2012 Worlds - the media

Here is the first in a few posts about 2012 Worlds. Better late than never.

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...

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".

Our sport will grow and connect with people though the media that people inside our community build. You could follow the action through the tweeters and Facebook followers.

Skyd Magazine had insightful commentary and updates on what was happening. This is journalism for our community. 

And most significantly you can watch games online.

NexGen Ultimate 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 Lou and Chase across from the US to commentate, who then interviewed teams on their plans and expectations before games.

The coverage had replays, live scores and multiple camera angles - the features we take for granted in mainstream television coverage.

Also at Worlds were Ulti.tv 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 - over 40 games were recorded, with every country represented.

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.

Even the Swedes had some basic footage of games from Worlds, such as Australia vs Sweden and the GB vs Sweden semifinal. Its free on youtube.

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.

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.

A review of the 2012 Australian Ultimate Championships

The 2012 Australian Ultimate Championships have been run and won.

On field, Aussie Nationals had impressive depth in the open and womens' divisions.

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.

Bronze medal for AUC 2012.

My club, Heads of State, took out 3rd and 12th place with our two teams, Burgundy and White.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Factory (ACT), Wildcard Bellagio (Sydney, NSW) and New Zealand also finished in the top eight.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The open final

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.
 
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.

Thank you Newcastle Ultimate.

The throw that the good players are using

The throw to add to your repertoire is the backhand, from a forehand stance.

By forehand stance, I mean facing downfield, with your knees, chest, nose all pointing towards the endzone that you are attacking. Then throwing a backhand: right-handers bring the disc to the left side of your body in a backhand grip, and throw.

One advantage is that you don't need to pivot to throw a forehand - you are already in a good stance for a forehand. So the marker has to respect that forehand threat. Additionally it is quicker than pivoting out to a backhand stance before throwing a backhand.

The disadvantages are: you don't release as wide as when you pivot out into backhand stance for a conventional backhand, and you also lose the rotation of your hips and shoulders. Your range is limited to 10 - 20m for most players.

But that is all the range you need for 90% of your throws.

Watch Sockeye use it on almost every pass in this point (at 23mins 50sec), in particular the assist. Then start practising it - it will give you more wrist snap on all your backhands.

How to switch grips

A little while ago, Brodie Smith put out a great video on how to switch grips from backhand to forehand.

In my view, there are 3 key steps for going from backhand grip to forehand grip then returning to backhand grip.

Start by having the disc in both hands in front of you, with the pattern side facing up.

1. Flip the disc over in your hands, moving into a forehand grip (don't raise the disc any higher, just have it turn over). Have it sitting in front of your stomach.
2. Bring your elbow out wide from your body, ready to throw a forehand.
3. Snap the disc back down to your other hand, in front of your stomach, changing to backhand grip as you go.

Flip it.

Elbow out.

Snap back to the middle.

Brodie demonstrates.

Now watch some game footage. Notice how often and how quickly the disc is flipped in the hands of experienced players, as they switch grips. Here's one game to watch.

Specific feedback for your D game

Following on from a List of Offence Skills in ultimate, here is a...


List of Defence Skills

Players create defensive pressure by

1. guarding cutters wherever they go (tightly guard deep cuts; guard in cuts; guard dump cuts; guard throw and go cuts)
2. marking the thrower (stop early throws by getting a force on early; hold a force to limit break throws; mark with agility and energy)
3. pulling the disc (throw into the alpha zone regularly; not give up bricks; pull strongly against the wind) 
4. adjusting to where other defenders are (switch; push cutters into crowded places like the stack or someone clearing)
5. moving to defend other cutters (poach effectively when their cutter does not draw them away; clog the open side, break side, deep and under as needed)
6. moving at the right time (run down the field when the cutter watches a huck; defend the dump position early; adjust guarding position early so the cutter doesn't blow past)
7. being athletic (guard quality players for long periods of a game; block swill that is high or wide; outrun cutters; outaccelerate cutters)
8. working within the team D structure (know and use the team's patterns; don't require teammates to change their mark or guarding unnecessarily)

Most of these correlate with stopping the eight things the offensive player wants to do.

