Catch

Not to big note myself too much, but it's safe to say I have taken some pretty sweet catches in my time. And Monday night I took one of my favourite of all time. 

It was the type of catch I have seen people have the chance to take several times, but they haven't taken the opportunity. The opportunity presented itself on Monday and I took it with one hand.

I was cutting long and the disc was thrown low and fast. So fast that I could tell that had I tried to run it down I would have failed and the disc would have gone to ground.

So instead of try to run down the disc I changed course and tried to intercept it before it got past me (which was imminent). I layed out hard to my right towards the sideline.

Just as I reached my absolute full extension the disc slipped perfectly into my left hand. The vision of the disc in my hand and the feeling of hanging weightlessly in the air is one I hope never to forget (and thus the point of this post).  

Then gravity kicked back in and I slammed into the ground. As is my habit I had rolled onto my left shoulder to help cushion the landing and also protect the disc.* 

The sideline let out a cheer.

Then a teammate made an unfortunately all too premonitory statement:

"Now don't throw it away"

Obviously I threw it away.

(I tried to throw a safe dump option, but a defender got a run thru d)

The sentiment of my team'mate' was good, but not the exact execution. As we later discussed it would be much better to yell "relax" "take it easy" "calm down" etc then to mention the potential to turn it over - which is a tip I hope to remember.

But back to the catch. 

Key tip: Once the disc is up - get a look at it as quickly as you can to asses its height, speed and potential flight path. If it is a relatvley low throw, there is probably a point where you can catch the disc as it is passing you, rather than waiting for it to pass and trying to run it down. Obviously if you can run it down then do so, but if that seems unlikely, turn hard and make a bid - it feels great if you pull it off! But you have to make this call early and then commit 100%.

*Tuesday night I rolled over in bed and got a bad pain in my back - it seems I sprained a ligament in my back which was more than likely caused by that catch and now I can't run for a week - but it was worth it - I just wish someone had had a camera!

 

Mixed Nats Review Part 2

Best Day Ever 

Day 2 was probably the best day of Ultimate I have ever played in my life. I got layout D’s and caught and threw a bunch of goals. Overall it was also the best tournament I have ever played (reflected in my 5th place on the MVP table). I got two of my first real come from behind layout ds. These were both in a zone as a deep deep when the disc was coming downfield to a stationary wing. I have still yet to achieve a come from behind layout D on a moving player – but these D’s gave me hope that it can be achieved. I find I have been in the right position to do these a couple of times but haven’t every properly “laid” – more kind of fallen over. Part of this I think comes down to the importance of the timing of your stride – to get a full layout you need to be launching at the right point in your stride – but sometimes on D you don’t have the luxury of choosing when that time is. But maybe I’m just soft.    

I also took one of my favourite catches of all time – running deep for a huck from aL with the two Lavis brothers bearing down on me from either side. I was ahead but they were closing fast and just before they came through for the d I launched myself at the disc, caught it, and landed in the endzone. Very satisfying.   

I don’t think I dropped a single disc that day and I only remember not getting a contested grab once. Also my throwing choices were quite solid. I think I had a very good mindset that day and was constantly attacking the disc at full pass and felt really confident with the disc in my hand. My mindset seems to have a big impact on how well I play – somehow I have to find a away to recall that mindset the next time I play. One major difference from this tournament to others was that I was driving up and down to Caloundra each day so I had a long time to mentally prepare/debrief during the drive but then didn’t think/talk about frisbee at all after that. This could have been a contributor to my mindset – Focus and imagery combined with quality rest. 

   

Playing v Dingos 

It was great to catch up with all the Dingos off the field and even better to take them on on the field. I really enjoyed these tussles and I was really fired up to run hard against them. I got a D on Mike from a bad pass, but didn’t catch it and he still got the goal. Next point up the other end he got a d on me from a bad pass, didn’t catch it, but managed to mop up the scraps before I could. Damn. CATCH THOSE D’S.   

To keep them busy, or not to keep them busy? 

When I was playing O against the Dingos/Gak/JMac I didn’t try and do too much. My strategy against “great” players has always been to try and keep them busy and not let them poach – as such I always try and cut in on the break side. They either follow me and can’t poach or I get an easy pass and then easily move the disc downfield. Or of someone like Owen is marking me and I am a dump I will get the hell out of there because I know he can shut me down there too easily. But to actually become a “great” player you need to take these players on and beat them – but when is the right time to do this? For my team, my strategy of keeping them busy was definitely the best tactic – my teammates mostly had easier match ups and were therefore able to get the disc themselves. So at what point do you go head to head against these players at the potential jeopardy of the team? I don’t know the answer to that yet.   

