tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188145522024-03-08T12:00:29.922+11:00ThinkultiThoughts on ultimateUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-5632854627176138772019-11-23T20:29:00.002+11:002019-11-23T20:29:52.586+11:00The single most important skill that beginners are not being taught: grip changeBeginners get shown what the forehand hand grip is.<br />
<br />
But not how to efficiently change from a backhand grip to a forehand grip. Being shown how to do this skill is critical.<br />
<br />
Here is a suggestion for teaching the change of grip.<br />
<br />
First, teach catching. Then teach backhands. Let the beginners practice those two skills.<br />
<br />
Then before teaching forehands, do the following:<br />
<ol>
<li>Show a disc in two hands in front (neutral position)</li>
<li>Bring the disc in two hands to vertical, near the throwing shoulder. Do this using the non-throwing hand to move it into position in one single motion. The throwing hand changes from backhand grip to forehand grip. Walk past every beginner and show them where the fingers of the throwing hand go, keeping the disc vertical in two hands.</li>
<li>Bring the disc in two hands back to neutral position.</li>
<li>Give every beginner a disc, and have them practice this grip change. Check every person can do it.</li>
<li>Ask the beginners to put the discs on the ground.</li>
<li>Then, and only then, teach them to throw a forehand.</li>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIA-dHfmHfCnqV2CYr3i84mZR15RBf0MiHIRUBseQRcHQn00jdVQOzQyz1QdNdjEv41kIYlOiF1nAlhaiP3zNAjimD1Ipu56HvWQ_TdBQ4XWoUNdUuhFlhKt1tt9cbhfbc2J03A/s1600/Two+hand+switch+to+forehand.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIA-dHfmHfCnqV2CYr3i84mZR15RBf0MiHIRUBseQRcHQn00jdVQOzQyz1QdNdjEv41kIYlOiF1nAlhaiP3zNAjimD1Ipu56HvWQ_TdBQ4XWoUNdUuhFlhKt1tt9cbhfbc2J03A/s320/Two+hand+switch+to+forehand.gif" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teach this grip change</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
If you explicitly teach beginners the act of changing grips (not just the finishing position), they will get the disc to a better position before forehand throws, will have a better throwing action and will not be stuck with a clunky 3-step grip change for the hundreds of ultimate games they will play. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Some coaches like having the disc upside down to demonstrate the forehand grip. It is initially helpful to beginners who need to see the finger position. I have done this. But it is a massive disadvantage if you habitually change your grip via an upside down disc during a game. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Currently, beginners are taught 3 basic skills: catching, backhand and forehand. They need to be taught the fourth basic skill, grip change, before learning the forehand.<br />
<br />
It is worth noting that being able to do a skill is different from knowing how you do that skill and explaining it clearly.<br />
<br />
In ultimate, expert players don't think about how they switch grips from backhand to forehand. Even if they can do it effortlessly in front of you, or in a game.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the same experienced players then teach novices, and don't explicitly teach that skill to them. So let's teach it.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-79459417006503347132019-10-26T21:46:00.001+11:002019-10-26T22:10:57.138+11:00Two hands for beginners when throwingBeginners should use two hands to hold the disc.<br />
<br />
Beginners should only have the disc in one hand at the last possible moment to throw. This applies for backhand and forehand.<br />
<br />
Why are two hands better than one?<br />
<br />
Let's start with the forehand.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjE_nnluDdmbjqDS4EiKDt9mrsDnHKOjNZrhcKjd4quqBWMw9LA7Ry3TSAnVBTX1JLbgG23-wac7pY-4TM8E95uVh8mGRY2zMQYf3H2ciGo0jK77GH7LhOGJ6phqkyFmQs8zsw9g/s1600/Two+hand+switch+to+forehand+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjE_nnluDdmbjqDS4EiKDt9mrsDnHKOjNZrhcKjd4quqBWMw9LA7Ry3TSAnVBTX1JLbgG23-wac7pY-4TM8E95uVh8mGRY2zMQYf3H2ciGo0jK77GH7LhOGJ6phqkyFmQs8zsw9g/s320/Two+hand+switch+to+forehand+6.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Teach this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Firstly, a two-hand grip is more stable and supported than a one-hand grip. Experienced players can easily hold a forehand grip in one hand, but beginners often find it hard. It is easier to adjust the fingers of the throwing hand when the other hand can take the help take the weight of the disc.<br />
<br />
Secondly, a two-hand grip promotes using more of the arm. A good forehand throwing action involves movement in the shoulder, then elbow, then wrist. A disc held vertical by two hands allows this more easily than a disc held horizontal near the waist, with the elbow wedged against the torso (sticky elbow syndrome) and often not extended.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhss3KZWQrFANWkoJvJa6a-OxKaImoMYZo3SJAWPLansEoC85E09ZdWgTOVIM1syFHEWo1ul3U6DADFYTe1NodrM5H0KDVplQw5BZ5i-dOpGX4rK8UvcROTR-pPKFYO8i3VP6qbHw/s1600/Elbow+tucked+forehand+stance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhss3KZWQrFANWkoJvJa6a-OxKaImoMYZo3SJAWPLansEoC85E09ZdWgTOVIM1syFHEWo1ul3U6DADFYTe1NodrM5H0KDVplQw5BZ5i-dOpGX4rK8UvcROTR-pPKFYO8i3VP6qbHw/s320/Elbow+tucked+forehand+stance.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Don't teach this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thirdly, a two-hand grip helps a beginner avoid the disc turning over during a forehand. Beginners find it hard to counteract the common outside-in curve, because their wrist rolls over (palm up to palm down). Have you seen beginners whose forehands always curve over?<br />
<br />
In comparison, an experienced player throwing a forehand almost always rolls their wrist under (palm down to palm up). The two-hand grip puts the disc into a vertical position, where the wrist starts palm down. It greatly reduces this common beginner problem.<br />
<br />
For the backhand, a two-hand grip is also valuable.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKd-I-XcenWu8q_KfCpTzKNMsu6g1_IjQxYXW5D5Qya72LiAuLUmFkL3aTBOrDOITuVJni1B0SS-WeqDKuw1dIY3IcGmix7XVfMG1W5551qEhl1p1GzZk0MV2raCE710fbM8uUJA/s1600/Two+hand+backhand.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKd-I-XcenWu8q_KfCpTzKNMsu6g1_IjQxYXW5D5Qya72LiAuLUmFkL3aTBOrDOITuVJni1B0SS-WeqDKuw1dIY3IcGmix7XVfMG1W5551qEhl1p1GzZk0MV2raCE710fbM8uUJA/s320/Two+hand+backhand.gif" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Start in two hands</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Drawing the disc back prior to a throw with two hands rotates the torso more than a drawback with one hand, setting up the thrower to put more power into the backhand throw.<br />
<br />
Perhaps you might ask: I don't hold the disc in two hands much, yet I throw well. So why should we teach beginners this way?<br />
<br />
There are two answers.<br />
<br />
Firstly, elite players do it. Watch Jimmy Mickle.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QHDqiJrbI2Q/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QHDqiJrbI2Q?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
You also can watch 20 other elite players who were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvgVvH9p4IEH--1s8tBssk_UbbqMrI-dJ" target="_blank">filmed in slow motion</a>.<br />
<br />
The Japanese use two hands. Look at the women's team (especially Eri Hirai, number 11) during <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdIYvSC-CIM&t=72m56s" target="_blank">this point</a>. And look at the four throws the men's team use in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9G5mPOk8YE&t=15m18s" target="_blank">this play</a> (backhand, forehand, forehand, forehand). Nice put, Matsuno.<br />
<br />
Secondly, the improvement in throwing technique across thousands of beginner and intermediate players from a better grip is utterly worthwhile. If elite players find different methods that also succeed that is awesome. But players learning our sport this year need to start from a base of better fundamental technique.<br />
<br />
The gif below shows how to switch from a neutral stance into a two-hand forehand grip.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulL3sVMvsw4s6n6zmZBmCansU8ABxVgePc8f01kLYotH91KaamSKVOV8XWKHCXVuxyybSCJBnQ_TsWRDmea122pQsMG8H8j67ZgauSRrpT1LAXRSzYe9LP3ydzLvhxTLAfojTpA/s1600/Two+hand+switch+to+forehand.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulL3sVMvsw4s6n6zmZBmCansU8ABxVgePc8f01kLYotH91KaamSKVOV8XWKHCXVuxyybSCJBnQ_TsWRDmea122pQsMG8H8j67ZgauSRrpT1LAXRSzYe9LP3ydzLvhxTLAfojTpA/s320/Two+hand+switch+to+forehand.gif" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-85150940428325541702018-10-22T20:22:00.002+11:002018-10-22T20:22:34.467+11:00Gender matching in mixed ultimateMixed ultimate is usually played with 4 women and 3 men, or 3 men and 4 women.<br />
<br />
As of 2018, the AFDA has adopted <a href="https://afda.com/p/all-mixed-divisions-at-national-events-to-use-prescribed-ratio-rule" target="_blank">a step to have these gender splits used equally</a> in National Events. It is called the prescribed ratio rule. This move to equality has introduced some small logistical issues.<br />