With eight categories listed, it is now easy to choose, say, two strengths and two aspects to work on. This keeps feedback concise, but more specific than "work on your throws and cutting".

Suggestions?

Playing styles at ECC 2011

The Australian Open and Women's teams competed at the Emerald City Classic in Seattle recently.

In the Open division, Revolver and Ironside were the cream of the crop, with Ring of Fire coming back from losses to Maliki and Buzz Bullets to win the games that mattered, getting to the final, before falling to a dominant Revolver team.

Revolver play Ring of Fire in the Open final

The US teams regularly isolated a cutter of choice out in the strong side, while stacking other players right on the sideline. This usually gave them their first choice cutter and hucker combination.

In contrast, the Buzz Bullets played handler isolation against us for the first 20 points, until we switched to forehand (instead of backhand) force. They immediately looked for a few hucks from horizontal play. They were happy to grind it through handler play, as they were generally more nimble, and had real talent at that position. A couple of players on Buzz Bullets are there for their height on defence and are not as skilled at cutting or throwing (true for many teams, I guess).

Several teams also attacked through break throws, deliberately designing cutting angles to provide this option and looking for open side throws, inside breaks and outside breaks as the cutter moved laterally. Only an active and balanced mark would regularly hold up against this tactic.

The US teams were not overly physical, as a couple of teams have been in the past. All fair play. Except one Ring of Fire player who defends like a TSA security agent on speed, patting down his opponent with lovetaps, instead of working on his footwork.

It was a valuable tournament experience for the Aussie teams, playing against opponents for the first time in the lead up to Worlds 2012 in Sakai, Japan. With a chance to reflect on tactics and systems, and an opportunity to strengthen the rosters and our fitness, we'll be ready to match it with the top teams next year - several of whom we got to play in ECC.

Australia at ECC

The Australian Dingoes (our representative team in the open division) are preparing for Worlds 2012 in Japan. As part of our plan, we are sending a squad to compete at ECC next week, as are the Australian Women. Watch out North America.

Here's a brief update.

Coach Hemphill has done a great job bringing everyone together, motivating us and keeping us accountable. We have a website, team goals, fitness program, nutrition resources, psychology resources, uniforms and a clearly articulated set of organisational and leadership roles.

Lots of people have volunteered their time to train us, transport us and feed us. They are awesome.

This is perhaps one of the most unified representative teams Australia has produced (and we've had some good ones). Everyone is pulling in the same direction.

We've drawn on tactics from numerous elite mens clubs around Australia and forged our own playing style out of it. 

There are pleasant surprises we've noticed too: how far Mark Evans can huck, that there is a separate room for Denyer to snore in, Matty is off the injured list and on the field, and Woodley is on the D line.

Our training venue has been Canberra, where it is a little cool this time of year.

Specific feedback for your O game

Giving quality feedback in ultimate can be challenging.

Here is a draft of a list that can help selectors, coaches and team leaders give more meaningful feedback to players than "work on your throws and cutting".

Each dotpoint has some specific examples after it.


List of Offence Skills

Players create easy offence by

1. throwing to teammates wherever they are (throw hucks; throw hammers)
2. throwing to make teammates open (throw break or open-side to favour teammates, not defenders)
3. throwing quickly (throw as soon as an opportunity appears; prevent the defence from getting a mark on)
4. throwing safely (keep throwing completion rate high; seeing where defenders and help-defenders are)
5. moving to make teammates open (clear the break side, open side, deep and under as needed; regularly draw their defender with them)
6. moving at the right time (run downfield while their defender watches a huck; get to dump position early; cut one way then another at the right time for the next pass)
7. being athletic (catch swill that is high or wide; outrun defenders; outaccelerate defenders)
8. working within the team O structure (talk to teammates on field; know and use the team's patterns; don't ask teammates to make hard throws or cuts with your cuts or throws)

With eight categories listed, it is now easy to choose, say, two strengths and two aspects to work on. This keeps feedback concise, but specific.

Try them out on yourself now!

Any skills to add or change?

Positions on offence ain't positions on defence

Just because you are a handler on offence, doesn't mean you will always serve your team best by defending handlers.

Just because you are a receiver on offence, doesn't mean you will always serve your team best by defending receivers.

