Showing posts with label improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label improvement. Show all posts

Hitting a Plateau (and getting over it)

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So as of late, I feel that I've hit a plateau as far as improvement. This is obviously frustrating, and my initial reaction was to just blame it on the lack of ultimate (and players to aspire to play like). But this is nought but a rationalization: As always, the answer lies in no other than myself. Moreover, I feel that I played the worst ultimate in recent history last Sunday.


So what do I do? I could sit around and mope about it, then be frustrated when I suck on the field, but that's not fun and does no one any good. What I have to do is pick a focus. Lately, I've just been so happy to be on the field, that I've let myself slip into a nonchalant way of playing. It's mostly more like organized pick up (and mixed, not to knock on mixed but) and I've found it really hard to focus on my game. I let myself get sort of swept into this lull, because the people around me aren't as focused on improvement (so much as just playing). I never want to play ultimate just because "that's what I do". Don't get me wrong, its not just situations like these that you can get into this mode; You can totally be in a rigorous program, say elite college or club, and still let this happen. My point is that humans are creatures of habit, and its easy to get sucked into a habit. Just don't let yourself think that you are trying to improve, when improving yourself just become a part of your routine. Or to sound more articulate, don't let improving become the status quo.
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Niji: Number of Touches

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I was talking to a Japanese women's player, and she mentioned that American teams in general don't touch the disc as often in practice compared to Japanese teams. Basically, American drills are focused on certain situations and the application of set plays than getting a high number of touches. I thought about this and I would have to agree.

(Kind of like Soccer.)

Drills run at WM are a good example; there are very few drills that focus on getting a high number of touches and throws. Even the ones that do are hampered by the fact that you have a lot of wait time. My friend even related this to the difference in the way Japanese players develop their throws versus American players. While this is a little iffy, the point that catching and throwing 5 times more would make you better at catching and throwing seems to be fair.
More Touches! (actually those are iPhones but we can pretend)

So, what can be done? The answer is elegantly simple: Just more run drills that involve more throwing and catching per minute. One such drill is where you are in groups of three, and basically do the box drill, just with 3 people. (this is also a great warm up drill) 10 flicks to the open side, 10 io flicks, 10 open side backhands, 10 io backhands, 10 hammers, and adjust cuts to make sense.
Basically, this is part of the puzzle of how to develop players faster that I've been overlooking.

So, what I would recommend, is getting drills that focus on touching the disc often and quickly (with actual catches and realistic throws). I think that it would especially help if captains would take a moment to explain what is being accomplished in each drill, and what skills one is supposed to glean from each. This will help players focus on what they are doing, as well as actually help improve players, rather than drills just being a glorified and prolonged warm up.
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Niji: Getting Rid of Drops

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Drops. Drops. Drops.


Something needs to be done differently in practice, or else this drop syndrome is *going to kill you guys.* Honestly, WM has the worst case of the drops I've ever seen in ANY college team. Even shitty teams don't drop as much as us. So what can you guys do?

1. Running drills seriously (every throw, every catch) and making sure people are focused and putting pressure on themselves.

2. Play elimino: Run a drill (like the 4 corners box drill) with lots of quick movement and throwing, and a player is eliminated when they either mess up a throw or drop a disc. Keep playing until either you hit 100 consecutive throws or too many people are eliminated.

3. Run a catching drill. Have 4 people with a bunch of discs in a zigzag, and just make cut after cut towards each thrower full speed, catch and run the disc to the thrower, and continue to the next person.

4. During scrimmages, make drops a joint liability. What I mean by this is at the end of each point, run a sprint (or a half field suicide) for every drop your side committed.

5. Focus on catching when throwing around. If you're dropping the disc when you're casually throwing around, that mentality *WILL* bite your butt at some point.

6. Think of other stuff on your own, too.
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O-line and D-line

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If your o-line scores every offensive point, you will never lose.

But, unless your d-line can break your opponent, you can never win.

The best o-line is not simply about having no turns. While this has happened, its near impossible to actualize. So then what? It's tough on a smaller team like WM, where we have to draw from a smaller talent pool, but this problem remains: An o-line player has to be able to play defense when the disc is turned over. In fact, no player who does not play good defense should ever be allowed to play offense. Because doing so makes it clear to everyone on your team that that is okay. And it most certainly is not.

