Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Buffalo part 1 - monks with blue balls
Six hours is a long drive but I found various ways to make it entertaining. We're staying in a pretty sweet apartment. We had a team meeting and got to bed fairly early, despite going for tacos with Bridget.
We did not manage to get to the fields in time for an inter team scrimmage. However, we were still pretty warmed up for our first game against bad eggs and scum. They were a goofy bunch, and quite skilled. They went up early and we never recovered despite finding some nice flow against their poachy zone.
Unfortunately, we thought that a 15 - 10 loss to the one seed in our pool meant that we would do even better without trying against the other teams. We were not prepared for SUNY Albany and lost in a blowout. The game was very surreal, like a dream I might have about playing ultimate. There were weird large rectangles of long grass on each side of the field. Brown was playing in a large pirate hat. Definitely a little dreamlike. Anyway, they made some savvy defensive decisions that demoralized us early and we never recovered. They took half seven nothing. Terrible. We scored three points all game.
After a long break (as our game with Scam did not last long) we got ready to play Ithaca. We lost to them at sectionals and I really wanted to win today. Apparently so did a lot of other people. We did work and everyone got dirty in a very gritty game that ended in a 15 - 13 in our favor. I could go on about this game but I'd rather take a nap. A lot of good things happened and we gritted it out.
Something to note is that I played savage. Unlike past years where
Dave and I had to play savage to make the offense work, now we are reaching a point where I would not have done that except that we were running with 12. Our team is becoming, slowly, deeper and when we actually get more than 12 at a tournament we'll prove it.
Dave and I had to play savage to make the offense work, now we are reaching a point where I would not have done that except that we were running with 12. Our team is becoming, slowly, deeper and when we actually get more than 12 at a tournament we'll prove it.
Anyway, our fourth game was against Plattsburg plus some Clarkson bros. We did not really want to play, and a few people dropped out of the rotation, leaving us with two subs or so at any given time. So we lost. Eh.
Something like 13 - 7? I dunno.
Now we're at the apartment. Around me, my teammates are talking about the kind of things that we talk about when the men's team goes places without any girls. Something about safety nets and vaginal muscle exercises. Par for the course.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
On teaching forehand to begginers
An argument for teaching full body throwing, in basic terms, to beginners: Would you teach backhand beginning with wrist snap isolation only? If not, why teach forehand that way?
Shoulders: they work.
The long version: at New Paltz, we teach, in general, new throwers to throw forehands keeping their elbows in and generating power primarily with the wrist. While emphasizing wrist snap is obviously incredibly important, I feel it is also important to teach, early and often, how to put other main muscle groups behind that wrist snap to generate more power. The basic elbows at the hip, snap your wrist mantra will work fine - as long as you are throwing passes under 20 (20 assuming you have a very strong wrist) yards. For passes longer than that, you need to use the rest of your body.
It is certainly possible to throw farther than 20 yards generating power primarily from the wrist snap and not utilizing full body throwing techniques. However that will not only stop a player from reaching their full potential as a thrower, but is also likely to cause excessive wrist strain. To use myself as an example, for the first four years I played ultimate I generated power primarily with my wrist for forehand throws up to sixty yards. After two years, I began to develop a chronic wrist injury due to my poor throwing form. If you jack flicks using only your wrist and your arm from the elbow down you are either going to end up hurting your wrist, your elbow or both.
One might point out that we are not teaching new players to throw long. We are teaching to throw short and dump and swing the disc whenever possible. Even so, any dedicated player is going to eventually need to make up-field throws, and will definitely WANT to throw longer. It takes time to develop wrist snap. Before the wrist is really strong, it will be hard to throw longer distances when the wrist is the primary power generator for the throw. Introducing the shoulders, the back, the core, and the hips can help players add more power to their throw even before their wrist is snappy enough.
Teaching frisbee at our level really comes down to personal technique and opinion, but I feel there is little advantage in waiting to introduce full body throwing mechanics. I see the logic in waiting say, a week or two before really laying it on thick so as not to scare away new players, but beyond that, why? If new players start practicing good technique right from the start, they should master it quicker. The quicker the better.
I have heard it said by several people that we should not micro manage the development of new players throws, but instead let them develop their own technique organically. I contend that if we are going to be ready for tournaments in the fall or even the spring, waiting at all is silly. I do not advocate micromanagement, only teaching throwing form in a complete way from the start. Forehands are going to be hard whether you are learning good technique or bad.
At the very least, the SHOULDER NEEDS TO BE INTRODUCED. That much is necessary even for short throws. Keeping your elbow stuck to your side will only get you to a very basic level of comprehension.
I'm working on a concise, precise explanation of full body throwing principles precisely to teach new players. I hope it will be easy to understand and implement and produce better results. We'll see.
I know that many people on GUNX disagree with me on teaching new players, so let your voice be heard. I want to hash this out as it is one of the most important aspects of practice for the first few weeks.