Pulling 

I feel like I had a consistently good pulling tournament. I developed a nice backhand pull for upwind. Starting on the right hand side I would throw a bladey backhand towards the left hand side and get it to land a few metres in from the sideline and then role straight out of bounds. These throws usually made it past the brick mark and then gave us a chance to mark up and put pressure on the player trapped on the sideline. Having the same routine for each pull (apart from when I yelled “kick him in the nose” as I pulled the disc OB) resulted in consistent pulls. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A GOOD PULL. Also a consistent good pull is much better than a great pull that is inconsistent.   

Protein Bars 

Based on some blog reading I tried eating Protein Bars during the day to maintain my energy levels. I don’t know if they actually work or not, but I did a lot of running and felt I probably had more energy than usual at the end of the day. I will definitely use them again as well as taking some Creamed Rice to eat between games (thanks for the tip Tim Booth).   

Mixed 2010 

Lots of teams present at AMUC seemed to be keen on going to Prague as a Mixed Team in 2010. I am currently quite divided about WUCC10. HoS is also keen to go, but I think I actually prefer mixed and any team with Gak is always going to be a strong contender for a medal. Decisions decisions!

State MP 

I thought it was fantastic that QUDA managed to get an MP to come along and be apart of the Final and presentations. QUDA does great work in Queensland and a lot of things I have introduced in Vic have been based on QUDA initiatives. This is another thing that I think every state should try and achieve and I hope to at least get some people from the State Sporting Department to come along to the VFDA showcase game next year (more on this later).  

Clip Clop

As I said previously, my team was awesome. Everyone single player had a really solid weekend. Big props to DK for another rock solid performance - still one of the most underated players in Aus Ultimate, and to Diego for some sweet D's against Gus and the rest of FAF. Ori really impressed with his work rate in the middle of the field. The girls were all delightful - Joy and Hussey - what can you say - Cath really impressed with solid handling and Jess took some really nice high grabs. What a Tribe.

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.

WUGC 2008

Over the last month I have been involved in the selection process for the teams to represent Australia at the Would Ultimate Guts Championships to be held in Canada in August.

Unfortunately I wasn’t successful in this process and therefore won’t be going to this event.

Still, I was able to learn a few things in the process and have made some observations:

Training:

At the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) we were given a talk about Strength and Conditioning training. The key point I took away from this is that training helps you get good at what you train at. If you train at running 10km, you will get good at that, but that may not help your Ultimate game unless that is what you do on the field. This has helped me re-evaluate how I train and I think there is a lot more work that could be done in Ultimate to find ways of training which make us better ant the things we do on a frisbee field. Maybe handlers and cutters should be doing completely different types of training?




Cool down at the AIS

There are some great players in Australia:

At the first training camp which included the prospective Dingoes as well, I got to play with some top quality players. It was great to finally be on the receiving end of a Matt Dowle hammer, rather than watching it sail over my head on D. I think Australia has a really good chance of taking it to the world – especially in the Open division.

Selection Process:

Waiting is the worst part. Especially when you are waiting for something NOT to happen. The way the process worked was that the team was finalised and then the selectors rang to inform those that didn’t make it. This meant everyone was waiting for their phone NOT to ring. I suggest a better process:
*Team is finalised

*Email sent to players outlining
- team has been finalised
- which selector will be providing feedback to which players.
- when selectors will be available to provide feedback (ie 9am – 9pm, 12-2 and 5-9 etc.) and their contact details

*If unsuccessful players have not contacted selectors by the next day then the selectors try and call them.

*After all unsuccessful players have been contacted the team is emailed out to everyone.

This process would put the power of when they find out back into the hands of the players, so at least you have some control over WHEN they find out if they made the team. The current process is unnecessarily painful for all players involved.

Goal Scoring:

Obviously I am biased because I didn’t make the team, but I am unsure of what value the selectors put in players who are primarily focused on scoring goals. I think there were several people in the Mixed squad who were legitimate goals scorers – they go out on the field to score goals, and when the chips are down they can get on the field to score a goal and will more than not deliver. Out of the final team that was picked I don’t see enough players who are legitimate goal scorers. Sometimes these people may be over looked because they can be seen to be just on the end of a good throw or be in the right place at the right time. But the ability to score goals is more than just good luck and it takes a specific type of player – hopefully some of these emerge for the Mundis.