<br />
From the <a href="http://www.wfdf.org/files/WFDF_Rules_of_Ultimate_2017_-_Appendix_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">WFDF rules Appendix</a>:<br />
<br />
A7.2 Ratio Rule A ("prescribed ratio" rule)<br />
<br />
<div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">A7.2.1. At the start of the game, after the first disc flip, an additional disc flip happens with the winner selecting the gender ratio for the first point. For the second and third points the ratio must be the reverse of the first point. For the fourth and fifth points the ratio must be same as the first point. This pattern of alternating the ratio every two points repeats until the end of the game (half time has no impact on the pattern).</span></div>
This is more equitable than having offence choose the gender split. Almost equal number of points with each gender split are played in a game.<br />
<br />
However, it is logistically challenging. Players regularly have to ask their teammates and opponents what the next gender split is, and confusion ensues. Too many teams at the recent AUC Division 2 championships were in the middle of a point when they realised that a gender split had not been followed correctly.<br />
<br />
So the disadvantages of the current version of the Ratio Rule are that mistakes happen too often<br />
and time is wasted on communicating logistics rather than playing ultimate<br />
<br />
There are some solutions.<br />
<br />
Firstly, play 6 on 6, with 3 men and 3 women. A big change, but a successful one as the <a href="https://australianultimateleague.com/" target="_blank">Australian Ultimate League</a> shows. A change that may only happen long term.<br />
<br />
Secondly, have game advisors there to tell teams the gender split whenever they ask. This is only going to happen in a few select games.<br />
<br />
Here is a third option. Simplify Ratio Rule A by having all games in a given period start with 4 women and 3 men. Looking at the score will allow teams to more easily determine the gender split of that point.<br />
<br />
The given period can be the day of a tournament so that Day 1 games start with 4 women, Day 2 games start with 4 men, Day 3 with 4 women. Or for an even simpler arrangement, the given period can be a year: games in 2019 start with 4 women, games in 2020 start with 4 men and so on. After a tournament or two in 2019, you'd just know that a score of 8-4 means 4 women play next point and 8-5 means 4 men play.<br />
<br />
It's only a partial solution, but it does simplify matters.<br />
<br />
Who wants to try this method?<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-60955232135110778212014-08-26T20:37:00.001+10:002014-08-26T20:37:29.751+10:00Team selections and the Ultimate Results Coaching Academy ConferenceThe first ever <a href="http://coachingacademy.ultyresults.com/conference/" target="_blank">Ultimate Results Coaching Academy Conference</a> has been run.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/mwitmer33ACXxCHgxpjQ&sig2=i8WziaGKMgeUGFDu6iZWPQ" target="_blank">Melissa Witmer</a> is one of a new breed: an ultipreneur, carving out a career in our little sport. She organised the conference that ran last week, allowing people around the world to watch presentations online delivered by the likes of <a href="http://coachingacademy.ultyresults.com/speakers/" target="_blank">Tim Morrill, Ben Wiggins and Ren Caldwell</a>.<br />
<br />
I was fortunate enough to be asked to deliver a talk.<br />
<br />
My presentation was on Team Selections. To give you an idea of what I covered, my topics were:<br />
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<div class="section" style="background-color: rgb(100.000000%, 100.000000%, 100.000000%);">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Number of selectors</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Planning your work</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Communication with candidates</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Deposits</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Proactive recruiting</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gathering information</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Observing player candidates</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Managing information</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Providing feedback</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Announcing the team</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Player dismissal</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Player application form </span></li>
</ul>
<div>
If you get in quick, you can purchase access to all these talks, and the handouts, before the price goes up. I personally am keen to watch all the talks that I couldn't this week. If you are a coach or selector for your club, ask them to pay for access. Seems like a good investment for your club. To give you more of a taste, <a href="http://skydmagazine.com/2014/08/ultimate-results-coaching-academy-day-2/" target="_blank">Skyd has a review</a>. And I'll be blogging more about selection this week.</div>
<ul style="list-style-type: none;">
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-9143827028983664972014-07-18T20:50:00.001+10:002014-07-18T21:01:11.275+10:00World Ultimate Club Championships 2014<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">From 2-9 August, </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">the </span><a href="http://www.worlds2014.org/wucc/" style="line-height: 21px;" target="_blank">World Ultimate Club Championships</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"> will be held in Lecco, Italy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-EFn9xcKvVFrMfZ_eQeTAtmURoGkOVa-l6rKYmCSZHjTau-T-4r7tWgtdk0GAmBOPy6CJb_oZZDqcK7Gok5mRlJaKhX2J5WBBbA7NLLiycCJkru-4iREutZf4slBkB0vysALTQ/s1600/Lecco_e_il_suo_lago.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-EFn9xcKvVFrMfZ_eQeTAtmURoGkOVa-l6rKYmCSZHjTau-T-4r7tWgtdk0GAmBOPy6CJb_oZZDqcK7Gok5mRlJaKhX2J5WBBbA7NLLiycCJkru-4iREutZf4slBkB0vysALTQ/s1600/Lecco_e_il_suo_lago.jpg" height="103" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lecco_e_il_suo_lago2.jpg#mediaviewer/Datoteca:Lecco_e_il_suo_lago2.jpg">Lecco e il suo lago2</a>" by Bernini Massimo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Ultimate has two regular world championships. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">Every 4 years, nations send their best players on representative teams to compete at the World Ultimate Championships. USA plays France, Japan plays Colombia and so on. This occurs in the Olympic years (2008, 2012, 2016, etc).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">However, in the other even years (2006, 2010, 2014, etc), club teams compete for the title of world champions. For example, San Francisco Revolver plays Sydney Colony, London Iceni plays Vancouver Traffic. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 21px;">Perennial powerhouse USA is sending 16 teams across the five divisions. Canada, Japan, Australia and GB are not far behind, and this is a fair reflection of how these nations expect to finish: USA near the top, and the others looking to topple them. Ultiworld has profiled how the elite US teams <a href="http://ultiworld.com/2014/07/08/wucc-2014-usa-womens-division-preview-presented-vc-ultimate/" target="_blank">expect to perform</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 21px;">Follow the action via <a href="https://twitter.com/WUCC2014" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Ultimate-Club-Championships-2014/342300422567506" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, the <a href="http://www.worlds2014.org/" target="_blank">tournament website</a> or <a href="http://skydmagazine.com/" target="_blank">Skyd</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">The tournament by the numbers:</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">10th World Ultimate Club Championships</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">40 countries represented</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_354024859"></span>161 teams competing<span id="goog_354024860"></span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 divisions (women, open, mixed, masters and womens masters)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">34 fields</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">up to 12 games per team</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">over 3000 competitors</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">1 team returning from the inaugural WUCC 1989</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><a href="http://www.kfumorebro.org/frisbee/" target="_blank">KFUM Örebro</a> from Sweden</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsfYIRmim6YbO7pvdXvXBMXPvmVRN3AtaGQKX6Zk5RklieAmlMF4f1p_QXL3KzcrTdOcoCsNdhuDiHzdX2IJRBBi16sViVPIxooQ0egOP9ob0VXuQ07BNdHHJx9gLDx27Kdws6w/s1600/IMG_6399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsfYIRmim6YbO7pvdXvXBMXPvmVRN3AtaGQKX6Zk5RklieAmlMF4f1p_QXL3KzcrTdOcoCsNdhuDiHzdX2IJRBBi16sViVPIxooQ0egOP9ob0VXuQ07BNdHHJx9gLDx27Kdws6w/s1600/IMG_6399.JPG" height="187" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">Good luck to all the Australian teams!