What’s the only thing more intimidating than one guy sprinting down on the pull?
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Loading ...Field Sense
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...This thing called “field sense” is, at it’s most basic level, an awareness of space–of open space on the field, motion into and out of space, and what I’ll call “closed” space where there’s congestion or for whatever reason the space is not directly relevant to the motion of the disc.
I’ve already talked about this a bit in the context of anticipating on defense–the “intuitive sense” I refer to is what we tend to call field sense.
How does one develop this intuitive sense? Look here for a nice perspective on the matter (originally found this through Parinella’s blog, by the by). It’s hard to teach, but something that can be developed and intuited with time. You can, of course, offer guidelines to guide this development–your team’s offensive or defensive structure, a player’s progression of looks, etc. But I agree with the premise of the article–loose, free-form play is one of the best ways to develop field sense.
At Dartmouth, we play boot (apparently the San Francisco variation). I’m not going to say it’s directly responsible for the development and success of some of our players…but I will say that the ’08s played a lot of boot over our four years at Dartmouth, and this year our handling corps was anchored by those same ’08s–and any team we played against can attest to the degree of chemistry our handling corps had this year.
Play. Please don’t just play ultimate, either! Boot is a wonderful small-group game. I’ve heard hotbox, goalty, and mini are also very popular, and all encourage the sort of fast-paced free-flowing decision making that you don’t get nearly the same exposure to over the course of an ultimate game. Experiment. Develop a feel for what works and what doesn’t and what you might want to look for. Know what you want, and then find it.
More off of the regularly-scheduled track: Crossfit
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...The Crossfit Journal has been revamped. All of their materials are being made available to subscribers ($25/year–I’m subscribed, FYI), but you should also give the basics section a look–there’s some pretty good information to be had there and a lot of those articles are free regardless. Make sure you download the full article on the right if you find anything of interest.
(Dartmouth folk, if you can’t download something, shoot me an email and I’ll get it for you. Non-Dartmouth folk…well, you can ask).
Warning: Non-ultimate post
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Check out Google Chrome, especially if you don’t already use Firefox.
It’s sexy.
If you’re not a power user (Firefox rules the day there) nor do you want to be a pawn of Microsoft and IE, give Chrome a look.
Ultimate is a Biathlon.
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...Run. Accelerate. Sprint.
Catch.
Stop. Assess. SEE.
Throw.
Run. Accelerate. Sprint.
Lather, rinse, repeat. In order to be successful at this sport you have to hone two divergent skill sets–you have to learn how to play two different games.
There’s the running game–you exert yourself, often in coordination with those around you, frequently at high or full effort.
And then there’s the throwing game. You calm yourself, and the efforts of your teammates only matter in the context that you devote your attention to them and choose to give them the frisbee. You execute, not a brute force, explosive movement, but a well-refined, controlled one.
Running takes effort, but it’s the effort of willing your muscles to do more. You will them to apply more force so you can run faster and jump higher.
Throwing takes effort, too, but it’s the effort of focus. You will many muscles to do less–to get out of the way–so that the main players can do their job and deliver the disc.
Both of these are automatic processes to a point.
Running amps up with exertion.
Throwing with exertion leads to stiffness and bladey, ill-placed throws.
Both benefit from a performance-oriented state of mind. Focus. However, the foci are different.
Running, you focus on the situation, you recognize opportunities on O and D, but more than anything else you push your button to kick your body into overdrive when it counts.
Throwing, you focus on the situation, you recognize opportunities on O, but more than anything else you let go of your body, allowing it to perform what you ask, when it counts.
Both have their limits.
Running, the limit is your body and its energy reserves. When those run out, you can keep hammering away at that button, but your body won’t respond.
Throwing, there is a theoretical limit from your body, but above that threshold the limit is your mind. When you lose focus (and the necessary level of focus may increase with fatigue), you lose execution. Form gets sloppy, or you tighten up, and throws become a hope rather than a certainty.
Practice.
Train your body so the energy reserves run out more slowly and regenerate more quickly.
Train your mind so you can maintain focus even as you fatigue. Train your mind as you train your body to throw, learn to let go. Learn to trust your body. Learn when and how to guide it.
