Cork's Buzz #2 - Handling
Okay guys, Here is the requested and long-awaited handling post that I decided to write. To start off, I am going to say that even though these blogs are a great source of information and ideas, there is absolutely no substitute for PRACTICE and watching people do these things the right way. Repetition, Repetition, and more Repetition is the best way to get better fast. (As long as you are doing the right thing of course…)
With regards to handling there is not much that I can teach you in this blog post because in order to become a better handler, you must practice handling. It is different for everyone, so there is not really any “set” perfect way to handle. Each person has their own style (including pros and cons)– take kid and myself for example: Kid likes to value the disc a lot and is very chilly, And he really likes backhands, but also he tends to hold onto the disc for too long sometimes and ends up forcing some throws. I, on the other hand also value the disc, but I guess you could say that I am a bit more impulsive in my handling, I like to let our team make the plays happen and often that has me hucking to our receivers more often than kid (which can be a bad decision at some times). I also prefer forehands. The differences between us are not that big, but our “styles” are pretty complementary. As you handle more and more, you begin to see the field; where cuts are coming from, where certain teammates cut to, and what their tendencies are.
This leads into what I believe is the single-most important thing about handling. This is FIELD SENSE. I know some of you might ask “What exactly does FIELD SENSE mean?” and to this I would say field sense includes a multitude of things: Who is on the field at a certain time and what their strengths and weaknesses are, what the matchups are against the other team, where there is open space on the field to throw into, what the flow of the cuts is like, when you need to yell at people to get their heads out of their asses and cut, how the weather is affecting the game, what the other team’s defense is and how you can beat it, and many many others. As you can see trying to work on this huge number of things individually would get you nowhere, but if you can get to the point where you take a step back and look at the game as a bigger picture, you have begun to develop what I call “Field Sense”. It is only gained through playing ultimate and only gets better with more experience. If anyone wants some advice on any of these topics feel free to talk to me whenever and I am more than happy to help you out. Okay, enough of the handling side of things – I am in the process of writing a throwing post and it will be up in a few days :-) Hope everyone’s summers are going well and ill see y’all soon.
The whole I/O Thing
I have already discussed what I am about to write with Scheid and other members of the summer team, but here it goes. Back in the spring when the ultimate team started to get serious (hopefully we start that a lot earlier this year), we started to really look at throwing form. One of the people on the team that I respect a lot in terms of throwing is Kid. Now Kid seemed to be telling everyone to try and put I/O on every throw, and I started to work on that but never really understood why until I started played some disc golf earlier this summer and it sort of dawned on me. Understanding the "why", at least for me, makes it easier to convince yourself to do something rather than just blindly trusting the people who are better than you at it, so here it goes. When you throw, especially a forehand, the tendency is for the disc to go O/I. I am not sure about why this is, but if you look at someone who is just learning a forehand (oh remember those days?) you can see that their throws often turn to O/I blades. Now, in disc golf, the tendency is opposite (don't ask me why, something with the physics of the lip of the disc or something), so all your throws will "naturally" go I/O. To get distance in disc golf, one method that a more experienced player told me was to try and throw the disc O/I. When this is done you can see the disc flatten itself out, and sometimes even go I/O as its natural tendency is. It is much more exaggerated with disc golf discs than with ultimate discs, but the theory is the same (except opposite). Throw with I/O and the disc will flatten itself out, and while this happens the disc is using its natural tendency to stay in the air rather than fly down (as the disc gets more and more O/I its flight pattern is more and more downward). So that is my reasoning for why I/O throws are more stable and will go further with less force. Maybe this was very obvious to you before, or maybe it makes no sense, but this epiphany has helped me a lot in terms of a mentality of throwing, so long as it helps at least one more of you then this entry is worth it. I am not an extremist like Kid to say that you should put I/O on EVERY throw, but in general it is better. There are definitely situations where O/I throws are better for getting to a target, but it is still a less stable throw and you should take that into account before throwing it. So keep working on your throwing form and I will see you clowns in the fall. -Ravi
