Tournament Time

Hey everyone,

I guess I want to just ramble about the tournament.  What we learned, the mistakes, the lessons, the things we did great. Everything.  I just want to get it down somewhere, to log it.

I'm going to break it down in to offensive and defensive categories:

Defense:

The Mark: This is THE part of the defense that holds the team together. The mark's job is the block one half of the field
I think our team this weekend was OKAY at playing the mark.  I felt like we could have stopped more break throws than we did.  However, for the first tournament with the whole squad, I think our marks were at least active and engaged.  We might have to teach the mark in a different way.

Down-field D:
We let a lot of deep shots with our down field defense.  What I saw on the field was slow reaction times, slow positioning, and almost lazy response to cuts.... That won't cut it. Down field defenders need to be aggressive and positioned correctly, so that we can generate turns not just wait for them.

SPEED:
I think our team also needs to get up to speed on conditioning in general.  #1 We need track practices.....That will definitely help our endurance and power.  One of the most important aspects is quickness and agility in cutting.  This comes from sprints Sprints and MORE SPRINTS.

During the springs part of the season, or even in the winter, we will begin to have mandatory track practices.
OH NO you say?? It's for the good of the team!

Modularity:
I guess you don't hear this in sports often...  I want our team to have an arsenal of different types of defenses not stuck and forced to use one, obvious man coverage deal.  I have linked defenses before in previous blogs.  I feel like our team this week was very predictable and did not surprise or make other teams think about or question the defense we used. BLAH.  Boring I know.  My goal for the rest of the season is to fix this situation.

Blog Essay

Hello World 

Ultimate Frisbee is INTENSE. I will go for the disc IN a crocodiles mouth.

What's going on, world?  Here's my ultimate Ultimate story:

My burly track Coach slung his disc like a shot putter.

The Frisbee coasted, high.

It was my turn but with the use of inferior tools, the feeble arms of a scrawny 4th grader.

I figured I'd take a crack at this......Big mistake.

My plastic disc fluttered, careened into a tree, ricocheted off a fence, and barely missed Mr. Adam’s, my intimidating math teacher, car in the faculty parking lot.

Shoooot, not a good start little man.

I guess, I couldn't throw yet, but I decided I'd keep practicing.  It just looked too damn cool.

My friends called ourselves the Frisbee-ers, creative right?

Surprisingly, a Frisbee was a wanted commodity on the playground.  The reason was simple.

There was one.

Our solution? We hid it . . . after every lunch break, diligently.  Yea it was mean, kids are mean.  I would like to formally apologize to my 1st grade buddies! You snooze you lose.

Frisbee created its own niche even in middle school.  We played a precursor to Ultimate Frisbee called durango, which only allowed 6 players total.  

Sorry that we had to deny you from the group--> Adam, Chris, Andrew.

I guess you could say the Ultimate Frisbee life is a tough life, haha!

A costume tournament team

So let's get down to the Ultimate. Currently, I am leading a college team on the West Coast. I obsess over exploring and discovering unique offensive, defensive, and leadership strategies used in Ultimate because weird unconventional things excite me (like a new defense we are trying that uses parts of 3 different systems).  I guess that's why I'm in a Frisbee sport.

 I want to emphasize that it is a Sport. Running. Catching. Throwing.  All sports actions. If you don't believe that it takes a mish-mosh of skill and physical prowess, look at the trademark Ultimate move.  The layout.

Frisbee matches test your physical limits and you will find yourself panting on the sideline. There are specific strategies and complex offensive/defensive systems similar to many sports.  I want to make this simple for the general public,  Ultimate takes skill and athleticism AND knowledge.  Ultimate even has several sports clothing lines.  Buy some of the gear, the shorts are extremely comfortable just for day to day use!

Five Ultimate Jersey

I am blogging about this up and coming sport because I want to provide exposure outside of the Ultimate Community. GIVE ME SOME PRESS.  Frankly, when Ultimate does get media attention, it is played off as childish and trivial. I want this to be a conversation among Frisbee players and non-Frisbee players, where knowledge and news about this unconventional sport can flourish and spark interest.

