Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mind Frame

I want to play so bad.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Throwing the Game

After a rough start at Bing, Gunx coed did not lose to a non Marist team for the rest of the fall season. That is one tough monkey.

I'm becoming comfortable with playing a more possession oriented game, and think my decision making has improved drastically. Today I had the thought that many of my turnovers this past fall are attributable not to bad decisions, but throws with bad mechanics.

At Marist for example, I turned over a lot of goal attempts close to the endzone, either overthrows or just plain bad throws. Last spring my endzone game was what I was most proud of, and I was able to basically throw a goal to and from anywhere. I played with that mindset at Marist, and came up short more often than is acceptable.

Why? I did not throw enough in the fall. In the summer I was throwing every day, and even if it was not cleats on intense practice it was SOMEthing - tossing with kids, hucking between periods. In the fall I did not make the time for outside of practice throwing, nor did just about anyone else on the team.

I am starting to throw again, with the goal of throwing everyday of the upcoming spring season. Even if it is only ten or twenty minutes at a time - that might even be better, with less risk of injury. Various skyd articles have discussed that idea recently.

Throwing over thanksgiving break a few times helped with the above realization, and also highlighted some key problems I am having. My backands are often airbouncing, and my forehands often drill into the ground. Every once in a while, I throw with my body out of sync, and something crazy happens. When I focus, I can throw crisp low backhands and good from the core forehands but the inconsistency shows rust and lack of practice, as well as lack of focus.

Also, and this was a problem that plagued my game during the season, I have gotten so comfortable throwing from the core that I don't focus enough on getting low. Gotta bring it all together.

All of these problems can be solved by throwing everyday. With my thesis show looming, time outside of practice for team activities will be limited and must be on point. Short, focused workouts and short, intense throwing sessions need to happen for me to be the player that the team needs me to be, and also for keeping focused on school. Frisbee is no longer detrimental to my school performance, and now is the perfect time to capitalize on the positive effects exercise has on motivation to complete school tasks, let alone just getting out of bed in the morning.