Cork's Buzz #1
Okay guys, I finally got my account fixed here so you will be hearing from me alot probably. I hope all of your summers are going great and Im really lookin forward to the fall. Alas, These are not stories from late night escapades or drunken jousting with teammates' girlfriends, but a few helpful things that you may like to read. Here is my first in a complementary line of posts to go with squat's thoughts: To start off, I want to talk about being heads-up on the field. One understated aspect of ultimate is how long the disc can be in the air. Compared to ball sports, it's basically forever. What this means for you is that there are many more opportunities to be in the "right place at the right time" even if you aren't the intended receiver or the active defender on a play. I call this the "Derek Jeter" effect, similar to how, in the playoffs against the A's a few years ago, Jeter (a shortstop) was in position between the pitcher's mound and home plate to give the ball thrown from the outfield an extra little push to get the out at home plate. The Video Papers archive on the "links" page is an excellent resource because analysis is combined with good visual examples. These are much more effective at communicating concepts in ultimate than mere explanations. So, take a look at Follow the Play. You can watch the entire video through one time from the intro page, but make sure to click on the 'examples' link because it will allow you to watch each clip one at a time. Furthermore, the video paper's author will have commentary associated with each individual segment of the clip. ----- One lesson to take away from these examples is that, while you're on the field, you shouldn't stop moving very often. Ultimate is a battle for position. On the lowest level, it is a one-on-one battle which is glamorous, and one of pure physicality (who can jump highest or run fastest). But, ultimate doesn't need to be a "fair" game: you can stack the odds in favor of your team by involving yourself in somebody else's play. It reminds me of the last official point I ever played for my first competitive team (in high school). A huck went up to our biggest receiver for what would be the winning score, if he caught it. It looked like it was a sure thing and many people just stood on the field watching, but unfortunately, though he had beat his defender, the wind was just strong enough to send the disc sailing past his (and his defender's) outstretched finger tips. Fortunately for our team, my brother had trailed my teammate and his defender by about 10 meters (and was offset horizontally by 10 meters) and was able to snag the disc that no one else had a chance at. It would have been easy to stop and watch as we "won" the game on a "sure" pass to our "big receiver". On the flip side, I'm sure we can all think of instances where we gave up on a disc only to see it pop back up or hang due to the wind. On defense, I see people give up when they've been beat by their guy, only to see that the disc hung and that there would have been a chance to D the disc. The object lesson here is "DON'T GIVE UP!". Also, work hard for your position. You might think a lot of these plays are based on luck, but you create some of your own luck just by being there. One final thought: what does it take for you to be able to "be there" all the time? Or asked a different way, why might you stop running when the disc goes up to someone other than you or your defender?
Recipe For Success
i was reading a blog, and thought this was an excellent post to pass along, especially for our fairly young team. About Getting Better by Noah It is very hard to improve as a player by waiting for advice from others. The best players and the ones who improve the most are those who actively seek it out. In general, frisbee players aren't the type to go out of their way to instruct others. Some of the best times for learning about the game are when someone asks a more experienced player (or even an equally skilled teammate) about a scenario, or about a play that happened, etc. The people who turn into the best players are the ones who ask the veterans on their team whenever they have a question about anything. They are the ones who ask their teammates "what happened?" when they are involved in a play that went wrong but only saw part of the play. They are the ones who email their captains and coaches when they are up late and randomly think of an ultimate-related question. http://ultfris.blogspot.com/2005/02/about-getting-better-by-noah.html
Squat's Thoughts # 3