  I hope I have already convinced you in becoming involved in the awesome Ultimate Frisbee community.  This link connects you to the Ultimate Frisbee hive mind where you can find awesome people to play with any day of the week and connect with for information.  Lot's of quirky strategy blog posts coming up, stay tuned!  Hope to see you people on the fields too!

Profile Post

A Frisbee toy.  That's what the packaging says on Frisbee's at the mall!  Frisbee sports are stuck in this ever rotating (rotation physically required for a throw hahaha), stagnant realm of sub-sports, games, and sporty activities.

Ultimate Frisbee can’t possibly be more than chucking that piece of plastic as far as you can.  I mean, it can be that. Just like that time your cousin and you threw at the beach.  Good times.

But let's go journey through the basics.

What NON-Ultimate people think

Real Ultimate (crazy socks included, possibly required)

The PROBLEM
Ultimate Frisbee has simple objectives.  Get a flying piece of plastic in an end zone.

The SOLUTION

Ultimate Strategy, strategy, strategy.

Maybe we need to look inside the brain of an Ultimate Player to see what strategy is required to be successful. With my super snazzy Ultimate blog research, I ran across a blog written by Matt Mackey called "Thoughts. Ultimate Rambling".  This blog is very focused and marketed towards in tune Ultimate players.  It has a large following because of it's depth, organization, and references to a famous Ultimate blog called the Huddle.

CHECK it out.  Everything you need to LIVE BREATH BE the Ultimate mojo is contained in this little blog container.  Matt Mackey played for and coached the Dartmouth team. . . They're goooood.

Dartmouth's Team Name/Logo

What makes the blog so useful and appealing is his organization into blog categories: Stories, Fitness, Offense, Defense, Strategy.  He's GOT what you need.  His organization allows the blog to go into great detail without confusing the reader going off topic.  He has a WHOLE SECTION to go off topic, yea I'm looking at that stories section buddy.

I know that all of you are not completely caught up with the Ultimate lingo, so I'll pull an example from Ultimate players' "physical conditioning strategy" that easily explains the real depth and firepower of this blog:

One section I really enjoy reading is his Ultimate Fitness section specifically his post about Tabata sprints which are "Brief but intense: 8 sets of 20 seconds hard running, 10 seconds jogging/rest." He also provides some notes on the workout so that you can gauge  how well you are doing the workout:

-Think just faster than 200 pace (or just slower than 100 pace) as a target speed
-I got through 3 1/4 laps or so on the track, if you want a standard for comparison

As you can see, his workouts are specific and applicable to the sport (because Ultimate consists of a lot of sprints-jog-sprint situations ughh).  Later in this post he describes why this workout is important biologically because of what energy pathways it depletes (but luckily for you guys I will spare you those notes).

On another fitness post about running form, he brings in information on 5 key form-related tidbits.  His information is gathered from a multitude of sources like his track coach, experience, and the internet; but the important part is that he organizes it in an easy-to-digest bullets.  Here's one of the five key bullet points:

Arm Swing: Straight forward and back rather than across the chest, angle around 90 degrees (a little less on backswing and a little more on upswing). When you’re jogging this angle increases, but when sprinting your hand should go from hip to lip. My old track coach used to cue us to imagine grabbing potato chips from our pockets and bringing them up to our mouth to eat while running. Swing from the shoulders, keep your elbows close to your body, and relax.

As an Ultimate player myself, these posts really give me some things to change every practice or every time I am running in general.

*I actually had to go run in the middle of reading his fitness section to go run, damn.  Arm swing makes a HUGE difference, it's surprising to say the least.*

I think his experience and simplicity gives his notes and recommendations extra umph in my mind.

Not only does he have detailed descriptions, but for certain explanations, especially strategy, he uses very simple but informative diagrams like the one shown below.

This is a diagram of his clam defense (circles are defense, x's are offense, the square is where the disc is)

This diagram provides a lot of information such as positional information for everyone on the team.  Also it gives information on where the defenders should be moving towards when the disc is in "play".

Mackey's detailed but clear-cut methods paired with his organization really provide a great resource for Ultiamte Frisbee players.  Please go check out his blog and SPREAD the word of our Ultimate sport!

Voice Post

Engine SLUGE

Let's focus on some sludge today. Ew sludge.

I guess I should explain myself.  This is an Ultimate blog after all right?