</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Women: STBAU (Victoria), Rogue (NSW)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Open: Colony (NSW), Juggernaut (Victoria), Sublime (WA)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Mixed: Batmania (Victoria), Roadkill (ACT), Hippo (Victoria/SA)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Masters: Phat Chilly (Victoria), Eastern Greys (NSW)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Women Masters: Primal (WA) </span></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-23149389784749532512014-06-30T11:23:00.000+10:002014-07-18T20:50:51.123+10:00How to call a line<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are on the line at the start of the point with six teammates. You need to communicate your plan to them for this point.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you say?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do you communicate it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are three important aspects to consider.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being predictable (you want to have a routine that your teammates know).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being clear (speaking loudly and authoritatively so your teammates know they have to listen)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being efficient (each sentence is communicating one idea in a few words)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know you're doing this well if no-one asks questions at the end, and no-one chimes in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a sample line call:</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white;">
<ol>
<li style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have 7. We're on D. (This gets people listening. If you're wrong someone will correct you on either item.)</span></li>
<li style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're forcing backhand (The plan.)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fred is on 1, Jimmy is on 2, Tina is on 3, Jane is on 4, etc (Call the match ups from left to right, with their name first so they listen. Assign key defenders to key targets but don't worry about the three or four least important matchups too much)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're straight up to backhand (Repeat the plan since people may have forgotten the plan. There are good listeners and poor listeners on every team.)</span></li>
<li style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On offence, we're in a vertical stack (The plan for offence.)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's really take away the under cuts (Emphasise what we want to focus on. This message can really set the tone so choose how you say it.)</span></li>
<li style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><wait> (This is the time for teammates to communicate - with you, with the sideline, with each other)</span></li>
<li style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're forcing backhand, vertical on O (Repeat the plans once more)</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-46274436579612611452014-06-12T23:50:00.000+10:002014-06-12T23:50:08.204+10:00Patterns not rulesMany years ago, an outdoor education leader mentioned something to a group of young teenagers (including me): "There are no rules, only consequences".<br />
<br />
I learnt to appreciate this saying. Some people have the rule "you can't drive through a red light". But actually you can. It is foolish and dangerous to do so in most cases. But it is not impossible. There are just consequences if you choose to do so. If you move away from thinking in terms of rules, there are real benefits.<br />
<br />
For instance, I have moved away from thinking in terms of rules for my ultimate teams.<br />
<br />
Bob talks about <a href="http://dopacetic.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/a-starting-principle.html" target="_blank">affirmative principles</a> in a similar way.<br />
<br />
Here are some examples of phrasing what your team desires as patterns, not rules.<br />
<br />
Whereas others might say "Do not ever huck down the sideline" or "Only huck down the middle", say to your teammates "We want to huck down the middle."<br />
<br />
So learn, practice and celebrate this pattern. There might on rare occasions be a time when it is good to huck down the sideline. Trust each other to make good decisions, and use your patterns regularly. Examine how they are working for you.<br />
<br />
If you have rules, they can be broken. And someone receives blame.<br />
<br />
With patterns there is simply a focus on a path to achieving team goals.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-58413984023309489752014-06-10T08:07:00.000+10:002014-06-10T08:08:25.788+10:00Spirited or unspirited?Here are some scenarios.<br />
<br />
Which show poor spirit? Which are acceptable?<br />
<br />
1. A player lays out for a disc and lands well out of bounds but doesn't catch it. Her opponent runs the disc back to the sideline and puts into to play before she gets up. She's not injured.<br />
<br />
2. A player picks up the disc and walks towards the front of the end zone. When his defender has their back turned, he sprints past them and puts it into play on the front of the end zone, before the defender realises.<br />
<br />
3. A player competing in the World Club Championships calls travel on the thrower as they pivot, but doesn't know that travel need not be a stoppage, and insists play be stopped.<br />
<br />
4. A team winning 14-4 at a Nationals warm-up tournament plays a point where they only throw hammers.<br />
<br />
5. A player catches a goal and throws the disc up in the air.<br />
<br />
6. A player throws through the legs of their opponent.<br />
<br />
7. A player pretends to throw a hammer, but hides it behind their back while the marker looks to see where it went.<br />
<br />
8. A captain calls timeout close to time cap, to ensure time cap will go during this point, and reduce/eliminate the chance of the opposing team winning.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-42896434200813264652014-06-08T00:01:00.002+10:002014-06-08T15:16:26.328+10:00The Wisdom of CrowdsJames Surowiecki wrote a book entitled "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wisdom-Crowds-James-Surowiecki/dp/0385721706" target="_blank">The Wisdom of Crowds</a>".<br />
<br />
He postulates that a diverse group of independent individuals generally make better decisions than even the smartest individual in the group. Even the less valuable members bring new information to the decision making process, and help create a better decision.<br />
<br />
His examples include stock markets, web page ranking, car manufacturing industry, sports betting markets and ant colonies.<br />
<br />
This concept has a really strong application in one particular aspect of ultimate.<br />
<br />
This aspect often has suboptimal decision making by a group that is too small and not diverse enough.<br />
<br />
The aspect is: selecting a team.<br />
<br />
At several <a href="http://www.unisport.com.au/Events/aug/sports/Pages/UltimateFrisbee.aspx" target="_blank">Australian University Games</a>, I have been a selector of the Green and Gold team, an honorary All-Star team that would theoretically represent Australia in an international university competition. The selections are based solely on performance at this one tournament.<br />
<br />
This is a challenging team to select. Most selectors have other roles at the same time: tournament director or coach of a particular team. And they have limited time to watch games.<br />
<br />
The most useful piece of input comes from the wisdom of crowds.<br />
<br />
Here is one way to do it: near the end of the tournament, ask one or two senior players on each team to write a list of the players they would select for the Green and Gold team. Ask them to consult teammates.<br />
<br />
Of the eight teams in Division 1, you now have eight lists. And the cumulative information is very valuable.<br />
<br />
Firstly, biases are apparent. Each list nominated by a particular team tends to have several players from that team. Obviously senior players see their teammates play more, and overestimate their performance a little. But these biases are easily spotted, once you look at all the lists: Fred may get a vote from his captain, but potentially none from other teams.<br />
<br />
Secondly, you gain information on games the selectors never saw. If no selector saw Team B play Team C, yet Team B says there is a worthy player from Team C, you now have new input.<br />
<br />
In summary, this voting system is valuable for gathering the wisdom of the tournament. Input is gathered from more games than any selection committee can watch. It is more time efficient. And it highlights biases that captains or selectors (who may be team coaches) have.<br />
<br />
If you have to select a team, consider asking a diverse group of informed players for their teams. The wisdom gained may be very eye-opening.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-76765611328480964532014-05-03T10:46:00.001+10:002014-05-03T10:46:23.800+10:00Always call match ups on defenceSo imagine you're playing a low stakes game of ultimate. A regular team training or a weekly league game.<br />
