Nationals 2009 Part 2

Eventually the saga continues:

Adjusting my deep game

I scored a lot of goals at Nationals (the most for HoS).

From our horizontal set up I had the freedom to cut deep at will and a bunch of throwers prepared to put it to me.

But when I had to play teams again, it seemed that now it's not only Johnny Mac that knows I want to cut deep!

When we replayed Chilly and I-Beam I got Gak and Gav on D. Both stood on the deep side of me and let me cut in. At first I tried to just engage them and keep them busy so that the other cutters could cut. But that wasn't working so well, maybe because I had been hogging all the deep cuts previously. I then tried to take more in cuts and then look to get a deep shot off. Maybe because of the extra pressure from the D, none of these shots really came off and I started to loose it a bit. I started talking to myself and telling myself that the D had figured me out - all they had to do was force me in and watch me turn it over. So I tried to "prove them wrong" by cutting in and then punishing them with my throws. But I had gotten into my own head too much and was trying to "punish" them too eagerly and ended up just turning it over more!!!

Eventually, but too late, I think I figured it out - the point is longer than the first few passes. I was trying to score too quickly. I then just took the easy in cut and dished the disc off quickly and reset. Then after a few more passes and faked cuts I found that the deep option opened up again. Hopefully I can remember this the next time I have top quality D on me. Or maybe I just need to practice cutting like this regardless of the D? We'll see.

Individual D pressure

I found I applied much more pressure on D when I was marking better players. Mainly because I was more focused. But maybe I should be that focused on all players and therefore help generate more pressure across the field. That's my goal for the future. I need to make sure though that I check in with the disc more often. When I was really focused on playing D I got too focused on the actual player. Andrew Flemming had a good analogy regarding traffic lights that I need to remember.

Team D pressure

HoS had some amazing runs on D. Once they got a few D's the pressure just started to build. And the confidence. The D team just knew that they could go out there and get a D. And they did. Again and again. And then they scored. It was incredible. Sadly when they failed, the O team didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Too often we let the D team down by not scoring when it counted and letting the oppositions D team go on a run.

In my opinion the rules and design of Ultimate from a technical stand point favour the O. All you have to do is keep passing the disc up the field until you score. The other team can't bump you to get the disc. It should be easy. But when it comes to the crunch, at the end of high level, high pressure games, the D has the advantage. And it all comes down to the mental game. Somehow teams need to work out how to better prepare for this type of pressure.

Value of smaller role players

Like most sports, Ultimate seems to celebrate the more flashy types of players - those who get the big blocks, catch the goals, throw the hucks. And like most sports I think we under appreciate the contribution of the smaller role players. Those players who continually keep the structure right, make that fill cut when needed and stop those offensive resets on D. Sometimes on HoS we would call "Crunch" lines with the majority of our flashy players. Now it could be that we lacked some cohesion from not playing together enough, but I also think that the lack of these smaller role players made life hard.

It would be great if we could come up with a way to recognise and acknowledge those smaller role players.

2009 Rules

Overall I think the introduction of the 2009 rules went really well. When they were used properly it made the game much smoother. Sadly some players still don't quite understand - especially about the travel rule. Very soon WFDF will approve a bunch of supporting documents to help people understand and learn the rules better and I will post more about those when they are released.

One thing that did become apparent to me was the value that could be added by having rule advisers. I have often discussed with US players about the relative merits of Observers and I am still not convinced they are required. I am keen though to actually try a game with observers and have put my hand up to observe a game in the future (not at a major tournament though).

However I think there could be a role for rule advisers. Which is pretty much what I was all weekend. If people weren't sure what a rule was or what the correct interpretation was, they asked me. I never gave my opinion on what had actually happened in a play, I only described the rule that was relevant to that particular incident and left the players to make the final decision. Too often players make calls that are actually not based on the rules or don't even understand basic rules. This could be easily overcome with rule advisers - especially for semis/finals at big tournies.

Nationals 2009 Part 1

Heads of State came third at Nats which was a great result.

What did I learn? Let's see:

Sideline Talk

I understand the importance of sideline talk, and on every team I coach I encourage it 100%. But sometimes I think players need to use the time one the sideline to relax and disengage. Standing on the sideline and being activlt engaged in the play can be very tiring, both physically and mentaly. So when the squad is big enough that not every player needs to be on the sideline, I think they should take it in turns to relax and disengage between points. 

Timeouts

Because we had Boo Boo on the sideline coaching, we were much more purposful with our timeouts. Games to 17/100 mins take a long time, so actually using timouts, and using them well, is very important. We called one nearly every game after 12 points, because in the first 3 games, that is when we started to fade out. We almost always only called timouts between points, and rarely called them on O. Based on this, I came to some basic conslusions about calling timeouts:

• use them all
• call them at a set time/score
• call them between points when about to play D
• only call them on O after multiple turns in the same point
• never call timouts outside the endzone

Off-sides

HoS had practised throughout the year to start half way in the end zone on D to try and avoid going off-side on the pull. It mostly worked, we only got called for a re-pull once. With such a large sideline at Nats, I sometimes took the opportunity to walk down and watch the other teams pulls. I'm not sure why every team doesn't do this all the time.  The mere presence of an opponent standing watching the pull makes teams stay on-side, and if they don't stay on-side, it's very easy to signal this to your team. This doesn't mean I think teams should get called for any minor off-side - but sometimes, especially when teams are playing zone, going off-side can be a big advantage.

Club Championships

The tournament is called the Australian Ultimate Championship (AUC), but I really think we should change the name to the Australian Ultimate Club Championship (AUCC), because that is what it is. AUC conjures up ideas of State v State, which is not what we have. And this would then line up with WFDF's WUCC.

Club Strength

While considering the nature of these "Club" Championships, I was struck by the imaginary "salary cap" that all teams seem to adhere to. Even though they could, each state doesn't just send it's best team, well at least the good states don't. NSW and VIC could easily put the States best players onto one team and almost guarantee a win. But they don't. The Dingos could all get together and play as one team, but they don't. There is this unwritten idea that clubs want to try and win, but only with a team that isn't considered "stacked". Fakulti may have suffered over the years with this idea, hence the A/B - X/Y dilemma. 

But as the strength of Nationals increases, and the weaker teams become stronger and stronger, it will be interesting to see how far clubs are prepared to push the limit of "stacked" to ensure they can still guarantee they get to compete at the top level.

More to come soon.

My first layout callahan.

This evening I finally did it.

So many times I have been guarding the dump, standing 45 degrees away from the dump up field, eyes half downfield, half on the thrower and half on the dump. I watch the thrower and think - if he throws the dump I could make a bid on the pass. The dump pass is thrown and for a brief second I think "Oh, I could have got that". But it don't leave my feet and the pass is completed.

This time I didn't think. I remember positioning myself at 45 degrees and thinking if he throws it I'll go, and the next moment I was in the air. Then the disc was in my hand. Then I landed in the endzone. Then I got up and, just like Matt Dowle would, I strolled nonchalantly towards the sideline, gave a few low fives and left the field to cheer on my team for the next point. Sweet.

On the drive home all I had to do was think of that moment and a smile came to my face.

My first layout callahan. Now the key is to make sure it's not my last.