This is how you find success in the biathlon. Lose sight of neither your focus nor your drive.
On Goal Setting and Planning
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...It doesn’t take much looking to find a wealth of materials on goal setting and motivation. Anybody who has an interest in business has I’m sure heard of numerous titles on the matter.
The acronym to keep in mind when you set goals: SMART.
Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Realistic. Timely (have a Timeframe).
As for what those terms mean to me when I set goals in the context of ultimate:
- Take the time to sit down and plan. Without a plan, you might make progress, but who’s to say that that progress is in line with what you really want?
- Really think about two things when setting goals: What you need to do, and what you want to do. Your priorities might still put the “wants” above the “needs,” but you should nonetheless be tending to all of them.
- Being specific means going in to detail! You hear this all the time–but “get into better shape” is not going to drive you as much (nor give you feedback–what exactly does that mean?) as “Improve my vertical by two inches. Lose three pounds. Add 40 pounds to my deadlift PR.”
- Measurable ties right in with specific–if you can’t measure your goals by some metric, how will you know if you’ve achieved them? Granted, not everything is quantifiable in absolute terms, and we do need some of the broad goals too (I’m thinking in terms of things like “keep the team motivated during workouts–” you’re not going to have everyone quantify motivation, you just go on feel there), but to the extent that those things that can be measured are measured, you’ll find more fulfillment in your goals.
- Attainable and realistic also go hand in hand. What good is setting a goal you’ll never reach, or one that comes at the expense of other goals? Some sacrifice is necessary, but be realistic in the expectations you set for yourself. At the same time, your goals should still be challenging. This is why it’s important to be specific–if I merely wanted to “get faster,” dropping a second would be sufficient to reach my goal. Wanting to “run under 30 seconds per 200 for a set of four 200s” gives you something to strive for and something to rejoice in when you do achieve it (and is hopefully not so fast that you never do). Keep in mind you can always set new goals when you achieve your current set–take the big lofty goals in smaller steps.
- TIMELY. Perhaps the most neglected aspect of goal setting. It is essential that you give yourself some time frame within which to achieve your goals. This can range from season-long goals, to a more specific time frame (“be injury-free by sectionals”). If you’re confident in your ability to work and achieve your goals on a consistent basis, you can perhaps ease up on this requirement, but deadlines give motivation. If you’re not motivated to meet a deadline then perhaps you should re-evaluate your goal.
Another important distinction to keep in mind when you set your goals is the difference between process and outcome goals.
Process goals are directly in your control–improving your consistency throwing is only a matter of your own work. Process goals also tend to be pretty easily quantifiable (improving athletically always yields measurements to gauge yourself–how fast you run, how high you jump, how much you can lift, etc).
Outcome goals, on the other hand, are things that, while you can strive to achieve them, are ultimately out of your control. Things like “winning nationals,” while a great goal to have, is also a goal that undoubtedly dozens of teams and hundreds of players set for themselves, but only one team can achieve.
The danger in goal setting is getting too caught up in the outcome. Just because you did not win a game does not mean you have not improved, doesn’t mean you haven’t achieved. This is why setting goals that relate to the process is so important–it gives you a measuring stick. You can look at yourself and say with full confidence that you set a goal, worked towards it, and achieved it. Results will come, or they won’t. One way or another you will find there is lots of room to improve if you focus on the process, rather than the outcome.
This ties in a fair bit with some of the things Tiina Booth said about what she does with Amherst Regional High School to prepare them to play in tournaments and develop mental toughness. At some point I’ll be making a post relating the outcome vs. process distinction to team leadership, so keep an eye out for that.
If you’re looking for a model to gauge your own goal-setting by or to get some training ideas, feel free to check out my Summer Workout Plan (you can also follow the label for the same on the sidebar). I took the time to make a detailed plan of what I wanted to improve and how I wanted to improve the summer of ’06, and made some very significant gains in that time and in so doing established a fitness habit that carried me through the rest of my collegiate career.
