-04:002011-09-27T15:37:44.488-04:00Gunning for Goliath<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">So my last post was about how to approach games where your team significantly outmatches your opponent.<span> </span>But the more interesting question is what to do when your opponent is significantly stronger than you.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If your team is one of those teams that takes themselves seriously, then you probably have goals.<span> </span>And if those goals are appropriately high, then you probably have a team ahead of you that you need to beat (unless you play for Fury or Revolver).<span> </span>Maybe your goal is to make the second day of Regionals or make Nationals or make quarters or win everything.<span> </span>In all divisions, those teams on their respective bubble are wondering how to knock off that team just ahead of them.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Maybe you’re Rhino trying to defy the odds and finish top 2 at Regionals.<span> </span>Maybe you’re Scandal and you draw Fury in quarters at Nationals.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now don't get me wrong; maybe you’ve played them tight a few times.<span> </span>Maybe you’ve even beaten them at a summer tournament.<span> </span>But how likely are you to beat that team in an elimination game when it matters most and when both teams are focused and peaking?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In games like this, your “A” game can’t beat their “A” game.<span> </span>Maybe your “A+” game can beat their “A-“ game, and if that’s the case and your teams are that closely matched, then maybe you take your chances and hope things break your way.<span> </span>But if the disparity is more extreme, then your measures need to be more extreme if you’re gonna bridge that gap.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Going toe-to-toe with a team that has better throwers and better athletes is a sub-optimal strategy.<span> </span>You need to get the other team off their “A” game.<span> </span>This should be obvious, but how many teams out there all seem to have the same offensive strategy of try isolate their receivers to make vertical cuts while their handlers dink it back and forth… defensively, it’s man-force flick.<span> </span>There are plenty of good strategies in there.<span> </span>Unfortunately there are a bunch of teams out there who are better at it than you are.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Every year in Sarasota, if there’s significant wind, there seems to be a Cinderella story of some team that beats their seed on the back of their zone defense.<span> </span>Florida in 2000?<span> </span>Fury’s comeback in 2008 in the finals down 10-1.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Didn’t the Condors take down DoG in 2000 thanks in large part to bringing back the out-of-fashion straight up mark?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Don't let them have their first option all day long. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Defensive adjustments are the most obvious way to try throw a kink in an opponent’s plans, but there are offensive looks that will force the other team to adjust.<span> </span>Maybe you run a split stack.<span> </span>Maybe you send your deep cuts from the dump position.<span> </span>Maybe your incuts down the lane clear laterally to a break cut.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One of my most rewarding ultimate experiences was as the 8 seed in the quarters of British College Nationals and upsetting the 1 seed by running a German offense and a 1-3-2-1 zone (Shout out to the Sussex Mohawks!).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Flip the script and make them think about how they play you. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Take risks.<span> </span>You’re not gonna get enough wide open cuts against a superior opponent.<span> </span>Throw some hammers.<span> </span>Get your team used to throwing hucks that tail to the far corner.<span> </span>Hang discs to the endzone rather than take a marginal dump throw.<span> </span>Jump out early on a team, have fun doing it, and let them know you’re having fun doing it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Which brings me to my last point.<span> </span>There’s a certain level of gamesmanship that can knock an opponent off their game.<span> </span>I don’t necessarily recommend all of these tactics, but being loud, talking trash, marking hard, getting physical… even making a ton of travel calls… they’ve certainly been a part of more than a few upsets.<span> </span>Most teams out there have a narrow comfort zone.<span> </span>Play outside of it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Good luck to all the teams in the Series.</div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-67236223970688447722011-09-06T12:56:00.001-04:002011-09-06T12:57:06.566-04:00Saving Sectionals<div style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">So with the fall series about to get underway, I’ve been thinking about how to approach Sectionals. For many club teams in most sections, Sectionals may offer a good game or two on Sunday, but generally there are a lot of blowouts. How can you keep days like that from being a complete waste of time? Wiffleball, Yumball, flutterguts, DDC, bocce…? All good ideas. Drilling between games? Running suicides? Scrimmaging? It could work. It depends on your team.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">What I’m wondering about though is how to make the games themselves more worthwhile. Now, if you don’t have a “worthy fucking adversary,” there’s only so much you can do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get something out of it. What are good areas to focus on when you outmatch your opponent in every way?