Those were the main messages I got from this article on basketball matchups.

In fact, the traditional convention of 3 handlers, 2 mids/cutters and 2 longs/receivers might have served a purpose for assigning pull reception roles for a few plays in the past, but it doesn't describe what most players are doing in most systems these days.

I know that the 2008 Dingoes had a variety of roles.

Player A: on offence, a handler who didn't huck and was a semi-regular deep threat; on defence he defended handlers
Player B: on offence, a handler and in-cutter; on defence he defended handlers and under cutters, but got blocks when he could afford to poach off his man
Player C: on offence, an in-cutter; on defence he defended handlers
Player D: on offence, a long; on defence he defended handlers or cutters

So a different system might be needed to describe roles, particularly for defence. Being called a "handler" doesn't tell you what your role is on defence.

Motivation

"You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self motivation."
-- Homer Rice, football coach

Fitness for ultimate athletes

There is so much valuable information on ultimate fitness now online.

I have discovered lots of new ideas through Skyd.

Tim Morrill and Melissa Witmer make use of videos to explain how to build fitness for ultimate. They are both professional fitness trainers and ultimate players, who have investigated how to improve your conditioning specifically for ultimate. I haven't seen many others who can claim all three of these things, and are sharing their stuff with the world.

Here's a taste.

Signs of not using the elbow

Here are some signs of a player not using their elbow when throwing a forehand

• The disc turns over in flight (too much outside in)
• The player thrusts their hips forward and shoulders back as they throw a forehand.
• The elbow remains close to the waist before or after the throw.
• The player cannot throw a wide forehand. 
• The player is using a split finger grip (so they can hold the disc out horizontally, without it flopping down). Holding the disc vertically removes this need.

Any others?

To correct this, the player can hold the disc vertically, with their elbow out from their body and back.

Practise a forehand throwing motion several times and then throw, emphasising two things:

1. Rolling your wrist under, not over, so it finishes palm up
2. Moving your elbow through

Practice your action

Tiger Woods, maybe the best golfer ever, practises his golf swing action just before every shot.

Steve Nash, maybe the best shooter in basketball ever, practises his free throw action just before every free throw.

Here's the idea behind it.

What do you do before each pull?

Video analysis

After 10 years of pondering why some people struggle to throw forehands, watching video gave me numerous new insights.

Every ultimate player who wants to play at an elite level needs to watch some basic footage of themselves. Start with throwing. Then you can move onto game footage, and footage of other skills like marking, guarding, positioning for high discs, cutting and laying out.

Even better: organise a videographer for your team for a training or tournament.

Replay and slow-motion give you a chance to see what you only glimpse in real time.

There's a reason dozens of people around the world get paid to edit footage of sports for coaches: video helps you learn how you and your opponents play. And feedback is critical to improvement.

Fixing that forehand

There are 5 fundamental points to throwing a disc: grip, stance, snapping your wrist, angling the disc and pointing on the follow-through.

You can remember it as GSWAP.

Rob and Brodie have demonstrated these points or similar ones.

But have you seen players whose forehands curve over with too much outside in? Despite you mentioning these points? Do they look like this?

GSWAP needs an update.

Number 1: rolling your wrist under, not over

Number 2: moving your elbow through.

These two ideas are linked.

You can practice the first point now: hold a disc (or an imaginary one) in forehand grip, but hold it vertically so your palm faces down. Pretend to throw, and finish with your palm up. This counteracts the outside-in curve that is a regular problem.

To assist this correct rotation, you need to use your elbow. If your elbow is locked in next to your waist, rolling your wrist under is awkward - your wrist prefers to roll over from palm up to palm down.

So free your elbow!

Get into forehand stance again. Hold a disc in forehand grip with your palm down. But this time start with your elbow out, back and bent at 90°.

As you swing your elbow forward, you have more power. Your wrist will more naturally rotate under, from palm down to palm up. Follow through with your palm up.

It looks more like this.

Or you can watch Rob and Brodie. 

Here are the 5 updated fundamental points to throwing a forehand: grip, stance, rolling your wrist under with snap, swing the elbow, and pointing palm up on the follow-through. You can remember it as GSWEP.

Thanks to Mama for demonstrating the throws.