10-15,16:Purple Valley
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Loading ...Had a pretty good weekend.
The Pain Train rolled into Williams College to play in Purple Valley; we got some much-needed tournament experience, and also had the opportunity to match up against our perennial regional opposition: WUF, Harvard, and Brown.
Beat WUF on universe point 11-10, lost to Harvard 12-10 after going on a run once hard cap went on, and lost to brown 12-7, also going on a run after hard cap. We also beat Middlebury 13-3 or so.
We played decently, though nowhere near up to potential–there’s still a ton we need to work on, particularly our zone O and D. I’m definitely excited for us to start developing our potential and really playing some smooth, solid ultimate.
Personally, I felt like I played very well–when I was playing. It was hard to just watch the game develop from the sidelines sometimes, especially when the offense was sputtering at some points (I played exclusively D points over the weekend)–I really wanted to be in the game, making plays and helping us out. But I guess such is the nature of the game when you get slotted into a role.
I was very happy with my defense; the men I covered in man D didn’t get the disc very often, and I don’t think I ever gave up any breaks besides dumps on the mark (though I should be a bit more aware of the dump and make that harder); in the zone I played very well, with only a few mistakes in front wall, pretty consistent coverage as a wing, and generally not giving up easy plays. I got to run in the mark for a bit when we played our 2-man cup zone, which was an interesting experience–it’s very free-form, which is wonderful, with great great great potential to shut down an opposing team, but it also means I have to be that much more active and on my toes to shut down plays. Something to work on, I suppose, if that winds up being one of the roles I take on.
Offensively, I need a bit of work if I’m gonna be a D-line handler (which I’m likely going to be doing a lot of). Harvard’s shifting mark (force trap to start, then switch to no dump after 4 or 5 count) really gave me a lot of trouble. I need to get more practice dealing with that, and looking to be a bit wiser with my puts to the dump or if that’s not really viable looking upfield and getting something up there. Other than that, though, I handled myself very well. I can’t think of any situations besides that when I was a liability on O–I definitely am getting a good feel for timing my cuts to generate flow, though that of course requires that I be in the stack cutting and not handling. Only played in zone for a little bit, but aside from needing to be more heads-up to help out handling I worked very well popping, I think.
Things I’ve been working on: my shut-down D is getting pretty good; several situations, in transition or whatever, I covered a man and kept him from getting to where he wanted to, which is a great feeling.
My handling is so-so; I’ve got great throws in flow, I’m really good at getting off a quick swing when it’s there and displayed that several times over the weekend. Generally stayed fairly patient and didn’t give into the riskier passes with the disc.
Things I need to work on: I feel like there were several situations over the weekend where I could’ve contributed to the defense more with some well-timed poaches. I’ve got pretty good field awareness on D, and in some situations there’s definitely opportunity to pull off a good switch or leave my man where he’s not a threat and help generate a turn. This is a bit hard to really work on, but it’s something I want to keep in mind while I’m scrimmaging.
Pressure handling: as described above, I’m not making great decisions in the clutch, which stems from my getting too narrow-minded and not looking to use all of my teammates. I need to work on my field sense on O when I have the disc.
Consistent cutting: I had some good moments cutting and generating flow, but it wasn’t 100%. I have to make sure I’m constantly looking to make that continuation cut.
2-man cup/general zone D: Definitely need to work on getting a feel for the 2-man cup, and I also need to keep elevating my zone D; it was passable this weekend, but I know it can be better–rather than avoiding being a liability, I have to really make myself into a point of strength, generating those D’s or forcing those turns.
So, to list things for me…
Good
shutdown man D
heads-up D on transition
midding/continuation in O
Things to Work On:
Team ‘help’ D
field awareness on handling/pressure handling
consistent focus whilst cutting
zone D, particularly 2-man cupping