Defensive Thought: Anticipation
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...The Huddle’s Andrew Fleming has a great analogy for this, in his article on being the deep defender when you hear the “Up!” Call:
Have you ever sat a stoplight and watched the light for the other direction turn from green to yellow to red? When your light finally turns green, it’s just a confirmation of what you already knew was about to happen. How much quicker are you off that line if you’re peeking at the other light versus waiting for yours to change? That’s the difference between reacting and anticipating on D. When I hear that “up” call, I want to already know what throw is coming and already be poised to jump on it.
He very succinctly summarizes the components of good, anticipatory D.
Anticipation means not only knowing the current situation and recognizing which throws are most likely, but also learning how to read people and recognizing opportunities to make the play.
General things you should be aware of as an anticipatory defender, as much as possible (in rough order of importance–feel free to dispute my rankings or add others in the comments)
- The position of the disc on the field relative to you and your man
- How long the disc has been in that position–is it in motion for a potential unmarked huck/throw? Is it stall 7 or 8, so you should really be heads-up for a swilly bail-out throw?
- The capabilities of the thrower. Is it the stud thrower, who can not only jack it, but break the mark to do so? Is it somebody who’s only going to throw to under cuts?
- The force (the person on the mark). Which side of the field should passes be going to? How likely is it that the mark will hold and not get broken?
- The conditions. Is it rainy? Are you going upwind and can dictate out with more confidence? Is there a crosswind that would cause a throw to your expected side of the field to float or sink more than usual?
- Your man’s preferences. Are they a relentless deep threat? Do they prefer to stick around the disc? Keep in mind they may still take what you give them, even if it’s not what they prefer.
- What, if anything, has the other team as a whole been beating you with? If they’re exploiting the around break, be prepared to pounce on a somewhat floaty around throw (and adjust when you’re on the mark as well). If they love to jack it, start backing your man or otherwise make sure you’re always in a position to strike on the huck.
All of these bits of information, summed together, should allow you to make a few adjustments:
- What cut you choose to defend primarily–what’s the biggest (and most viable) threat at this moment?
- What cuts you choose to respect–if it’s really windy and the player with the disc does not look confident in her upwind forehand, you can give a cushion of at least a few steps when your woman goes deep (but beware the dump/swing to a more confident thrower in motion).
- Where you expect the throw to go to. This is particularly important at high stalls, when a less-than-perfect throw might come suddenly and surprise you. If you expect to see a throw to the forehand side of the field, allow for the possibility of a stall-9 blade.
- Whether or not you poach off of your man (!). If you’ve evaluated your man to be less of a threat in their current position than some other play–your man prefers to cut under, but their big thrower has the disc and you see somebody setting up the deep cut–you can sometimes get away with devoting less attention to your man and more attention to the play in action.
This is a lot of information to process at once on the field. It’s impossible (In my opinion) to consciously take in all of this information and still play at 100% intensity (you’ll be thinking too much). However, you can learn to intuit things, or give yourself reminders before the point. The disc’s position should eventually become a natural sense; for me, I can often discern where the frisbee is by the sound of a catch or reading my man and, if in a straight stack, the other men on offense (be wary of eye fakes). You can cultivate an internal stall clock to anticipate high-count situations (or perhaps your teammate will count loudly enough for you to know with certainty). Conditions and the force, you should be aware of before the point begins(or at least before the disc is tapped in on a stoppage). Strive to cultivate an intuitive sense of what space is threatened and in which space (and at what times) your opponent is not a threat to get the disc. I find it usually helps to remind myself of the force on D just before the pull goes up (if I’m starting on D or O), and to spend some time (doesn’t need to be more than 10 seconds or so) trying to visualize the wind vector and anticipating which throws will float or sink on D (and how to compensate with my own throws).
You can, of course, rehearse a lot of these situations through visualization. Cutting schematics can go a long way towards guiding you here–draw up novel situations, impose different conditions, and then try and picture yourself in them.
In addition to recognizing situations in terms of general expectancies, strive to learn the signs that a play is coming–learn to read throwers. You can do this on a team-by-team basis if their system is transparent; you can also learn to read individuals. Eventually, you will start to pick up on tells that are more across-the-board; players who are not skilled in showing fakes or making quick decisions in particular become easy reads with enough attention. There’s a certain look–not quite “Deer in the Headlights”, but a similar single-minded tunnel vision, when a thrower goes from “scanning/evaluating” mode to “preparing to throw” mode. Mid-level cutters get a similar look when they’re in the lane, if you’re trying to read their fakes.