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><u>Defense</u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">On defense, if the other team is gonna cough up the disc in 2 passes no matter what defense you throw at them, then it’s probably not that helpful to work on your clam. Not saying you don’t throw it, but understand you’re not getting tested. Some defensive things you can work on and/or stress as points of emphasis:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">Individual skills. I like to stress staying focused against weaker opponents. Pride yourself on keeping your pulls inbounds, getting down on every pull, not getting broken, etc. Don’t get lazy about switching too much.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">Team skills: Again, this can be tough if the other team is terrible. One of my favorite things to work on against weak opponents is transition defenses. To help this out, focus more on the transition (i.e. finding matchups quickly) and less on applying pressure with your cup. Maybe even count out loud, and yell out, “Go man!” when you transition to queue the other team to start cutting.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><u>Offense</u> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">Offense is generally easier to work on, and the weaker opponent just means it’s somewhere between a walk through and a scrimmage.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">With individual skills, again, try to stress staying focused and not being sloppy. Can you just get open by running past your slow, overweight defender? Sure, but pride yourself on still cutting from motion and maximizing gains.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">Spacing is great to work on against weaker opponents. Don't crowd the disc, work to get swings all the way across the field instead of just 25 yards, etc. </div><div style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black;">Team concepts: Break flow offense, especially the continuation. Fast break offense. Set plays. I like instituting a rule for a half like, “we will always fast break if the disc is on the field proper.” Or “we always set up and run a play.” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;">These are just some ideas for team leaders to consider when approaching Sectionals... just don't forget the bocce ball set.</div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-22028559851205477772011-08-31T16:21:00.006-04:002011-09-01T12:18:16.202-04:00Random Spew on Catching<div class="MsoNormal">So Brodie just posted a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxud0pL7xho">video about catching</a>. It got me thinking about writing a post on catching, but without a way to structure a bunch of random thoughts, I just have a mess of ramblings on catching, both obvious and non-obvious.</div><ul><li>Catch the disc however you feel most comfortable. That said, get comfortable catching the disc in a lot of different ways.</li>
<li>Actively open your hands and spread your fingers. I notice as I fatigue, I sometimes don’t open my hands up as wide and am more prone to not take the disc in cleanly.</li>
<li>Watch the disc all the way into your hands. It enhances hand-eye coordination to see your hands. I have a tendency on low passes to reach down without looking down, and the disc is actually out of my field of vision at the point of the catch.</li>
</ul><u>Soft Hands and Claw Catching</u><br />
<ul><li>In football, people talk about receivers with soft hand – treating the ball like an egg. Not as much of an emphasis on this in frisbee, but I remember when I first started using the claw catch (took me a while to get it), watching Billy Rodriguez play and being amazed that I couldn’t hear the disc hitting his hands.</li>
<li>On the other side of the spectrum, I see a lot of players stab at the disc when they’re claw catching on an incut. There’s something to be said about being aggressive – attacking the disc and all, but I would prescribe trying to be smoother in bringing your arms up. Less of a punching motion will decrease the net velocity at which your hands meet the disc, and that will lead to fewer drops. That fraction of a second your hands are up in front of you also will enhance hand-eye coordination. On top of that, having your arms up half a second early better shields the disc from the defender, whose arm is gonna be punching into that space at the same time.</li>
<li>To elaborate on that last point, one advantage of claw catching is your arm and hand is more likely to be in the path of a laying out defender. If you’re clap catching, the side of the disc is exposed. If you’re claw catching, the defender has to get an inch further out in front of you or get their hand in between yours to get the disc cleanly. So claw catching makes it more likely the defender will have to go through you to get their hands on the disc. Think about how many times you’ve made bids and been an inch away or got your hand on the disc but the receiver still caught it. These fractions of an inch matter.</li>
<li>Oh, and claw catching will make you more likely to square your shoulders to the disc and force you to take a direct line to the disc (which for most, though not all, scenarios is desirable).</li>
</ul><u>Clap Catching </u><br />
<ul><li>As for clap catching, i feel more comfortable with my dominant hand on the bottom, which seems less common. Again, I think you should do what feels right. Regardless of which hand you have on top, I am a proponent of clap catching the rim, rather than the middle of the disc. You always hear people saying to attack the disc and catch out in front of you. Well, if you’re gonna do that, you shouldn’t wait to catch the middle of the disc. Catch the rim. This will also speed up your transfer to throwing. For me, since I catch with my throwing hand on the bottom, the disc is already properly oriented in my hand when I catch (assuming a right side up throw). But even if my throwing hand is on top, my off hand is on the rim and can facilitate a more secure grip transfer than if it's flat against the bottom.</li>