PS a huge pet peeve of mine is when we teach new players that throwing with "too much arm" causes the disc to curve. Throwing with arm can help generate power. Angling your body (wrist, arm, shoulder, whatever) causes the disc to curve. Gah.
PPS if you want to hear about throwing from someone who is actually an expert, check out
http://dopacetic.blogspot.com/2008/10/illicit-formula-of-shoulder-jerk.html
http://mmackey.blogspot.com/search/label/throwing
Shoulders: they work.
The long version: at New Paltz, we teach, in general, new throwers to throw forehands keeping their elbows in and generating power primarily with the wrist. While emphasizing wrist snap is obviously incredibly important, I feel it is also important to teach, early and often, how to put other main muscle groups behind that wrist snap to generate more power. The basic elbows at the hip, snap your wrist mantra will work fine - as long as you are throwing passes under 20 (20 assuming you have a very strong wrist) yards. For passes longer than that, you need to use the rest of your body.
It is certainly possible to throw farther than 20 yards generating power primarily from the wrist snap and not utilizing full body throwing techniques. However that will not only stop a player from reaching their full potential as a thrower, but is also likely to cause excessive wrist strain. To use myself as an example, for the first four years I played ultimate I generated power primarily with my wrist for forehand throws up to sixty yards. After two years, I began to develop a chronic wrist injury due to my poor throwing form. If you jack flicks using only your wrist and your arm from the elbow down you are either going to end up hurting your wrist, your elbow or both.
One might point out that we are not teaching new players to throw long. We are teaching to throw short and dump and swing the disc whenever possible. Even so, any dedicated player is going to eventually need to make up-field throws, and will definitely WANT to throw longer. It takes time to develop wrist snap. Before the wrist is really strong, it will be hard to throw longer distances when the wrist is the primary power generator for the throw. Introducing the shoulders, the back, the core, and the hips can help players add more power to their throw even before their wrist is snappy enough.
Teaching frisbee at our level really comes down to personal technique and opinion, but I feel there is little advantage in waiting to introduce full body throwing mechanics. I see the logic in waiting say, a week or two before really laying it on thick so as not to scare away new players, but beyond that, why? If new players start practicing good technique right from the start, they should master it quicker. The quicker the better.
I have heard it said by several people that we should not micro manage the development of new players throws, but instead let them develop their own technique organically. I contend that if we are going to be ready for tournaments in the fall or even the spring, waiting at all is silly. I do not advocate micromanagement, only teaching throwing form in a complete way from the start. Forehands are going to be hard whether you are learning good technique or bad.
At the very least, the SHOULDER NEEDS TO BE INTRODUCED. That much is necessary even for short throws. Keeping your elbow stuck to your side will only get you to a very basic level of comprehension.
I'm working on a concise, precise explanation of full body throwing principles precisely to teach new players. I hope it will be easy to understand and implement and produce better results. We'll see.
I know that many people on GUNX disagree with me on teaching new players, so let your voice be heard. I want to hash this out as it is one of the most important aspects of practice for the first few weeks.
PS a huge pet peeve of mine is when we teach new players that throwing with "too much arm" causes the disc to curve. Throwing with arm can help generate power. Angling your body (wrist, arm, shoulder, whatever) causes the disc to curve. Gah.
PPS if you want to hear about throwing from someone who is actually an expert, check out
http://dopacetic.blogspot.com/2008/10/illicit-formula-of-shoulder-jerk.html
http://mmackey.blogspot.com/search/label/throwing
Monday, September 7, 2009
8 - 4 is dangerous
So we rolled up to Marist to jam on their turf field. Eventually everyone made it but it was touch and go for a while. Game one was a demonstration of our need for a more comprehensive warmup of some kind. I was not ready to play at all and I was not the only one. I may have been layout d'd by Robbie Kohler. For the first few points we played possession ultimate and were quickly down 4 - 0. Finally David decided something had to be done and cut deep for the instant jack 4 - 1. Marist scored some more to make it 7 - 1 (I think). Chich rightly decided that going down at half 8 - 1 would be horrible and torched his defender all over the field before catching a sweet put thrown by some tall guy that had the Marist sideline oooing.
Out of half Marist scored some more before the Gunx finally found some energy and got rowdy for a few points. By the time the dust had settle it was 15 - 6 in Marist's favor or something horrible like that. However, our intensity was starting peak and we were set to play Bard right away. Slip told me that Travis was predicting a blowout victory and that was all it took. All the indecision and fatigue and nerves from the last game sort of melted away.
Bard came out fighting and scored the first point. We answered back and it was shocking how easy it was. Bard scored twice more to make it 3 - 1, and held the lead until we tied it 3 - 3. At that point we were going crazy and getting d's all over the place. At 5 - 3, we were going nuts. Bard scored again, and then we took half in a blowout 8 - 4.