Incumbency:

Of all the previous Aussie reps who made the original squad, only one did not make a team (sorry Boo Boo). It seems that if you had a spot on the team before, you have a very strong chance of making the team next time. Or the players that did make it last time who felt a bit unsure of whether they could make the team this time, withdrew rather than have to be cut. Experience is always going to be a valuable attribute in a selection process, but for only 1 incumbent to miss out is a very high percentage of incumbents making the teams.

Perseverance:

The biggest highlight of the selection process in my mind was Seb Barr making the Mundis. Seb missed out on making the Thunder team for Boston in 06, but kept training like the Thunder boys and kept trying to get better. All this paid off and he now has a spot on the Australian team, whereas a lot of the 06 Thunder players actually missed out. He is a true example of perseverance paying off. Well done Seb!

Expectations:

After the final Mixed selection camp I took a definite step about my expectations. Despite having done all I could to present myself as a valuable player worthy of selection, I decided that it would be easier to accept that I had NOT made the team and deal with that feeling then and their, rather than cling to a hope that I would make the team. I still felt that I could make the team, but I was fully prepared not to make it. This meant that I was either going to be proved right, not make the team, and be OK about it, or be proved wrong, make the team, and be ecstatic. I think this made it much easier to deal with the actuality of not being selected and is a useful lesson that I can use both on and off the frisbee field – accept the worst, and if your wrong – that’s great!

One Percenters

As I prepare for the Selection Camp for WUGC 08 at the AIS next weekend I got thinking about the small things that make a big difference on the ultimate field.

In AFL they call these things "One Percenters", like smothers and tackles etc.

In Ultimate we have key core skills: running, catching, throwing, reading the disc, jumping, laying out. To be an elite player you have to be good at all those things. The one perecenters are things outside these core skills that don't take a lot of skill, just an awareness that they need to be done. They are also the things that separate good players from great players.

The things I think come under the"One Percenter" banner (even though I think they are worth more than one perecent) are :

Faking with Purpose
A lot of intermediate players seem to fake just for the sake of faking. But good players sometimes just stand still with the disc until they actually know where they want to throw it, then they fake to move the marker to get the disc where they want it.

Holding the Force
This is obviously crucial, both when marking and guarding. Knowing the force is a key component of this as is NOT going for point blocks on the open side.

Talking
This is both on and off the fields. Calls such as: Up, Strike, Switch, No break

Catching D's
So many times people get undone by this, but they keep macking those D's - CATCH THEM!

Clearing Hard
If you make a cut and don't get the disc, cut just as hard back to the stack

Backing Up
When the disc goes deep and you are not nearby, either on O or D, you need to sprint hard to help out.

Engaging the Dump
At whatever count the team rule is you need to look at the dump and then not look anywhere else.

Transitioning Quickly
When there is a change from either D to O or vice versa, you need to change to the new state as quickly as possible - sometimes even before the turnover has actually happened.

Attacking the Disc
Never wait for the disc to come to you - ATTACK IT!

These all sound like such simple things, but if you could ensure you remembered to do all of them every game, I think your effectiveness would increase dramatically. As well as being useful to remember when playing at an elite level, these things are also useful to remember when teaching beginners/intermediate players - they are simple tips to pass on that can dramatically increase the effectiveness of every player, regardless of their 'core skills'.

Key Learnings from AOUC

Adapt

About 2 weeks out from AOUC, Huy from Adelaide had to pull out for financial reasons. This left the team very short of handlers, and despite my hopes, I realised quickly that I would pretty much have to handle all weekend. All my frisbee life I have considered my self as an offensive receiver, and in recent years, an offensive receiver who can throw as well. However at ‘lower’ levels of frisbee, the experienced players always come back to handle so I have been doing that for a few years now.

I have always felt that I don’t make a good permanent handler because I am too impatient and just want to jack it. However, with the team we had at AOUC, taking into account the number of tall receivers (and the fact that I was the shortest guy on the team), I realised I had to adapt my game for the benefit of the team and handle. Being captain meant that I was able to handle with lots of confidence and take the risks that I felt needed to be taken. I made sure to look to jack it long early every game to our tall boys – to make sure that the other team knew it was a threat. This made getting open under later in the game easier. It felt very relaxed and composed with the disc, especially off a stoppage near the endzone, where I felt that my break hammers and flicks worked really well. (especially with the HoS connection to Wood)

Layout D

I got more layout D’s this weekend then I have ever in one tournament. The three main factors to this for me where:
- The occasion: at such a high level event and in the role as captain, the desire to get that disc back, especially after having turned it myself, was so great that I just wanted the D so bad that I got it.
- Marking handlers: being the shortest guy, I found myself marking handlers much more than usual and I feel there is much more chance for layout D’s closer to the disc than deep, especially on wayward swing passes and when you can poach off the swing into the cutting lane.
- Female throwers: when women have the disc and they are throwing to a guy, they tend to underestimate how much ground a guy can make up.