Your thoughts?
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Niji: My Flick is Blady, What Do I Do to Fix It???

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Now, I've probably heard this next phrase more than any other question I've been asked concerning ultimate: "My flick (huck) is blady, wompwomp lolz how do I fixxorz it?"


Why? Cuz every n00b ever always has the same problems, unless you're Asian like me, or have big balls like Alan.

Tonight I just broke it down for my good friend Bobby Corroon, who shall not be named.

Basically, if your flick looks like this:


These are probably, definitely, the reasons why:

1. Slow your motion down: you're probably rushing the throw.

Remember: You want minimum effort for maximum output

Also, when you rush a throw, all hell breaks loose and your form goes to poop. Like the above visual.


2. You're probably (definitely) turning your hand/arm over: i.e. make sure your arm motion slices through parallel to the ground. Imagine that your hand is like a blade cutting through let's sayyyy a cucumber. If you turn your arm over mid-slice, it probably wouldn't work out so well would it?

- The Important Point: Make sure your palm is facing up the whole time. Yes, even during the follow-through.


At this point this-Bobby-Corroon-who-shall-not-be-names said something to the effect of, "Wompn00bsauce I don't think I do that, that much at least, I'mma n00b."


To which I said, Bobby, trust me, you are 100% doing that or else it wouldn't turn over.

"Well look at it this way: Every time the disc turns over, your hand definitely has turned over...

Otherwise it wouldn't have."


Moral of the story?

STFU and learn.

Cool?

Cool.


3. Your elbow is probably too close to your body. Figure this one out on your own. Or don't.


4. Wind up is too big. n00bs of the first class all do this: HUGE wind-up, so little follow-through. Kinda like how they "mack" on girls. Aka, they've got no game. When fixing your flick, or any throw in fact, pay attention to your wind up. This affects the way the disc flies more than anything else, unless you have a giant ravenous grizzly bear with lazer beams and grenade launchers on auto-fire chasing you in tornado-level winds.




5. Start the throw more IO. IO for your n00bz means: inside out. And if you don't know what that means, grow a pair.


Not These.

But these.


"e.g. remember the pictures of me throwing against alabama?

it looks like the disc is too IO and going out of bounds at first

and then, nope

its definitely going inbounds"
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Niji: Change of Pace & How to Practice It

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One of the things I pride myself on is getting rid of the disc as fast as possible. Though I am still not mature enough of a player to always heed by this, as long as I am playing with players I am comfortable with, the disc rarely stops in my hands. In fact, one of my biggest pet-peevs in ultimate is someone holding on to the disc for no reason.


Fact: You do not need to look up-field every time you get the disc.
Fact: If the dump is poached, you should hit it right away.
Fact: While "looking dump by 5" is a good benchmark, it is not an excuse to look upfield even if there isn't anything there until then.
Fact: Waiting on a cut leads to poach D's.
Why?
Cuz other smart defenders are watching you wait on a cut, and since its probably the only thing happening at the time (cuz otherwise, why would you be waiting for a cut to develop, right?), its easy to see coming.

So this is a change of pace, compared to most American style teams, that tend to wait longer on cuts, and dump on a higher stall count. Japanese teams are different from this in that they always hit a poached player right away, especially dump or IO break. They like to get rid of the disc quickly, and to capitalize on the break side. I think this play-style would really fit WM and would love to see it implemented.

So then how do you practice this?
Well, its not too hard if you keep the above facts in mind, but a great way to get it across team-wide is to make the stall counts come in at 6. Basically, with a shorter amount of time to do something with the disc, you force players to move the disc quickly and thus, naturally generate a less stagnant offense.

If you consider yourself an upper level player (or handler) on the team, try this one for kicks:
Make yourself get rid of the disc within the first 3 counts. Remember, this is not to *look* dump by 3, it is to *hit* the dump by 3. It's a tough job, but I believe that you can do it.

Anyway, if you try it out, let know how it goes. Individually, and as a team.
'Till next time.
1 comments

Questions and thoughts on Redzone offense

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For some reason i feel like you guys talk a lot about scoring and for some reason, i dont really remember scoring all that much every game this summer. Perhaps this is due to my team clogging the lane like crazy and the fact that my team's deep throws are for the most part non-existent. Or perhaps, in an attempt to not clog the lanes in the endzone, i shy away from making endzone cuts unless they are truely wide open, limiting my chances. Anyway, I was thinking, I don't exactly know what the best way to cut is when you are in the endzone. Is there a particular strategy or place (position in the stack or from the handler position) that you cut from that works best for you? Or is it pretty much the same as cutting anywhere on the field but with less room. Its pretty nooby to be asking this at this point but hopefully we can share and improve on this aspect of the game.