<li>To return to the idea of losing sight of the disc, another time the disc passes out of my field of vision is on clap catches to my side. If you reach to your left at belly height with your right hand on top, your right forearm is actually blocking your vision of the disc. So I prescribe catching left hand on top when clap catching to your left and vice versa.</li>
<li>A counter argument to that point I heard recently was from Leon Chou, who was taught by Ricky Chung to lace your thumbs on those side clap catches so the disc doesn’t slide through, which requires right hand on top for left sided catches.</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><u>One Hand Catching</u></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ul><li>There was a tip on Zip’s tips about catching hammers up high by having your thumb over the top of the rim with the rest of your fingers rather than underneath. I’ve not had success with this, though i'm not great at catching hammers up high. I'm curious how many players catch this way. </li>
<li>When I first started playing someone explained to me the idea of catching the leading edge of the disc v catching the trailing edge of the disc. Somewhere along the line, I even read an explanation of the physics behind this (written by Mooney?). Do people still teach this concept? If you’re gonna catch one handed, you can catch it normally on the leading edge, but if you try catch it on the trailing edge the same way, the disc will spin away from your hand and be harder to catch. You either have to speed up you arm speed to neutralize the speed of the disc or, as the ever eloquent Jay Brown once told me, “just grip it tight like you’re jerking off.”</li>
<li>A mistake I see all the time that shows a lack of understanding of the physics here: someone’s making an angled incut on the open side against a force flick. The thrower throws an outside in righty flick a bit outside the receiver who reaches out with his left hand and grabs the far side (leading edge) of the disc. Simple enough. Where I see this principle applied wrong is when the cutter is making this cut but the force is backhand, so the throw coming out is an inside out backhand. The receiver still reaches wide with his left hand, but now the wide side of the disc is the trailing edge. The disc spins out of their hand into their body; if they’re lucky, they just bobble it and recover. In that situation, the safer and easier spot to catch the disc is the near side.</li>
</ul>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-22782993581729328452011-08-30T18:06:00.000-04:002011-08-30T18:06:37.577-04:00Phases of Learning - Synthesis<div style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">To carry on my <a href="http://bestperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/08/phases-of-learning.html">thoughts on learning progression</a>, I mentioned 3 phases to learning technique. If you do a bit of reading on these concepts, you’ll come across different names and different numbers of phases. When you get beyond those 3 phases, the next step in learning is synthesis. As one masters a skill and understands a concept, they can then extend those lessons to other scenarios and venues.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you understand the release angles and corresponding flight paths of a hammer, you can extend those principles to any upside down throw you see or make up.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">If your understanding of zone offense goes beyond, “when the disc swings, popper 1 cuts to the line, popper 2 cuts across the middle,” to the point where you understand how to create 2-on-1 matchups and pick on the defense’s weak points, you can extend those principles to any zone strategy and even extend those principles to other sports that feature zone defenses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">That’s the synthesis phase of learning.<span> </span>What hinders our reaching a higher level of game IQ in our young sport is a lack of coaching and critical thought about how we play.<span> </span>The simple lack of time working on our sport impedes the depths to which we can learn it.<span> </span>So we teach the basics.<span> </span>We (hopefully) tell people where to throw, where to cut. How to throw, how to cut.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Invest the time to tell people <i>why</i> to throw there and <i>why</i> to cut there. Teach the Whys.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span></span><span></span>Why are we running this drill?<span> </span>Why are we running this play?<span> </span>Why are we swinging the disc?<span> </span>Why are we forcing flick? Why are we running a ho?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We have limited practice time, so it's important for coaches to KISS (keep it short and simple), but plant the seeds for critical thought. Don't overload a learner with nuance they can't handle or make use of. It's best to go through any exposition during the drilling phase when you want to encourage the learner to think about and reflect on what they're doing. But if we take that extra step, a few of our athletes will take it a few more, and maybe our sport will take a few steps forward as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-18296981177173452011-08-15T10:32:00.000-04:002011-08-15T10:32:05.244-04:00Phases of LearningHad to repost <a href="http://ultimatejournal.blogspot.com/2011/08/um-yes-all-coaches-read-this.html">this</a> from Dusty's blog. <br />
<br />
This has driven me nuts my entire club ultimate career. Dusty's link to the above article on coaching reminded me of something i wrote back in the day and made me dig up an old end of season feedback email i wrote. Pike sent out an end of season survey, which i thought was a great idea. Here's an excerpt from one of my responses. This was small part of a very, very long email that included positive and negative feedback. <br />
<br />