Feldrunner (German)

We tried using the Feldrunner as our standard offence. In the early games, we didn’t get to use it much because the other teams didn’t score a lot so we were rarely on O. It took us a while to get it right. We made it hard for ourselves with poor throws to the dot – sometimes we threw flat throws right past the defender, sometimes wobbly hammers above the dots head and sometimes we just threw it too far wide. Eventually we got on to the key point which is putting the disc into the space beside or behind the dot and trusting them to go and get it. I found that using Waz as the dot was the best, as he had the height and then the throws to be the most damaging. We also talked about using the Polish variation, where the dot cuts to the back corner and another receiver cuts in form the opposite corner to fill the space. While we never actually used this, I think it is a really good variation which can be useful.

Japan are good!

Although I was hoping to see some of the Buzz Bullets players there, it seems there were none, and none of the players had played mixed together before – it seems the team was just a combo of some open and women players.

Japan played an odd zone where they had a girl on the disc and a fence about 10 metres back which was spread wide across the field. It meant you had a lot of time with the disc, but there wasn’t a lot of space to throw it into. We probably should have used “give & go” more, but we just seemed to force it forward to our tall boys and they capitalised on any errors.

On offence they move the disc extremely quickly. Getting any stall count started at all felt like a victory! It must take a lot of work from the team to get them to a point where they can time there cuts right for such quick disc movement. It will be interesting to see if any Aussie club puts the effort in to develop such a fast game and is able to use it as effectively and consistently as the Japanese.

No Spirit Prize!

There was no spirit prize or scoring for the tournament. While this didn’t make the games seem less spirited, I would have though that WFDF would make it mandatory for all WFDF events to record Spirit scores. And I think they should develop a standard method for scoring Spirit. There has already been a fair bit of discussion about this at the following links:

http://www.ultitalk.com/index.php/topic,192.0.html

http://groups.google.com/group/aus.sport.frisbee/browse_thread/thread/13514973b1c06eb2#aec7f2b987a6519e

http://zazman.blogspot.com/2006/12/spirit-score-guidelines-proposal.html


Rules ‘Discussion’

There were two lengthy rules discussions during the 3-4 play off and the final. They were both regarding the “Play on” rule, i.e. in attempting a pass, the thrower was fouled by the marker, called foul, and then the pass was completed. The thrower therefore called “play on” and play SHOULD continue.

However the tournament rules (which by a weird series of events I helped put together) caused some confusion during the 3-4 play off (on the game winning point) which led to further confusion in the final.

The tournament rule and the relevant WFDF rules are below:

Note the key difference between WFDF and UPA rules:
1. A throw released after a pick/foul is called goes back to the thrower no matter whether it resulted in advantage to the team that called the infraction.

WFDF Rules:

18.3. If the team that called the foul or violation gains or retains possession as a result of the pass, play shall continue unhalted. Players recognizing this should call "Play on" immediately to indicate that this rule has been invoked.

The point of discussion was the section in red. This is from the standard rules used at AFDA events and is really just a note for people to be aware of. It is slightly misleading and doesn’t actually tell the whole story, however it is not a rule, just a note (in my opinion at least).

Anyway in the 3-4 game they resolved it by saying it had to come back no matter what, which caused problems when we had the same thing happen with us in the final and Japan wanted it to go back. In this case it was a long throw that gained significant ground, so sending it back to the endzone line where it was thrown from would have been a significant disadvantage for us.

I was not on the field at the time but got caught up in the debate when the Japan captain started saying that the tournament rules said it should go back (as had been decided in the previous game). I got into a discussion with the WFDF rep from Japan who was up on the main stage about what should happen, and having been involved in the tournament rules, I was certain that they didn’t specify that it had to go back. After telling my players to send it back (because the discussion had gone for too long) and then saying they should just keep the disc, it was finally resolved with us keeping the disc downfield. The outcome was right, but the process was not. In hindsight, I should have just checked that the players on the field were aware of the rules and the situation and then let them sort it out from there. That is one part I am not looking forward to seeing on the DVD!

