HoS at WUCC

Apologies for the break in posting.

Here is some action from Heads of State at the 2010 World Ultimate Club Championships in Prague.

I threw 2 goals and caught 2 this game, and luckily for me they are all captured in this footage.
My proudest moment in this footage is my cutting at 4:20:

• Hard cut away from the disc
• Sharp turn back under for the easy pass
• Quick pass off back to the handler to put them in power position
• Clear back to the stack, still checking in with the disc
• Recognise that Seb will get the disc in power position
• Start cutting deep, check there is no one if front of me
• Cut hard straight down the field (almost)
• See the line of the disc and cut straight at it
• Attack the disc - goal.
  

New WFDF Rules Website

The WFDF Ultimate Rules Committee is pleased to launch a new website to assist player learn and understand the Rules of Ultimate:
http://www.wfdf.org/rules_ultimate

The site contains a wealth of resources to help players self referee as easily as possible.
It is hoped that this site will be come the focus for all issues related to the WFDF Rules of Ultimate.

Some sections of the website are still under development, which we hope to have completed shorty.
Unfortunately the site is currently not hosted on wfdf.org, however it is hoped that the site will be moved there in the future.

Thanks
Rueben Berg
Chair
WFDF Ultimate Rules Committee
rueben dot berg at wfdf dot org

Natural Fowards

Just about to head of to Adelaide for the National Championships, but I red this in the paper and thought it was worth taking note of:

A natural forward's greatest asset is his ability to read the play. He anticipates where the ball will go. He puts his body to the advantage side of his opponent, and he times his leads into available space. The natural forward will draw his opponent to the ball and then double back into the created space behind. The natural forward will be aware of who and what is around him and use it to advantage.

Dumb forwards lead too early and to the wrong spots. They don't understand what the strengths and weaknesses are of the teammates ahead of them. They don't continually prowl their forward line looking to wrongfoot their opponent and they can't read the play two and three steps ahead as it unfolds.

Robert Walls - The Age

BCI 2010

Was in Brisbane for the BCI at the end of February.

HoS was quite understrength, but it was still a worthwhile tournament.

Lessons learnt:

Eye Contact

I can't over state how important it is for a thrower and a receiver to make eye contact. ESPECIALLY when coming in from a check. Playing against Colonies Japanese style zone, one look at Timill and then a nod towards the endzone, was all it took to set up an easy completed huck. The one main advantage the offence has over defense, is that they get to choose when and where they go. When you communicate in stealth this information to the thrower, it makes your job 10 times easier.

Self refereed gives right result

A lot of times people tell stories about how self refereeing allowed a playing to make a bad call that cost the game. We don't often hear about stories from the other perspective, but a perfect example happened at BCI.It was double game point v NZ, they have the disc and a dump pass went into their end zone. It looks like NZ guy has reached up and grabbed the disc just as Piers yanks it away and takes a Callahan goal. I was standing quite close and was certain it was a strip - the NZ guy had control of the disc and Piers ripped it out. Had I been a referee I would have blown a whistle and made that call. I stood there waiting for the strip call, but none came. Apparently Piers had somehow managed to tip the disc over the NZ guy's hand and then take the catch. But it sure didn't look like that. Luckily we were playing a self refereed sport, so the correct result ensued - goal, set, match to HoS.

Speak UP!

I took a big catch over a NZ defender, and there was some contact between our arms. He called a foul. He claimed I had pushed him out of the way. I claimed that my arm was there and that he jumped into it. All my teammates supported my call, so I asked a NZ player nearby if he had a perspective on the play. He didn't want to answer and merely said - it's up to him. I tried to convince him that he could provide information to help his teammate make a call, but he declined: it's up to him. It was pretty clear to me that he didn't think it was a foul either, but he didn't want to say so. That's not what self refereeing is about:

1.5.1. 1.10.

informing a team-mate if they have made a wrong or unnecessary call or caused a foul or violation Rules should be interpreted by the players directly involved in the play, or by players who had the best perspective on the play

It can be hard to tell a teammate they are wrong, but it doesn't have to be like that. Sometimes it's good to be able to say " from my perspective....". This way, the teammate can still disagree, because from their perspective something else happened, but at least they get more information to be able to make the right call.

It's a self refereed sport - we are ALL referees.

