Bound for Colombia

In Australia, there have been more and more Colombian players around. I've met a few, and now it's my turn to take part in the Australia-Colombia exchange, as I am going to Colombia for 6 weeks.

While there, I plan to play in the Colombia National Championships and in the Torneo Eterna Primavera Medellín. Both tournaments will be held in the city of Medellín (cool weather, 3 million residents, culture, 2nd fiddle to Bogotá - think Melbourne with mountains). But I'll spend most of my time in Bogotá.

I've been invited to play with Communidad de Oso by Julian Bocanegra, who played with Fakulti in 2008 (quite the international exchange). And I'm excited!

I aim to post here a bit about ultimate in Colombia - the style of play, the coaching, the competitions and the plans. And Colombia do have plans - they went from little ultimate in 2001, to fielding five strong teams at Worlds 2008. TEP Medellín is an ambitious tournament, judging from the invite list (Sockeye, Furious, Riot and Traffic are on board), the marketing and the website.

Have any other Australians played in Colombia? I know Ben Wiggins and Idaho (Sockeye) visited last year.

The tools for throwing a break throw

Being able to break the mark whenever you like is invaluable.

Here are the physical tools that will really help you.

1. A wide release.
Don't be tucking that elbow into your body.

2. Hip flexibility
If you can't move your upper body out over your non-pivot leg, you won't get wide.

3. Leg strength
You need to be able to lunge out wide and be balanced once you are out there.

Tex and Jonno demonstrate the tools, even if these examples aren't necessarily break throws.

The fourth quadrant

As a player on the field, you have two modes you can be in: playing defence or playing offence.

And you can be involved with the throwing of the disc or the catching of the disc.

So put simply, there are four quadrants for the on-field roles: thrower and cutter (on offence), and their defensive counterparts, marker and guarder.

It can be worthwhile to evaluate which of these are your strengths, and which you have to work on.

Obviously the thrower role is critical for every player - a team with mostly poor throwers is not a strong team.

I think that the skills of a guarder are under-evaluated. Many folks I know have a very simple approach to guarding: "stay open-side, chase my cutter, get a block if can". There isn't much adapting to circumstance, and while you won't go too wrong, that isn't enough at the elite level. The corresponding skills for throwing, cutting and marking are far longer lists in the conscious and subconscious minds of many players.

There are many small goals and skills for a guarder:

• Unnerve the cutter with my positioning
• Talk to teammates
• Steer the cutter back to the other defenders in the stack
• Choose when to look over at the thrower and their stance
• Bait the huck
• Take a charge
• Look to switch with a mismatched teammate

Mackey covers some more of this.

Principles of athletic conditioning

In the last 12 months, I've rethought a few things in ultimate, both from a player's and coach's perspective.

Identifying what works is key to any decisions a coach makes about his or her team.

And this particularly applies to athletic conditioning, which for a small, amateur sport like ultimate is key.

Concepts of periodisation, measurement, goal-setting and individualisation are important.

But getting players to train can be the first goal. This requires setting fitness training in accessible places, setting out clearly what is required, establishing clear reporting guidelines  And managing and preventing injuries during a season of training.

When it comes to ways to make players accountable for the work they do, making fitness competitive can be a big step. Give those who make the biggest gains or attend the most, the bragging rights. Give 'em rewards. Put races and challenges into the activities.

The goal of winning your big comp in 3 months time won't drive most players on most nights to bust a gut.  But knowing that coming second in the next sprint would mean giving piggybacks and losing the food reward does motivate.

And this can all be simple and fun.

Ultimate has what footy needs

I read an opinion piece on male sporting culture and women, which was written in the wake of the latest footy player sex scandal in Australia.

Ultimate (the mixed version) seems to be an example of what John Fitzgerald seeks.

How to defeat a heavy favourite

The recipe is basically here.

In the context of ultimate, this means change your game and make your opponents play a different game.

You can run and gun on every turnover, or huck incessantly, or zone every point, or do all three. Or some other tactic that effectively changes the game away from a conventional contest where the favourite is favoured.

Sophisticated forces

When I first started playing ultimate, forces were simple: backhand, forehand and force middle.