<br />
Here are two scenarios:<br />
<br />
1. You call match ups, assigning a teammate to defend a particular opponent<br />
<br />
2. You say "match up across".<br />
<br />
Always do scenario 1.<br />
<br />
Call match ups.<br />
<br />
If you simply just guard the person across, it means the line caller has invested almost no focus into this point. It means who you guard doesn't matter. It means how you play this point doesn't matter. It means throwaways are fine and jogging on defence is fine.<br />
<br />
And that leads to sucky ultimate.<br />
<br />
So always call match ups, even if the game is low stakes. It will make the ultimate better.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-78773527199395158332014-04-29T22:14:00.003+10:002014-04-30T06:48:16.632+10:00Australian Ultimate Championships 2014: the wrap upThe finals have been played. Champions have been crowned.<br />
<br />
In the women's division, Kaos brought a strong game to the final. They were clearly the best women's team we have seen come out of Western Australia. They looked like they were on a mission: no fear in the spotlight of their first final, coaches co-ordinating their tactics, warm-up drills using lots of short forehands, and and unending line-ups of athletes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggH2te1B4hDvLI72hjdEtMqaPkSOZDOrq-zCPt9jXtIuN1Oz_InhJZFTQdpjS2n2fdS6xXo13r_eoCVa338WmvGeszSGsraoEO23RBWFOG6IIhfSIl-lhq3tQ1ri96sowInUBL3A/s1600/IMG_3615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggH2te1B4hDvLI72hjdEtMqaPkSOZDOrq-zCPt9jXtIuN1Oz_InhJZFTQdpjS2n2fdS6xXo13r_eoCVa338WmvGeszSGsraoEO23RBWFOG6IIhfSIl-lhq3tQ1ri96sowInUBL3A/s1600/IMG_3615.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
But the talent of Team Box was too much. Cat and Mich Phillips caught and threw what they wanted. Hussey and Joy controlled the tempo. Q laid out, including the winning goal.<br />
<br />
Team Box won 14-12.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6Rv40H3oZT9T4_sh2KibXO1TU5h3DzQ88rWhHHUxuvWuenLQxdiQhBcRJFoCL1Z5g-CdORIwG6Upgs-XNyuZkNnnRQxbkvVRJmBXWuf2kKkwFEsR8wn2bUMBORy6Gd-Es1MngA/s1600/IMG_3626.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6Rv40H3oZT9T4_sh2KibXO1TU5h3DzQ88rWhHHUxuvWuenLQxdiQhBcRJFoCL1Z5g-CdORIwG6Upgs-XNyuZkNnnRQxbkvVRJmBXWuf2kKkwFEsR8wn2bUMBORy6Gd-Es1MngA/s1600/IMG_3626.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Box with smiles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the Open division, Colony Pillage came out strong against Fyshwick. Gav Moore got an early block on a huck, which set the tone. The Pillage defence was piling on the pressure, and Fyshwick were not in the groove they had shown for most of the tournament.<br />
<br />
Pillage won 15-10.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTVv-lZL2ko9n7TSlgnD5JHh_Z1ObC5Rx5VX4e6XElNhkXxw1oNVrlMNE4o8WyceenY2qkmOzyh5PJ6rgzqsz4JCHIFSC8wVt1-yDZv65kkoX6qjrhTnlZ0HgJQ5ls15svtATaLA/s1600/IMG_3588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTVv-lZL2ko9n7TSlgnD5JHh_Z1ObC5Rx5VX4e6XElNhkXxw1oNVrlMNE4o8WyceenY2qkmOzyh5PJ6rgzqsz4JCHIFSC8wVt1-yDZv65kkoX6qjrhTnlZ0HgJQ5ls15svtATaLA/s1600/IMG_3588.JPG" height="156" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pillage and Plunder</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In other results, Hot Chilly and French pushed up to 9th and 10th respectively, demonstrating how they beat some top 8 teams earlier in the tournament. DUFF narrowly avoided the wooden spoon.<br />
<br />
<b>Women</b><br />
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Champion: Sporting Team Box Athletico United</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Silver Medallists: Kaos</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Bronze Medallists: Rogue Traders</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">Spirit: Honey</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;">MVP: Katie Bradstock (Sugar Magnolias)</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Open</b><br />Champions: Colony Pillage<br />Silver Medallists: Fyshwick United<br />Bronze Medallists: Colony Plunder<br />Spirit: I-Beam<br />MVP: Aaron Neal (Wildcats)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-88037687499981570922014-04-26T23:21:00.003+10:002014-04-29T22:15:09.027+10:00Australian Ultimate Championships 2014: the pointy endHere's a recap of the action from Day 3 of the Australian Ultimate Championships.<br />
<br />
In the women's division, Rabble toppled Sugar Magnolias to make the quarterfinals, as did Sand Dunes by defeating Artemis.<br />
<br />
The quarterfinals went to seed. Team Box, Honey, Rogue Traders and Kaos all prevailed. The closest one was Rogue Traders (one point over Factory) but the others were comfortable wins.<br />
<br />
The outcomes of the semis matched the pool finished. Kaos topped their pool today and also topped Rogue Traders 15-7. Meanwhile STBAU remained undefeated by defeating Honey 15-8 in a Victorian derby.<br />
<br />
The final tomorrow is STBAU (Melbourne) vs Kaos (Perth) at 1pm. This is the first finals appearance for Kaos, but STBAU are veterans of the process. Ulti.tv are aiming to offer <a href="http://youtube.com/ultidottv" target="_blank">live streaming</a>, so stay tuned.<br />
<br />
In the Open division, the game of the day may have been a pre quarter. Sublime battled Wildcats for a spot in the quarters, and Wildcats were down a few points throughout, but held on til the end, surviving a massive Peeley layout (that macked it up), a stall that was contested and a Twig bid on the winning goal. Wildcats just hucked better (not well, just better) than Sublime to get three consecutive breaks to win 13-12.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCG4Ur0wC3TyHDSEV_qoIypZOHZZCdQUO0ADMfOEG_bUjn3guEe55BwrMcBsf4cSREHOORgdoZro2CeTXGm5aRuUrEkSCY6PBy7IQHQAzWqCMb0wVol1DWsogPo_prfN4b2hzcXw/s1600/IMG_3564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCG4Ur0wC3TyHDSEV_qoIypZOHZZCdQUO0ADMfOEG_bUjn3guEe55BwrMcBsf4cSREHOORgdoZro2CeTXGm5aRuUrEkSCY6PBy7IQHQAzWqCMb0wVol1DWsogPo_prfN4b2hzcXw/s1600/IMG_3564.JPG" height="290" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sublime vs Wildcats</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Magon outlasted Outbreak in a calmer game next door, 13-8.<br />
<br />
The quarters saw Magon take down the erratic Phat Chilly, 12-10.<br />
<br />
Colony Pillage found their defensive mojo from BCI and played strongly against a hard-working HoS, winning 13-8.<br />
<br />
Then the semi saw Magon play Pillage. Magon had 13 players, lost another to an ankle roll, and were struggling to play a third big game of the day. Pillage were too energetic, with young 'uns like Rob and Nate scoring some double happiness. 15-7 to Pillage.<br />
<br />
Fyshwick narrowly toppled Wildcats 12-11, which was Fyshwick's third one-point win of the tournament.<br />
<br />
Plunder put away Firestorm 15-11, before meeting Fyshwick.<br />
<br />
This was a rematch, which had gone to double game point previously.<br />
<br />
The goal celebrations could be heard three fields away as the teams competed. Presumably Joel, Ant, Calan, Jonno, AJ and Mike did big things and everyone worked hard. There are no known written accounts of this event, so we may never know.<br />
<br />
Fyshwick won 15-12.<br />
<br />
Your Open final tomorrow at 11am will be Colony Pillage vs Fyshwick United. Fyshwick United make their <strike>second</strike> third appearance in an Open Nationals final and Pillage make their third. Or fourth. Or second. It's hard to tell with the two Colony teams. Anyway it's the team with Gav, Pete and Cupcake as captains.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfQo2Tc4EhTbvSwiq4woyRfBYoShq1PPj41uWmQN95CYtASHd1xelVUOixxMlSjuduQvBaMjpLbAEb-eRRJymOGpUoJIPOS-L786JwnpiNUn3tPGCGLrsG-day7ge3k6gRUqQ7w/s1600/IMG_6998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfQo2Tc4EhTbvSwiq4woyRfBYoShq1PPj41uWmQN95CYtASHd1xelVUOixxMlSjuduQvBaMjpLbAEb-eRRJymOGpUoJIPOS-L786JwnpiNUn3tPGCGLrsG-day7ge3k6gRUqQ7w/s1600/IMG_6998.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tin Tin (right) will be in the final. Ewan (left) sera regardait son ami jouer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-47988157759084691432014-04-25T21:48:00.002+10:002014-04-25T21:49:03.931+10:00Australian Ultimate Championships 2014: upsets aboundWe are halfway through the Australian Ultimate Championships 2014.<br />
<br />
The current standings are <a href="http://ausnats2014.ultimatecentral.com/e/auc2014/standings" target="_blank">here</a>, but let me break it down for you.<br />
<br />
The women's division is mostly going according to seed.<br />
<br />
In the first pool, <a href="http://steambaudron.wordpress.com/tag/stbau/" target="_blank">STBAU</a> are undefeated, followed by Rogue 1, <a href="http://www.factoryultimate.com/" target="_blank">Factory</a>, Sugar Mags and <a href="https://twitter.com/rabbleultimate" target="_blank">Rabble</a>.<br />
<br />
There have been a number of one or two point wins in that group of four. The Rabble - Sugar Mags game will put one of them into the quarterfinals and the other down to the bottom group.<br />
<br />
The next tier is <a href="http://womenseliteultimate.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Zig Theory</a>, Smokestack and Cherry Bomb.<br />
