Sean: WAFC Advanced #1

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First game with a new team. Mainly older players. Not too many standouts. Handling core is weak. Our women are strong. I believe that I need to become a handler for the team after losing the game 12-8. Our captain has his head in the right place, firm yet not overbearing. This league will be fun!

One assist, three scores. No D's. One turn (early on, again).

Played as a cutter for the entirety of the game. When I got the disc I took a quick look up field followed by a quicker dump. Basically it for most of the game for me, offensively. When I got to the endzone I cut without thinking about it, looking for holes. This reflex didnt serve me in the area between bricks so much. Part of it was due to my indecision and another part due to a weak handler-cutter relationship. By this I mean they havent played enough with me to understand what I do. This will come with time, but it will come quicker if I am more decisive about cutting.

My assist was pure luck. Their teams best player against our teams fastest woman. He thought it was out the endzone, but she kept with it, perfectly timing her jump to just barely toe it in. She saved my ass and taught me a lesson: never stop attacking the disc, even when against great odds. Flick huck by the way. It slowly floated up, not sure if it bounced or not but it was certainly a low release so some bounce might have come into play.

I got broken way too often. Overconfidence in the mark and my fellow defenders. I'll play more conservative. For some reason I covered handlers most of the time. Their handling core was experienced and quick. I tried to force them to cut a certain way, which they would do, but then immediately cut where I wasnt expecting, where I didnt want them to cut. The way to improve upon this is quickness and experience. Really concentrate on staying on the balls of my feet.

I want to play defense more. Need to work on my body position and forcing my cutter to go where I want him.

If my man poaches off of me, cut deep immediately.

As usual, I want to get back on the field. Couldn't happen sooner. 9 comments

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9 comments:

  1. Bobby June 17, 2010 at 2:09 AM

    quick thought... is goldsmith on your team? if so you should try to watch what he does a little bit when your on the sideline I think it would be interesting to write a post about another players play

    also, based on your descriptions you seem to do a lot more offensively than I do/try to fill the role of a handler more, for example its been a long time since ive thrown a low release and generally I look to my dump at about stall 3 in my summer league games so far, i need to try to incorporate more of the things that I can do into my offensive play. I think I have a bit of trouble switching mentalities from defense to offense cause I generally play balls out defense which takes ridiculously fast paced decision making and actions, I need to slow down my game on offense and try to analyze what I'm doing more. I will try this next week, I definitely think it will help my offensive game when I am holding the disc, but will also help me cut as well. Offense is best when you are somewhat slow and methodical with your decisions, a luxury that is not really allowed when playing defense

  1. Sean June 17, 2010 at 4:30 PM

    I agree that I seem to be offensively minded while you are defensively minded. But I disagree that you need to slow down your game for offense. From what I have heard and understand, they play at the same pace. If defense is at one pace why wouldn't the opposing side of the field attempt to make the same pace? When you see a man open on offense, one always makes the completion with no hesitation. Whether its a dump, in cut or huck, the decision has to be made immediately. To me, they are played at the same balls out intensity and speed levels. I believe that the majority of the frisbee community would agree with me.

    I think the difference between Offense and Defense is as follows:

    Offense is Specialization. Defense is Versatility.

    In offense you need to excel in a few types of offenses, that you like/are good at. If youre good at it, its easy to beat the other side.

    In defense you need to be able to adjust to every type of offense you come into contact with. Every team throws a different type of offense due to the preferences of individual players.

  1. Bobby June 17, 2010 at 11:51 PM

    What i mean is that when playing defense, every action that you take has to be necessary to you getting d or preventing a throw, so there is a bit more urgency to your decisions whereas on offense there is the 10 second window of throwing so you have time for fakes and jukes and much more time for decision making, in general you should take a second before the cut to analyze whether its the right thing to do and its necessary that you take a brief moment before you make a throw and throw fakes if a good cut doesn't materialize immediately when you have the disc

    Basically, on offense you can and should dictate the pace of the game to your advantage while on defense you have to always be ready to react, you can dictate positioning but you can never dictate timing, so you have that much more time on offense for your brain to process. This is something I sometimes have trouble with on offense because I feel a stronger sense of urgency than is truly necessary due to a more defensive and frenetic mindset. Basically, I think that I do not take the time to truly make the best decisions and sometimes I make cuts and throws that are unhelpful to the team. This is something I plan to work on, slowing down my game a little bit on the offensive side.

