Hat Tournament Report

Jing and I braved the windy conditions and the icy/watery fields to play in a Hat tournament in Nashua over the weekend.  It was a small tournament, maybe 36 players in all, but it was very well run.  The players were split into 4 teams and away we went.

There isn't really anything interesting about Hat tournaments.  There's very little strategy and consequently very few tactics to discuss.  So, instead, I'm going to write about a single player who did several delightful things.

Delightful thing #1: He looked off open receivers early in the count.

Perhaps in a certain offense, this trait of looking off open receivers is actually a strength. Perhaps this fellow was trained in this particular school of offense.  Sadly, he never let any of his teammates in on whatever offensive school he was coming from.  Instead, he often refused to pass the disc before "stall 6" when he had the first throw of a given possession.

This trait is hurtful in a number of ways.  First and foremost, you allow the defense to gain the advantage by keeping the disc stationary.  Secondly, receivers stop working to get open because they've ascertained that their openness has no bearing on whether or not they'll get the disc. Thirdly, the marker on the disc is able to lock in for the last 4 seconds of the stall count to force bad throws.

I think the reason that certain players do this is what I call "hero syndrome".  They want to be the hero and make the "big throw".  They think they are better than just moving the disc. Unfortunately, heroes tend to make a lot of turns and do plenty of other things that hurt their teams.

Delightful thing #2: He refused to engage with the dump.

As the stall count gets high and it inevitably will with the kind of player who looks off his receivers until "stall 6", handlers must ready themselves to reset the disc.  An experienced player knows that few quality throws occur after "stall 8" and so he adjusts his focus as the stall count climbs from down field receivers to dumps.  Dumping the disc isn't particularly difficult if you are willing to deliberately do it.  Dumping the disc is really difficult if you are only halfway trying to do it.

This particular player was rarely even halfway committed to the dump.  Sure, he would glance at you (the dump) when you were wide open over his shoulder on "stall 7".  Then, he would look back down field for 2 more seconds.  Just before "stall 10", he would exasperatedly throw a weird floater to the middle of the field as if to say "see what you made me do!"

This delights me to no end.  Just dump the disc.  Don't be a baby.  And for God's sake don't turn the disc because you are having a temper tantrum because the cutter (whom you don't know) didn't do what you wanted them to do.

Delightful thing #3: He would auto-fake.

This may be the nittiest point I can make, but I don't care.  I loathe the auto-fake.  For those who haven't had the pleasure of playing with and auto-faker, it works like this: you are open by several strides on the break side, the auto-faker sees this and fakes a throw to you, your defender catches up.

An auto-faker is a thrower who is unable to make a throw without faking first.  He is the worst kind of faker because his fakes are not used to create space for another throw.  They are, instead, involuntary like your lower leg kicking when the doctor hits you on the knee.  Please, if you are doing something while playing the game of Ultimate and you don't know why, consider your reasoning on the sideline after the point.  Do not continue  

It doesn't just happen on the break side either.  Auto-fakers are adept at faking open throws to the force side, on the sideline, or near the end zone.  They are equal opportunity idiots.  Here's an idea: see the open man, throw to the open man.

Delightful thing #4: He would pick up the disc on a turn regardless of the offense's field position.

This killed me and killed the team. We work to get a turnover on defense. 5 of the 7 team members are still in the process of disengaging from their defensive assignments and becoming offensive threats.  And this fellow grabs the disc on the ground, starts looking down field, and faking.  

Please understand: this fellow has no teammates down the field.  He is the first one to the disc. He has been told by handlers behind him that he should "go through".  But, no.  The hero must be a hero.  So, the hero fakes until "stall 7" or so and then tries to force a throw to a receiver who is still huffing and puffing from playing defense and then sprinting down field to play offense.  Of course, this forced throw results in a turnover and the initial defensive effort is wasted.

This fellow seems to believe that, because he wants to throw a goal, a ready receiver will magically appear. Maybe in dreams this happens, but on the field there is precious little magic to be found.  What is easily found, however, is an opportunistic defense that unites against a fellow by taking away his dump and poaching all of his passing lanes. 

This fellow could have been part of a great offensive possession by running through the disc and setting up a big yardage/scoring cut.  But, that's not what heroes do.  Heroes gotta throw goals. I can almost hear the nu metal playing in his head as he imagined the "totally sick put" he was about to make.

Oh well, it was a fun tournament in any case.  It just could have been more fun for all involved (including the hero).