Since then I have seen more complexity - specific defences to pressure certain options for the offence, such as straight-up into one-way forces to pressure hucks in general, and funnel (one-way force with straight up on one sideline in the far half) to pressure hucks down the trapped sideline.

In one game at Nationals recently, my team had big successes taking away an opposing team's down the sideline hucks, by forcing middle. But we also wanted to pressure the hucks in the middle so we went more straight up the closer the disc was to the middle of the field. Call it Mesa - flat in the middle and angled on the sides. As we were defending closer to our own endzone this transitioned into a one-way force (the huck threat disappears and having a one-way force to rely is more valuable for a guarder.

I can also see the converse being an option: straight-up in the middle, moving to straight-up in the middle, for teams that you want to see trapped on the sideline. Call it Valley (the converse of Mesa).

Have you used these forces, or anything more sophisticated than just switching a force when the disc moves more than X metres down the field (yet worth the added complexity)?

Where are we headed? Well, we have a long way to go before we reach 100+ year old sports like basketball. Check out just some of the defences you can use against the variety of screens (aka picks) the offence can try.

But as we see teams building deep rosters, engaging coaches, training more and investing time on the details of their defences, more and more sophisticated forces should arise.

Australian Ultimate Championships 2009 - a HoS perspective

This Nationals campaign was a long and rewarding one for the young Heads of State club.

Our bronze medals were earnt through some hard yakka and good planning.



Here are some of the features of our campaign this year:

• Our fitness program and training camps started back in November, making it a 6 month long journey to Nationals.
• We articulated our goals for the season, revisited them and measured them.
• Building on previous seasons, we had feedback sessions where players got considered feedback from the team selectors.
  
• We again took a second team to Regionals and again helped turn around games with sheer forceful sideline support.
• Kaimana Klassik (and Hollywood Husak) met HoS.
• HoS also did some recruiting from overseas this year. Stout provided so much to our team in the few weeks he was in Australia - unending confidence, a head sock, humility, backhand hucks, and the desire and ability to guard every star cutter in the land. Check him out accompanied by Queen or Aladdin. And our other Yank, Eric was Mr Versatile Handler when he finally got back from injury. He also is a sideline maestro - unbelievable commitment.

At the tournament itself, I felt we had successes:

• We had carved out clear expectations of playing time, and roles for players.
• Boo Boo was our invaluable statistician and advisor at Nationals giving us valuable live stats on what was working and what wasn't.
• Simple routines for timeouts (and regular use of them) without putting the team into the Chamber of One Person Talking Endlessly
• We enjoyed the routine of getting in the cold pool each evening for recovery, even if certain individuals still squeal
• HoS beat every team we played at least once, except the 4-time National Champions
• Mixing up the defensive looks when our opponents got comfortable
• Providing routine in our warm-ups that rehearsed how we wanted to play (there's that word again: routine)
• Having predictable, rehearsed actions to take when we need to alter lines (for example, bringing certain throwers over to the D line in windy games, using crunch lines at certain points)

Good work for a team with an average age of 22 (sorry lads - with me on board, the average shifts up from 21).

OK, enough patting our own backs. There is a world more to learn in our next campaign: Nationals and then World Clubs 2010 in Prague...

Prague - Photo by pavelm

Australian Ultimate Championships 2009 - an overview

Nationals wrapped up yesterday and it was one for the history books.

A smaller field of entrants this year (14 mens teams and 12 womens teams) and the massive fields actually made 450-plus players look small. As the venue for Clubs 2006, UWA Sports Park is huge.

In the women's final, Wildcard met Team Box, a rematch of the 2007 final. Both swam through the draw confidently to reach this game, and the game didn't disappoint. Box took half 9-7, but wavered thereafter as Wildcard pulled to an consistent 2-3 point lead. It seemed like Box fulfilled more of their promise this year - 6th last year was a temporary dip for a very talented club. However, Wildcard were too deep - even their young players are veterans.

Sugar Mags (3rd) and Honey (4th) attained club-best finishes.

In the men's division, a few teams from 2008 were missing - the Taipans (Aussie Masters team), New Zealand and Barefoot to start with. Higher spots were up for grabs for the keen, younger clubs out there.

