Point #7

Woah, back to back posts!

This point is fun since it shows off the deep games of both teams. At this point the US has a big lead and Japan begins to play more aggressively, looking for their girls going deep.

@5:53 Japan starts play just inside their own endzone. Taking advantage and gaining some yards before the US sets up D.

@5:56 This seems like a preset play. The handler throws to a cutter, who immediately looks up to see both girls cutting deep. A good mark takes away the huck and forces a swing to the sideline.

Also @5:56 The handler who throws immediately sprints downfield. He stays aware of where the disc is as he runs and continues all the way to endzone. Unfortunately the throw is a little short and is blocked by a great layout D.

@6:58 US sets up after a timeout in a horizontal stack. The stack is completely horizontal and stacked about 25 yards out, which gives plenty of room for an in cut, as well as threatening a deep cut for a score. Japan decides to take away the deep cut and force an in cut.

Watch the cuts from the stack. Near sideline cutter fakes out then cuts in, the middle two girls go out, with one girl sprinting deep, and the far sideline cutter poaches in. This takes away both Japanese guys and prevents them from  helping on a huck, and also isolates their best girl for a one-on-one in the endzone. The throw is a little late and also misread, resulting in a TO.

Japan switches tactics and goes vertical stack with only one handler back. The stack is spread very far out, with 7-8 yards between players.

This also has the look of a set play. First cutter gets the disc then finds a wide open cutter (poor US defense).

@7:18 The girl running deep immediately turns and takes off for the breakside just as the handler is about to release a breakside huck. This kind of coordination must be planned since the handler would not have know she would continue her deep cut to the breakside. The cutter is able to gain separation, and the throw is right on target for a score. Well done Japan.

Lessons to be learned:

1. Do not attack where they are strong, attack where they are weak. The US has solid male players with height advantages. So Japan decides to attack with their girls who are more evenly matched, and with plays that take the US guys away from the endzone.

2. Throw-n-run. It’s extremely tough to D a handler who takes off as he throws since only he knows when he’ll actually release the disc, giving him a one step advantage. Take off for the endzone if it’s open.

3. A well set horizontal stack should threaten both the short and the deep.

4. After a stop disc the team on offense should always have a set play. A good set play should have an element of surprise or deception not easily read by the defense.

Hucks galore on that point! The game is just starting to get exciting. Till next time.

USA vs. Japan @ Worlds point #5 & 6

This is the first point where we see Japan use their unorthodox zone defense. It does not employ the typical 3 man cup. The 3 defenders near the handler plays a very loose cup, and constantly looks around to cut off possible passing lanes.

@3:48 Japan has the US somewhat confused. The US has not been able to complete a pass to a cutter and is now trapped near the sideline. However, the loose cup allows the US handlers to freely receive dumps.

@3:56 The mid in the Japanese cup is out of position. The US handler, after a series of fakes, breaks the cup and gets the disc to midfield. The disc is then immediately passed to the wing for good yardage.

@4:04 Look at the Japanese defense, they have 4 defenders near the disc and only 2 defenders in the endzone. The US cutter spots the opening and makes a good cut for the front right cone, knowing he only has one guy to beat. The defenders in the endzone are in no position to help, easy score.

The Japanese defense was surprisingly poor during this point. The cup was easily broken leading to large gains by the US, and they left huge holes in their defense near the endzone. Uncharacteristic play by the Japanese.

Lessons to be learned:

1. As a handler in zone O, throw lots of fakes to keep the marker honest. Try to make your fakes look real.

2. In zone O, it’s important for cutters to see where the spaces are and cut into the spaces. Do not stand around and wait for the disc.

3. During zone D, always be aware of who is in your zone and where the defense is vulnerable.

Point 6

The next point we see starts @4:47 with Japan on offense, playing a horizontal stack.

@4:54 Good defense from US girl leads to cut being looked off. Handler immediately fills in and disc is almost thrown out of bounds. It’s great to see both Japanese handlers recognizing trouble immediately and then making cuts to help.

@5:00 Breakside huck floats too long and is Ded by the US. Not a terrible decision but a poor throw. The throw should have been nearer the right side cone but instead ended up near midfield.

US takes over on O and immediately releases a big huck to Beau. A little unfair since he is completely mismatched.

@5:23 Beau shows good patience and floats the disc to a wide open US girl. Japanese defense gets back very quickly and forces a dump.

@5:38 US shows more patience and dumps again, but the disc is immediately given back to Seth. The move results in almost no lost of yardage and a fresh stall count. Seth releases a well placed hammer for a score.