Ultimate and the NFL Combine

Over the past week, I've been watching a lot of NFL Network.  I signed up for the Comcast (I loathe you, Comcast) sports package because I wanted the Tennis Channel and Fox Soccer Channel.  The NFL Network came as a nice surprise, but I'm not that big of a football fan.  I follow the Patriots and I enjoy the overall game of football (thanks to Madden '92-'96 on Genesis mostly), but I don't care enough to watch out of market games.

This week, however, NFL Network was covering the scouting combine in Indianapolis.  If you're unfamiliar with the combine, it is a series of workouts and interviews for college football players who are going to be drafted into the NFL. Before this week, I had heard about all of the different drills that the players are put through (40-yard dash, broad jump, standing vertical jump, etc), but I had never actually seen any of the players doing the drills. I was curious to see what these fantastic athletes would be able to do.

Here's what's funny: none of it is that impressive.  This is not to say that benching 225 lbs 38 times in a row or running a 4.55 40-yard dash is not impressive when looked at individually.  In the context of so many great athletes, though, these feats of strength and speed are nearly indistinguishable from the average benching and 40-yard dash scores.  

In short, context is everything.  If you saw even the worst combine athlete in your gym or park, you would be shocked at his abilities.  I'm talking about the kind of shocked where you accidentally get hit in the face by a pass or drop a dumbbell on your foot because you can't tear your eyes away from the sheer athleticism.  In regular company or even among scholarship division 1 NCAA football players, the athletes at the combine are men among boys.  Around each other, however, they just look average.

You start to notice what they can't do.  Some guys don't bench as much as you'd think they should (usually due to having freakishly long arms).  Some guys aren't really that agile.  Some guys don't have great verticals.  Some seem poorly balanced when moving laterally.

My point in all of this is that even the greatest athletes in the world have serious flaws.  We who play Ultimate would never confuse ourselves with the greatest athletes in the world.  At best, we are a collection of good High School varsity athletes and maybe some guys who could have walked on to various teams at smaller division 1 colleges.  We all have serious flaws in our skills and our athletic ability.

And, it is all too easy to become focused on our flaws and deficiencies.  The same way that I became focused on the flaws and deficiencies of the fantastic athletes at the combine.  What should really matter to us and what really matters to the scouts at the combine is what players CAN do well, not what they can't do.

If you have one great fake-cut combination, refine it.  If you have a great forehand huck, practice it.  If you can sky people, work on it.  This may sound like I am advising you to waste your time, but I assure you that I am not.  Of course you should always be trying to get improve all facets of your game, but having weaknesses is okay provided you have strengths and can work around those weaknesses with smarts.

Your teammates count on your strengths.  A team can be thought of as a collective of all the individuals strengths and weaknesses.  Captains can strategize to make up for individual weaknesses, but they cannot strategize to create individual strengths.  Get really good at what you are good at.  Get so good at it that that particular skill or ability is a joke to you.  That is how you become valuable.

ATTENTION: HERE IS A POST WRITTEN BY A GUEST (IE NOT MY USUALLY TIME WASTING NONSENSE)

I asked Simon to write something up a while ago on the subject of throwing in windy conditions. He is a very good thrower/handler who always seems to have the perfect throw for any situation on the field.  He also didn't disappoint in his analysis of one of the most difficult spots for throwers. I'd like to do this sort of thing more in the future, so if you have an idea for a post, just tell me and then write it or just write it and then tell me.

Pissing in the wind...

There is little more humbling in Ultimate than watching a well-conceived throw get smacked to the dust or catapulted two fields over under strong wind conditions. These experiences attenuate our ambition for future throws and allow for the relative success of ZoneD in applying pressure to throwers on windy days. I was asked to expound on the breakdown in throwing mechanics in strong wind and whether the difficulties are physical or mental. To be concise, the challenge is most certainly both physical and mental, and the answer to this challenge can only be more practice throwing (with ambition!) in strong wind. I would like to take the opportunity to expand a bit on why certain windy conditions cause problems and to share some of my insights on good throwing strategies during tournament play during zephyrs and hurricanes.