At risk of ranting horribly, my thoughts on the issue: the cuts that i see generally working in the endzone are cuts to the front force-side cone or either break-side cone. This generally is true regardless of where you cut out of the stack unlike on the rest of the field. The real problem with endzone offense, obviously, is clogging as people become a lil glory hungry and cut when it would be better if they did not. Realistically you can only have 2 cuts happening at a time in the endzone/ever and hopefully you should always have a breakside and a forceside cut, but oftentimes you will get many more so probably you would want to assign certain positions from where to cut for endzone offense. That being said, im not completely sure what would be the best place to do this from, traditionally we used the front of the stack in the endzone, but i think that in some ways the middle would be almost more effective as the defender is generally not on his guard as much. On another note, the right cut will not always materialize so the best handler strategy is probably to be super patient, as the worst thing is to work it down to the endzone and then turn it over on a bad throw. You should always have only 2 cuts at a time, forceside/strike and breakside, to maximize opportunities for the handlers. Maybe we should have set plays, that go farther than just the ones we already have as those tend to sometimes force unnecessary throws, called that make it so that this is constantly happening w/o clogging. 2 comments

Wildwood Revelations- Bobby

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I was thinking about writing a post about Wildwood cause it was such a sweet tournament and was definitely a lot of fun, but I really don't wanna talk about all the fuck ups I had (there were a lot) and overall i think I played pretty shitty for the most part, but there were a few good things that I gained from it which I realized today during my summer league game.

First thing is that I realized that I have become a little bit impatient/I am trying way too hard for big throws and cuts, instead of being more team oriented. This is really really shitty and i think one of the reasons that I feel i had such a crappy tournament. However, going into summer league today I was thinking about this and adjusted my play accordingly and I feel that I had a pretty awesome game. Worked more on looking off throws that were unlikely to be completed and focused more on working the disc more (still forced a couple things as I was getting tired but playing a little bit more chili definitely made me play better.) Though I didn't score as much or get as many assists as I normally do, i felt that I was instrumental to many of our scores, which i feel is just as good. I have determined to play defense in more of a role that myles took last year as opposed to the way Aric did in the sense that Myles was a great cutter all year but rarely took a huge risk and in general made really smart decisions to limit turns. Not to bash Aric's play style, but the amount of stupid turns i had at wildwood helped me to decide that i dont necessarily want to be as aggressive with hucks yet until i become more sure of my decisions and ability. I know I have the ability to throw pretty good flick hucks and i will still practice it among other things and may use them in the right situation, but I have decided to try to limit my usage of this and play a lot smarter. In general I want to work on focusing more on defense and contributing positively in smaller ways on offense.

Another thing that I found that is extremely important is the role of adrenaline in a game, as I had a hard time walking due to a cut on my toe but when I got into the game I found that I could run pretty easily. Also, in the last game of the day on saturday, I kind of got "on fire" a little bit, scoring or assisting i think 5 of our points in a row after just missing a layout d, but I was also a bit flat at other times during the games (dehydration also a big problem with this for me this weekend). I think for a team to do really well they have to rely on the boost that adrenaline can give you by striving to keep it pumping by keeping the team in the game and excited.

The conditions of the tournament were a bit difficult, as running in sand and throwing in strong wind are not easy at all, however they are really good for improving your game. Practicing throwing in the wind is the shit, after getting that down regular throws are ridiculously easy. Also, after cutting and running in sand, using cleats on grass makes everything so much easier and im pretty damn sure it has made me more fit. maybe we should have beach training days in williamsburg?

One thing i definitely appreciated from wildwood as opposed to summer league is the way that our team was much more enjoyable to play with than my summer league team which has a couple of real big douches on it. Made me realize the importance of team chemistry that I'm glad we have to a good degree but that we should continue to improve.