Lessons to be learned:

1. Handlers should recognize trouble immediately and cut for an upfield throw or a dump.

2. Use mismatches as much as possible. A good team will make good use of its advantages.

3. Patience is critical near the endzone. Opportunities will arise, but only if you wait for them to open.

Sidenote: I think the hammer is an under utilized throw in most games. In the hands of a good handler, it is almost impossible to block, and if placed well, is almost indefensible. It’s true that it can not be relied on in high wind situations, but if a handler and cutter can read each other well, a hammer can score many easy points.

Lessons from Sectionals

For a pick-up team trying to be a competitive team, going to competitive tournaments is a must. For one you get some humility beaten into you, and also you gained a ton of knowledge on how the other teams execute on the field.

These were the key differences between the top teams at sectionals and our team.

1. Game time attitude

It was clear from the get go that the other teams were out to win. They had that attitude from the moment they stepped out of their cars and onto the fields. They carried it during stretching and warm-ups. And they definitely showed it during game play. Hellgate on the other hand, remained how we usually are, a pickup team looking for a good game. The problem is, the other teams didn’t want to give us a good game, they just wanted to give us a hard time. Their intensity on offense and defense completely overwhelmed players who were not used to competitive Ultimate and as a result our spirit and confidence quickly sagged.

2. Strategy and coordination

Effective implementation of strategy calls for coordination of the players in the field. Each player is supposed to know what the right thing to do at each moment according to their pre-determined strategy. The other teams had it, we didn’t. They knew when to cut, where to cut, and how to cut. Their movements were coordinated and flowed effortlessly, while our movements were confused and flowed into each other. We don’t really play with a system during practice, and our play during games reflect that.

3. Utilization of space

The basic idea of offense for football, basketball, and soccer is to spread the defense as thinly as possible to maximize space for the offense to function. This is not something that comes naturally to people. People without training tend to all converge onto the ball or the disc and create a mess of things for each other. It is through repeated practice that players learn the value of creating space for oneself, and for each other.

There were also vast differences in skill and sideline help and communication between our team and theirs, but the three above are the key factors by which we lost. What I hope to do is to concentrate on one factor at a time and help this team to go from a pickup squad into a coordinated team that plays with strategy and intensity.

In order to solve problem #1 Game time attitude, these are my plans.

1. Put something on the line at each practice.

It’s not enough to just play.  Play to win, play for drinks, play for money. Whatever it is, you have to play for something. This gives you a goal beyond just scoring points because playing defense becomes just as important as playing offense. It is the defense that drives the offense, and it is good defense that wins games. So unless we play with defense in mind, we will not excel on offense.

2. Put good players under pressure.

Good players tend to either get lazy, or show off during pickup games. They don’t have to play good defense because they can more than compensate for it on offense. They don’t always make the safe throws because the 40 yard hammer is more flashy. The solution is to put them under pressure by giving them a handicap. If they have to start a game five points down, all of a sudden being lazy on defense becomes more costly, and 40 yard hammers don’t seem as appealing as before. Having a handicap will also help in actual games when the team is down.

3. Run a structured practice.

It’s important to have players assume the correct mindset at the very beginning of practice. Which means that they get to the fields, suit up and be ready for warm-ups and drills immediately. Chatting and socializing are allowed during breaks or after practice, but they should be limited as the team’s focus should be on Ultimate. This is by far the most difficult thing to do with a pickup team which is identified more by its social aspects than its Ultimate game. But it is an obstacle that must be overcome if the team wants to reach the next level.

The process of implementation will be slow and difficult, but I will keep trying.

Sectionals

This coming Saturday is sectionals for the NY region. This will be the first totally serious tournament I’ll be attending since coming back from the Philippines. I went to white mountain swiss and also holmes levitational, but both were semi serious tournaments where the goal was to get experience. Sectionals is totally different. We picked a solid starting lineup that I think can play very well together, and I think we have had enough experience playing with each other to do well on the field. This will be our first trial since deciding to become more serious about Ultimate as a club. I hope it goes well.

There is still so much more to go with this club. So many things are as yet still undecided and undefined. Most people still need a lot more game experience before they are able to play well in actual games. Pickup is fine for practicing skills, but it is not the right place for practicing the right mindset when playing a real game. I hope people begin to realize that after sectionals so that we can push the club further in the right direction.

But right now, I’m hopeful, and I’m optimistic. And that is very good.

The growing pains of Hellgate

Teams start out as a bunch of friends who enjoying playing, and enjoy each other. Some tossing in the park before a pint at the bar is a great way to cap off a day. Later on, new friends join, and their friends join, and now you have enough to have pick-up games. You may not always have 7s, but it’s just for fun. As more people hear about the club and join, the quality of play improves and you enter some local tournaments. You get your butt whipped, but it’s a great time for everyone. Everything up to this point has happened rather organically, but then things suddenly change, and the decision has to be made.