<br />
The second pool has Rogue Traders, <a href="https://ultimatevictoria.com.au/honey/" target="_blank">Honey</a> and <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/kaosultimatefrisbee/" target="_blank">KAOS</a> in a three way tie. Sand Dunes and Artemis (NZ) battle each other tomorrow morning for the last quarterfinals spot.<br />
<br />
STBAU look like the form team at the moment. Their for-and-against is clearly the best at +49.<br />
<br />
Over in the men's division, it is an unholy mess. No-one knows who will win any given game.<br />
<br />
Before this tournament, we had some patterns: <a href="http://www.colonyultimate.com/colony/home/home.html" target="_blank">Colony Pillage</a> and <a href="http://www.colonyultimate.com/colony/home/home.html" target="_blank">Colony Plunder</a> had won every game against non-Colony teams, except a Plunder loss at BCI. <a href="http://headsofstateultimate.com/inc/" target="_blank">HoS</a> were looking to be in third place, with a strong Regionals win over <a href="https://twitter.com/ChillyUltimate" target="_blank">Phat Chilly</a>, and a strong showing at BCI. <a href="http://www.fyshwickunited.com/" target="_blank">Fyshwick</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/firestormulti" target="_blank">Firestorm</a> were close but not getting wins on the aforementioned teams.<br />
<br />
That's all out the window here at Nationals. Phat Chilly beat Pillage. Who beat Wildcats. Who beat Phat Chilly. And Firestorm beat both Pillage and Wildcats by a point each time.<br />
<br />
On the other side, Plunder have lost to HoS and Fyshwick. Fyshwick is undefeated and the strongest team so far. Adelaide's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/outbreakultimate" target="_blank">Outbreak</a> upset Sublime.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYNOv_boFFoiaYheh6fY5Yte-0-7PT-oWAahls7LMKZNNcCCqx6ZGddN9XuB-nP_byfvf2BUIHAEzfZZUztDuBLjhYSwGjzuapN9HzxQFfW3A3kCQg-khPyRBorrwCXFKu3g1qA/s1600/ultitv+screenshot.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYNOv_boFFoiaYheh6fY5Yte-0-7PT-oWAahls7LMKZNNcCCqx6ZGddN9XuB-nP_byfvf2BUIHAEzfZZUztDuBLjhYSwGjzuapN9HzxQFfW3A3kCQg-khPyRBorrwCXFKu3g1qA/s1600/ultitv+screenshot.tiff" height="243" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Footage of Plunder vs Fyshwick. Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ultidottv" target="_blank">ulti.tv online</a>!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Did I forget to mention that two of the top four teams (Phat Chilly and Firestorm) have suffered embarrassing losses to teams that likely will finish in the bottom 6?<br />
<br />
The quarterfinals will be Fyshwick vs (winner of Wildcats - Sublime) and Firestorm vs Plunder.<br />
<br />
The other side will be Phat Chilly vs (winner of Outbreak - Magon) and HoS vs Pillage.<br />
<br />
This looks like the most even field at Nationals for many years. Stay tuned.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-87570358423941455272014-02-11T13:40:00.001+11:002014-02-11T17:42:37.039+11:00The RISE UP World TourRight now RISE UP is on its world tour, <a href="http://www.riseupultimate.com/rise-up-world-tour/" target="_blank">visiting these five countries</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ultimaterob.com/2013/12/11/mario-obrien-from-rise-up-ultimate/" target="_blank">Mario O'Brien</a> is the RISE UP founder. He is joined on certain legs of this tour by Alex Snyder and Ryan Purcell.<br />
<br />
RISE UP is all about teaching ultimate communities the skills and drills used by the best teams in the world - through videos and in person.<br />
<br />
But there is a second goal in the pipeline: build coaching and leadership skills. Both of these aspects were in play at the Australian clinics.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhee1lPvsiQ-0lSqC8-aQxA_50Dj6cqUaSm4boxYM1EF4mCNdih4vimcu8RrYDqY-R9RwX-9d7UYh51olAz7cGctF_KeoIVjnKZ8aiBXJo_IWZSHd_aoCoX1nmrUqjz1qY3ZUtAcQ/s1600/IMG_6505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhee1lPvsiQ-0lSqC8-aQxA_50Dj6cqUaSm4boxYM1EF4mCNdih4vimcu8RrYDqY-R9RwX-9d7UYh51olAz7cGctF_KeoIVjnKZ8aiBXJo_IWZSHd_aoCoX1nmrUqjz1qY3ZUtAcQ/s1600/IMG_6505.JPG" height="142" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In their Melbourne clinic, Mario and Alex spent Saturday coaching around 40 female players.<br />
<br />
Also, ten coaches attended. They weren't playing. They were observing the coaching practices of Mario and Alex, reflecting on them, and identifying the important features of team culture, drill progressions, focussed scrimmages and providing feedback.<br />
<br />
This development of coaches is critical. More and more teams recognise the value of coaches, and have appointed them. Mario <a href="http://skydmagazine.com/2013/10/sockeye-2013-how-it-happened-reflection-and-best-practices/" target="_blank">writes about this from the American perspective</a>, while in Australia, the Dingoes, STBAU, Heads of State, Chilly Masters and Rabble have all recently appointed head coaches after not having one.<br />
<br />
Appointing coaches is only the first step.<br />
<br />
There is a need in ultimate to explicitly train those coaches into expert coaches, by giving them communities of coaches. These coaches need to peer observe, and reflect and plan together. <br />
<br />
Many aspects of ultimate have lots of time and effort put into them: intercity and international competition, fitness, videos, news/blogs. But what programs or resources exist for turning adequate coaches into fantastic ones?<br />
<br />
Well, not much. So Mario is stepping up to that opening. And he has the leadership training and ultimate experience to build something great.<br />
<br />
Who else will step up?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRbh1EOsNchQuC_D8LbFrJuUfeV97nIRcYmDVDCKQJkIrFCed2Z6mvifOSgjpfB_DAgSYUJBRywf6ZeWNUR6ejCmwEX0c7pqQPPfpPv-ZqJxk3b3ApoIjIOFkhrWB5oZXDNPRrg/s1600/IMG_3065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxRbh1EOsNchQuC_D8LbFrJuUfeV97nIRcYmDVDCKQJkIrFCed2Z6mvifOSgjpfB_DAgSYUJBRywf6ZeWNUR6ejCmwEX0c7pqQPPfpPv-ZqJxk3b3ApoIjIOFkhrWB5oZXDNPRrg/s1600/IMG_3065.JPG" height="175" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-44750606850312589702014-02-07T05:08:00.000+11:002014-02-07T05:08:48.060+11:00How Alex Snyder throwsThe captain of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXKlepv-P-E&t=12m35s" target="_blank">San Francisco's Fury</a> and the 2013 USA World Games team, <a href="http://usaultimatewg2013.wordpress.com/about/alex-snyder/" target="_blank">Alex Snyder</a>, has a pretty good bio in ultimate. I don't know who is a more accomplished athlete in our sport.<br />
<br />
So how does a top level player throw a forehand? If you watch a video or in person, it's all over in 1 second.<br />
<br />
This gif will let you see the actual mechanics.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5NOjSs23hMRGoOKnWCfSdykSQyHRG6F473dLcCmMwSddogMoog0OAvqv5smNFk_ujKyzEl2HNiJZaqepY3V2Q-hHk2Hzv20HahW4QgrvCdo1lvhYsSTH4Gfg_v4ziyhtB4xdUA/s1600/Alex+Snyder+forehand.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5NOjSs23hMRGoOKnWCfSdykSQyHRG6F473dLcCmMwSddogMoog0OAvqv5smNFk_ujKyzEl2HNiJZaqepY3V2Q-hHk2Hzv20HahW4QgrvCdo1lvhYsSTH4Gfg_v4ziyhtB4xdUA/s1600/Alex+Snyder+forehand.gif" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
What is happening when Alex throws?<br />
<br />
Alex steps forward. A lot. She said that she does this even if the mark is there, throwing past the plane of the marker. Most markers will step back, foul her, or allow her to throw through the gap.<br />
<br />
For a lot of players, a big step forward will swing their throw to their left or give it too much outside in - their hips will rotate during the throw. Alex doesn't. She winds up her torso before the throw, and this brings her right shoulder a long way back. It then drives forward in the throwing action, but her hips don't rotate relative to her feet.<br />
<br />
Her left arm is out from her body, to counterbalance her throw, and create space from the marker.<br />
<br />
Alex has a good range of motion - her right elbow is leading her right hand as she starts her throw. She can lunge forward a good distance. She can twist her torso.<br />
<br />
Alex is a good example to learn from.<br />
<br />
If you come along to a <a href="http://www.riseupultimate.com/" target="_blank">RiseUp</a> clinic in Australia this week, you'll learn many other things from Alex too. She knows how to coach, and is here to share her knowledge of training for ultimate.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-83595665101262926082014-01-30T15:39:00.003+11:002014-01-30T17:04:34.079+11:00Why should people play sport?When it comes to sport, we have to think about a powerful influence: most athletes love winning. Love it. Winning is sometimes the only thing on the radar.<br />
<br />
There is an organisation in the US which has a goal to make youth sport a positive experience, that builds strong character. It says there is more than one thing you need on your radar.<br />
<br />
Jim Thompson from the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) <a href="http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Youth-Sports-as-a-Development-Z;search%3Atag%3A%22tedxfargo%22" target="_blank">talks about how youth sport needs to talk about its goals</a>: competition <i>and</i> personal development. It can't be only about winning.<br />