Thoughts on the A team players who were there:
i think fabio came in great shape to play and seemed to be kicking ass all over the field, bidding and skying real high. His throws could still use work i think but im looking forward to his play next year, and i need to get in a bit better shape too i think.
Sean your throws are damn tight now, maybe you need to be a little bit more chili with some of them, but it was not fully serious frisbee/the wind sucked balls. also great cutting
Fleming was awesome as usual not much more to say there
Kyle needs to not fuck up his shoulder

EDIT: due to being retardedly harsh on myself/ranting and forgetting stuff 2 comments

Shakaijin Open: 07/24+25/10

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I went to my first open tournament in Japan.

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.

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Sockeye vs. Revolver (WUCC Open Finals)

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Sockeye vs. Revolver (WUCC Open Finals)


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?
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The Role of a Cutter

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As a cutter, you must always be dangerous.

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.

1 comments

Setting your Goals High

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One of the most important things that you can do as an improving player is to set your goals as high as you possibly can, strive to be the best player on the field even if you are seriously under experienced or overcome by the athleticism of the players around you. One of the biggest shifts that I experienced last year that I think made a huge difference in my improvement was that after winter break I really stopped viewing myself as a freshman and stopped comparing my abilities to freshmen but instead I tried to compare my abilities to the players on the team that were above me. I wanted to play shut down defense like myles and vereb, have sweet throws and decision making like Niji and the rest of our senior handlers, and be a beast cutter like acie.

Obviously, I was unable to match up to the performance of these players best qualities due to lack of experience and probably general impossibility which made practicing and games slightly frustrating at times for me, a great example of this is that I would get down on myself if I perceived that I had made a bad decision even if it turned out well also I probably underestimate my own value to a degree. However, I know that this mentality enabled me to push myself really hard on defense and helped me become pretty solid on D. Furthermore my throws and decision making improved tremendously to the point that I got chances to handle in practice towards the end of the year, something that no one really envisioned to start the year and I hope that more experience will continue to improve. The biggest thing however was my focus on cutting as it was the thing that has given me the most trouble, I often watch the upperclassmen and feel that I could be able to get the disc with as much ease as them but when I'm on the field I somehow this does not completely translate. I set my goals high and I felt that was unable to reach them, however this does not mean that I set them too high as the drive to reach them definitely made me better as a player. Just now remembering back on looking at the stats for roll call I realize that I actually had a good amount of touches on the disc, and far more than I remembered having and I realize that this mindset helped me improve tremendously and I need to focus more on my accomplishments and progress towards these goals than my inability to reach them immediately as a freshman.

As my dad always cornily but truthfully says, "set your sights high, and you will go far" 2 comments

Making the First Move

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First point of the game, first offensive point you play.

What's on your mind?
I'm always thinking about making a big first impression.

As a handler, there is nothing more important than the first thing you do. The second I get the disc, I try to immediately break my mark, or at least pivot quickly the second I get the disc and let him know that I can break him like a bitch around backhand. Why, do you ask? Well think about it. If you were that defender, what would be going through your mind?
"Oh shit, this guy likes to break around backhand, and he has a good one."
All of a sudden, in one fell swoop, you're dictating how he plays.

Boom. Roasted. (Game over man.)

You can do the same thing as a cutter. Or as a team. Set up a big play right away, for a good deep cut shot. A little bit of a higher risk, but the benefits are bountiful. You show that you can take your man deep. You show that our handlers have the deep shots. Immediately, the opposing d-line has to respect your deep cuts, opening up the in-cuts.
Again. You dictate how THEY play.
Try it out.
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The Single, Biggest Liability: Revisited

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So I was watching a highlight clip from some random college team (I think it was the University of Washington in St. Louis) and at the very end of the clip, there was a shot of the coach saying, "At practice, every drop, the whole team runs." Now that would be a very good incentive to stop dropping huh? Not only that, but its simple, not too time consuming, yet I would imagine that its quite effective.


Discuss.
2 comments

Sean: Wendigo Tryouts 6/2

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1) I almost passed out after warming up. I felt like i had just given blood. I sat out for awhile, missed the first and only drill. This all happened because I didnt get enough sleep, eat well or drink enough water beforehand. Never gonna make that mistake again.


2) On one turn (which I caused) I spent time regretting rather than getting into position to make the D. Essentially, reverse bookends. No fun at all. Next time transfer the intensity of regret into defensive intensity. I wouldve gotten the D if I had made the transition to D quicker.