Disc Flight

The are numerous discussions in print and online regarding the physics of disc flight. Although fluid dynamics and airfoil theory are rich areas of science and engineering, I won't trouble myself to establish a firm theoretical foundation for disc flight. Suffice it to say that, especially in windy conditions, the disc must be imparted with significant angular momentum (spin) and precise preparation for linear momentum (angle of attack, both to Earth plane and wind vector) at release to counter the forces of air drag and gravity and thereby satisfy the desired flight path to target. The spin is crucial as it reinforces the disc's center of gravity and resists the wind's power to turn it over. Preparing the disc for release is especially troublesome in wind because buffeting and turbulence can interfere with our ability to grasp and orient the disc properly during pivoting, extending and flicking. Disc preparation is a feat of calculation that is performed with real-time adjustments as we execute a throw in wind, and although our brains have unreal capacities for calculus, we cannot unfortunately see the force and direction of approaching winds. The physical and mental aspects of the throw are amplified at this exact moment of release, and so I encourage anyone practicing, perhaps on the beach where there are strong prevailing winds, to contemplate how we make these real-time adjustments.

General Guidelines

1. Low release: Most windy conditions are characterized by a quiet layer of air nearer to the ground. Because the wind strength is diminished by friction as it slides along the ground, preparing the disc for flight and getting the most out of your flick is easiest when the throw is made from and through this boundary layer. For these reasons it is also advisable to hold the disc with both hands for as long as possible while pivoting and extending to throw – it will make the process of disc preparation more efficient and less prone to bungling.

2. Spin: High angular momentum of the disc is paramount, especially in upwind throws, where the leading edge is being hammered by frictional forces: when the disc spin decreases to a critical amount, the flight path is no longer tenable as the disc precesses and heads south. Getting lots of spin on the disc is one of the basic challenges of throwing, so if practice doesn’t make perfect here, it is advisable (and shameless!) to get a little coaching. A strong grip is critical for high spin, especially for the forehand. A strong spin *with* a low release and you are golden under most conditions.

3. Practice! Obvious, but one must take it as a personal challenge to figure out what strategies *work* for them. Toward this end, I recommend throwing in a location with strong prevailing winds, like the beach, in preference over conditions when/where winds are blustery (i.e., speed and direction highly variable). Constant, strong wind conditions will give you the chance to practice the difficult stuff over and over again so you can test your varying approaches. Also, it is *important* to rotate your angle of attack on the wind direction. A best case scenario might be a two or three person box drill, where the thrower leads a 10-25 yard backhand to a cutter running counter-clockwise, that receiver then returns the favor, again going CCW, so that there are lots of throws and many different angles. Repeat as necessary.

4. Downwind: Huck away, my friend! as long as your target is a quarter mile downfield… I find downwind to be one of the most troubling situations, not only because high speed of travel make timing throws to space dicey, but also because the wind inherently stabilizes the flat path of the disc (if thrown right) and therefore makes “touch” throws to space a bit more easily defendable. I will often do whatever I can to get a little crosswind vector on the throw. If I must throw directly downwind it is best if the cutter is coming straight toward me to he/she can just take a bullet in the gut; for touch throws I find the high release to be a much more reliable option directly downwind. Practice your overheads downwind, too: this is a great red zone/half field option to have. Just remember that spin and release angle will be crucial here because the wind can be very different at 20 feet above your head…

Quick observations:

• Backhand with wind coming L-to-R: I love throwing an outside-in airbounce here (I’m a righty), one of my favorite throws as it has a tendency not to turn into a spinnaker (and wants to glide toward the target, picking up a little L-to-R action toward the end which is good for getting around the cutter’s defender or the cup.
• Forehand with wind coming L-to-R: a tricky one for me, but one can get *very* good accuracy a decent length if the disc is snapped well, kept low and release outside-in – do not go inside-out here!
• Backhand with wind coming R-to-L: best situation for the strong backhand thrower, similar to above, one should stay away from the big inside out, it will spinnaker on you. A spinny high-release IO fares better than a low release, at least in my experience. For the outside in you can generally just have at it if you remember to give tons of spin.
• Forehand with wind coming R-to-L: I don’t try this throw if I don’t have to! I’m not the best forehand thrower to begin with, but generally this condition makes preparing the disc very difficult as it tends to want to pop up or buffet in your hand as you extend to throw. Also, without the airbounce to help you on the forehand side, figuring the flight path is a tight squeeze. (I played one college season at UVM with a guy named Gene Wu who is the only fella I’ve ever seen who had a bona fide forehand airbounce: *beautiful*. I gave up working on it…) My weaknesses exposed, I encourage anyone out there to offer up hints on this forehand situation (or on anything I’ve posited above!).

