Posting Delays

Apologies to all my thousands of loyal readers for the lack of posting

I have been very busy and haven't had the net at home

I have been invited to join in on the WFDF Ultimate Rules Committee and have already contributed the track changes doc for the new rule:

New Rules 2008

New Rules 2008 Appendix

Summary of Changes 2008

Track Changes 2008

I will make a proper post about the big issues from the rules, but if anyone wants to provide comment on the rules, feel free to do so here, I may be able to do something about it.

I would really like to be able to put together a video package with short snippets that show what a pick is, what incidental contact is, what a travel is, what a blocking foul is etc etc. This could soo easily help people across the world understand the rules in a consistent manner. One day!

I have also been busy as the Assistant Coach of the Australian Mens Team "The Dingos"

http://sites.google.com/site/australiandingos/

I have learnt heaps of things in this role and will probably write it all down when I come back from Vancouver in August.

Go Dingos!!

I have also been 're-elected' (no one else wanted to do it) as VFDA President, which takes up a chunk of my time as well.

So apologies again for the lack of posting, and if you are looking for something that is actually good to read about Ultimate, go here:
http://www.the-huddle.org/

Nationals 2008

Heads of State came 5th at Nationals – an improvement on last year and we got to the Pre-Semi. Plus there was a NZ team above us so that makes us one of the top 4 Clubs in Australia. Yeah HoS.

Here are my thoughts on National 2008:

Fields
Everyone getting a fair go is a great thing, but at a frisbee tournament like Nationals, the emphasis should be on the best teams and the most important games. It seams that every team got a chance to play on the stadium field – which was in magnificent condition – however I don’t think this should have been the case. HoS were forced to battle against I Beam in the Pre Semi on a paddock of mud, while games of less importance were played in the stadium and on fields 3-5 (the only good fields not in the stadium). The NZ v Chilly Pre Semi was moved to a better field that was free at the time, but there were no free fields for us to move to. Preference should be given to the most important games at nationals when considering who plays on the good field. This could be achieved in the draw by simply identifying before hand which games are the most significant and stating that these game will be played on the best fields available.

HoS v I Beam - Pre Semi

Spirit – HoS v FU
So it seems most people at the tournie heard about this game. I don’t want to cast aspersions on teams here, just look at some of the issues. But to give some context to those who haven’t heard: It was the number 1 seed v 4 seed to go top of our pool and avoid Fakulti in the next Pool. It was a very close game with the lead seesawing. It got to 14-14 – double game point. HoS threw what they believed to be the game winning goal several times only to find that a foul/travel/pick had been called. I make no comment about whether these calls were correct or not – I didn’t have best perspective. However FU eventually went on to score a goal to “win” the game and HoS was heartbroken.

The issue here I believe is regarding the perception of making different calls at the crunch points than you do during any other point. There had not been an extravagant amount of calls prior to the last couple of points and I would say it had been played in fairly good spirit to that point. This discrepancy between the majority of the game and the final crucial point is what concerns me. When two teams play they establish a framework for how that game is to be played – is it a bit more physical than usual – will all travels be called or only ones that have a significant effect – ie to break the mark or get off a huck?.

Sometimes there are expectations to this – ie a good team playing a not so good team – sometimes the good team won’t bother making some calls early in the game when they know that the result of the call won’t significantly affect the outcome. However for high level games between good teams (especially at Nationals) I think that calls should be made regardless of context. You see similar issues arise in AFL – umpires will make calls early in the game regarding holding the ball or pushes in the back and teams, fans and commentators expect them to be consistent throughout the whole game.

A tone is usually set early in the game and identifies for each team how the rules will be enforced for that game. When the crunch times come – I believe that this tone should be maintained. Teams should make the same calls on Double Game Point that they would have made on the first point – circumstances shouldn’t change how you enforce the rules of the game.