<br />
Participating in sport is different from watching sports entertainment. Entertainment can have good moral choices or poor moral choices - either type of drama will bring in the ratings and sponsor dollars.<br />
<br />
But when everyday people participate in sport, especially youth, we want them to learn to make admirable decisions. Win or lose.<br />
<br />
Ultimate obviously has some of this culture built into our sport already. While the PCA talks about <a href="http://www.positivecoach.org/common/cms/documents/Coach%20Tools%20-%20Public/PCA_HTG_script.pdf" target="_blank">Honoring the Game</a>, ultimate talks about <a href="http://rules.wfdf.org/rules/ultimate/spirit-of-the-game" target="_blank">Spirit of the Game</a>.<br />
<br />
Can we take a leadership role among sports? Is ultimate's approach to sportsmanship robust enough to handle internal and external changes? Do ultimate players view their sport as an activity that develops personal skills such as humility, resilience and respect? Or is it viewed just as a fun community that helps you stay fit?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-872426265000691602014-01-22T13:44:00.000+11:002014-01-22T13:46:16.336+11:00We're now understanding how to create athletesThe last few years have seen athletic development really take off.<br />
<br />
Coaches of strength and conditioning are learning about their athlete's and how to improve their athleticism, in ways that really advance on old ideas.<br />
<br />
Here is a great example: read about Shannon Turley and <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/sports/ncaafootball/stanfords-distinct-training-regimen-redefines-strength.html" target="_blank">how he turned Stanford's conditioning program around for the football team. </a><br />
<br />
I am confident there were other factors that improve Stanford's win total, but I am also confident that Turley's approaches were significant.<br />
<br />
Keeping players injury free is being recognised as critical for athletic coaches. It is most important way they can help their athletes.<br />
<br />
Lastly, it is great to see the arrival of better assessment tools, so athleticism (and not just power or speed) can be measured. Here is the <a href="http://www.advanced-fitness-concepts.com/fms.pdf" target="_blank">Function Movement Screen</a> which Turley uses.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-58002778011459495372014-01-09T12:11:00.002+11:002014-01-09T12:24:34.353+11:00What the elbow does in a forehand throwThe elbow of an expert thrower does two things during a forehand throw.<br />
<br />
1. The elbow moves forward.<br />
<br />
2. The elbow straightens.<br />
<br />
And it happens in that order. Poor throwers generally struggle because they are leaving one of these steps out.<br />
<br />
Why does the elbow have to do these two things?<br />
<br />
Firstly, the elbow moves forward to give momentum to the arm, by rotation at the shoulder joint. So the elbow has to start behind the body. This is easier if the disc is upside down.<br />
<br />
Once the elbow has moved as far forward as it can, the hand needs to move forward. This is done by straightening the elbow.<br />
<br />
The last steps are wrist snap and finger snap.<br />
<br />
The momentum is transferred to the disc late in the motion. It is at the end of the chain.<br />
<br />
Another way of thinking of the motion is: shoulder, then elbow, then wrist, then finger. The snap of a good forehand involves the whole arm chain, with all joints used in a particular order.<br />
<br />
Matt Dowle is a good example to watch.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58epmGj-7tz-Dww0EfLuW63YSqagX8UuUrUbddapeSZdi5PHEJvV7Y-1qkTExm8Sa5l7CFhIljfwZtX7Fg-aHNOugLVuHz9r1Nnil1p_CD7gOCmpAnaN0Lsos_kc5xETZOfrbIw/s1600/Matt+Dowle+forehand.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58epmGj-7tz-Dww0EfLuW63YSqagX8UuUrUbddapeSZdi5PHEJvV7Y-1qkTExm8Sa5l7CFhIljfwZtX7Fg-aHNOugLVuHz9r1Nnil1p_CD7gOCmpAnaN0Lsos_kc5xETZOfrbIw/s1600/Matt+Dowle+forehand.gif" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-30509821821664967122013-10-29T20:52:00.001+11:002013-10-29T20:52:55.649+11:00AUGs is better than Mixed NationalsThe two big tournaments during the Mixed season in Australia are Australian University Games (AUGs) and Mixed Nationals.<br />
<br />
And AUGs is better.<br />
<br />
AUGs this year had 8 teams in Division 1 and around 20 teams in Division 2. Teams started their training in May for this October tournament. Some used regional university tournaments as preparation for their representative team, some sent less experienced players, using it as a development opportunity. I coached Monash at Southern Uni Games and we had a very rigorous campaign: tryouts, weekly trainings, voting for captaincy, defensive match ups carefully assigned, even the team requesting extra training sessions.<br />
<br />
The competition at AUGs followed on from this.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMS7d0CXayB915CgfCLisNhJ2JfPOh0Y8d2oocvfdbUHqU421PQsbRFmSr4tIdyf38ndsVDYn-KKRA54eRcwnvYVMwc_iGP2ONMkYyAUGFwevgct70ZIhkcmTNorAP-1OV1ajsA/s1600/Jared+-+Seb+flies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMS7d0CXayB915CgfCLisNhJ2JfPOh0Y8d2oocvfdbUHqU421PQsbRFmSr4tIdyf38ndsVDYn-KKRA54eRcwnvYVMwc_iGP2ONMkYyAUGFwevgct70ZIhkcmTNorAP-1OV1ajsA/s320/Jared+-+Seb+flies.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monash vs UWA in the semis. Again. Photo from Jared.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Two of the most widely known trends in Australian ultimate are from AUGs: UWA's many recent losses in the semifinals and Sydney University's many silver medals.<br />
<br />
In comparison, can you name a notable trend for Mixed Nationals clubs? Can you even remember who won two years ago?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkkIEWsnv-aV7HPy55iQ7uKoLtEVx1ShRenZIOud-qhqJrPaKFB-C1Z9B5CTLKJYi3IiZ-7sILw5dVgBFqWl8FCTv75660HLyVml6gMXBPaiDFcId3Srj7CpcnaKrh200Gjndpw/s1600/IMG_2717b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkkIEWsnv-aV7HPy55iQ7uKoLtEVx1ShRenZIOud-qhqJrPaKFB-C1Z9B5CTLKJYi3IiZ-7sILw5dVgBFqWl8FCTv75660HLyVml6gMXBPaiDFcId3Srj7CpcnaKrh200Gjndpw/s320/IMG_2717b.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 2013 Mixed Nationals final</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The restrictions on AUGs lead to a better event. Players can only compete for their university. Teams have a very clear identity, and know who their rivals are. Relegation to Division 2 means two years of hard work to make it back to Division 1. Just ask UQ.<br />
<br />
Almost every Division 1 AUG team had a coach this year.<br />
<br />
In comparison, most Mixed Nationals teams don't have an ongoing identity. If a collection of friends from different regions can put a team together, some of them meeting each other on Day 1 of the tournament, and win gold easily, the value of winning the title is less than at AUGs. The fluctuating landscape of mixed clubs means none of the mixed teams that competed at WUCC2010 will attend WUCC2014, or even exist this year. Ongoing club names like Friskee, Cabs are Here, Funny Duck, Townsvillains and FEAR are a little more common, but are still in the minority.<br />
<br />
And this is fine. It makes Mixed Nationals a more relaxed tournament, a fun-loving experience, a break from the intensity of the men's and women's seasons. Players get to play with their friends who they wouldn't normally play with. These are valuable attributes.<br />
<br />
But it makes AUGs better than Mixed Nationals, despite there being more talent at Mixed Nationals. There is more competition, more development of players and clubs, more consistency in attendance by teams. And there is more satisfaction in winning a hard fought, fair game at AUGs.<br />
<br />
This is the status quo for Australian mixed ultimate.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-47631311514549935362013-05-20T20:17:00.002+10:002013-05-20T20:17:43.204+10:00The new offering from Morrill Performance: The FoundationSo ultimate fitness guru <a href="https://www.facebook.com/morrillperformance" target="_blank">Tim Morrill</a> has been hard at work...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://strengthandconditioningfitness.com/shop/the-foundation/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://strengthandconditioningfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Capture-300x300.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
He has compiled all his training structures, ideas and explanations into one ebook.<br />
<br />
You also get a comprehensive set of videos included in the purchase. There are over 100 videos, to show you the exercises and movements described. One click in the ebook, and you are watching an example on Youtube that you can pause, replay or bookmark.<br />
<br />
It's great value for anyone looking to elevate their ultimate game by learning how to train their body and become a better athlete.<br />
<br />
If you have been to a Morrill Performance Clinic, the content and ideas are all captured here. No need to guess what the ideal movement or exercise looks like. It will trigger your memory. <br />
<br />
