In Australia, the ultimate community has so much room for growth in terms of coaching and tactics.
Consider that until 4 years ago, there wasn't a single accredited ultimate coach in the country.
And when did you last hear an ultimate player introducing a play or drill from another sport? How can we draw on the enormous pool of knowledge, skills, drills, plays, coaching and technology used in other sports?
Here's an example. Here are about 50 basketball plays. And those are just offense plays. Yet they have names, are diagrammed and many have counters.
Where are the standardised equivalents in ultimate (for set-up offence, for endzone plays, for defeating zones)?
I know of ultimate players who have represented Australia in fencing, water polo, ice hockey. I know players who have made state teams in AFL, baseball, basketball and netball.
Its time to learn from other sports.
Been reading through some of your old posts...
ReplyDeleteI've played a lot of sports as a youngster and always tried to get a better understanding of tactics through watching older kids, and the professionals play. And I've often thought of what could translate to ultimate.
The biggest obstacle in translation is the scoring zone. Ultimate's scoring zone is the width of the field, while for AFL, basketball, netball, soccer, water polo, handball, etc. the scoring zone is a fraction of the width of the sideline. The general flow of play in these sports is to move the ball up the sides, then move towards the centre for scoring opportunities. When you're at the endzone, the centre of the field is the the optimal place to score from, but scoring from the sideline is a lot easier than it is in soccer or basketball.