Captaincy

Having never captained a team at a higher level than Div 2 league, I was slightly hesitant about leading Australia. However thankfully I have had some really good captains over the years (and some bad ones) which meant I had a fair idea about what I did and didn’t want to do. I was also lucky to have Waz and Rachel who helped out with warm-ups and tactics discussions so I could focus on the big picture issues. In huddles I mainly ‘let’ Waz talk in detail about our strengths/weaknesses and then would try and add just one main point for people to remember. I also tried to make sure everyone kept the focus on the fact that we were there to have fun and enjoy ourselves, as well as trying our hardest to win. I think the real test of a leader is what they do when things start going wrong, which didn’t happen too much at AOUC. In hindsight I wish I had called a timeout late in the Final to just try and compose us all, but I will just have to remember that for next time!

MVP system

They used an odd MVP system where at the end of the tournament (before the final) each captain nominated 2 men and 2 women as their best players (choosing a number 1 and a number 2). This was then compiled and given to each captain again to vote for 5 people from each gender as MVP (not in any order – just ticking boxes). This was then used to determine the MVP. I only really felt that 1 player was particularly memorable from all the teams (Derek from Philippines) so just based my votes on which teams were strong – so Japan got a vote each for their guys because their guys were good etc. This system meant that people who were valued by their team got recognition, even if they weren’t flashy or did 1 or 2 good things in a specific game, which is how normal MVP votes can be given out. I think the end result gave some good MVP’s – Derek, Waz and a Japan guy, so it could be a good system for an Aussie tournament to try and use.

Mixed Nats 07

As always this story is a bit late but you now what they say.

So I went to Mixed Nats with Station 59 – named after a pub which is named after a Fire Station – hence the colour scheme and the backwards writing. On paper our team was awesome. Made up of some of the best players from all the Victorian Clubs, including HoS, Chilly (it was great to actually play with these guys after all these years), Box, Honey and Ishtar. After Mixed Nats the Aussie Squad for WUGC08 was announced and everyone on the team that went for it made it – that’s 13 out of 15! You always had the feeling about that with this team though – I have never been on a team that was so strong across the board – there were NO weak players. No one ever had to call a line because the line was always awesome no matter who was on the field. But you know the other thing they say – “a team of champions does not a champion team make”. So we ended up making the Semi but coming 4th. Disappointing in the end, but – and I was about to say at least I had a good time, then I realised that would have been a lie.

Me, Liz, Mel, Seb, Baker, Wheelie, Wood, Dan, Friese

Steeph, Teegs, KP, Joy, Hussey, Karen

I have never played a weekend of Frisbee where I have been so far away from 100% healthy. I was throwing up all night the Wednesday before mixed nats and that continued all the way through to Friday. I was carbo UN-loading. Not a good way to play a tournament – no food in your stomaching and feeling like throwing up every time you run. I nearly threw up on a guy while I was marking him.

So Saturday I feel slightly better and despite trying to throw a high release flick for a score to Lubey I am playing OK. Then I get up for a big catch and bruise my right heel by landing directly on my back cleat and having no padding in my shoes at all. Sunday morning I can barely walk or pivot, but sprinting is OK. So after a few pain killers I am good to go. Then after bailing on a layout bid that was just too far away I try to protect my right foot and roll my left ankle. Yeah! Still – it’s just pain so I play on (wow I am so tough). My highlight for the weekend was a D I got on Tim Gee in the Semi in the endzone – I had quite a few good tussles with him that game which was good fun.

Then in the 3-4 play off I have a layout bid for a score that I really can’t remember – maybe because the landing was very very hard. I landed on my stomach, mainly on my left hip. I take an injury sub and catch my breath. I go back on after a few points but realise I can’t actually turn at any speed without severe pain. So I get off after that thankfully very quick point and take off my cleats – I have taken my body’s hint – no more playing this weekend! It wasn’t until the next day I realised that I couldn’t even have actually thrown a disc because it hurt so much to turn my upper body. The bruise is now nearly gone from my left hip but it really was a beauty.

Bootius won the Final over Spider Pig which was great to watch and I was pleased for them all – especially aL who had been there all the way from the 4th place to 3rd to 2nd to finally win. The crowd seemed to have fun heckling Brett and Pottsy – is it because they are so good and seem like they don’t even have to try that people enjoy heckling them? I don’t get it.

