Offhanded Scoober

On offense, I was working it beautifully with CJ, whom I had trouble working with Saturday, but I guess third time is a charm. We were understanding where each other wanted it, and it worked great. I threw up a couple of bombs which were narrowly missed by CJ, but they were put with vision and to the right place, so I just need to adjust slightly for headwind and throw it slightly lower, because the placement was just right otherwise. And I think we had a considerable amount more connections than missed connections.

I've started to just put my head down and run to the spot instead of watching the disc fly, if I thought it was going to be close whether I could get to the disc or not, and it has mixed results. There are probably more times that it's allowed me to get to the spot quicker and then read the disc (which is easier) but there have been times that the wind affected the disc more than I thought and it in effect backfired. Tough.

Also, my stamina is returning. Yay.

Things to take away from other people's playing tonight:

1. The value of breaking the mark right away. If the other team is forcing line, the dump and thrower should work together to dump it off the line right away. Yoshio would capitalize by throwing it around to the dump right away. Or if I forced him upline, he would immediately hit the IO. BUT for this to happen, you need a) aware dump/front of stack and b) defenders who are poaching.

2. Thaaat's about it.

First off, I had a lot of fun. I just want to make sure that gets through, because this post is mostly about my failures during this tournament. Oh yeah, and we "practiced" once before the tournament.

I. Too many turn overs. A result of a lot of different things. I had probably about 8 turn overs a day. And not the apple kind. I didn't drop anything, which is good. I had too many throwaways though. Reasons why I turned the disc over:

A. Bad decision making. Actually wasn't too bad until day 2 but then it was not stellar.

1. Unable to adjust to various cutters' speeds. Threw some too far out for people to get. I threw away more than a couple on in-cut type stuff, which I haven't done in forever. Threw them out too far into space, even if it had a lot of touch and was floaty. Probably too used to playing with speedy Nittai kids. But its my fault for being unable to adjust enough.

2. Unable to trust the cutter. - Stemmed from 1. Because I became unsure of myself and the cutter's ability to get to the disc, I threw up some hucks that were short, or too floaty, and thus incomplete. I have to remember that if there is any doubt when throwing a huck, it should never ever be put.

B. Cutters did not know what I liked to throw. I didn't know what the cutters wanted.

1. More than once, I would make eye contact with the cutter, and start my throwing motion, only to realize that the cutter did not understand where I wanted him to go. This hesitation would either make me needlessly focus upfield or throw a scrappy throw because of the hesitation.

2. The cutter would make a move, but it was hard for me to understand where he wanted to go, so I would wait for a more obvious move, which would force me to hastily make throws.

3. The dump along with 2 other cutters would crowd me at stall 5 or 6. No one would cut break side for me. This would result in 3 not-so-good options and no space for me to throw anywhere.

C. Not trusting my teammates with the disc.

1. Honestly, I had a hard time trusting others with the disc, and it is something I need to learn to do, but also something other players need to prove to me.

2. Everyone had too many turnovers. Including myself.

3. Needlessly felt the pressure to punch it in myself. To make plays on offense so that we would have a better shot of scoring. Getting ahead of myself in trying to play above myself.

4. This will get better with more experience with teammates.

II. Defense.

A. Poaching.

1. Lesson learned: Against Japanese teams, poaching out on the force side lane does not work.

2. Why? They will run in towards you into the force lane (in a ho), and then cut to the IO breakside. Japanese throwers all have the ability of making this throw. This throw leads to more break side throws. WM should run similarly.

3. Poaching deep from the far side in a ho didn't really work either, I think. It's hard to say. I never got a D deep like that, but I also think I stopped the thrower from making that throw a number of times as well. But thing to watch out for is that throwers will quickly throw a hammer to my poached man, which is a pain in the ass. There were a couple times that I should have layed out and D'd that shit. I will. I have to.