Personal Highlights
I think I played the best in both games against Chilly. I felt like I could get the disc either short or long at will and when the disc went up – I bought it down. If you use your body position well you should always catch a disc that is thrown so that you are in between the disc and your defender. The layout D on the endzone line on Luke was clearly the standout moment for me – I got the best compliment on D I have ever gotten – someone said they thought it was Macca who got the D!!!! Other highlights for the weekend were the series of layout catches I got when I was cutting back under and the throw was either headed straight for the ground or missed its intended target. Once the disc hit my hand – it stayed there. Again I got to toe the line and fall flat on my face to catch a few wayward passes – I think I have a great track record for this – practise makes perfect. The key is to quickly establish where the line is – set your feet – and then focus on the disc.


Throwing Decisions
Having identified that poor throwing decisions was a major weakness in my game I think that I had a very successful weekend in attempting to control this. There were several times where I received the disc up field and could have tried to throw an iffy pass for the score but I just stopped and turned to engage my dump. And when I did choose to throw it long – most of the time it worked – or at least it was a good option. This shows to me the benefit in trying to identify your weaknesses and then doing something about it – if you don’t loose focus on this goal you can improve your game. It just takes time.


WUGC selection fallout
I had been fairly philosophical about not making the mixed team for WUGC but one moment brought up the most passion I have ever felt on a frisbee field that made me aware how much it hurt not to make the team. Against FU I was being marked by Adam Mortimer (a selector of the mixed team) and Wood had the disc. I cut long for his IO backhand which he delivered and I got up and took the catch for the score. The fact that Wood – who also didn’t make the team – had thrown it and that it was a catch over a selector just set me on fire. It wasn’t anything against Adam specifically and it wasn’t that it was an amazing catch (I would think I should always take catches over Adam if it is thrown to my advantage) but it just bought up this amazingly intense feeling: “hey – I got cut but FUCK I was good enough to make that team”. I was completely overwhelmed and ran up to Wood screaming some nonsense and gave him a huge high 10. It was our way of saying: “look what you missed out on”. I never knew that I can have such an intense feeling – hopefully I can get it again but for a more positive reason!

Rules – Ground Strip
Awhile back I woke up in the middle of the night with a rule conundrum: a D player lays out for the D and after he hits the ground he is no longer holding the disc. The D player claims it was a ground strip, but the O players say they just let go of the disc after they landed – double turnover. This would be a contested turnover – but where would the disc go back to? The O player who threw the disc that got D’d? Surely not! The D player? That was where the last undisputed possession was – both teams agree that the D player had possession – they just disagree HOW they came to be dispossessed. I told this to a few people on Thurday night of Nationals and they all said – pah – it will never happen. It happened twice the next day!

I was on the sideline when it happened in a HoS game and while I don’t approve of sideline players interjecting into the play unnecessarily – I felt I had to make a comment here. One of the opposing players was claiming that it was a turnover regardless of whether it was a ground strip or not. I am happy for players to discuss their views on what happened in a play but not what the rules are when they are clearly wrong. Eventually the discussion was resolved and the other team accepted Macca’s word that he was ground stripped and another HoS player put the disc into play. However had it still been contested the disc would simply have had to go back to Macca to put the disc into play.

Rules – asking for and following advice
When I am involved in a potential foul situation I make a point to ask my teammates what they thought happened. You can rarely tell exactly what happened when you are involved and focussed purely on the disc. Other people can have a much better view and can provide valuable advice about what happened. If they say they don’t think it was a foul – I don’t call it. If they say it didn’t affect – I don’t call it. Likewise if one of my teammates is unsure of a call (to contest or make a call themselves) and I have an opinion I will tell them – even if it goes against my team. We are ALL responsible for the rules. Too many times at Nationals I saw teams look away when an incorrect call was made and not overrule them or other players not listen when they were told by team mates there was no call at all. Always remember Rule 1.5.1:

1.5. The following actions are considered good spirit:
1.5.1. Informing a teammate immediately if they have made a wrong or unnecessary call or caused a foul or violation.

Photos from Roger Barnes: http://frisbee.mindsocket.com.au/

Heads of State win Southern Regionals!

A little late as usual I know, but what can you do?

Sorry to spoil the suspense of this post in the title, but Heads of State won Southern Regionals (which you probably already knew) (and they will be number 1 seed at Nationals!) (which you probably also already knew).