<i>What i have gone on and on about in the past is that the method we use most of the time when we teach involves explanation and then applying it. What i have long complained about is that this method skips the middle (and possibly most important) phase of the learning process, the associative phase. We should explain, then drill the technique in isolation without a ton of other stimuli and skills involved, and then drill it in a game situation. That middle phase is where the muscle memory occurs, technique is perfected and made instinctual/automatic. We finally started doing this when we started teaching clam and the monkey zone, but we still do not maximize our teaching time by not focusing more attention on the associative phase of learning and jumping too quickly into live play. I blame our poor offensive motion, our consistently getting beat by upline cuts, our poor individual defensive positioning, our drifting toward the disc, etc... all on poor teaching and poor learning. Guys who've played with Pike for 4 or 5 years still run blindly in the cup or only watch the disc when they're on offense. It's embarassing. This is not all the teachers' fault, but obviously it starts with the leadership.</i><br />
<br />
<i>When Jim was injured all the time in 2004, he would watch our practices and constantly complain about how the d-team's offensive motion was terrible, and then he'd draw it out on the white board how it's supposed to work. And it never did any good. We cannot expect to just explain something and for people to do it. We must drill muscle memory in simplified scenarios before we do it in a scrimmage. The Katzenbach drill is a good start for that type of thing, but only a start.</i><br />
<br />
Depending on what theory of education you're reading, there are 3 to 6 phases of learning. For the sake of learning a skill, e.g. throwing, you can talk about 3 phases:<br />
<br />
<b>Cognitive</b>: how to hold the disc, how to step, arm motion, when to use the throw, where to aim, etc.<br />
<br />
<b>Associative</b>: Repetition/practice in controlled environment. Typically the longest phase. We throw thousands of times and monitor our technique.<br />
<br />
<b>Autonomous</b>: Natural, reflexive movement. Less attention required, freeing up the player to focus on other things (i.e. is a cutter open, is there a poacher, etc).<br />
<br />
We drill throwing, but teams tend not to drill team level strategies nearly as much, short-changing the associative phase. We draw up our offense on a white board and then do a few walk throughs and then scrimmage. Maybe since we have little time together as a team, we feel we need to scrimmage. Or maybe we just don't know how to drill tactics.<br />
<br />
The article that Dusty links to talks about progressing from 1v1 to 2v2 to 3v3 etc. When i coached volleyball, we broke down drills into 1 skill drills, 2 skill drills, 3 skill drills, etc. Breaking down the game into smaller pieces allows us to better focus on the details.<br />
<br />
<br />
B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-25801058660226325272011-07-25T15:14:00.000-04:002011-07-25T15:14:42.986-04:00Foot Angle - Cutting<div style="font-family: inherit;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Buttonhook cut… the first cut you ever learn.<span> </span>Run deep, plant, come back underneath.<span> </span>Couldn’t be any simpler, right?<span> </span>Well, I suppose like all skills, there are finer points that are not necessarily intuitive.<span> </span>One technical flaw I’ve not only noticed players making but have even heard people teaching (so much bad teaching in ultimate!) is planting with the improper foot angle.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>I’m not gonna get into all the finer points of cutting, just the deceleration/break.<span> </span>Imagine on a buttonhook cut, you are initially running deep.<span> </span>As you decelerate into your break, those steps should be with your foot angled perpendicular to the direction you’re running… NOT facing forward.<span> </span>If you look at the stud pattern of your cleats, you’ll notice the studs are concentrated along the side edges.<span> </span>That’s because when you cut you should be cutting off the side of your foot.<span> </span>Planting with your foot angled sideways will not only allow you to break faster but accelerate faster in the opposite direction as your first step will only involve opening your hips up 90 degrees rather than 180.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-78370596921570629272011-07-11T18:15:00.002-04:002011-07-12T14:16:06.944-04:00Foot Angle<div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">As i mentioned once <a href="http://bestperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/06/land-on-one-foot-part-1.html">before</a>, my sporting love before ultimate was volleyball. Another tip i learned was when preparing to receive serve, you want to stand with your weight forward on the balls of your feet and slightly pigeon toed – that is with your toes slightly pointed in. The reasoning being that your ankle joint provides optimal force moving forward compared to laterally, and it’s even worse when your pushing backwards. So by angling your toes in, if you need to step left, the closer your right foot is to pointing to the left, the more force you can generate in that direction.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Try this: stand facing forward with your feet wider than shoulder width apart. Point your toes forward and bounce back and forth left to right. Now try it with your toes pointed slightly in. And then try it again with your toes pointed out. You should find that you can push off most forcibly when your toes are pointed in and worst with your toes pointed out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now, serve receive is a specific moment where you’re static waiting to burst into motion. (Out of curiousity, has anyone ever been taught to do this is tennis or baseball?) Once you’re moving around, it’s not optimal to try maintain a pigeon toed stance. I apply this to ultimate on the mark. I’m not advocating bouncing around pigeon toed, but you can start out on the mark like this if it's not in flow. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The more important thing to keep in mind is to not let your toes start to point out. If you watch a marking drill, you’ll notice that most players will start on the mark with their toes more or less pointed forward (you’ll notice a lot of the worst markers start out with their toes pointed out). As they bounce/shuffle around on the mark, better markers will keep their toes pointed forward and maintain/recover back to this optimal marking stance. For myself, I notice as I fatigue my stance gets wider and my toes start to point out. It is not uncommon to need to lunge to stop a throw, and the further you lunge, the more likely you will open your hips up and that lead foot will turn out. That’s fine. The key is recovering to your optimal marking stance with your toes pointed forward.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This principle of foot angle extends to any lateral movements offensive or defensive. More on that later.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-70284901595275568212011-07-11T18:07:00.005-04:002011-07-11T18:20:12.925-04:00Tripod<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Random trivia: The club team Pike was previously named No Mas (terrible team name that stood for North Mid-Atlantic All Stars). The name “Pike” won out over other options that included “Marvin” and “Tripod.”</i></span></div><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In my *long ultimate career, I’ve gone through a lot of lawn chairs. I’ve bought cheap ones and nice ones, and I’ve never been able to get one to last more than a year or so. I’ve recently changed tacks on this and decided to buy a tripod.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">My thinking: I’ve never actually broken one of my own chairs. I tend not to sit down that much during games, so in the lifespan of one of my chairs, less than 50% its use is in service of holding up my butt. What I’ve concluded is the cause of my chairs breaking is when one of my fat ass teammates plop their ass into my chair. Now bear in mind, most of these chairs are able to support over 300lbs. It's not their weight so much as it's the plopping, out of fatigue or disgust or both, that causes the bolts to bend or the seams to split. While these chairs can hold up 300+lbs, they’re not designed to have a body violently dropped into them the way one might collapse onto a couch.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">With a tripod, you can’t plop. Since it’s inherently less stable than a chair, you have to gingerly set your backside in. I smile when i see my teammates pass my tripod on the sideline in favor of someone else's chair or cooler. I predict I retire before this tripod does.</span></div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-9076554686415627522011-06-28T17:00:00.001-04:002011-06-29T10:28:47.879-04:00Land on One Foot - Bailey's Two Step<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">I played college in what was the Metro East and there was a time when Princeton’s Clockwork Orange was pretty much the cream of the crop thanks in large part to this lanky kid with a visor named, Bailey Russell (some of the best ever Callahan hype on RSD was from the Clockwork PR machine).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I remember one year where their zone offense involved Bailey throwing scoobers over the cup to this ex-basketball player, grad student whose claim to fame was having dunked on Greg Ostertag. They’d eventually dump it to Bailey again and they’d repeat. None of that is really relevant to my point (we old folks ramble a bit) but the interesting thing to me was the way Bailey gained yards on the dumps.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Bailey would hop up and slightly forward as he caught the dump, then land on one foot – specifically his right foot. When his left foot then landed, he was landing in a big forward step, and then he’d take another big step forward with his right leg. Having long legs, Bailey's two step gained him a good 2 yards easily.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The keys here:</div><ul><li>Having some forward momentum in the air so that first step is not just a blatant travel.</li>
<li> Landing on your non-pivot foot (Bailey is right handed). By landing first with his right foot, his other foot lands in a forward step with his left established his pivot, making the next step a pivot step, which as a pivot step can be in a different direction and/or speed.</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal">Bailey’s stork like legs and floaty-ness make those two steps look natural and legal.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Where is the best application of this move? When you’re a middle handler in a zone offense that uses a handler crash from in front of the cup, this move will get you deeper into the cup. Unlike a crash from a popper coming from behind the cup, this type of crash comes at the cup from the front. Ideally, this crash puts the disc in the handler’s hands with forward momentum, vision of the field, and a cup out of position (likely too close to stop throws through itself). And it is this last regard – getting deep into the cup to allow throws through– where Bailey’s two step can be most deadly. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All together: See your poppers before you move. Jump into the cup as you receive the disc. Land on your right foot. Land on your left with a smooth, big, forward step. Then take another step/pivot forward to get you right up to the cup and throw through the cup to a popper. Do this smoothly and quickly before the cup can step back to maintain their spacing.</div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-4173523058015198622011-06-20T13:25:00.000-04:002011-06-20T13:25:06.146-04:00Land on one foot - part 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span><span>I remember a long time ago reading an article of Parinella’s somewhere where he explained a better way to toe the line is to only keep one foot down to maximize your reach rather than trying to dig both feet in.<span> </span>Such a simple tip, and it reminded me of my days before ultimate.