Niji: Weeknight Ultimate 7/27/10

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I think the practice right after a tournament is when you show the most improvement, so long as you get to practice soon after said tournament. My motivation was much higher than it had been in a long while, and I played very good defense on strong players. I was definitely able to limit the range of what these players did, and in one case, was able to D an ever so slightly late throw. (It was a give and go up the line.) But that's what D is all about isn't it? Capitalizing on the slightest mistakes. Otherwise played solid defense, even followed my man well into the breakside lane and prevented those throws from ever going off. Rarely let my man get the disc on the open side, unless he followed into that space too far, but subsequently boxed me out. Got beat deep once on a curvy bladey throw and was skied by a guy a good foot taller than me. But, I was there, and had I read it better, I would have put more pressure on him, which I will be sure to do.


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.
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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

Sean: WAFC Advanced #4

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Played against Alan's team today. Lost on universe 15-16, I think. Great game. I'm pissed to be honest haha.

Comments on Alan and his teammates:
Alan: As a handler would exploit any poach, to any cutter. Breaks no matter what.
Trevor: Seems like he's a cutter if he plays club. Dunno if he handles, maybe. Reason why I say he is a cutter is because he was so good at it haha. Always moving, aware of where the disc was.
Jenny: I mentioned to her that she exploited space really well. I'm gonna officially retract that and say Alan and her work well together on the field. They both know where they want it, and what the other is capable of. Invaluable.
Others: They had two guys on their team that were really terrible haha. Clogged the lane, predictable cuts, easy to cover. Well, harder to cover if Alan had the disc.

Mistakes made:
1. Shouldve bid twice. Once for a possible callahan, another for a score. Womp.
2. Let Alan go strike too much.
3. Sometimes terrible body positioning on D.

Things to work on:
1. Catching D's.
2. Fakes.
3. Not poaching on experienced players. Only happened once, but it fucked me over anyways.

Things done well on:
1. Handler and Dump D, for the most part...maybe haha.
2. D in general.
3. Finding the open space for cuts, timing.
4. Popping.
5. Rarely let the better players poach off of me, and exploited it when they did.

So, back to why I am pissed. We lost on universe. Turned it over near the endzone, other team sent it back for the score. Our vert stack was clogged as fuck. Everyone was to blame, including myself. Definitely would've won the game if we cleared up space and kept swinging the disc. And what makes me even madder was that I macked the disc to Alan twice for scores. Catch the fucking D Sean. On the bright side, two more assists??? Lol, no. But I turned it over only once, and got a few scores. Honestly a good game for me, but I want to perform so much better. Disappointed. 0 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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Impossible is Nothing.

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Never give up, never surrender.


You can also see the pictures from the stands:

Wow, just... Wow.
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Sean: WAFC Advanced #4

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Played near savage this time, but I got just as much playing time as before. The other team had numbers including Nardo Zatch and some totally irresponsible dude named Sergei. He has a thick Russian accent. I think he's a spy, like all the other Russian-Arlington Spys. Lost 15-16.

Note on Sergei: Sometimes a complete newb is better than an experienced player who plays dumb/selfish. Sergei is a great example of a dumb, selfish player for many reasons. First he would cut into the force-side lane whenever he saw fit. Second he would not look dump till stall 7. Finally he would risk an upfield force side scoober for the score rather than dump to the two open guys behind him. Lol. For future reference, when building up a team whether at the Club or College level it is best to include people who are willing to enact on advice given or can be molded. Sergei is unwillling to do either, thrusting him into the damnation that is eternal league play.

Things to work on:

Something was wrong with my throws for about three points. I would try risky shit and it would work half the time, too small of a margin. So I logically made sure to take my time on my throws, patiently waiting for a strong dump. Sadly I messed up these throws too. Twice in a row haha. As Zatch ironically told me, its better to get out of your head in the game and just play the game. After the unforced turns I "just played the game". Soon I was laying out and getting scores and D's.

1. Faking in order to setup a breakside throw.
2. High release backhand hucks.
3. Bidding, though I finally had a legit bid D, just not for the turn.
4. Foot position on D. Twice caught off balance when the rest of my body was otherwise prepared.
5. Warming up. Do it for longer and harder until I feel tired. Then rest. Then I'm warmed up.

Things I did well on:

1. Got some D's. The two most remarkable were a dump D and a sky D.
2. One huck (I threw two total, both for scores) was great. Flick huck near sideline for a cutter in between two defenders. The other was floaty as shit. Laughably I did not see it complete because I was covering my face with my shirt in shame. Hahaha.
3. Cutting. Still nigh impossible to cut efficiently in a Ho when fellow cutters DO NOT CLEAR QUICK ENOUGH. As a result of lead-foot, I am forced to make shitty sideline continuation cuts. This cut can be useful for movements sake because I would dump it middle immediately. Teammates opt for a short sideline continuation cut.
4. Defense. Just remembered, D'd some handler BS between Zach and some teammate of his. Hehe. Though he did score on me twice. Though I scored on him twice...and D'd him once. Bwahaha.
5. Transition D near the endzone. Backed off the mark ten feet for about three or four seconds. From there collapsed in for dump pressure. 0 comments

Sean: WAFC Advanced #3

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Played savage vs. savage. Won 15-13.

Things to work on:

1. Leading the receiver, hucks. Put one waaayyyy deep and high, and the dude caught it in the endzone. But any competent defender could have D'd it. If the receiver is slow, put it where he can get it.
2. Take initiative. Don't allow lesser players to put themselves in critical situations, including myself. Except it's summer league and not that serious. So I can mess up all I want haha.
3. In Hydra wait for the cutter to make his cut.
4. Catch then think of throwing.

Things I did well on:

1. Cutting, almost always open whether short or deep.
2. Continuation throws, continuation cuts to a lesser extent.
3. Defense. Only got beat once, break side in the endzone on a swing.
4. Got me some bookends. Beat my guy deep for a D and then beat my guy deep for a score.
5. Pulls. Floaty and near the back of the endzone.

Maybe another game of savage today. Woot. 0 comments

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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Sean: QCTU w/ Floodwall

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Fickley invited me to the club version of Queen City Tune-Up. Nothing else to do so fuck yeah!!

Things to work on:

BIDDING!!!!!!!!11!1!1!!!!! ALL FOR D's!!!! MEHHHHHH!!

Handling, overall. I think this might come from experience, in time. Hard to work on controlling a point when you dont get the disc much. Specifically, handler movement and knowing my receivers. Some people arent as fast as those on the WM squad.

Getting enough sleep before a tournament. Affects my physical readiness, but more my intuition. Made a few dumb decisions due to a lack of sleep (10 hrs in two days).

For some stupid reason, my cutter movement in the endzone was stagnant at times. Stagnant as in I watched the game unfold rather than take action. WEIRrrrddDD. Another player thought this was due to the stack cutting before setting. Teammates would all cut at once, and jog clearing out. Womp. Regardless I should've been more aggressive as to make myself available.

I wanna throw more hucks.

Conditioning, as always.

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Things I did well on:

Huck for a score. Highlight of the weekend, for me.

Cutting was quick, but not necessarily efficient. Got open a bunch.

My D improved, huge. Shut down two teams best cutters multiple times, on day 2. First day they burned me a bunch. For me, this time, it's all about body position. Looking forward to playing better teams to see how I do.

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Conclusions:

Constructive criticism is absolutely crucial to self-improvement. Because fellow players gave great feedback, I improved immensely on defense over just two days of play.

Personal commitment has an immense impact on how quickly one improves.

Looking forward to having Fickley as a captain next year. Most definitely has his head in the right space. 0 comments