3) So after turning the disc over twice, I came back and scored the next six of eight points. Almost all on D I believe. The points that I remember scoring on were the result of two things: 1. The beloved S-cut 2. and more importantly, positional awareness. Immediately after a turn, pivot towards the crowded space then cut towards the open space. Easy as that. Another time I was out of position behind the handler in a vert stack in the endzone. I sprinted to the front of the stack. No one was cutting from the back so I continued to sprint to the force side for an easy score. On a different point many of the opposing team clustered toward my handler because they were following their man in on an in-cut. I quickly cut deep for the score. All about positional awareness.

4) Starting to cut before the disc is in catches the defender unaware much of the time.

5) It is hard to put much else down because the team captains for Wendigo taught me a new offense: "Colorado Offense". As you might be able to glean, one of the captains recently graduated from Colorado Mamabird.

The offense is a hybrid of every defense we know at WM. Iso, vertical and horizontal.

There is a strong side of the field and there is a weak side of the field. On the strong side there are two iso's who take up all of the cutting space on the field. Their cutting works much like the 2 and 3 (middle guys) in a horizontal stack in that one man cuts in and another cuts out. On the weak side three players setup vertically, hugging the sideline in order to give the strong side room to cut. Only when a strong side cutter calls "fill" does a weak side cutter recycle into the cutting space. Theoretically a strong side cutter could cut forever because of this.

There is one handler in the middle of the field slightly behind the weak side stack, which is slightly behind the strong side cutters. A dump is 10-15 feet directly behind the handler. Rarely does he come into play. Same with the weak side. In a perfect world all disc movement is carried out by the handler and the two strong side cutters. Three guys.

Strengths: TONS of cutting space. Players who need rest in a game long and point long sense get to rest as dump or weak side cutters. If your cutters are really good, the point is over quickly. The best defensive players on the other team get tired out quickly.

Weaknesses: If your strong side cutters suck at cutting, the offense falls apart quickly. Chemistry between these cutters and the handler is a must.

Got to play this defense for two hours, not enough time to truly evaluate it. Regardless, it seems to have strong advantages. Something our team should experiment with next season.

I asked one of the captains about what I should do better next time. All stuff I have heard before, but as the Hagakure says never shun an elders advice even if you have heard it time and again. Don't round off cuts and work on throws. I thought I learned all this stuff awhile ago haha. An ongoing process for throws. Not so much for rounding off cuts.

6) Put a huck to space in which the cutter to run onto. Try not to throw the disc directly over the cutter, the one place he cant get it.

7) Having trouble with my flick lately. Tends to bounce. Experimenting with the grip. Throw it flat stays flat!

Might join two leagues (Advanced and Rec) and a club team this summer. The cost of traveling into DC a four times a week is a consideration though. Meh.




5 comments

Practice: Maintaining Intensity

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Maintaining intensity; how do you do it? During practice, one pet peeve of mine was that we would never be on the sidelines the way we would (or should) be at tournaments! Practice is practice: Even if you aren't on the field playing as one of the 14, you better get wise to the fact that you're still playing as a part of the team on the field. People sitting down, n00b who aren't watching, talking idly, wasting time, dicking around... Pay attention to your teammates, pay attention to the game. You're fully expect to help out the defense by yelling up calls, to help out the mark by telling him what to watch out for, and help out someone stuck with the disc without any options. If we don't do this during practice, we wont be able to do it properly at a tournament.


So then what? How do we do this? I have some theories of my own, but I'll let you guys come up with some ideas of your own first.

So, maintaining intensity during practice: Discuss.
4 comments

The Single, Biggest Liability.

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Drops.


WM drops like no other.
We lose games because we drop.
What in the hell is the point of running hard, playing smart offense, playing shut down defense, if we just drop? It's frustrating to watch us play so well, other than drops. And we drop on everything. Not just bladely highly contested hucks. Not just throws that are almost out of our reach that people have to lay out for. We drop it on goddamn, everyday ordinary well put in cuts. On dump throws. On swings. Honestly, if we cut out half of our drops, we would have won probably 50% of the games we lost last season. And its not any one person, for the most part. It's an entire team of drops. Everyone has one drop, but the result is not too hard to imagine...