If you haven't been to a clinic, this is the next best thing to attending. Living in a different country to Tim is no longer an excuse to miss out!<br />
<br />
The even better news is that it currently has $20 off the price. Pretty awesome since it is already the best money you can spend on your improving your fitness for ultimate.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://strengthandconditioningfitness.com/shop/the-foundation/" target="_blank">Check it out</a>.<br />
<br />
See if you can spot Heads of State being represented!<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-15271909118855345342013-04-15T23:07:00.001+10:002013-04-15T23:07:44.716+10:00Choosing your languageThe language you use in a community or team sets the atmosphere and direction of the group.<br />
<br />
So what words and terms does your team use now?<br />
<br />
Which expressions do you want to use?<br />
<br />
Here are some to compare, with implications that vary from obvious to subtle:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>"Stop turning it over, guys" vs "Let's take the simple options"</li>
<li>"Our focus is to score every time we have the disc" vs "Our focus is to be assertive every time we have the disc"</li>
<li>"We've been running really hard" vs "We're running really hard"</li>
<li>"We want take away the deep cuts" vs "We're going to take away the deep cuts"</li>
<li>"After a turnover, we're gonna play zone" vs "If we're on D, we're gonna play zone"</li>
<li>"You need to stack deeper" vs "We are going to stack deeper" </li>
<li>"Let's play man when we are on D" vs "Let's match up when we are on D"</li>
</ol>
<div>
I would suggest that successful teams want to use language that is positive, phrased in terms of the controllables, phrased in the present or near future, creates the desired behaviour instead of wishing for it, focussed on the task at hand instead of errors, inclusive of speaker and listeners, and inclusive of both women and men. Each of the comparisons listed above highlights one of those features.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You and your team can make a conscious decision to use the language of winning. It starts at your next training or game. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-90165558532625930412012-12-17T17:10:00.001+11:002012-12-17T17:10:33.498+11:00Five days into the Explosive Ultimate clinics<a href="https://www.facebook.com/morrillperformance?fref=ts" target="_blank">Tim Morrill</a> has come out to Australia to deliver his <a href="http://strengthandconditioningfitness.com/services/fitness-clinics/" target="_blank">Explosive Ultimate clinics</a>.<br />
<br />
So far, it has been a real eye opener.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkQ-c_XxaLWuZuxjAmFz1chj5pYqGmnGEsjDIZLO67a9cLqMQnZARgg7RUwYQCOCOkWkcH-M-CeaDvDAL2K0f1Hu1URRyP5fMlFPB0fiptFomu11izU7Uk1cp75jaUGgwHsOt2g/s1600/IMG_1469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpkQ-c_XxaLWuZuxjAmFz1chj5pYqGmnGEsjDIZLO67a9cLqMQnZARgg7RUwYQCOCOkWkcH-M-CeaDvDAL2K0f1Hu1URRyP5fMlFPB0fiptFomu11izU7Uk1cp75jaUGgwHsOt2g/s320/IMG_1469.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim giving advice</td></tr>
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Tim has delivered a clinic to my club, Heads of State, as well four weekend clinics to many other Victorians.<br />
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His style is passionate, encouraging, and high-speed. He considers all questions carefully and has extensive knowledge gained from working with hundreds of elite athletes, from reading the literature and personal experience as an ultimate player, surfer and athlete.<br />
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Tim starts by outlining the demands of ultimate, identifying the movements we use in our sport, then explaining how to be train them. He has lots of appropriate cues.<br />
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While you are trialling the activities and movements, Tim is dishing out feedback and observing how you are going.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3yk2P7ISKCMJaJ5PvDg6Cohjc7E863Im8X2ez8Obe1G2TKDHF0d49tzOsRHLnu_zjRvtG_pr2TFDmfDo1x8A4t5vuBzL1nQBQC4MYbfPy3TR5jQrhjobQbRORuwKP7ZsZzHAaA/s1600/IMG_1601.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3yk2P7ISKCMJaJ5PvDg6Cohjc7E863Im8X2ez8Obe1G2TKDHF0d49tzOsRHLnu_zjRvtG_pr2TFDmfDo1x8A4t5vuBzL1nQBQC4MYbfPy3TR5jQrhjobQbRORuwKP7ZsZzHAaA/s320/IMG_1601.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The clinics have covered the basics of speed, agility, strength and power.</div>
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<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 8px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Basic Ideas and Concepts for Weightroom</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Exercises and Categories</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Program Design</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Knee Stability & ACL Reduction</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Self Myofacial Release (Lacrosse balls)</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Flexibility, Mobility & Warm Up</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Activation & ACL Reduction (Bands)</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Jumping Mechanics</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Agility: Jab Step and Crossover Progressions (Ladders)</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Conditioning</span></li>
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It's been really valuable having exposure in Australian ultimate to new ways of thinking about these issues. Historically, our knowledge about fitness and training has been piecemeal. We haven't had comprehensive expertise before on weight training, physiology, recovery and biomechanics from someone who understands the sport of ultimate.<br />
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Connect with Tim online, or attend a Explosive Ultimate clinic as soon as you can.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-78514127186653234232012-12-03T20:41:00.001+11:002012-12-03T20:41:36.513+11:00Explosive Ultimate clinics - register now!<br />
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Here is an event for all Aussies to come along to!</div>
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This month, Heads of State Ultimate, in collaboration with the AFDA, Ultimate Victoria, UFNSW, ACTUA and QUDA are hosting Explosive Ultimate clinics.</div>
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Tim Morrill, elite fitness coach for ultimate athletes, will deliver two different clinics: Speed & Agility 101, and Strength & Power 101. This is his first, and possibly, only visit to Australia.</div>
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Tim will be sharing loads of expertise on how to be a better ultimate athlete.</div>
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Clinics are being held in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.</div>
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The full calendar for the Explosive Ultimate clinics is <a href="http://strengthandconditioningfitness.com/services/upcoming-events/" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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Sign up through the link on the relevant clinic page.</div>
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You can also follow Tim through these channels. Check them out!</div>
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<a href="http://strengthandconditioningfitness.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><u><span style="color: purple;">MP Website</span></u></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/morrillperformance" style="text-decoration: none;"><u><span style="color: purple;">MP Facebook</span></u></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/morrillperformance" style="text-decoration: none;"><u><span style="color: purple;">MP YouTube</span></u></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/ExplosiveUltimate" style="text-decoration: none;"><u><span style="color: purple;">EU Facebook</span></u></a></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/explosiveulti" style="text-decoration: none;"><u><span style="color: purple;">EU Twitter</span></u></a></div>
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<u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/explosiveultimate"><span style="color: purple;">EU YouTube</span></a></u></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-24013568348867827602012-08-02T20:27:00.002+10:002012-08-02T20:27:26.764+10:002012 Worlds - the mediaHere is the first in a few posts about 2012 Worlds. Better late than never.<br />
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The media coverage took a significantly larger step forward than any Worlds or World Clubs that I can remember, thanks to those who helped invent the internet...<br />
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Ultimate's profile and connection to audiences will not be built on the back of traditional mainstream media such as newspaper stories and TV 60 second segments (though we don't want to ignore those). Those media are for telling the world - "Hey! We exist".<br />