"To me (being a basketall player), the layout is comparable to the dunk." - Keith (see first link) and we all want to dunk right? By request, this thought concerns all things laying out. It's about half my thoughts, and half regurgitated material from the two links below, which are pretty good reads: http://ultfris.blogspot.com/2005/08/qotwlaying-out-overrated.htmlgood article on defensive layouts. http://www.chasingplastic.com/archives/issue-pages/v3i2/two-steps-defensive.htma good counterpoint; interesting discussion on the true value of layouts. Anway the basics of a good layout are as follows: 1. be on your toes. 2. have your feet fairlyclose together (shoulder width at most). 3. throw your body forwards and jump when your body makes about a 45 degree angle with the ground 4. land on your chest/stomach or you will eventually dislocate your shoulder(s). believe me. the above can be easily practiced at a pool (remember natties?) or on a beach if you have trouble convincing your subconscious it won't hurt on grass. eventually however you will want to be able to do this while sprinting after a disc, or trying to get the layout block on an in-cut. since the latter is my personal favorite, lets analyze that situation a little more. layout defense on in-cuts: 1. do not run directly behind the offender. run slightly to one side so you can dive around him without fouling/injuring the poor guy. 2. often beginners can get to discs they didn't think they could reach even with a layout. so when in doubt, lay it out. at least until you really learn your limits. 3. if you miss, start stalling immediately, and get up as fast as you can. eventually you will want to practice getting up quickly by doing ten yard sprints from a prone starting position. another important area for laying out is the front line in our 1-3-3. heck, there's even a position called layout. for front liners, the key points are again to be on your toes, and have your feet cose together. everything else is reflex. although it is certainly not the most important tool in any ultimate player's skillset, or even in the top 5, it is still the most exciting, and can really pump up your team. they are huge momentum builders for your team, and hugely demoralizing for the enemy. and as Kid has said many a time, "in ultimate, momentum is everything." some nice layout pics (nord is a beast): http://homepages.nyu.edu/~kcl251/alex%20nord2.jpghttp://homepages.nyu.edu/~kcl251/alex%20nord.jpghttp://beachultimate.org/blog/croc.jpg-squat burrito
Your teammates are smarter than you
Every single person on this team is better than you at something. Maybe it's cutting, maybe it's hucking, maybe it's eating right, maybe it's the high release push pass, maybe it's tying their shoes. Whatever it is, you can get better at it by asking that person for help. If you want to be able to mark as well as PC does, go up to him and ask him what he does to be so good and what you can do to get better. It's pretty simple. You can work really hard to get better at something, but you'll get better 10 times faster if you're asking for help and doing the right things to get better. Your team is stacked with resources, and if you don't use them to become a better ultimate player, you're a fool. Now that's a really easy way to get better at ultimate without really trying really hard at all, really.
Preparing for the Future: Making Faces
It's very important to plan on being a professional ultimate player in the future. Perhaps the best in the world. And when you become this excellent, your image will be of incredible importance to you. Everyone will see you on the news, on sportscenter, etc. So, just as in any other sport, you should begin to work on the faces that you make when you play. When you're a professional, photographers will want to take pictures of you just as you're releasing the disc, or just as you're pulling down a huck. And in those pictures, they will capture the silly face that you are making at the time. When these pictures are on posters in little kids' rooms, they will see your silly face every day. If you're simply making a normal face at the time, you probably won't be famous. It is well known that the atheletes that are making the silliest and ugliest faces at times of intense concentration are far better than those that don't. See: Michael Jordan. Any snapshot of him dunking will show a really silly face. Notice how he uses his tongue to direct the basketball. Good technique. I recommend working on stretching the muscles in your face in front of the mirror to train. Find the ugliest face that you are capable of making, and they try it out in a few games. Try it on your friends and co-workers until you get it perfect. Without a silly face, you'll never be able to be among the best in the world. You'll thank me later. http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--10202322/Michael_Jordan_Bulls_1_Photofile.htmhttp://seekingalpha.com/wp-content/seekingalpha/images/JordanMichaelTongueOut.JPGhttp://www.soleredemption.com/pics/2006/04/magic_jordan.jpghttp://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/empics/3705195http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42404000/jpg/_42404763_tennis_416.jpghttp://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1177883023056607211fapNyDNow that's a really easy way to get better at ultimate without really trying really hard at all, really.
|
|