B. Laying out (on D). Had some opportunities, but failed to pull the trigger.

1. Just do it.

2. Just. Do. It.

3. "Do not think, feel." - Bruce Lee

C. Playing loose versus poaching versus playing hard on.

1. I had more chances to lay out and/or make tight plays when I played loose, but would give up more throws, especially IO breaks. Also, when the mark would get broken, I would give up too many yards.

2. Poaching allowed me to stop easy scores, especially in the end zone. But sometimes this would mean that one easy score would be stopped in place of a slight harder, but still not-so-hard score because of my poach. It's hard to figure out what to do in this case... But I suppose I'd have to trust my teammates here as well. Now if people wouldn't get beat force side in the endzone, this would make my dilemma a lot easier :/

3. Playing hard on worked. I rarely gave up position on the force side, and forced tough throws to the IO break, or was close enough to discourage those throws. Problem: I can shut down people when I do this, but I can't get D's. Refer to playing loose.

III. Getting frustrated.

A. Don't.

IV. Need more structure in the endzone. Too many cuts. Stay the +$"#` out of the way. Let one person do the deed.

THINGS I DID WELL! WOOHOO

1. Zone breaker. I smashed zones left and right. Only one turn during Zone O, and it was because the throw happened right as my far handler moved into the dump position. So it was a miscommunication thing. Otherwise, Jei would put me on the line as the main handler and I would single-handedly destroy zones. How? Aggressively cutting and moving the disc quickly, throwing through the holes, finding space and making cutters run there, etc.

2. Only got beat deep once, on a break mark huck, which I almost got to. Probably my best defensive bid on a huck ever. Too bad I just missed the D (had a hand on it). sidewayzies face

3. Rarely was broken around. Sometimes IO, but not too much. Forced some turn overs, and rarely drew (once?) a foul.

4. Other stuff too. Put up some good hucks. Dictated the offense. Played a role when needed. Brought energy onto the field. Blah blah blah.

You can also see the pictures from the stands:

Wow, just... Wow.

Part 1 of a 6 section final vid. Check it out.

Here's some homework for you two kiddoes, though:

Watch the video, and write up two or three things (good and bad) about the offense, the defense, and something you want to integrate into your individual ultimate, as well as things you want to integrate into your team. Finally, why, in your opinion, did Revolver win and Sockeye lose?

When I was playing with a bunch of the underclassmen, it was fine, at least for the first half. I was moving the disc and putting up bombs that were working fairly well. Had some really close ones that were just out of reach too. But, I started to hold on to the disc and not moving it well, which was contrary to what I told my half to focus on as well. Then things didn't go so smoothly.

Even though we had been neck and neck with the upperclassmen team, all of a sudden, we were broken 4 times in a row. Damn. I was moving the disc until this point, but since a lot of the turns were not my fault, I think I started to try to dictate the game and look for big gains, which didn't work, cuz my cutters were tired and not looking for the same things as me. Then, I held on to the disc too long, in perhaps some handler-I-know type fashion, to the frustration of myself and my teammates.

Second game, we switched the team around, and I was with two really good players with whom I had not played together with yet. But, it was even harder for me to play with them, because they would hold on to the disc a lot longer and be looking for different throws. Also, to my frustration, these players would not make the cuts for me right away, they would linger on it, and then cut, which only resulted in the stall count getting higher, and me not being able to throw within my own rhythm.

In other news, I've decided to stop thinking about my offense, play as a role player, and focus completely on getting D's on intense man defense.

What I mean by this is that one must be scoring deep, catching stuff under in positions where one can destroy a defense. Essentially picking holes in the defense....

In order to do this properly, you must cut to places where the handlers want you to go, cutting to places where the defense doesn't want me to go, cutting to places that make the handlers realize where they should be throwing.

The role of a cutter is to bring the potential out of a handler, to bring the best out of a handler.

For instance, everything about summer league can be seen with a click of a button.

Same with reflection, or recap, or defense, or whatever.

So, please take the time in the future to use relevant labels so that it'll be easier to find posts and read back on things that people are interested in.