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Our sport will grow and connect with people though the media that people inside our community build. You could follow the action through the <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23wugc2012" target="_blank">tweeters</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WUGC2012?ref=ts" target="_blank">Facebook followers</a>.<br />
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Skyd Magazine had insightful commentary and updates on <a href="http://skydmagazine.com/international/" target="_blank">what was happening</a>. This is journalism for our community. <br />
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And most significantly you can watch games online.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ngnultimate.com/" target="_blank">NexGen Ultimate</a> have emerged in the last two years as a group who are prepared to invest over several years in building a channel where ultimate fans can watch live and on-demand footage of games from major events in the US, and a few others from around the world. They took steps we haven't seen before in our sport, such as flying <a href="http://skydmagazine.com/winthefields/" target="_blank">Lou</a> and Chase across from the US to commentate, who then interviewed teams on their plans and expectations before games.<br />
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The coverage had replays, live scores and multiple camera angles - the features we take for granted in mainstream television coverage. <br />
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Also at Worlds were <a href="http://ulti.tv/">Ulti.tv</a> are an Australian outfit who trialled their systems last year at Adelaide's weekly city league. Dan, Mike and Declan have refined their polecam. They could film on any field and did - <a href="http://www.ulti.tv/content/what-we-caught-worlds-2012" target="_blank">over 40 games</a> were recorded, with every country represented. <br />
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If you like being able to watch professionally presented ultimate games online, on demand, then these are great organisations to support. Throw a few dollars their way, and buy a subscription.<br />
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Even the Swedes had some basic footage of games from Worlds, such as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9HiIF2-ds" target="_blank">Australia vs Sweden</a> and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsT_PQsQAw" target="_blank">GB vs Sweden semifinal</a>. Its free on youtube.<br />
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The little things involved in running a tournament now become more important. When the acoustics of the audio system make the opening ceremony speeches impossible to hear, it isn't just a thousand ultimate players who can't hear - it is everyone who ever watches the footage online from now onwards.<br />
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Only a few years ago, I was wondering why ultimate seemed behind the times in terms of organised internet presence, but it seems like we are making up for lost time.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18814552.post-88038078970558033132012-04-27T00:22:00.002+10:002012-04-27T13:16:29.816+10:00A review of the 2012 Australian Ultimate ChampionshipsThe <a href="http://www.auc2012.com/" target="_blank">2012 Australian Ultimate Championships</a> have been run and won. <br />
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On field, Aussie Nationals had impressive depth in the open and womens' divisions.<br />
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Plunder met Pillage in the open final as some expected, in a game spoilt by wind and lack of focus. Plunder triumphed in a battle between the two Colony teams. However, all their previous games confirmed their strength, each going undefeated with the exception of Plunder losing their match-up in the power pools to Pillage.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9x1Tn_y4d9SvXvdGfNBvvk31hGLOtBSXviyIvsP6AJpSzb9opsLDxEHIwb3ztQlbRQEtpLOJoie7tf5j2rR4DGl6SMVCkMOZe6guCli1O60WnZpdNX8EyDvyhdTZQg3Q_JlmLEw/s1600/IMG_2797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9x1Tn_y4d9SvXvdGfNBvvk31hGLOtBSXviyIvsP6AJpSzb9opsLDxEHIwb3ztQlbRQEtpLOJoie7tf5j2rR4DGl6SMVCkMOZe6guCli1O60WnZpdNX8EyDvyhdTZQg3Q_JlmLEw/s320/IMG_2797.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bronze medal for AUC 2012.</td></tr>
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My club, Heads of State, took out 3rd and 12th place with our two teams, Burgundy and White. <br />
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Perennial powerhouse Fyshwick United (ACT) took 4th, while New Zealand were 5th (though disappointed with losing to Heads of State in the quarterfinal in golden point). New Zealand take many things from this tournament in their lead up to Worlds in July. <br />
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Firestorm (Queensland), Sublime (Western Australia) and I-Beam (Newcastle, NSW) rounded out the top 8. Chilly (Victoria) defeated the Australian Masters team for 9th - a poetic occasion as many players from both teams were in the Chilly team that came 2nd last year. The Masters would have been disappointed with their final placing compared to their 2nd place at the BCI tournament only 3 weeks prior. It was an indicator of the parity and depth.<br />
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On the women's side, the final was an all Victorian affair. Honey trailed 5-1 to Team Box early. The depth of athleticism and throwing from Team Box seemed destined to carry them to a win over Honey as has happened many times in the last five years between the two clubs.<br />
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Yet Kelli, then Mama, then Steph, then Kerry, then Cath, took charge. Accompanied by their hard-running teammates they outmuscled Team Box in a gusty final full of gambling hucks. More catches (by O and D) seemed to be made than in the open final. Honey went on their own 5-1 run, and finally prevailed by 2 points. An amazing finish for a team that has grown and grown over the years with player development and a strong work ethic.<br />
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Sand Dunes (NSW) took 3rd over Kaos (Perth, Western Australia) after Sand Dunes flopped in their semi final. Kaos seem to be on a similar path to Honey, impressing people this year with a first appearance in the semifinals. <br />
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Factory (ACT), Wildcard Bellagio (Sydney, NSW) and New Zealand also finished in the top eight.<br />
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Split this year into two equal teams, Wildcard couldn't make it back to the final. Factory also fell short of returning to the final.<br />
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Australian ultimate evolves as the years tick on: scoop passes, physically holding your space on defence and new variations of zones are widespread now. The top open teams regularly have structures or lines that depend on whether they are pulling or receiving, though only some clubs have strict O and D lines. None of these approaches were visible 7 or 8 years ago.<br />
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Offence is improving - the Heads of State vs I-Beam showcase game ended with around 14 consecutive offence scores, despite hard working defence. As in North American ultimate, the progress of a game is now discussed in terms of how many breaks are given up or earnt.<br />
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It was pleasing to see several instances of calls being discussed then withdrawn or not contested. For instance, Pete Gardner withdrew a receiving foul in the last minutes of the open final.<br />
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In terms of organisation, Newcastle were great hosts. All fields except two (due to heavy rain affecting original fields) were in the same venue. The showcase games and finals were played on a picturesque, lush cricket oval in front of a covered grandstand.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxlLMRafMOHtaKDhs_tlxX0AOp4vl4zzsqxqaBKJflwxk3N6ghPUK1E5PB2mpvZUipHnKEaI6MQnF0Je0xU0u7lSKxIDixfi9uCN6jEBfo4pjSofUsbhtUXmx7Ty8Hno1RWJzCA/s1600/IMG_0447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxlLMRafMOHtaKDhs_tlxX0AOp4vl4zzsqxqaBKJflwxk3N6ghPUK1E5PB2mpvZUipHnKEaI6MQnF0Je0xU0u7lSKxIDixfi9uCN6jEBfo4pjSofUsbhtUXmx7Ty8Hno1RWJzCA/s320/IMG_0447.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The open final</td></tr>
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Heads of State were able to play on it twice, and the standard of ultimate improves several notches when you can turn on a dime. I will always sacrifice more to play on high quality turf.<br />
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Food, draw, volunteers, presentations, schwag and proximity to town were all great. Poor weather and some patchy grass meant fields weren't all fantastic, but all could be laid out on.<br />
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Thank you Newcastle Ultimate.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2