    On offense you don't have to make every cut in order to get the disc or throw to every open cut, you are meant to pick and choose the best option, while on defense you have to try to shut down all these options so there is (in my opinion) two very different mindsets for offense and defense. It won't ruin you to, for example, have a defensive mindset on offense however I imagine the best players are able to switch between these mindsets quite easily.

    I think that your interpretation is pretty accurate in the skill set differences that it takes to play offense or defense but I just feel that having that need for versatility lowers your ability to think through your actions as much as you can when you are specialized to a certain task so its better if you can make a mentality switch when turning back towards offense after getting a turn, this is why bookend plays are so impressive in my opinion.

    this is almost a post length comment section, we should write an entire post at some point about our interpretations of the differences between offense and defense

  1. Niji June 18, 2010 at 1:09 PM

    FUCKing aye. I just wrote such a long response, and this fucking shit deleted my post.

  1. Niji June 18, 2010 at 1:10 PM

    In short. "Offense is best when you are somewhat slow and methodical with your decisions, a luxury that is not really allowed when playing defense"

    No.

    Slow offense = easy to defend.
    Slow = BAD. always.
    The problem is not in making decisions too quickly. It's in making the wrong decision.

  1. Bobby June 18, 2010 at 3:08 PM

    ok fair, but that's not exactly what I meant, i mean more in the sense that you don't have to rush to make a cut all the time and you should take some time to set up a cut or throw (meaning you should throw fakes and juke going into a cut), also you want to run quickly and make decisions quickly but you need to let your teammates make plays as well, while on defense you are expected to be in position to make a play at all times. This doesn't mean you should take breaks on offense but you need to know that is not always your place to try to make a play, this is something we definitely had problems with on the D line or with inexperienced players in general last year, where people would be trying to cut all the time and interrupting the flow of our offense.

    Saying "somewhat slow and methodical" is an exaggeration, but in relative terms and to a very small degree when compared to defense it is still true in my opinion. I understand the need for urgency when playing offense, I am not suggesting to play slowly, but I feel that I would be better served if i took an extra half second to analyze the entire field or to set up the play that I have decided on making, I (and maybe some others) would be better served

    Basically, I feel that there is a different mindset between offense and defense, it might not be drastically different and I might not be pinpointing exactly what the differences are but there is definitely a difference

  1. Sean June 18, 2010 at 4:00 PM

    Agreed that "there is a different mindset between offense and defense". Disagree on the idea that while on offense you aren't "expected to be in position to make a play at all times." Remember the picture of me stretched out to grab a disc while everyone watched me? The disc had air bounced to the high heavens, and someone was expected to be able to make a play on the disc in order to prevent the turn over.

  1. Bobby June 18, 2010 at 6:45 PM

    ok haha, i think im just not writing what I mean correctly/your kinda taking me out of context there :P, you should obviously always be aware of what is going on while on offense whether that is to find the frisbee on an errant throw or take advantage of an opening in the defense.

    Basically all im trying to say is that on offense you have a greater ability to control the flow of the game and set up your man to be out of position, these are things that I need to take advantage of to a greater degree if i want to become better at offense.

    Also i looked for that pic, very nice

  1. Niji June 21, 2010 at 3:35 PM

    "you need to let your teammates make plays as well"
    Absolutely. I don't know how many times I've said that "sometimes the right cut is not making a cut".
    For instance, Peter Dempsy on UGA. While he is a dominant player, you notice that he does not dominate the team, he dominates opponents. This is probably the best way to play. He steps up when he has to, and let's his teammates do their thing when they are.

    Here's the thing about "controlling the flow of the game": While its true that the offense dictates what happens on the field, a huge problem with a lot of teams is that there are too many players who *try* to "control the flow" of the game. In fact, more people should focus on *facilitating* the flow of the game, rather than controlling it. I know that mostly you might think that this is a mere difference of words, but when it comes down to it, even the very words you choose to describe something comes to dictate the way you think about it. You never want to control the flow, you always want to facilitate. Obviously, like most other things, there are times when you do need to control the flow of the game. Yet, I think it's a very bad habit to try to control the game. You need to hone yourself with ample experience to instantly and intuitively know what should be done.

    Facilitate, let it happen.
    When things are going right, you wont and shouldn't be controlling the game, it will simply unfold.

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