During the halftime huddle I paraphrased the legendary Billy O and shared with the Gunx that 8 - 4 is the most dangerous score to be up by at half. Indeed that proved to be true. We traded with Bard out of half but then they scored a few to make it close. At 9 - 8 the hard cap went on, we went up 10 - 8, they tied it at tens and things were looking dicey but we pulled out for the 11 - 10 hard cap win. It is a shame we did not get to finish the game but I am confident we could have won it to 15 as well. Our intensity was crazy, we were getting d's all over the place, and they had to respect our deep game.
Things that worked:
Doober and Stephen sub calling. They worked well together and called great lines, particularly in the Bard game. As Stephen put it, Doober sees the macrocosm of the game and the overall changes and strategies that need to be implemented, while Stephen sees the microcosm and can work very well with individual players to maximize our success. Or something like that.
Deep cuts. People were torching their defender deep and getting so open that we just had to jack it to them. David's deep throws were buttery smooth and I made a few myself...
Defensive intensity: The first half against Bard was crazy. Everyone got their hands dirty getting d's and running hard against Bard's quick cutters. We got fired up and went nuts.
Things to work on:
Consistency and complacency. We need to be able to play with energy every game including the first, and we need to stay up when we win. A few people thought it was halftime at 6 -2, to which I replied "you think you've earned half yet? Get some more D's!" In short, we have a hard time playing well consistently, and when we do we think we've earned the win before the game is over. Fuck that. I believe the remedy for both problems is practice intensity as advocated by Doober. We shall see.
The biggest highlight of the day in my mind was the people who stepped up and played far beyond what they were capable of last year. A lot of our players who were one trick ponies last year can now play on either side of the disc and have really rounded out their games. I'm looking at E Herbst, Brad (who was open literally at will all day), Chich (he can handle, true story) and Kelsey (she caught five goals against Bard and that number would be higher if I could throw better) in particular, but everyone stepped up and showed what they are made of. I m super pumped to watch everyone develop over the course of the season. In my opinion we played better against Bard than we did at sectionals last year, and it was our first scrimmage of the season! Not only that but we were without the talents of such studs as E Mullen, the Hammer, Doober and the Mackrhiener, as well as the missing in action BJC.
This season is going to be a blast.
I'm off to practice.
Out of half Marist scored some more before the Gunx finally found some energy and got rowdy for a few points. By the time the dust had settle it was 15 - 6 in Marist's favor or something horrible like that. However, our intensity was starting peak and we were set to play Bard right away. Slip told me that Travis was predicting a blowout victory and that was all it took. All the indecision and fatigue and nerves from the last game sort of melted away.
Bard came out fighting and scored the first point. We answered back and it was shocking how easy it was. Bard scored twice more to make it 3 - 1, and held the lead until we tied it 3 - 3. At that point we were going crazy and getting d's all over the place. At 5 - 3, we were going nuts. Bard scored again, and then we took half in a blowout 8 - 4.
During the halftime huddle I paraphrased the legendary Billy O and shared with the Gunx that 8 - 4 is the most dangerous score to be up by at half. Indeed that proved to be true. We traded with Bard out of half but then they scored a few to make it close. At 9 - 8 the hard cap went on, we went up 10 - 8, they tied it at tens and things were looking dicey but we pulled out for the 11 - 10 hard cap win. It is a shame we did not get to finish the game but I am confident we could have won it to 15 as well. Our intensity was crazy, we were getting d's all over the place, and they had to respect our deep game.
Things that worked:
Doober and Stephen sub calling. They worked well together and called great lines, particularly in the Bard game. As Stephen put it, Doober sees the macrocosm of the game and the overall changes and strategies that need to be implemented, while Stephen sees the microcosm and can work very well with individual players to maximize our success. Or something like that.
Deep cuts. People were torching their defender deep and getting so open that we just had to jack it to them. David's deep throws were buttery smooth and I made a few myself...
Defensive intensity: The first half against Bard was crazy. Everyone got their hands dirty getting d's and running hard against Bard's quick cutters. We got fired up and went nuts.
Things to work on:
Consistency and complacency. We need to be able to play with energy every game including the first, and we need to stay up when we win. A few people thought it was halftime at 6 -2, to which I replied "you think you've earned half yet? Get some more D's!" In short, we have a hard time playing well consistently, and when we do we think we've earned the win before the game is over. Fuck that. I believe the remedy for both problems is practice intensity as advocated by Doober. We shall see.
The biggest highlight of the day in my mind was the people who stepped up and played far beyond what they were capable of last year. A lot of our players who were one trick ponies last year can now play on either side of the disc and have really rounded out their games. I'm looking at E Herbst, Brad (who was open literally at will all day), Chich (he can handle, true story) and Kelsey (she caught five goals against Bard and that number would be higher if I could throw better) in particular, but everyone stepped up and showed what they are made of. I m super pumped to watch everyone develop over the course of the season. In my opinion we played better against Bard than we did at sectionals last year, and it was our first scrimmage of the season! Not only that but we were without the talents of such studs as E Mullen, the Hammer, Doober and the Mackrhiener, as well as the missing in action BJC.
This season is going to be a blast.
I'm off to practice.
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