Australian Ultimate Championships 2014: the pointy end

Here's a recap of the action from Day 3 of the Australian Ultimate Championships.

In the women's division, Rabble toppled Sugar Magnolias to make the quarterfinals, as did Sand Dunes by defeating Artemis.

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.

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.

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 live streaming, so stay tuned.

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.

Sublime vs Wildcats

Magon outlasted Outbreak in a calmer game next door, 13-8.

The quarters saw Magon take down the erratic Phat Chilly, 12-10.

Colony Pillage found their defensive mojo from BCI and played strongly against a hard-working HoS, winning 13-8.

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.

Fyshwick narrowly toppled Wildcats 12-11, which was Fyshwick's third one-point win of the tournament.

Plunder put away Firestorm 15-11, before meeting Fyshwick.

This was a rematch, which had gone to double game point previously.

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.

Fyshwick won 15-12.

Your Open final tomorrow at 11am will be Colony Pillage vs Fyshwick United. Fyshwick United make their second 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.

Tin Tin (right) will be in the final. Ewan (left) sera regardait son ami jouer.

Australian Ultimate Championships 2014: upsets abound

We are halfway through the Australian Ultimate Championships 2014.

The current standings are here, but let me break it down for you.

The women's division is mostly going according to seed.

In the first pool, STBAU are undefeated, followed by Rogue 1, Factory, Sugar Mags and Rabble.

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.

The next tier is Zig Theory, Smokestack and Cherry Bomb.

The second pool has Rogue Traders, Honey and KAOS in a three way tie. Sand Dunes and Artemis (NZ) battle each other tomorrow morning for the last quarterfinals spot.

STBAU look like the form team at the moment. Their for-and-against is clearly the best at +49.

Over in the men's division, it is an unholy mess. No-one knows who will win any given game.

Before this tournament, we had some patterns: Colony Pillage and Colony Plunder had won every game against non-Colony teams, except a Plunder loss at BCI. HoS were looking to be in third place, with a strong Regionals win over Phat Chilly, and a strong showing at BCI. Fyshwick and Firestorm were close but not getting wins on the aforementioned teams.

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.

On the other side, Plunder have lost to HoS and Fyshwick. Fyshwick is undefeated and the strongest team so far. Adelaide's Outbreak upset Sublime.

Footage of Plunder vs Fyshwick. Watch ulti.tv online!

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?

The quarterfinals will be Fyshwick vs (winner of Wildcats - Sublime) and Firestorm vs Plunder.

The other side will be Phat Chilly vs (winner of Outbreak - Magon) and HoS vs Pillage.

This looks like the most even field at Nationals for many years. Stay tuned.

The RISE UP World Tour

Right now RISE UP is on its world tour, visiting these five countries.

Mario O'Brien is the RISE UP founder. He is joined on certain legs of this tour by Alex Snyder and Ryan Purcell.

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.

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.

In their Melbourne clinic, Mario and Alex spent Saturday coaching around 40 female players.

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.

This development of coaches is critical. More and more teams recognise the value of coaches, and have appointed them. Mario writes about this from the American perspective, while in Australia, the Dingoes, STBAU, Heads of State, Chilly Masters and Rabble have all recently appointed head coaches after not having one.

Appointing coaches is only the first step.

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.

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?

Well, not much. So Mario is stepping up to that opening. And he has the leadership training and ultimate experience to build something great.

Who else will step up?

How Alex Snyder throws

The captain of San Francisco's Fury and the 2013 USA World Games team, Alex Snyder, has a pretty good bio in ultimate. I don't know who is a more accomplished athlete in our sport.

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.

This gif will let you see the actual mechanics.

What is happening when Alex throws?

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.

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.

Her left arm is out from her body, to counterbalance her throw, and create space from the marker.

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.

Alex is a good example to learn from.

If you come along to a RiseUp 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.

Why 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.

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.

Jim Thompson from the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) talks about how youth sport needs to talk about its goals: competition and personal development. It can't be only about winning.

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.

But when everyday people participate in sport, especially youth, we want them to learn to make admirable decisions. Win or lose.

Ultimate obviously has some of this culture built into our sport already. While the PCA talks about Honoring the Game, ultimate talks about Spirit of the Game.

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?