Are we a club team that plays for fun and values our friendships, or are we a club team that plays competitively and values Ultimate?

Obviously a club cannot do both. The competitive people will not be satisfied playing pick-up Ultimate, and the pick-up players won’t have fun playing with competitive players who want to win. Both sides want to have things their way and neither is willing to give up without a fight. How do you effectively manage the transition without destroying the club?

My club team is going through this transition at this moment, and things are starting to heat up.

It started at White Mountain Swiss.

This was my first tournament with Hellgate Ultimate. I had joined the team a month or so before and I was in the process of getting to know everyone. We went up to the tournament with about 18 people, but only 4 of them were girls. This left about 14 guys splitting a limited amount of playing time. The first day we got our asses kicked since we were only used to playing pick-up and not against organized teams. This led to the captains calling line changes and having certain players on the field more frequently. Some people voiced complaints about not playing enough, but most people accepted the minor changes. On the 2nd day we initiated a rotating line system which worked well initially, until the lines started to compete with each other for playing time. So two lessons we learned from White Mountain Swiss was 1. don’t bring too many guys. 2. there is no way to call lines without pissing someone off.

We came back from White Mountain set on making big changes. We were going to do things differently, improve our game, and become a better team. But the talk quickly subsided and people fell back into the pick-up Ultimate routine. We did work on certain things like zone O and zone D, but for the most part “practices” were the same. But little did people know, there were secret plans being hatched behind closed doors.

The other captains of the team, without much discussion with other board members or teammates, had picked a starting lineup for the upcoming sectionals tournament. Not only that, a good share of the starting positions went to players who were new to the team. Rumors of a starting squad for sectionals floated around for a while until it was finally confirmed on Tuesday through an email to the team by one of the captains. People were understandably unhappy but the reaction has not been violent. The secretiveness and the lack of transparency was what really ticked people off. The captains did what they wanted and everyone else just has to deal with it. I agree that it wasn’t the best course of action, but knowing the people on the team, it wouldn’t have been done otherwise. There would have been too much back and forth argument without any progress. Now it’s done and we’ll just have to see how things turn out. I will be updating this situation as things happen.

Stay tuned…

Ultimate Frisbee, the un-official sport of the Jewish people?

Read this to find out.

USA vs. Japan @ Worlds in Taiwan (point 4)

This point demonstrates a good horizontal Japanese attack against the USA’s man defense.

@ 2:53 Japan sets up a horizontal stack. USA is forcing away (force backhand). You may notice that the Japanese handlers are lined up ahead of the middle handler. This allows the two USA defenders to poach on both sides. Against a vertical stack this would be trouble, but a horizontal stack allows for cuts straight down the middle of the field, which is exactly what Japan does.

@ 2:55 The announcer says “Japan goes horizontal”. Just look at the amount of space between the handlers and the cutters. This not only gives each cutter a lane to cut into, but it also allows for the Japanese handler to cuts across the field. In an H stack, the handler on the break side can often be a threat by making this cut.

What Japan does really well here is their spacing between the players. The cutters are constantly moving downfield, maintaining the proper cutting space between them and the handlers. Even when the disc is trapped on the line, the other players still maintain their positions on the other side of the field, ready for the continuation pass. One of worst habits in Ultimate is when the offensive players gradually gravitate towards the disc, trapping themselves on one side of the field.

@ 3:04 The disc is caught near the sideline. Count the number of cuts this guy sees. First is a cut for the endzone, followed by a handler cut up the line, followed by a horizontal cut to the sideline, and finally another handler cut which gets the disc. All four cuts happen within six seconds, and none of them clogged each other.

@ 3:18 This is why you do the dump and swing. Because you can usually catch at least one defender out of position, and one catch is all you need when near the endzone. And look at how clean the endzone stack is!

To execute an effective horizontal stack:

1. Cutters must maintain proper cutting space.

2. Handlers should look for upfield cuts.

3. Dump and swing.

4. Transition to a vertical stack near the endzone.

There’s also a good lesson for defense @ 3:21. Watch the head of the defender to the bottom right of the screen. Look at how he peeks back as he runs to mark his man. This lets him know if the force should be maintained or switched. But the very headsup play by the female Japanese handler creates a break throw opportunity which they capitalize on.

Till next time.

point 3 points 1&2

Sex sells, even with Frisbees!

Let’s check out some videos from the early days of Ultimate! The original Frisbee commercials.

By Whamo

You and a friend and a Frisbee

Oh Whamo

Whamo Super Pro, wow they spent a lot of money on advertising…

I wonder how Discraft is the accepted standard when Whamo started it all?