Static Offence

I seem to be harking on a bit about NZ, but it provided some good lessons. It was amazing how static their offence was. When they caught the disc downfield, they turned, faced the endzone and waited for about 5 seconds for a good cut. If it didn't come, they looked for the dump. They did that ALL THE TIME! Most Aussie teams employ some sort of give go to get quick movement, establish power positions, change the angles etc. But NZ were having none of it!

Cramp

I suffered my first serious case of cramp on the weekend. I cramped in both my calves and my groins, at the same time. It was most unpleasant. I don't think I drink enough water - I should drink more!! I was feeling in quite a bad state Saturday night and was seriously considering throwing in the towel and making 2010 my last serious year of Ultimate. Thankfully Sunday came along and changed my mind.

Raining Goals

I caught or threw a lot of goals on Sunday. It started off with a miffed D by Johnno Holmes that let me catch an easy goal and just kept on rolling. I was involved in a majority of Goals v NZ and pitched in for a few more against Colony. I was really pleased that I remembered some of my previous learnings - keep cutting - you don't have to score off the first pass!

Layout D

Sunday was also special because I got my first real come from behind D on an in cut. I din't think about it, I just saw a clear line around my man and leaped. I don't think I even touched the disc, but the view of my man standing there with open arms was priceless. I think the difference in getting this d and when I have failed is footwork. With big strides, it is really hard to time the launch at the right time, but quick little step before the launch, means the timing can be more 'refined'.

Throwing Decisions

This is my primary focus at the moment – how to make the correct choices with the disc.

I raised this a while back and came up with the following:

“My aim as a thrower is to be able to take advantage of any opportunities that are presented.”

But lately my thoughts have been fluctuating between two ideas:
1. make the decision based on the throws you’ve got, or
2. make the decision based on the opportunities you’ve got

Make the decision based on the throws you’ve got

The basic idea behind this is to take into account:
- the mark,
- downfield position of players,
- wind etc
and then work out what your most effective throw would be.
If someone is cutting for it – throw it.
If not, assess to the next best option – throw it.
If there’s still nothing – dump.

Make the decision based on the opportunities you’ve got

This is more about having a kit of throws up your sleave and then picking the right one for the right cut. IE Someone is cutting break side on a backhand force – throw the high release flick

Issues
Both of these ideas have their downsides:
The first can sometimes mean I am too restrictive in what I will throw.
Also, sometimes, if I have set my mind on a specific throw, I will look off other possible passes and try and throw it even if it’s not quite on (a prime example of this happened at HoS camp where I was on the sideline and had a low release backhand break stuck in my head and had to throw it, but it was a turnover because there wasn’t really the space for the throw and I forced it)

The second can get me into trouble when I see an opportunity but I don’t quite have the throw/space/skill to execute it – then I just make up some idea of a throw – some amazing double helix high release pass that will go over one defender’s head and thru the arms of another to the receiver – these never work (but sometimes this works great – like my push pass to Timmers at GCC)

So I need a middle ground.
I need to train myself to know what throws I can make from what scenarios. Then when an opportunity presents itself, I can quickly work out what throw I have to make use of the opportunity – if there’s none – don’t throw it.

Summary:
Be more aware of what throws I have for specific situations
Identify opportunities on the field
Match the throw to the opportunity
If in doubt - DUMP

Another year of Ultimate

Things I want to work on this year:

Defense

I really want to work on playing tight defense ALL THE TIME:

• Not allowing openside cuts
• Putting on a good mark everytime
• Always knowing where my player is and where they want to go

This went well at GCC on the weekend where I got a d to savor, deep on Tom Rogacki

Decision Making

• Less soft turnovers with the disc

I think the most important part of this is making sure I acknowledge when I have made a good decision to not throw long and reward myself for that in some way. Thanks to Woodley, this is working well so far.

Mental Game

I want to work on playing every point in every game exactly the same. It doesn't matter if it's double game point at Nationals or a game at league - I still want to make good decisions and play hard defense. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Defense

I really really won't to work on my defense!

Pulling

I won't to continue to work on my pulls so that they are consistent and useful. I'm not interested in risky pulls that are sometimes fantastic and sometimes rubbish. Good solid pulls are what I am after (more bladey pulls that hit the offence on the full like at GCC would be good too)