This was the 2nd tournament win for Hos (HoS won Junior Nats back in 2006)

Despite feeling quite sick before the tournie, personally this was one of my best tournies ever. Notable notes from the Weekend:

Play as a Team:

This was the best I have seen HoS play as a team. Somehow we realised early in the weekend that just hucking was not going to work on O, so we played some of the most effective O I have ever been involved in. Risky long shots were rarely taken and we were extremely patient on O. If we can replicate this at Nationals we will be hard to stop on O.

Use Your Body!

I cannot over emphasise how important it is to use your body to maintain position when going for the disc. If you are between your defender and the likely catchable endpoint of a throw – you should catch it every time. And if you do this well you can even catch it without having to jump - as a two handed pancake catch with both feet on the ground. I did this several times at Regionals and all it involves is NOT running as fast as you can to where the disc will be catchable (this only applies if you are ahead of your defender). As you get closer to the catchable point, slow down and don’t let your defender past you. Usually they are watching the disc, so will run right into you – brace for this contact – then – for me at least – they bounce backwards and I move closer to the disc where I catch it with ease. If this is confusing – don’t worry – I think I will make a whole post just about body positioning one day.

Toe The Line Part 2

They had tape for the lines which was quite interesting. Unfortunately they weren’t tight enough so sometimes the line moved a fair away in/out of bounds. I much preferred NOT having the endzone line taped though – I think it’s too risky that people could trip over it. Anyway, at one point against Chilly I toed the line on a throw that was going out the back and Wheelie called me out. I was confident that I had kept my toe down on the ground and his argument was that I had touched the tape BEFORE I had caught the disc. I obviously couldn’t tell which had happened first but was certain that the two events – catching the disc and touching the tape – had happened very close to each other. My discussion with Wheelie revolved around how he could tell what had happened first? As he was right next to me when I took the catch he couldn’t possibly have been looking at both my feet and the catch at the same time. Therefore I felt it was inconclusive and the disc should go back – which it did. From my previous experience with toeing the line (see Ultitalk profile pic) I knew that people are very bad at judging when a player catches it relative to when their foot crosses line (or moves for a travel call). Therefore I think it’s fair that in such close calls if no one was in a goes enough position to see both things AT THE SAME TIME – that the disc should go back. To Wheelies credit the discussion was had very amicable and was resolved quite well.

Definition of a Catch

Against Karma, K was going for a disc in the endzone right near the sideline. He attempted to do a greatest, but stuffed it up – his foot was down when he made contact with the disc – then he jumped and tried to throw the disc back infield but the disc went straight to the ground. Some Karma players claimed it was still a goal which I disputed. The rules define a catch as: “Sustained contact with, and control of, a non-spinning disc”. My feeling was that he didn’t actually have control of the disc, but Piers overruled me and it was deemed a goal (we were leading by a few goals at the time and were 1 point away from points cap).

Later I had a chat with Pottsy about it and his feeling was that it was actually a goal – so who am I to argue? What this means is that if you are making a tough catch in the endzone, as soon as you make ground contact after catching the disc – you can throw it away to avoid being ground stripped! And it’s still a goal!

IO Backhand

I threw my most memorable Inside Out Backhand ever. I had gotten the disc in power position on the right hand side and Doobie was cutting long between two defenders. I ripped this IO backhand with a lot of force that curled around perfectly for Doobie to run onto. As soon as I threw it I got that horrible feeling in my stomach that it was the wrong decision, but then he caught it and I felt fantastic! Anytime I needed to smile in the days following that tournie, all I had to do was think of that throw :-) That’s why I love this game.

D tussles

I had some nice man on man D tussles with Freise and John Liddi, neither time I got a block, but I’m certain I made their lives a lot harder. The reason I was able to play such hard D was mostly because of Owen heckling me from the sideline. He was yelling at me non stop and I just wanted to shut him up – but no matter how hard I thought I was running he kept yelling at me to run harder – so I did. This inspired me partly because Owen was one of the Worlds selectors and being better on D was one of the things I was told I needed to wok on. It was amazing how much difference it made though and I hope I keep getting hassled like that and performing, but also that I remember to hassle other people to get similar results from them.