Returning to an X/Y split, Fakulti didn't yield a top 3 finish for the first time in their club's history. Fakulti Y did fight hard though, falling 2 points shy of the 5th and 6th place finishers, Firestorm and Karma. Sublime were inches from their first return to the semis since 2000 (another WA-hosted Nats), losing to Heads of State in the pre-semi. JD pretty much played savage in that one.

I-Beam had the smoothest offence at the tournament, and claimed 4th. Heads of State pushed Chilly hard in the semi-final (leading 8-6 at one stage), but couldn't hang on. We then took 3rd with a barnstorming defensive run at the end of the 3-4 match vs I-Beam.

Fyshwick's win over Chilly in the rounds seemed to promise lots for them. But it wasn't to be in the final, as Gack hucked and hucked, and the other Chilly players shared the wealth, with every man looking like an option deep. Fyshwick's zippy handler resets of 2008 seemed absent, and they regularly hit 6-7 counts with the disc trapped on the line.

So where are teams tactically in 2009?

Karma and I-Beam ran sidestacks to then iso one cutter, with I-Beam also running split stacks (the "U"). Chilly ran everyone deep, with the occasional Gack feldrenner. Defensively, Chilly showed some 1-pass transitions. Fyshwick would bring out their super-saggy diamond zone as a mix-up D, which I first saw in 2007.
 

And on Heads of State we started to evolve a straight-up meets force middle, mid-tournament, to combat hucks down sidelines and from the middle of the field. Offensively, we brought in north-west American horo offence ideas. 

Sublime vs Fyshwick United

Australian Nationals preview - Open division

With one week til Regionals, its time to look at the top open teams lining up for Nationals 2009 in Perth. Once again they will be competing for the Mark Parilla Cup.

So far there have only been three tournaments on the calendar to judge how the teams are going: the BC Invitational in Canberra, Share the Love in Sydney and the Golden City Classic in Ballarat.

The top tier could include these teams (though not in this order):

Chilly
The Gack is back. No Kiwi pick-up sightings this year, so we'll see if they can push back to the top. Surely there will be a Sydney pick up or 2? Camby will check the eligibility rules to see who he can bring.

Heads of State 
Still getting all our players on board (overseas and injury), but we like where we are at. A new offence, a deep, hard-running roster and a lot of noise.

I-Beam
Looked really good at the BC Invitational. Their uni talent has hit the bigtime (such as Chilly and Chris) and this makes them deeper than in the past, so we'll see if they can improve on the 3rd placing of 2008. They love their split stack.

Fyshwick
Didn't put teams away in Canberra like some were expecting, after their dominance at Share the Love. The addition of Waz and Matty is nothing to be sneezed at though. Lacking tall defenders (a lot sits on the shoulders of Jonno and Waz as Matt prefers marking handlers). Fyshwick set the standard for defining roles for players and building confidence in players - they regularly put 7 on the line without a big name, and still get the job done.

Fakulti X & Y

When I think of Fakulti I think of a river. You can throw anything at them, and they will calmly erode your defence and work the disc in for a score. When they are on D, they quietly apply pressure and wait for your errors. The Fakulti system continues to be able to split the club into 2 equal teams, and have both compete at a high level. Have lost Waz and Matty to Fyshwick, but have young guns Calan and Mark on board while Tex has taken it to the next level in the wake of Worlds 2008.

The next tier down could look like:

Sublime
7 of them made it out to the BC Invitational, but as usual we won't see the full picture until Nationals. I want to see the Eleys and Twiggy dominate on their home turf. If JD isn't marked up right, he will rip out some big hucks (Attention all - in 15+ years of disc golf, he has thrown more pinpoint backhands than any human in this country. Take away his backhand!). 

Karma
If you believe Joel, their A team is so stacked that they will deserve better than 1st, and get platinum, not gold, medals. Hmmm. Need to see them at Regionals and find out if they can finally topple Heads of State or Chilly.

Firestorm
Winless at the BC Invitational? One win at the BC Invitational. A young team that will need others to step up and help J-Mac and Mike. Jules - I am looking at you :)

There will be a number of B teams and others filling out the spots at Nationals.