So now what? What's the remedy for a team with drop troubles? Well, the cure obviously lies in the root of the problem. Once a wise man said to me, "Drops in practice are drops in games." What he meant by this is not simply in scrimmage, but rather in drills, when throwing around, etc. Every time you are catching a disc, you should be focused on catching the disc. Drops, under no circumstances, are acceptable. What I see is a team-wide culture of lackadaisical catching, ah hah, the root of the problem. The team, as a whole, must come together and provide a culture that focuses on catching. We (the seniors) probably were too lenient on drops; we all went through dropping spells ourselves because of the culture our freshman year that abhorrently looked down upon drops. Basically, it got to our heads. But last season, we let it slide too much perhaps?

One person said:

Sumon: i used to drop shit tons freshmen year

at the time, the captain practiced with me one on one

and just gunned the disc at me for an hour straight with me running straight towards him

full speed

Niji:

Then you stopped dropping?

Sumon: yeah

like my hands hurt but it helped


So this might sound kind of laborious, but hey, if it gets rid of the drops, why the hell not? Now, obviously this would be sort of a waste of time to take up valuable practice time away with this drill since you can easily do it with just a friend on your own time. But sometimes, its okay to do that to set a precedent.


Your thoughts?

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Thoughts On Pick-up/Practice 5/27

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Um.


Marks: people's marks suck. IE, its way too easy to throw through a mark.
- Point to take away: A team that prides itself on its marks will give opponents a really tough time. Really stress the importance of a good mark; it'll pay off.

Fitness: Mediocre, somewhere in between not wanting to hurt my knees and not being in shape, I'm taking it too easy on myself. Push myself a little harder. Also, playing good defense and shutting my man down for the first 4, 5 seconds doesn't count. Don't rely on the mark to let me play lazy. Smart does NOT = lazy. That being said, I was doing a good job of anticipating and choosing some points within the flow of the game to make some plays. Being able to make plays when I choose to felt good.
- Point to take away: Smart never equals lazy. No matter what.

Throwing/decision-making: Pretty good for the most part, only had one or two turns because of a throwing error. One turn on a miscommunication, one turn throwing deep. One huck went way farther than I intended, but still hit my man in stride. Otherwise, on point.
- Point to take away: Focus.

Offense (cutting): Good overall. Never had trouble getting open.

Defense: Just play harder. "Go for it!" mentality is lacking. Aka, too close to too many D's to not get them. One extra little push.

Quick movement: When McCoy, Ted?, and I were moving the disc, we worked it beautifully. Why? Quick movement of the disc. We never lingered on any one cut/cutter for more than a second or two. Defense never had a chance to even set up a mark, let alone get close to a D. This worked because we all saw where each of us were cutting and anticipated where the next open space would be, making it so that we all had easy options to throw to, while never clogging each other.
- Point to take away: Quick decision making + quick cutting to adjust to the quick movement + awareness/anticipation = flawless offense.

Deep balls: Experimented a bit with juking out my defender. If the disc was coming in a little slower and a little floatier with my man right on my heels, I would pretend to set up my jump a second earlier than I actually was going to, and thus, slowed down my man who also would try to set up his jump. Then, I'd just run under it for the easy catch.
- Point to take away: Little tricks can make it easier for you on offense: You don't necessarily need to play a disc straight up and sky your defender.
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A Year in Retrospect Pt. 2

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Here we go...


Athleticism

For the most part I am skeptical of any workout schedule or routine. Same goes for theories on when to stretch. Luckily my stretching suspicions are founded in a lack of science. Here's a good article on stretching:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/health/nutrition/13Best.html

Sadly, my workout doubts do not hold water. There seems to a certain way to workout/stay in shape. Even though the field of physical fitness adjusts to scientific discoveries pertaining to the development of muscle and such, this does not give anyone an excuse not to workout. This is what I tell myself haha.

So, Ill go on and do all the workouts doled out to me by my captains. It'll keep me in shape. But I will begin to change when and how I stretch. The variables will be types of stretches, whether to stretch after warmups after practices (or both), and for how long. My gut says to vary the stretches every two weeks, always stretch after practice ends and stretch for a moderate amount of time (around 10 mins maybe). Sidenote, I think a swimmer told me that you should stretch a quarter of the time you spent working out. Sidenote on that sidenote, I hate unsubstantiated workout advice. Pisses me off. For all we know they made it up.

Athelticism wins games. A team that has better athleticism can keep up/beat a team that has everything else but.

