I look up to the sky, I know the world is mine

Brodie Smith's first throwing tutorial video is super dope. It is going to make teaching people to throw next year so much easier, and has also given me some insight into possible ways to run the team in the fall. Really get down to basics right away.

This week of practices has been very intense so far with good energy and people getting gritty. Things we have to work on as a team: making space for each other as cutters and handlers. Focusing on marks has helped us teamwide on the defensive side and we will certainly continue to focus on that up until sectionals. It will pay dividends.

Brian coming today was clutch. Like last year before sectionals, he came on a day where a lot of players were not there for one reason or another. Unlike last year, he got to see a good practice anyway. He gave us some good advice and will hopefully be able to make it out some more to help. His coaching would pay off big time.

Personally, I need to work on swinging the disc and working better with the other handlers to open up more space. Also to not crowd when going for the dump throw. Evaluating field vision and decision making would not hurt either. At this point there is no excuse for ever turning the disc over - if a cutter is open anywhere, be it deep or underneath, I can put it there. Therefore I need to work on taking what the defense gives up rather than forcing things.

Also defense.
Also pushups.

Also fucking sleeping at night instead of the day.

Gunx love.

To score a ten would be just fine but I'd rather be dressed to the nines

Looking at pictures from the Bard scrimmage two ideas present themselves. Firstly, teams with weak marks, even one weak marker, are easy to beat on offense. Emphasizing team-wide tight mark defense for the rest of the semester will pay dividends.
Second, if you are close to the end zone line or another position when a short throw is the only option, if you don't have an easy to execute low release throw its probably a good idea to swing the disc. That's more of a personal issue, I don't swing it to the other handlers enough.

Also more often than not, a hammer should not be used as a high count bailout close to the endzone. That's something a lot of people find counterintuitive - since a hammer is nearly impossible to block and flies over the defenders, it is often used to get out of a tight spot at a high stall count. But at that point, if the swing is not open, either a flat low release throw under or through the defense, or a high flat throw are better.

Why? A hammer is a precision throw. If you put it up and the receiver is out of position, they have a very small margin for error. Meanwhile, a flat throw will float and give the receiver a chance to make up lost ground if they make a bad play or the throw itself is off target. In a high stall count situation the throw is more likely to be rushed, so a throw that provides a greater margin for error is a better choice.

The above is a direct result of looking at pictures of the blading hammer I threw to Tom. While it was on target, it made for a challenging reception and looking at the pictures I could have gone low release.

Why ever not go low release on the short throw?

Falling off the wagon never felt so good

As my brother in arms would say, "sprring breeeeaaaak!" Indeed, this past week has been my real spring break, whatever the calendars say. It is the first time in a while I've eased up on the work and just had some fun for fun's sake.

Being social is weird.

Anyway, we've now played on windy days two weekends in a row and I could hardly be happier with how we are playing wind game offence. However, both days I've come in flat with catching, leading to some drops and near drops from not attacking the disc confidently. More touches during warmup might help but it seems largely mental as well.

The Gunx are on a roll, confidence is rising an many people are getting touches on the disc. We have a lot of work to do but everyone can see how much we've improved, for all the trouble we've had with practice time we have hit the ground running much harder than a lot of our traditional rivals.

We'll aim higher, we'll keep working.

Now its back to the grind. Too much partying will not help right now. No dancing, no hugging, no complacency. Partying with the Gunx again after achieving my spring season goals is going to feel so sweet, but that's a while yet.

Week ten

Another goal for this weekend: team play, team communication. On a personal level, that comes down to learning to play deep in the zone, particularly in terms of communication with the midfield and wing defenders.

Hey also, put your body behind the disc when you catch it whenever possible. Be solid.