I’ll explore that question in a future post.

Hope you enjoyed them!

USA vs. Japan @ Worlds commentary (point 3)

I’m only going over one point today because there are many lessons packed in this one short point.

To view commentary on previous points, go here.

Point 3 “How to move the disc upfield with aggressive handler play”

US again sets up a horizontal stack with a 3 handler formation. Japan
plays man defense, forcing home.

1:50  Watch Bart’s feet and how he sets up for the run even before he
releases the disc. The defender’s natural reaction is to watch the
disc, which gives the handler the time needed to be open again for a
short swing.

1:58 Bart repeats the process, except this time taking the dump
towards the middle of the field. As a handler, the give-n-go play
allows you to dictate where the dump will be taken. Also notice how he
has a good 2 second look before the mark even gets near.

2:06 Seth Wiggins does the same thing, but cuts across the field. This
is a classic give-n-go play usually with the disc going back to the
thrower on the other side of the field. It is not done here due to
Japan’s unusual defensive positioning.

2:09 Bart repeats the move once again, but instead of getting a dump,
cuts for the endzone. Near endzones, the give-n-go move is extremely
difficult to stop against a speedy handler. If the man playing defense
on Beau was marking tight, Seth would have been open for an upfield
throw here.

2:16 Great handler play here. Gwen catches the disc, sees that her
defender is close and pivots to her backhand for a fake. The defender
bites and overextends herself. Gwen comes back the other way and
releases her forehand at full stretch, allowing no chance for a block.
Break mark score.

Main lessons:

The give-n-go

This play has many advantages to be exploited.

1. The handler always has a step on his mark. The handler is facing
downfield, the mark is facing the handler. If the handler runs as he
releases, the mark has to turn, and then catch up. Having that one
step means the handler can position himself between the disc and his
mark, taking the dump wherever he wants.

2. The handler catches the disc facing downfield. On an incut, the
catcher usually has to turn around after the catch to see the endzone,
giving the defender time to put on a mark before a throw can be made.
A handler cutting upfield for the dump already knows where the cutters
are and can immediately release the disc upon catching.

3. The handler catches the disc with momentum going upfield. This not
only allows the handler to gain extra yards as he slows down, but also
gives him momentum and an open look for a huck. Often times a huck
from this play will catch the last defender out of position, allowing
for a quick score.

Things to work on:

1. Throw and run immediately after release
2. Faking and extending on throws

Hope that helped!

Which Ultimate frisbee summer league is right for me?

Summer leagues are fun, social, and definitely something everyone should try at least once.

This year I came back to New York in early June, just in time to miss the registration deadlines for most summer leagues in the city. Luckily I found one league that was still open and it was the Ultimate Rec which takes place in Long Island City, at a newly built turf field right by the river.

I signed up and put myself down as an experienced handler and was placed onto the purple team, AKA The Growlers. We had a roster of about 15 men/women and we were competing against 5 other teams. Some teams signed up together but many players including myself joined random teams drafted by pre-selected captains.

Ultimate Rec is a relatively new league in the city and therefore the level of competition isn’t very high. Most teams have never played together before and it takes a few games to build chemistry on the field. But if you are an experienced player, you can easily jump into the field captain role and help the newcomers to the game adjust to organized Ultimate.

The level of competition differs greatly with each game. One game you might face a randomly drafted team with players of different skill levels, and the next game face a group of experienced players who formed their own team and know how to play the game. However, if you truly like the sport of Ultimate, the difference in skill level is a good challenge and will force you to change and adapt according to various situations.

Keep in mind that when joining a summer league it’s important to know what level of play you wish to play at. A league like Ultimate Rec is great for beginners who have some athletic ability who wish to learn a new sport and make new friends. Experienced players may feel forced to teach the game while playing, which could become frustrating if you are expecting some wins. My team is in 5th place despite the fact that we have two out of the top three players in combined points (goals + assists) for the entire league. And also, regular attendance is a luxury for casual leagues.

The nice part about casual summer leagues is what happens off the field and after the games. Often people will stick around after their games to do some tossing or to watch other games. And when all the games are over, it’s common for opposing teams to head to the local watering hole for some liquid refreshments. Even if I don’t play in this league again, I know I’ve made some friends I will likely see again in the future.

For the fall I will probably join the MUD league which is more established and also more competitive. As a bonus I will be playing with my teammates on my Hellgate clubteam from Astoria. Hopefully we’ll put a solid squad together and take home a trophy.

All in all, I truly enjoyed my summer league experience with Ultimate Rec. They are currently waiting for field confirmation for the fall league. Chances are the games will take place on the pristine new fields on Randall’s Island. And I would highly recommend new or experienced players looking for casual fun to join and play.