One thing I noticed over the weekend, especially when we were playing teams that had a few players who were clearly better then the others, was that for some reason we tried to force those match ups which were most even, rather than the most mismatched. For example Wollongong clearly had 2 key players – Tim Booth and Nans - my instinct would be to get whoever was being marked by them to try and keep away from the disc and let the other mismatched players – in a lot of our games this was our girls - make use of their mismatches and score easily. Because we were so even across the team this scenario seemed to arise a lot over the weekend, but we always seemed to go the hard route. We still won by going up against these good players, but is seems that it could have been much easier.

You need to identify mismatches on the field and use them to the TEAMS advantage.

National Training Camp 07

The Road to Canada 08 started in Sydney the other weekend (21-22 July)

80 of the top Open Ultimate players from across the country gathered to learn and play hard.

The weekend was split into two different days - day one was about drills and skills and day two was about playing games.

I was able to take some nice grabs during the drills, but I got caught out during one game on day 1 trying to milk the disc into the endzone. It always seems so tempting to try and just wait that extra second and make that big hop into the endzone - but it is NEVER worth it when you DROP IT in the process!!! You need to make catching it the number 1 priority.

One drill in particular was quite useful: Chris Warris (Hobbit) had us do this dump cut which starts 45d behind the thrower on the OPEN side. The dump cuts forward slightly then jags across behind the thrower to get an easy dump throw which leaves him free on the break side. It worked quite well in the drill, but I haven't had a chance to use it in a game yet.

Day two was a great experience. Every got to play with all these great players who some had never had the chance to play with before. I really enjoyed playing with the Dowles and Johnno Holmes - who I also had the pleasure of playing with a bit during my stint working in Canberra.

My long game was going really well all day which was nice, something which John Greenfield also mentioned to me - which was even nicer - him being a selector and all!

Two of the most memorable moments reinforced to me that good ultimate players all pretty much think a like. This was obvious to me from two times where eye contact with players who I have never really played with was enough to convey exactly what I wanted and what they wanted.

The first example was when I had the disc on the left hand side of the field 15 metres from the endzone. I was walking the disc back in because I had left the field after having caught it and then thrown it from OB - so the disc had come back to me. As walked up to the line I keep my eyes on Gav from Barefoot who was at the back of the stack and once he was looking at me I simply nodded my head a bit to the right. As soon as the disc was checked in he cut to the back right where my hammer sailed into his hands with ease. I don't recall that I have ever actually spoken to Gav in my life before that, but that one bit of non verbal communication was enough for us to know exactly what the plan was.

The same thing happened a few points latter when Adam Mortimer had the disc on the left sideline and I was left on the wing in a horizontal stack. He just looked at me and I looked back then as soon as the disc was checked in I faked in for a split second then turned and the disc was already floating into the empty space behind me. Perfect

The weekend also reinforced to me how I like to play Wing Deep in a Zone O. Despite hearing lots of people on the weekend call wing deeps to cut in towards the disc I have never been a big fan of this. For me the wing deep is most effective when they split the deep deep and don't cut in. This allows them to fill the space on the weak side for a nice cross field hammer. It also lets them drag back the wing D to allow the poppers space to move. I had one memorable point where Sacha H was playing wing D and I just kept dragging him back into no mans land between me and the poppers as Ant Dowle and the other popper just ran around throwing back and force, moving the disc forward with ease. Sacha couldn't commit to them because then they would have any ease throw to me - so he was just left the back peddling with me. I didn't even touch the disc but I am confident that my actions help effect the goal. The key is thinking about what you hate when you are on D in a zone. I hate when the wings split the deep deep and rarely spread the field out - so that's what I do when I am on O. The worst thing I think you can do on O as a wing deep is to cut toward a defender! If you are unmarked, why would you cut towards a defender to try and get the disc??

All in all it was a great weekend and I hope to get to do it again sometime.

Key learnings:

• Dump cut to the break side behind the thrower
• Don't milk goals
• Make eye contact with the thrower/receiver
• Stretch the field out as a Wing Deep

Don't Stop!!!

At Heads Of State training today I was reminded TWICE of a valuable lesson:

Don't Stop!!!

On O a big huck went up to a player on my team and I was about 10 metres away and just stopped and watched. He almost caught it but ended up tipping it over the top - where I could have been had I NOT STOPPED!

On D a big huck went uo that I thought was going to be a goal so I stopped. He wasn't in and my man had kept running and got an easy open goal.

Lesson: The Point AIN'T OVER 'TILL IT'S OVER!!