Bids

All mindset? Sure, at first. But once youre over that hump, I think it's more about physical not mental commitment. If youre running all out and your body is low youre more likely to bid successfully than when youre standing straightup. Of course body positioning and speed become irrelevant after youve done it a few dozen times on the worst surfaces imaginable (e.g. The Barksdale Desert)

"All about the toe" - Andy

Reading the Disc

"Decide where its going to go immediately after its thrown" - Niji
"Take a few steps back in preparation for the catch, then attack" - William
Only intentionally backpedal from the disc.
Oh and attack that shit.

Cuts

I dont like turtles I like cutting.
Stuff I need to work on:
1. Instinctively I know when to make a cut. Go all out when it occurs to me, and already be cutting when it occurs to me. Trust yourself Luke.
2. More than one fake is ok.
3. Try both playing off the defender's position and cutting where you want to cut
4. Alternate feet in which to pivot
5. For handler cuts, always move right after a throw. Quick.

The Mark

A certain demotivational poster comes to mind.
1. Staying close is key for the first six counts or so, after that backup.
2. Hold that force, dont get faked out of position.
3. On a turn it, depending on field position of the disc and players, it helps to go strike for two seconds max to cut off the huck.
4. Bring the condoms.

Conclusions for the year: I have learned alot, something Im proud of. Alot more to go, to put it simply. Looking forward to all of it.

Aight. Thoughts on high school pickup to come.




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A Year in Retrospect Pt. 1

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Fall '09


I honestly didnt expect to make the team. I saw more potential in so many other players. Because of this I felt as if I would not stick out (even though I threw a once in a lifetime flick huck). Sectionals left me satisfied, but I still thought I wouldnt make the team.

I wanted to make the team because of something I heard from a friend during sectionals. He said that you are as good as the people you play with. Even though I had heard this type of saying in other types of competitive settings it didnt make sense until I saw a dude named Max play. He's a handler with UCSB (who're now going to nationals I believe). To put it into plain terms he was awesome. Great throws, physicality and bids. Man his bids were awesome. He got all of this in three years I think. It all started with him throwing with Alan Kolick. All they did was throw with each other for a summer. And look at Max now. He was/is as good as those around him. I wanted to play with the best available for a purely selfish reason: to get better, quick. Luckily I got to do this and more.

So, I made the team. The first serious thing I heard from the upperclassmen was "freshmen dont get much playing time, and if they do its on defense." I was fine with that, it made sense. I never want to be put on the field unless I deserve to/am good enough. So I put it to myself, "Sean, work your fucking ass off and then you might get to play." And that's what I did. I worked my ass off haha. I never doubted myself because I felt I wasnt good enough yet. I still think "Sean, you can start doubting yourself AFTER you get the basics down. Then we can talk".

At the time the "basics" are as follows:
1. Throws
2. Field Awareness
3. Athleticism
4. Bids
5. Reading the Disc
6. Cuts
7. The Mark

In the first semester I picked up the "basics" of 1,2,3,6 and 7. For some reason I didn't think defense was something I had to learn, that I would pick up on it really quickly without too much practice. How wrong I was hahahaha.

So I located some talented people to play with, explored how far ultimate could take me (Max), arranged in my mind a good way to learn ultimate and rehearsed the hell out of it. I only had to demonstrate all of this in a serious setting, kind of a final test. I guess this either happened over time or hasn't happened yet. Some part of me still feels like I havent faced that final exam yet. Prolly a good thing. Maybe I never will. I'll just keep pushing myself, never allowing myself to think there is some ending to all of this. Mmmm warms the heart thinking about that. That me getting better at ultimate will never expire, only I will.

Spring '09:

I did a majority of the team assigned workouts over winter break, about a months length in between the fall and spring seasons. Through this I found out that I could run four miles, better yet that fact that I was in shape haha. That was and will be an important mental obstacle going into each season: "Am I in shape?". Back then I felt I was in shape, but not the best I could be. Luckily I have next winter to improve upon that. And the winter after. And after. And after. Haha :).

The best of the freshmen started to step forward. I think its safe to say Bobby and I were the ones to step forward first in the Spring season. It's also safe to say none of the upperclassmen saw this coming for either of us. We didn't either haha. I have tried my hardest not to let this fact get to my head. A few times it slipped out (like correcting a senior on how to throw), but I think I held it together.