Don’t think too much on the field; simply pay attention and make associations through experience. Eventually, you’ll develop an intuitive sense and good defense will become more automatic (it never becomes fully automatic–invariably there’s always some external condition you should be taking note of). Learn when you can afford to think on the ultimate field, and learn when you need to stop thinking and just make the play. Anticipation will put you in position, but you still have to execute.
The Mental Components of Layout Training
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!) Loading ...Visualize, visualize, visualize.
Simple? Depends.
Visualization is a SKILL. Former teammates or blog readers should know that I’m a big proponent of visualization as a means to success.
So, you’ve hopefully read the link above and/or are familiar with visualization, generally. How does that apply specifically with regards to layout training?
For me, there are a couple crucial points to master if you expect to lay out successfully in game situations:
- Pre-layout–anticipate, be ready
- Disc is in the air–go for it!
- Layout execution–technique
- (minor point)Get back up and play!
Now, to touch on each individually…
Pre-layout–anticipate, be ready: A huge part of defense is anticipation (more on that later this week). If you’re laying out on defense, before you ever get horizontal you need to know when you should be ready to bid and when you should be priming other actions instead(again, more on this later). You can help yourself to recognize some of these situations more quickly and effectively through visualization, but some degree of in-game experience is also necessary here. You can think up simple situations which lead to layouts (you’re on defense, right on your man’s hip, as he cuts in for the disc), but invariably there are other situations where you might want to bid that you won’t anticipate. Learn to see these opportunities when you miss them, and prepare yourself mentally to pounce on them in the future. Offensively the situations tend to be more clear-cut, but if you always expect perfect throws to your chest you’ll find yourself surprised by the rare errant ones. Try to err the other way in your expectations and you’re liable to catch a lot more that comes your way.
Disc is in the air–go for it!: So, you recognize the situation. You’re right there, ready to go. The disc is thrown…what do you do? It’s not at all uncommon to pull up or choke in this situation when you’re just learning to lay out. Why? You’re still uncomfortable with executing the layout. Maybe some situations–big game, you’re really fired up–you go for, and others you don’t. It’s normal to have a threshold for this sort of thing, but you want to make that threshold pretty low–so that you laying out or not laying out is not a matter of how revved up you are, but whether you decide to lay out or not. Again, visualization can help here. Run through situations in your mind–remember to perceive these situations in detail, focus on the disc coming your way–and get the reps you need to get over the mental block with some mental effort.
A friend of mine got over his mental block by mixing visualization with physical practice–he would have me throw a frisbee to some target–he started off with a trash can, and worked up to progressively faster-moving human targets (they started off at a walking speed, worked up to 50/70/90%, etc), running up and laying out past the target to get the disc. You might have success with the same.
Layout execution–technique: I’ve already gone into the physical components in last week’s post, so give that a look. The key is to visualize these components in slow motion–you absolutely will not be able to focus on all of these things in the heat of the moment (in fact, focusing on anything other than the disc is likely to hinder your performance), so you have to do the mental legwork well beforehand if you’re to get it right without thinking later. Again, visualize detail–see (or feel) yourself exploding into your takeoff, extending forwards, flying through the air, and absorbing the impact through your torso while keeping your head, knees and arms all out of harm’s way.
Get back up and play!: Successful bid or no, you need to get up. This is particularly important on defense, when a missed bid means your man is getting off an unmarked throw–or on offense, when a missed bid means your man could now be sprinting deep uncovered or picking up the disc to get off a throw while you’re preoccupied on the ground. This is partly a visualization exercise–recognize (anticipate) the need to get back up before you hit the ground–but this is also part fitness. Upper body strength is underrated for importance in ultimate, and it is in exactly this situation that all those pushups/bench presses/burpess (the third is my personal favorite, as it actually trains pushing up into a standing position) will come in handy. I take pride in my bids, and I also take pride in recovering from my bids.