No hints or fancy tips are any replacement for the encouragement to *practice* in strong, prevailing wind and to engage this natural aspect of the game with equal quantities of ambition and respect. Keep pushing your skills by attempting the seemingly “impossible” when you practice, but when it comes to game time remind yourself of what is the improbable! I look forward to any comments or discussions this post precipitates…  -- Simon

How important are offensive sets really?

John and I were chatting about a ho-stack offense the other day. We agreed that it seemed to allow for some different movement patterns than the traditional vert-stack. We've both played on different teams that have tried to implement a ho-stack with similarly terrible results. In our estimation, the trouble with the ho-stack had little to do with the offense itself and a lot to do with how we practiced/played it.

In my experience, learning a ho-stack was A LOT of chalk talk and walk-throughs. There was a great deal of discussion about where each receiver should be going, what space belongs to what player, the importance of being the proper distance from the handlers, etc. Unfortunately, while this discussion did a great job of taking up valuable practice time, it did a very poor job of teaching us how to play a ho-stack. John said that his experience involved players who didn't really have the inclination to learn a new offense.

All of which brings me to the point of this post. The offense that you play really matters very little. The important thing is being able to execute whatever offense you choose.  And the only way to improve execution is through repetitions.  I don't mean that the seven offensive players have played ho-stack hundreds of times on different teams, either.  The reps that matter are the reps that you get together as a team.

Can a ho-stack be better than a vert-stack for a certain group of players?  Sure it can.  Will simply instituting a ho-stack make that group of players perform better?  Not a chance.

Look at your team. Pick an offensive set. Get tons of reps.

What you don't see

Here's the scenario, the offense catches the pull and immediately advances the disc up the break side.  The defense arrives.  The handlers execute a perfect dump-swing to the force side.  As the disc is swung, the receiver at the front of the stack takes a hard two steps forward toward the break side and then turns and cuts deep along the break side of the stack.  The force side handler catches the swing and makes a beautiful forehand huck to the endzone where the deep cutting receiver catches it for a score.  Everybody celebrates and talks about the great throw and the great cut.

Strangely, nobody celebrates the action that actually caused the score.  Not only is this action not celebrated, it isn't even noticed by most players in the game or on the sidelines.  Truthfully, the player who took the action may not even realize the opportunity he created.  If asked, he might respond that he was just making the cut that "felt right" at the time.

The key man involved in this scoring play and involved in most scoring plays is the man who vacates the position where the disc ends up being caught.  In the scenario above, the last man in the stack was the key to the score.  As the disc was being swung, the last man in the stack took 2 hard steps deep and then cut back in toward the force side handler.  The defender assigned to the last man in the stack never saw the actual deep cutter because he was too worried about his man catching the disc underneath.  By actively clearing the deep space, the last man in the stack created a scoring opportunity without touching the disc.

I'd like you to re-imagine the above scenario, but this time let's make the last man in the stack a more typically unaware receiver.  The offense catches the pull and immediately advances the disc up the break side.  The defense arrives.  The handlers execute a perfect dump-swing to the force side.  As the disc is swung, the receiver at the front of the stack takes a hard two steps forward toward the break side and then turns and cuts deep along the break side of the stack. The force side handler catches the swing and makes a beautiful forehand huck to the endzone where the disc is knocked away by the well positioned "last back" defender.

The "last back" defender will be congratulated by his teammates for superior vision and anticipation.  And, in a way, he deserves this praise.  He was aware enough to recognize an offensive opportunity and thwart it.  He was not, however, forced to make a choice.  The receiver he was marking (Mr. Typically Unaware, last in the stack) did nothing to keep his attention. Because his receiver was no threat, the "last back" defender was free to survey the field and anticipate the offense's movement at his leisure.

The effects of active clearing are not only felt on deep throws.  Any area of the field is susceptible to clogging due to improper clearing.  We have all been told that "you have cut away as hard as you cut in", but few of us have considered why.  A cursory look at any struggling offense will show you a group of receivers who do not create space for one another through active clearing.

Thoughts from Pickup about throwing in the wind

At pickup on Sunday, I was trying to talk Simon into writing a post about throwing in the wind. He has some of the best throws I've ever seen and has a pretty sound understanding of the fundamentals.  While we wait for his thoughts on the topic, I will share my own.