<span> </span>Before frisbee, my previous love was volleyball.<span> </span>I used to subscribe to a volleyball magazine and there were always these quick 1 page articles with a <span> </span>handy little nugget of wisdom (think Zip's Tips minus the sandwich eating suggestions<span></span>).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span></span> <div class="MsoNormal"><span>So one of those tips I remember was for playing volleyball doubles.<span> </span>When you’re the blocker, you have one other teammate behind you in the backcourt covering the entire court on their own and <span></span>they’re typically backed up to receive a hard driven spike.<span> </span>Imagine as the blocker who’s jumping in the air, the spike hits off your hands, pops up, and dribbles just behind you.<span> </span>That’s a hard ball for your teammate to get to if they're positioned fairly deep.<span> </span>The key to helping your partner out is to land on one foot.<span> </span>By landing on one foot, you can land already turning toward the court, and hit the ground running giving you a better shot at making the dig. If you land with both feet, you lose the time it takes your foot to hit the ground and pick it up to take your first step behind you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span>Application to frisbee?<span> </span>On a hanging huck where you mistime your jump.<span> </span>How often do you see the disc hang, the receiver and defender both jump and miss (or tip the disc) and the disc lands softly just a few steps away?<span> </span>Try land on one foot and hit the ground running with your other leg to make that second effort grab or D.<span> </span>By hitting the ground running you’ll also increase your chances of avoiding getting landed on and being taken out in a pile up.</span></div>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-53202559130976663472011-06-16T13:30:00.001-04:002011-06-16T13:32:41.000-04:00Throw it early<div class="MsoNormal">So to follow up on checking your shoulder on buttonhook cuts, let’s talk about when to throw to those cuts. In general, you want to put the disc up as early as possible.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are a lot of factors involved in decision making, but in an ideal world, you want to be releasing your throw after the cutter has planted and has started their first step back toward you. Putting the disc up early has various benefits:</div><ul><li>Maximizes yardage on the incut. The longer you wait, the closer to you the cutter gets and the less yardage gained on their incut. </li>
<li>Creates the most predictable separation from the defender. At the moment the cutter changes directions on their buttonhook, they have a slight advantage of a headstart running in that direction. In another 5 steps, maybe your cutter gets more separation or maybe the defender closes the gap, but on their turn, you know what space you have. </li>
<li>Gives you greater margin for error. If your throw is a few degrees off target, it will be easier for the receiver to adjust not only because they’re farther away and have more time, but because as they plant, their speed is zero and they can adjust the angle of their incut. Even from 30 yards away, it’s hard to adjust to a throw that’s off target if they’re in a full sprint.</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal">Some other notes:</div><ul><li>If your cutter isn’t checking their shoulder, your throw might surprise them. They turn around to see the disc is already half way to them. Checking their shoulder will solve that problem and allow you to throw early while still allowing them to visually pick up the disc early.<br />
</li>
<li>In slippery conditions, you’ll want to wait an extra step to make sure your cutters are balanced after their turn.</li>
<li>Put some zip on your throws. Don’t gun it in so fast that it’s hard to catch, but the faster you throw, the more yardage gained and the less time for the defender to close. If you notice in football, wide receivers tend not to go to. They usually sprint deep, plant, turn and wait for the ball. The ball just gets there so fast the defender can’t usually get there. In Frisbee, the disc moves too slow for that. So find the right balance between making it catchable, giving yourself a margin for error, and getting it there quick.</li>
</ul>B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-70993766187842613282011-06-09T13:36:00.000-04:002011-06-09T13:36:15.923-04:00Check your shoulder - Give-GoI need to pace myself on these posts, or i'll be out of content in a week. Plus, i'm actually supposed to be working.<br />
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Last example for now. Give Go.<br />
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Handler's at the brick with the disc. Ho-stack setup with 2 dumps and 4 across. A few cuts get looked off, open side dump's defender sags into the lane. Handler swings to the poached dump and immediately runs up line for the give go.<br />
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Give go handlers in this scenario tend to watch the thrower expecting the disc back. Good handlers will still take off immediately after throwing the swing, but will take a quick look over their shoulder at the lane while they're in motion. Check your shoulder! Why?<br />
<ul><li>Your give go cut that will net your team a 5 yard gain might be cutting off a 25 yd gainer from a receiver.</li>
<li>There might be a poacher waiting for you in the lane ready to clean your clock.</li>
</ul>Again, the idea is to turn toward the action. A quick peek let's you know whether you should continue your route, break off your cut, or break back toward the middle (or something else).<br />
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p.s. If you're a receiver and you've set up a beautiful in cut only to have some stupid handler blindly running into your lane and it's too late to yell, be the bigger person and turn deep. If they haven't looked already, they're not gonna see you and your gonna get in each other's way. That might lead to a turnover or collision. Just turn and run deep and be the continue, but... check your shoulder! Your defender probably also saw the handler coming and may have decided to poach. Help your stupid handler out by yelling out the poach.<br />
