Thoughts.

I’ve taken far too long to get all my notes from the UCPC in writing on this blog. The last part is probably my favorite part, too, because it has SO much applicability to Dartmouth ultimate for next year.

Wicks coached the Brown men from 2000-2005, if I’m not mistaken, beginning and ending his time there coaching with national titles. As such, you might see how I’d value his insights on how Brown organizes their team and structures their season.

On to the recap. He talked a lot about a lot of things, I’m just going to bullet point and explain things that need elaboration as necessary.

Summer
-Select 2-3 team captains for next year, at most
-EVERYONE should be playing elsewhere! Club ultimate is highly recommended.
-This is when the fall admin/leadership is figured out

Fall
Recruiting/Development
-People with prior skills/experience playing need less pushing to recruit
-Really work to get those athletes! Anyone who played on a varsity team in high school understands what it takes to excel.
-Prioritize players with field sense–it makes the learning go faster
-Brown runs a fall league which have a wide range of skills and are captained by returners. Before games they’ll drill/emphasize a certain skill, then focus on applying it in that game.
-Attendance from returners, etc is obviously highly encouraged.
-The emphasis is on Getting Better, not necessarily to “win” fall league.
-Wicks says Brown works on throwing outside of practice, in order to make better use of the practice time they have. To that end, players are often paired or grouped so that older players can mentor the younger ones. This serves a twofold purpose of getting them to improve their throws but also encourages them to connect and socialize in a non-practice setting.
-Wicks stressed greatly the importance of socializing and building a solid team social dynamic. A team that only knows each other through playing won’t be as well off as a team that’s really invested in everyone else on and off the field–Wicks related a story of how one player had his thesis defense and he emailed a bunch of people, not expecting much, only to have a dozen or so of his teammates turn up.

Brown holds A-team practices separately from fall league, inviting tryouts up as necessary. At this point, Wicks said he did minimal coaching, allowing the captains to take the reins and letting the team develop an identity a bit before he shows up, to avoid impressing his will entirely on them.
-In planning for the season, it’s necessary to plan out practice–what your goals are, what your timeframe is, etc.
-Players on club ultimate teams can and should play with them, but they should also be a presence on the college team during this time, as well.
-Wicks says Huck-a-hunk is great time for Brown to connect with their alums and give their younger/newer players a sense of the Brown ultimate tradition. Pretty good stuff.

Winter
-The team is off until mid-January.
-Brown does a fuel cell system similar to Dartmouth, with 4-man groups (organized by schedule) that meet 2-3 times a week to work on disc skills, lift/do plyos/run
-Track workouts are weekly–they do them with EVERYONE there at once. Wicks admits it made for some strange hours running, but the team-building effect of everybody sweating and working together is great.
-He also emphasized the importance of crescendoing the work as the Winter goes on, keeping the big picture in mind–you ease into hard work such that it doesn’t hit you all at once.
-By the end of the Winter, Brown will have solidified its A-team roster for the Spring.

Spring
-One of the first things Wicks said with regard to the Spring is that he has the players/team pick things to excel at–defensive positioning, the mark, breaking the mark, etc. (This resonates a lot with the “process goals” described by Dr. Goldberg).
-They practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, taking Fridays and Sundays off, with Wednesdays as workout days. On weekends they don’t have tournaments Saturdays are competitive scrimmage days.
A typical Spring practice schedule:
-warmup
-short game to 3
-short skill talk + drill + short game to implement skill
-repeat step 3 w/different focus
-end with a longer scrimmage, possibly with rule changes to emphasize skills discussed (i.e. two score point if you’re working on endzone O and D, etc)
-Alternatively, replace all of the above with scrimmaging, depending on the day/timing in the season

Wicks’ General Observations (These relate more to coaching)
-Provide outlets for fun! Wicks said he would mix up practices every couple weeks with non-ultimate “fun” games to keep things fresh.
-At tournaments, the general philosophy is to “Sub to benefit–” that is, put in players who are capable, but not necessarily your studs, so that they learn how to play and improve and are challenged. If necessary, of course, you sub to win.
-As he stressed before, you should wait until you’re familiar with the team before you get hands-on.
-As a coach, you should never panic. You need to be a reasurring source of positivity for your players to rely on.
-Wicks’ thoughts on playing through injuries: even if you can play through it, don’t when it’s not needed.
-Take risks–establish threats (deep game, breakside, really f’ing fast callahan winner, etc)–be less predictable and mix it up!!
-Keep focused in “easy” games–these become mental games to keep yourself in it. You focus on specific goals within the game instead of just the game itself.

-Before you get into your really competitive games, make sure you make the roles on the team to everyone on the team CLEAR–and keep people in their roles! Absolutely do NOT try anything new at such a late point in the season, stick to what you know.

-With regards to Nationals, Plan! Everything! Make accommodations! The last thing that should happen at Natties is for you or your team to get caught up in logistics. There should be NO surprises.
-With regards to playing, don’t forget that your roleplayers matter a ton!
-Also, make sure your play stays in the “now” a la Dr. Goldberg.

That covers it. There’s a lot here I’m eager to try and implement next year. It took a few months, but the UCPC recaps are finally done! Phew!

Related posts:

1. UCPC Review, Part 4 ("Applying Mental Toughness Strategies to Ultimate," Tiina Booth)
2. Defensive Adjustments: A Key to High-Level Success
3. UCPC review: Part 1 ("Fitness and Training for Ultimate," Bryan Doo, Dan Cogan-Drew)
4. UCPC Review, Part 3 (Keynote Speech, Dr. Alan Goldberg)
5. UCPC review: Part 2 ("Marking: Techniques and Tactics", Ben Wiggins)