Building the Repetoire: Thought-Guiding Tools
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Loading ...Jeters hits on an important notion for developing your repertoire as a cutter (and, by extension, with any other skill involving adjustments), namely the need to develop a decision flowchart to guide your in-game actions (and especially reactions).
Imagine this. You initiate your cut from the horizontal stack, at maximum speed, in the direction of a deep strike. Now, what is your response if …
- … another cutter strikes deep.
- … your defender doesn’t commit, but a poaching defender is in a good position.
- … you reverse your cut but find that your lane has been taken.
… and the list goes on.
What eventually becomes “instinct” on the field is honed through lots of trial and error or prior thought. (Stop thinking when you play).
To aid that sort of thought process (which is to say, to aid visualization), I’d offer that these sorts of deliberations are exactly why I started drawing up cutting schematics in the margins of my notebooks, and I’d also offer an older post on Threat PointsTM for a bit of this thought process with crappy MS paint schematic to boot (that notion is one I plan to revisit and put more succinctly at some point, as it’s a powerful one).
Somewhere in my life I got a hold sort of a cutting guide written by geoff buhl for pike. It is very, very well written, and did wonders to my game just for reading it.
If people can find this, either by hook or by crook (or by maybe just asking Dusty or someone who played on pike that year) for it, offense would be so easy.
Plus, since you are a dartmouth guy, Dan Mazzucco used to have a powerpoint presentation on how he sees and plays ultimate. It is really neat to see his view too.
-josh
Josh,
The Pike guide made the rounds on the team a couple years ago I think (one of our alums went to play with them for a year or two)…I’d forgotten about it, but it still informs some of the team’s cutting philosophy (and mine).
Mazzucco, you say? Interesting…good to know. Thanks!
So is someone going to post Buhl’s guide or not?!
I don’t actually have a copy of it–the version I saw was a hard copy, passed from player to player during our flight to Vegas ’06.
…Dusty?
Will do a guest post. Let me know.
Geoff ( g w uhl at gmail)
doh … g w buhl