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After the point, let them know what happened, but be gentle. We handlers don't take criticism well, especially from receivers.B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-36453011133676539422011-06-09T13:05:00.002-04:002011-06-09T13:37:14.963-04:00Check your shoulder - ButtonhookOk, another example. Check your shoulder on buttonhook cuts.<br />
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When cutting away, look back at the thrower (aka "check your shoulder) before you plant to come back or <i>even start to slow down.</i> You see it all the time when you set up a drill that involves a buttonhook cut that cutters run toward a cone facing away, then plant and whip their head around all at once. Perhaps the thinking is that by running deep and facing deep that looking back will tip off the defender that you plan to cut back... or maybe this comes from timing routes in football.<br />
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The way i teach this type of cut is to put your head down for only a few steps as your accelerating, but then look back at the thrower to see what to do next. Why:<br />
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<ul><li>You and the thrower are on the same page. Ever see someone cut in and the disc is sailing deep to nobody? That's why you look back before you even start to decelerate.</li>
<li>You'll visually pick the disc up earlier and the thrower can throw it earlier.</li>
<li>The thrower can give you a non-verbal cue (i.e. pump fake, shake of the head, point).</li>
<li>You can time your cut better. If the thrower lays out, bobbles, or does something to delay their preparation to throw, you can delay your in cut by taking two more steps or throwing a hitch in your run or whatever. This keeps your from being too early. You'll maximize yardage on your in cut and avoid being on top of the thrower and being looked off for being too close.</li>
<li>Your awareness increases. Usually when you're cutting deep there's very little in front of you, the action's behind you. When you turn toward the action, you can better decide what to do. Maybe someone else is going to that space already and you should continue deep. Maybe the disc quickly swung to the other side of the field. Maybe your defender has poached off you or fallen down. </li>
<li>If the deep throw goes up, you will see the release and get an early read on it.</li>
</ul>I'm sure i can think of other good reasons, but these should be plenty for now. Never blindly buttonhook back. Don't let your teammates practice bad technique in drills where there's a prescribed buttonhook. Always check your shoulder before turning.B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-84271261595435367272011-06-08T15:07:00.002-04:002011-06-09T13:11:02.982-04:00ExperienceLet's compare two similar players with the same quantifiable skills and dimensions. One of the intangible differentiators is experience. We've all seen those tall, fast kids who are always open at the wrong place or wrong time... or the squad of youngsters who can't keep from throwing into the lazy old guys' poaches. We often chalk this up to a lack of experience. Well, i've been working on a definition for this type of experience. You can let me know what you think.<br />
<ol><li>Experience is knowing where to look</li>
<li>Knowing what you're looking for.</li>
<li>Recognizing what you see.</li>
<li>Knowing what to do.</li>
<li>Doing it.</li>
</ol><br />
Now this process gets smoother, faster, and more reflexive with time and "dedicated practice." Spotting a poacher in your peripheral vision starting to peek over her shoulder and lean toward the lane as you're winding up is like a chess master recognizing patterns on a board.<br />
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However, the development process can be sped up. The amazing thing is that the impediment to player development in ultimate comes often in step 1. They're just looking the wrong direction, and that should be the easiest part. Blame it on a lack of coaching.<br />
<br />
So a few quick examples i see ALL the time:<br />
<br />
Zone - break containment: You're in the cup and you have the disc trapped. They get off a dump and swing. The zone's goal here is to contain downfield yardage and reset itself. Too often the cup players are running across the field watching the disc. If you're the first cup player across, you should be looking across and <i>behind</i> you to pick up the threats. I call this looking behind you "checking (over) your shoulder". As your running, you can see almost the entire field and there are seldom more than 3 downfield threats downfield in this situation. See what your downfield defenders are taking out, communicate with words and pointing, and match up. Once you've contained, you can reset your zone.<br />
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It's called "flex and contain." When your zone is trapping, you're packing your defenders in. When the trap gets broken, you need to "flex" by expanding the defense, scrambling to contain threats, and then reset. And the only way to "flex" well is if you're checking your shoulder to find the threats. May seem obvious, but i swear i've been on nationals level club teams that did not do this even close to consistently.<br />
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Ok, i've written more than i expected. 2 more examples to come.B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-43823560564647417122011-06-08T15:07:00.000-04:002011-06-08T15:07:28.304-04:00Pre(r)ambleSo i've thought about starting a frisbee blog for a long long time. I like talking and thinking and writing about frisbee. At the same time, do i have enough content in my head and enough space on my calendar to keep something like this going? Probably not. I see this endeavor having the enthusiasm and lifespan of my ventures into car modification, homebrewing, or Wicca... which is to say, i'll probably go the way of most frisbee blogs: start off with a full head of steam only to peter out after a few posts. Oh well. That in itself is not a good reason to not give it a whirl. At least i'm not shelling out $800 for ground effects on my Corolla only to find i don't like getting grease on my jeans.<br />