We're now understanding how to create athletes

The last few years have seen athletic development really take off.

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.

Here is a great example: read about Shannon Turley and how he turned Stanford's conditioning program around for the football team. 

I am confident there were other factors that improve Stanford's win total, but I am also confident that Turley's approaches were significant.

Keeping players injury free is being recognised as critical for athletic coaches. It is most important way they can help their athletes.

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 Function Movement Screen which Turley uses.

What the elbow does in a forehand throw

The elbow of an expert thrower does two things during a forehand throw.

1. The elbow moves forward.

2. The elbow straightens.

And it happens in that order. Poor throwers generally struggle because they are leaving one of these steps out.

Why does the elbow have to do these two things?

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.

Once the elbow has moved as far forward as it can, the hand needs to move forward. This is done by straightening the elbow.

The last steps are wrist snap and finger snap.

The momentum is transferred to the disc late in the motion. It is at the end of the chain.

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.

Matt Dowle is a good example to watch.

AUGs is better than Mixed Nationals

The two big tournaments during the Mixed season in Australia are Australian University Games (AUGs) and Mixed Nationals.

And AUGs is better.

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.

The competition at AUGs followed on from this.

Monash vs UWA in the semis. Again. Photo from Jared.

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.

In comparison, can you name a notable trend for Mixed Nationals clubs? Can you even remember who won two years ago?

The 2013 Mixed Nationals final

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.

Almost every Division 1 AUG team had a coach this year.

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.

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.

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.

This is the status quo for Australian mixed ultimate.

The new offering from Morrill Performance: The Foundation

So ultimate fitness guru Tim Morrill has been hard at work...

He has compiled all his training structures, ideas and explanations into one ebook.

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.

It's great value for anyone looking to elevate their ultimate game by learning how to train their body and  become a better athlete.

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.

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!

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.

Check it out.

See if you can spot Heads of State being represented!

Choosing your language

The language you use in a community or team sets the atmosphere and direction of the group.

So what words and terms does your team use now?

Which expressions do you want to use?

Here are some to compare, with implications that vary from obvious to subtle:

1. "Stop turning it over, guys" vs "Let's take the simple options"
2. "Our focus is to score every time we have the disc" vs "Our focus is to be assertive every time we have the disc"
3. "We've been running really hard" vs "We're running really hard"
4. "We want take away the deep cuts" vs "We're going to take away the deep cuts"
5. "After a turnover, we're gonna play zone" vs "If we're on D, we're gonna play zone"
6. "You need to stack deeper" vs "We are going to stack deeper"  
7. "Let's play man when we are on D" vs "Let's match up when we are on D"

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.

You and your team can make a conscious decision to use the language of winning. It starts at your next training or game. 

Five days into the Explosive Ultimate clinics

Tim Morrill has come out to Australia to deliver his Explosive Ultimate clinics.

So far, it has been a real eye opener.

Tim giving advice

Tim has delivered a clinic to my club, Heads of State, as well four weekend clinics to many other Victorians.

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.

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.

While you are trialling the activities and movements, Tim is dishing out feedback and observing how you are going.

The clinics have covered the basics of speed, agility, strength and power.

• Basic Ideas and Concepts for Weightroom
• Exercises and Categories
• Program Design
• Knee Stability & ACL Reduction
• Self Myofacial Release (Lacrosse balls)
• Flexibility, Mobility & Warm Up
• Activation & ACL Reduction (Bands)
• Jumping Mechanics
• Agility: Jab Step and Crossover Progressions (Ladders)
• Conditioning

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.

Connect with Tim online, or attend a Explosive Ultimate clinic as soon as you can.

Explosive Ultimate clinics - register now!

Here is an event for all Aussies to come along to!

This month, Heads of State Ultimate, in collaboration with the AFDA, Ultimate Victoria, UFNSW, ACTUA and QUDA are hosting Explosive Ultimate clinics.

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.

Tim will be sharing loads of expertise on how to be a better ultimate athlete.

Clinics are being held in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.

The full calendar for the Explosive Ultimate clinics is here. 

Sign up through the link on the relevant clinic page.

You can also follow Tim through these channels. Check them out!

MP Website

MP Facebook

MP YouTube

EU Facebook

EU Twitter

EU YouTube

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.