The consistant absence of so many freshmen was something else I didn't see coming. WTF. So much potential yet the gotta go frat it up. Pussies. Fuckers. All frats get you is drunk as fuck (we do that too) and a bunch of really hot william and mary chicks (ugly by any other standard).
In conclusion, fuck you freshmen that didn't come to practice. Have fun trying out next semester with the rest of us.

One thing I found disappointing in myself was my fear to mess up. During important games, where deep down I knew I could have made a difference, I sat on the sidelines scared. I now realize that I have to make mistakes in order to learn. This is something I know I will overcome in the coming months. I have lost that fear of messing up. I feel like I have picked that up from two friends of mine, not from how they play, but how they face adversity. They laugh it off. At first I tried it jokingly, but then it started to help me brush unimportant things off. For instance, when i made an S-cut in the endzone during a game, I was similing/laughing while I read the disc. It floated above my head for awhile resulting in a misread. For some reason I was ok with it because of my laughter. I know Ill do better next time and at least I was having a good time when I messed up.

Here are some personal conclusions/improvements for the coming year. These are things I am not able to do yet to my liking. A "Con" section I guess.

Throws

1. Flicks
a. Flatten them out for better hucks and low releases
b. go easy on them, allowing the throw to flow from my hand. No jerking off.
c. Don't over-emphasize the angle of my IO low release break flick.
d. High release flick, get better at short throws then hucks can come after
e. Follow through my flicks with an upward open palm. Think about making it look like it possesses finesse.
f. work on the lefty flick
g. get the airbounce out (yeah I know, how the hell can you airbounce a flick. Well I can so fuck off haha)

2. Backhands
a. Get to the point where i can better control my high releases, i.e. be able to throw them in practice, not just during a game
b. work on the high release huck
c. learn to reach out as far as possible for each level of the throw
d. practice stepping out on my low releases in order to surpass Sami at his breaks. Goal: I will get better at them than him.
e. practice stepping out on the huck. straight out. curl the arm more. go out quick, not slow.
f. get the airbounce out of low releases.

3. Hammers
a. get to the point where I can do a bunch of different types of hammers (flatten out quick, distance hammers, higher than lower, lower than higher, quick release etc.)
b. get them game ready/actually get good at them haha
c. be able to throw one in any sort of footing (flick stance, stepping out etc.)

4. Scoobers
a. actually get good at them
b. flat ones and high ones and distance ones, all at different angles?

5. Misc.
a. Pushpass: Now that ive had fun with them, think of a situation in game where I need one. Do I need one? Can't I just do a lefty backhand instead? Something to experiment with.
b. Biscuit: start doing jumping biscuits, i.e. Greatest's
c. Jersey Wheel: purely to show up Kyle haha/i wont ever practice this
d. Thumber: I heard Conger uses these in game. Explore this. They defenitely have a different flight pattern than a hammer. If and what ways is the Thumber flight pattern better?

6. Hucks
a. experiment, experiment, experiment
b. practice putting them to different places on the field relative to where the cutter is
c. try every type of throw for a huck

7. Zone Breakers
a. blady flick? (e.g. "The Ankh" "The Key of Life" Ankoor Patel)
b. scoobers, improve in general (see above section)
c. quick release hammers??

8. Fakes
a. experiment, experiment, experiment
b. at this point fake even when you dont have to
c. remember faking isnt juking, it's using your body language to get your mark into a position advantageous to yourself
d. practice the grip transition in time with the pivot transition
e. workout for it maybe, get quick at pivots
f. think of throws just in the context of fakes

9. Experimentation
a. at times try to do stuff that is totally random. it might just work/be totally awesome

Field Awareness/Defense

This is where I need to improve upon most. This summer I should work on getting more D points that O points. I dont care if you think I need practice as a handler for next season.
There will be less in this sections because I feel I know less of this subject. Maybe you could expand upon/reorganize this for me Bobby.

1. Cutter D
a. all about body positioning, figure out when and where to better position my body
b. force the cutter where I want him to go, but not in wildly obvious ways maybe
c. always stay on the balls of my feet. marking too. thats where all the manliness is anyways. har har.

2. Handler D
a. experiment on when to look at the dump and when to look at the handler
b. never let the strike off, always push/body them back in
c. try to read the dumps body language i.e. eyes, center of gravity

3. 50/50 Discs
a. decide where the disc is going to go immediately and position myself accordingly
b. be confidant in jumping

-----to be continued-----



2 comments