Sidelines: Eyes, Voices, Energy
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!)
Loading ...Things the sideline(s–don’t forget to split!) can do:
- Cheer
- Watch (for patterns, for weaknesses, for successes, for clues. For example, Pete’s defender is breathing heavier by the second–yell at him to step up and punish the mismatch!)
- Cue (echoing or initiating mark switches on a force middle defense or dynamic mark adjustments, etc.)
- Guide (the old veteran teaches the young rookie where to stand and when to cut from the wing position in the zone. The captain directs the stack to move closer to the disc after a deep pull in the endzone)
- Recover–both oneself (stud cutter needs some gatorade-water after a couple points in a row) and others (bench-riding rookie brings said stud cutter water on the line so he doesn’t crash playing a couple points)
- Bring the energy level up–see cheering.
The sideline is your 8th (wo)man, and has a massive potential to influence the game. The home-field advantage that fans help confer is something a good, vibrant sideline can recreate–to me, it is the only way to get a team through an entire tournament playing hard, working through the lows and rolling with the highs.
What do your sidelines do? What do you do on the sidelines?
Related posts:
3 Responses to “Sidelines: Eyes, Voices, Energy”
Leave a Reply
Page 1 of 11
Give info to specific players: tell an offensive player waiting for a difficult throw "man on", "no one" or "go to" (this is about the only thing I hear or want to hear from the sidelines when I'm on O); tell zone players where the receivers are (this should be one particular sideline player talking exclusively to one particular defensive player).
Related to "Watch": provide a second set of eyes. Line up behind the thrower on an OB walkup so you can see the field as well and possibly alert him (or the marker, if you're on D) to open cutters. Line up at the back of the stack to get a downfield perspective.
On defense, Lead the Play. Stand deeper than any player on the field, even as deep as the goal line. You can often tell ahead of time that a deep throw is coming and alert the defender as necessary.
Observe: Be ready to make the in/out call, especially on defense (keeping in mind that your call is non-binding, but most players will accept well-informed input). (Do-overs on 50/50 calls tend to benefit the offense, since they lose only yardage but keep possession.) Being able to point to an exact point of contact will usually convince a receiver more than saying only "you were out".
Also keep in mind that Cheering and Cueing can be distracting as well if there is other information that needs to be passed on. Even just saying someone's name in hopes of encouraging them can instead split their attention.
One small note – at Sectionals and, to less efffect, Regionals this past year we had everyone put their bags behind an endzone, keeping only water and bars on the sidelines. It was my idea, so I'm certainly biased, but it seemed to help us spread out more and not be bunched up around our bags. More mature teams and players might be aware enough to really follow the plays consistently, but we (and plenty of other college teams) seemed to struggle with keeping the sidelines aware and consciously into the game.
Just got back from EYUC with the GB U17 Open team. I taught them to call specific words and what that would mean to the team.
Up – Disc in the air (Every one uses this)
Spoil – No Line/No Dump/Take that option away
Early – (call on O) a D is on you, get the disc
Left/Right – Cover L/R more
We won gold over Germany after loosing to them in the pool.
Scraggy