I feel like that in order to morph Ultimate's image we need to follow a team. A real Ultimate team, with players, coaches, the whole shabang.

I found SLUDGE.  The blog describes the Sludge Ultimate team's journey through their seasons.  Sludge game recaps, team rankings, sludge videos, strategy explanations, and even product placement.  This blog is fun, personal, and informative.  Each post takes on it's own tone depending on the content, but each type of content has a specific and constant voice.

1-The first thing I noticed is that Sludge is always in bold and in a mud brown: "Sludge".  I honestly couldn't help but say their team name out loud in a gritty, dirty tone EVERY time it is mentioned. SLUDGGGGGE. I just wanna be part of the sludge I guess, feels like a very fun loving, united team.

2-Let's take a look at the text. Bold text is used to emphasize important parts of sentences paragraphs. Also hyper links litter the blog in a GREAT way, very useful. Every portion of the blog can send you on a internet scavenger hunt, I ended up with several new resources myself.

3-The game recap sections of the blog seem to be very fast paced.  The sentence structure adds to this feeling because the blog uses short sentences, numbers, and action.  This type of sentence structure is a common theme in describing the events in a game:

"At full strength, Sludge kept pace until 5's. Joe to Brian; 1-2. Sarah's leading flick to MicHael; 2-2. Andrew's floater to Nigel; 2-3."

Game recaps of games you are personally not actively part of are boring. . . . THERE I SAID IT, but Sludge manages to cut the crud (haha!) and keep things interesting.  Conversely, the Sludge blog spends more time on special plays:

"Then at universe point (11's), RacHel's knockDown (ahem, a missed Callahan) in the endzone allowed Henry to flick to Nigel who secured his bobble for the final point. Win 12-11."

This "knockdown" is THE game winning play, but the team pokes fun at the fact that RacHel could have gotten a Callahan (defensive play + score).  The "ahem" really shows the camaraderie, fun, and comfortable perspective and relationship of the author with the team.  Gives that section some edge.

The diction used in the game recap sections reveals some of the excitement and voice in the author's love for the game.  The blog breaks out of the action-scene bullet points with phrases like "some super goal line defense" or "sweet sky D".  You can really hear his awe in the authors descriptions because of these casual and conversational words.

4-  Sludge is NOT afraid to make fun of themselves and often the blog seems lighthearted in the glimpses of  the non-Ultimate banter.

After two games, Sludge is losing a match:

After being down 0-1, the Sludge sideline happily remarked: 'One point closer to Saturday pickup'. Like Brian after (3) Advil, (1) beer, (sips) homemade liqueur & (1) PB&J, Sludge was feeling pretty good.

Winning is obviously NOT Sludge's goal.  Having a great time is, however.  How does the author convey this?  The sideline "happily" gave up on a game? This never happens, especially on teams with such great spirit.  The sarcasm of the sideline brings out the amiable nature of the team, and displays to the reader that this team keeps the Ultimate Frisbee world in perspective.

Also, Sludge is comparing Brian's hypothetical (or quite possibly true) intoxicated state to the team's lack of caring for the score of the game.  Sludge knows they are simply happy to be together on that team playing a game they enjoy.  Anything else is just bonus sludge for this team.

5-Sludge's explanations of strategy are quite concise and helpful.  Take note that the style changes dramatically from the short and sweet game play writing, to a descriptive and informative tone.  In one of the posts, the how to's of a horizontal stack or HO STACK (I LOVE this offense because of it's ability to create a big play) is described:

"In this strategy, there are 4 cutters spread across the field 10-20 yards from the 3 handlers who are setup like a zone offense. Horizontal offense relies on keeping the middle of the field clear at all times. Players in the stack make active cuts directly towards or away from the disc - never in the same direction - so that they are always in their assigned lane (numbered). Also, cutters should not cut to the same place. The cutters in lanes 2 and 4 go deep while simultaneous cut from lanes 1 and 3 have more space to get open."

The prose  uses a more powerful tone with verbs like "relies", "directly", "Players . . . make".  The sentences also are longer and more complex, allowing the author to describe a specific type of offensive strategy.  In these sections, the reader understands that the author means business with the use of the diagram and a commanding tone.

Well Sludge seems to have their team situated and their blog is obviously somethign that adds to that team's identity.  IDEA, I'll try to bring this blogging atmosphere to my team! Never thought I would be proposing a blog rather than a strategy at the captains meetings.