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I started playing in New Jersey in the 90s, and in those formative years, i remember devouring every possible piece of information i could find on ultimate, whether it was from the UPA newsletter (on newsprint!), RSD, Parinella's website (pre-blog), or Above & Beyond videos, etc. DoG was the equivalent at the time of Phil Jackson's Bulls, and to a young player, their philosophies were treated nearly as gospel. To this day, i can see how a lot of my attitudes on ultimate are still colored by those early lessons.<br />
<br />
At the same time, after playing club for a while, there seemed to be less and less new things to learn as a player. Now i don't think that's because i knew/know it all, but because there are few resources in our sport. And the few resources out there are so often geared toward newer players. With the lack of coaching in ultimate, the finer points of technique and tactics and strategy are often left for people to learn on their own (or bring over from their past sporting lives).<br />
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Well, with this blog, i'll endeavor to throw my 2 cents out there on a few things, and i hope some young player can parlay that 2 cents into a something valuable. Who knows? We'll see where this goes...B-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-83698257262602321362011-05-20T14:43:00.000-04:002011-05-20T14:43:48.913-04:00The new "Best Perspectives"So this blog has been defunct for over a year now. As i started this blog and lent it a name that i had been thinking of using for some time for my own blog, i am reclaiming it. Not sure what i'll do with this... likely another short lived frisbee blog. Regardless, just wanted to give you few followers fair warning that this is no longer a site for updates on SOT. Feel free to unfollow. Hope you're all well wherever you are out in the world.<br />
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Regards,<br />
B-LoB-Lohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16142078593977256117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-30985760953406027422010-04-25T11:20:00.001-04:002010-04-25T11:20:44.623-04:00May 1st Optional WorkoutOn May 1st an optional workout will be run from 8:30-12. You must have attended at least one tryout prior to be eligible to attend this workout. You will not be evaluated during this optional workout and there will be no cuts, however, it will give you a good insight as to the types of strength and fitness exercises that will be required of you this season.<br /><br />Complete the following form to show whether or not you are able to attend:<br /><a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHN2RnZhQm54a1JpV0tUUTloV0JMWWc6MQ" target="_blank">https://spreadsheets.google.<wbr>com/viewform?formkey=<wbr>dHN2RnZhQm54a1JpV0tUUTloV0JMWW<wbr>c6MQ</a><br /><br /><br />-Coach SnaderUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-88898754113590432402010-04-13T10:46:00.001-04:002010-04-13T10:46:58.517-04:00Tryout #2 - April 17th & 18thGentlemen,<br /><br />The next tryout is this Saturday from 8:30am-2pm and Sunday from 8:30am-2pm. You need to fill out the form below if you are trying out. This is a different form from last week.<br /><br /><a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDQ0MVpNaklUWThVUVZZQ0MzVEE5aFE6MQ" target="_blank">https://spreadsheets.google.<wbr>com/viewform?formkey=<wbr>dDQ0MVpNaklUWThVUVZZQ0MzVEE5aF<wbr>E6MQ<br /></a><br />You saw that I did not make any cuts at this last tryout. You better bring your best effort this next weekend or it won't be the same case. Over the next six weeks there will be well over 100 tryouts and there may only be 25 spots for this team.<br /><br />Team Attitude, Commitment, Heart, Skill. You need to show them all.<br /><br /><br />-Coach <br /><i><br />"<span>Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.</span> "</i><br /><span> -Vince Lombardi</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-92119477091487684002010-04-08T15:47:00.001-04:002010-04-08T15:47:57.964-04:002 Days LeftGentlemen,<br /><br />We're two days away from the first Philly Team tryout. Besides bringing a white shirt, your cleats and 2 bottles of water you need to bring a dark shirt as well. Black is preferred. You will have numbers pinned on your back so you'll need a jersey on at all times.<br /><br />We are expecting up to 140 athletes to tryout for this team over the next six weeks. This may be the biggest tryout in the nation. I trust you will come with your best game.<br /><br />-Coach SnaderUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5171037045212559994.post-33723567975352120332010-04-05T08:15:00.002-04:002010-04-05T08:28:21.288-04:00Updated ScheduleHere is the updated tryout schedule:<br /><ul><li>April 10 - Tryout - 8:30-2 - Edgely Ballfields (Not regular Edgely)<br /></li><li>April 17 - Tryout - 8:30 - 2 - Edgely Ballfields</li><li>April 18 - Tryout - 8:30-2 - Edgely Ballfields</li><li>April 24 - Tryout - 1-5:30 - Edgely Ballfields </li><li>May 1 - Optional Workout run by the Coach - 8:30-12 - Edgely<br /></li><li>May 8 - Tryout - Time 8:30-2 - Edgely Ballfields</li><li>May 9 - Tryout - 8:30-2 - Edgely Ballfields</li><li>May 15-16 - Bell Crack</li></ul>If you need directions to the fields <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=106996455378929759902.000001127298f1e3d333e&ie=UTF8&ll=39.995468,-75.214548&spn=0.043595,0.080338&t=h&z=14&om=1">click here</a>. Understand that Edgely Ballfields and Edgely (Clubhouse) are two different fields.<br /><br />-Coach SnaderUnknownnoreply@blogger.com