All in all, the open club scene continues to get deeper.

Grabbing clouds

You may have seen Beau jumping over a guy for a catch.

It got me thinking. Who are the players with the best vertical leap?

Post your link to the best photo/video of a player getting up.

I'll get you started with a photo of Matty catching one high at Seeds of Doom one year. For reference, his defender, Tim, is about 6'3" and in the air too.

Any photos or anecdotes of Dom Ventura back in the day?

The road to Kaohsiung

AFDA held its selection camp for the 2009 Australian World Games team in Sydney this weekend. The Australian team will be announced in a couple of weeks, and will compete at the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in July.

Here are a collection of thoughts from the weekend:

• Crikey, I'm sore
• The Aussie elite scene looks young. At 29, I was the second oldest male at the camp.
• I believe the Australian scene is due for reinvention of offences. The offensive structures players use by default are not ideal: we don't gain enough yards per cut, and don't scare the defenders with numerous threats. Currently, making space relies on serendipity and the presence of those rare "space-thinking" players.
  
• The wristy backhand is king. It is quick release, it can be thrown at a range of release points, it's ideal for using in a throw and go, and if you don't have one you can't hit as many cutters.
• I liked the way our coaches started the camp with benchmarking of throwing, agility and sprinting. It revealed a few positive surprises to them, provided variety amidst the scrimmages, fostered competition, and set the tone for a focussed, accountable weekend.
• Australian ultimate has really benefited from the value put on support staff. The players could focus purely on playing, when we had four selectors, two coaches, two managers and two assistants working to organise the fields, activities, food, rehydration, education and uniforms. Thank you Support Staff! We have made huge gains since my first Worlds campaign in 2000.
  

Elements of a ready stance

Following on from the previous post on the ready stance, I want to look at how to hold the disc.

There are many folks who have commented, discussed and taught grips. I have spouted my 2 cents: use the power grips.

But there is very little understanding of how to hold the disc, relative to the ground or the thrower's body.

In a forehand stance (i.e. facing towards your likely targets, usually with a forehand mark on), you could hold it a number of ways.

In a wide, blade stance like Dan (or Jeff). The disc face is roughly vertical.

Or in a wide, flat stance like Liz. This disc face is horizontal.

Or in front of your body, with two hands like Kristy.

Generally, I think the wide, blade stance is best (the first photo). It is ready to throw in an instant. It is easy to hold with one hand since the thumb and webbing support most of the weight (a horizontal disc needs to be held level by fingers working sideways - this flops around for many players). And it encourages throwing with a short, quick snap of the wrist rather than a big body and arm wind-up, which is preferable for any pass under 20 metres.

For a backhand, the grip is stronger, so the "flop" is less of an issue. Holding it wide is still key, whether it is one hand or two hands.

Let's get the new players ready to throw the first time they are taught ultimate. 

Ready stance

Last weekend, the AFDA hosted a Coaching Development Course.

Idaho, from Sockeye, was the presenter for the weekend, and shared a range of concepts that he uses when coaching in Seattle.

One of them was the ready stance for a thrower - always having the disc ready to be released as soon as needed. This is useful if a cutter suddenly gets open, or the stall count reaches 9, or the marker starts bumping you. You can throw immediately.

Holding the disc with two hands by your waist - generally not good.

Having the disc out from your body in one hand - good.

This ties in with Idris' earlier point about not pivoting, unless there is a specific need to. Always be ready to throw.

Globalisation

I've played ultimate in 10 countries, and I realised I have 5 more lined up to play in this year. So how many countries is it possible to play ultimate in?

WFDF has a list of member countries: basically a shortlist of where you can play ultimate on Earth.

Skimming through it, ultimate is more global than you realise...
 
Find out what turnyrai are on in Latvia Lithuania.
 
See photos of beach ultimate in Busan, South Korea.

Watch a video of Canada winning the World Championships - in a magazine.

Learn whether Gujarat defeated Tamilnadu in the final of India's 6th Senior National Flying Disc Championship. 

 Croatia's first ultimate team back in 2005 (including some Slovenians, Aussie Anita and me).