Here it goes....I'll keep everyone updated!

Tournament Time

It's Tournament Season!  What do Ultimate Frisbee players look forward to in tournaments......well there's the Ultimate part of it for sure.  Ultimate Frisbee matches usually resides in the form of tournaments with schools of clubs around the country.  The most local tournaments are called sectionals.  A bigger area is regional   And than the all illusive national tournament.  Why havn't we reached that yet? I have no idea, we have the spunk but maybe we don't have the drive haha, we'll roll the dice this year.

What's the point of a tournament? Ultimate teams are flashy, they want to show off what they got.
Maybe it's those sweet almost blinding neon green jerseys or perfectly coordinated team cleats making up the color of the rainbow.  Each team brings their own sass and culture to the table and the mish mosh of Ultimate communities is an interesting dynamic kinda like when you blop red paint in blue paint the colors intertwine but don't mix completely.

But what's the real reason you want to be there? You want to use that new zone defense your team has been working on for weeks to research and implement to crush teams' potent offensive strategies.  Does it not work as well on real life teams? What adjustments need to be made? Personnel problems?  Strategy in Ultimate Frisbee really interests me.  There are a lot of options.  Love it.  Each strategy works for different groups of players.  Tournaments are where you can finally release that autonomous robot you've been coding for months and months, see how it does in the real world with real world problems, but Frisbee so nothing is truly real world.  You get my point, we just wanna see how our work has progressed.  Good/bad/horrible/great? and how the hell do we fix that gaping whole in our defensive 3 man cup??? These are the questions that we will try to answer this coming weekend at our tournament.

My keys for the weekend are:
1-introduce the rookies to tournament environment-don't be intimidated by anyone, this is frisbee afterall
2-test our our zone defense-this defense will be quite useful in the future where we need to switch up the defensive look that we give to the opposing team
3-score some glorious points-you gotta fuel that frisbee ego
4-learn how to coach/captain/play at the same time without messing everything up
5-enjoy my time
6-throw an awesome pass for a score

So those are my goals as a captain and I think they are all pretty attainable considering the time we've spent on practicing.  I'll have an update for you in the next couple weeks on our tournament results and how I feel about the progress of the team.

Chick on Chick

Yes I know "Chick on Chick" sounds like last weekend's house party girl on girl cat fight, but let me explain.  Chick on Chick is Ultimate Frisbee with a twist, a little pizzazz   As all my avid blog followers know, Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that supports and does not distinguish between men's and women's Ultimate, and also coed leagues exist.  Chick on chick smashes that all together in one event.  GUYS versus GIRLS!  Now you must be thinking, that's not that big of a twist and I've let you down horribly.  The catch is that the boys, the men, have to wear regular day to day women's clothing in the likes of dresses, bras, blouses....you get the idea.  ALSO, each man has to have 2 water balloons held in their shirt by their bra; WHOA there, things just got a bit ridiculous.  So the rules are the same plus one extra rule: a water balloon that pops on accident or due to the assault of the women's team is a negative point for the men's team.

Although almost feels like  happy go lucky party type of deal, there is definitely an air of competitiveness.  The men have never won.......ever.  Secretly, the guys team always tries to set a strategy usually to avoid getting your balloons popped instead of focusing on scoring the frisbee.  This year, the men's team hung in there till it was 3-3.  This actually frustrated the women because in years past the game is a blowout.  Because of this the game took a turn for the physical kind of out of retaliation, where girls started wrapping up the guys like football players to pop their balloons.  Those balloon seeking nails of the girls started to find their targets, and within 5 minutes the boys were in the negatives on the scoreboard.  The girls also had a strategy to camp on a turned frisbee; basically the men are forced to pick up the frisbee while trying to protect their balloons.  This was a losing cause, and was the reason for the change in momentum.  The score ended up being a bunch to a negative number, favoring the girls. again.

It was a fun night all in all, the guys got the chance to meet the girls team in the context of our sport, and I think it is one of the best bonding moments between the men's and women's team at our school.  I also think it is a great bonding moment for the guys on the team because they get to do something embarrassing  but at least it is together.  Can't wait to be part of next years Chick on Chick!