Nothing causes throwers to regress like wind.  I know this because I feel like I step into a time machine set back 1 year whenever I throw in a strong wind.  My forehand really begins to break down.  Then, I start having second thoughts about throwing it in certain situations.  This, in turn, causes me to throw tentatively, which further degrades my fundamentals.  In the end, I'm only faking the forehand into the wind and throwing almost all backhands.

There are two things that throwers (and I) need to remember about throwing in the wind: the physics of the flight of the disc and the adjustments in offensive strategy.  

Physics of throwing in the wind

The key is to understand that the disc will follow its edge nearest to the wind.  By nearest to the wind, I mean nearest to that side of the field that is the source of the wind.  For example, if the edge nearest to the wind is pointed up, the disc will go up.  If the edge nearest to the wind is pointed down, the disc will go down. 

When throwing directly into the wind, the disc will always pop up or balloon.  Good throwers use this to allow their receivers extra time to run onto the disc.  Poor throwers are ambushed by the balloon effect.  It causes their throws to come up short or to go over the head of their intended receivers.  The key to controlling this effect is remember to put a lot of spin on the disc.

When throwing directly with the wind, the disc will always slip or drop down.  Good throwers are careful to put more air under dumps and other short throws while taking more shots down field. Bad throwers make tons of turnovers on short throws that drop in front of their intended receivers.

When throwing (right-handed) with a right to left crosswind, an outside-in forehand will balloon, an inside-out forehand will drop down, an inside-out backhand will balloon, and an outside-in backhand will drop down.

When throwing (right-handed) with a left to right crosswind, an outside-in forehand will drop down, an inside-out forehand will balloon, an inside-out backhand will drop down, and an outside-in backhand will balloon.

 

Adjustments in offensive strategy for wind

Simply put, the receivers must start their cuts nearer to the thrower. By moving the stack nearer to the thrower, the offense is able to threaten the space short and deep.  Remember, deep is a relative term.  If the stack sets up 10 yards from the thrower, then a 20 yard throw can be a "deep" throw.  The key is to force the defense to respect the area behind and in front of them.

When offenses fail in wind it is usually because the stack sets up too deep and the defense is able to poach on the short throws.  The thrower can't make a viable deep throw and the defense knows it.  This situation would be desperate even on a calm day.  Given that the wind is already affecting throws, however, setting the stack too deep is the kiss of death.

The other important strategic consideration is that field position can be more important than yardage.  Getting the disc to the high side (the upwind side) is as important as getting the disc down the field.  The high side allows a mediocre thrower to have several comfortable throwing lanes.  A mediocre thrower is almost guaranteed to turn the disc when on the very edge of the low side (the downwind side) simply because all of the throwing lanes available to him are both obvious and difficult.

Thoughts about Zone

There is a certain amount of effort that can be put out by any player for a given length of time. After this effort threshold is reached, the exhausted defensive player is no longer able to successfully defend his man while the exhausted offensive player just walks around. How long it takes a player to reach this threshold is a matter of technique and fitness, but in the end everybody craps out.

In man-to-man defense, the effort of each individual defender is (or should be) constrained by his match-up. The mechanism of this constraint is the effort of the offensive player. This concept is simple (and yet I've managed to convolute it). No man-to-man defender makes a 70 yard sprint, unless the offensive player he's covering makes a nearly identical 70-yard sprint a moment before. Similarly, no throw marker is constantly adjusting and readjusting his defensive position unless the thrower is also constantly pivoting and faking. In this way, defensive effort is almost completely determined by offensive effort.  This symmetry of offensive and defensive efforts has a certain beauty when you consider it.

However, I'd be a fool not to concede that this symmetry is the main reason why the offense has such an enormous advantage in Ultimate. Since even an ideal defender has to work at least as hard as his offensive counterpart, but the defender never knows exactly when or how the offensive player will move, the offensive player holds all the cards. Put another way, a great defender must prepare and commit to defending all likely offensive tactics and then actually defend the chosen tactic, while his offensive counterpart must merely select one and execute it.

In my opinion, the baseline goal of zone defense is to alter this dynamic between offense and defense (in a man-to-man defensive scheme). The goal of any zone should be to change the dynamic of the energy exchange (IE make the offensive player work harder than the defensive player). If a zone is not able to flip this dynamic to (at least slightly) benefit the defense, then there would seem to be little point in playing it.

How does a zone accomplish this goal?

The idea is to position field defenders and markers in such a way as to severely limit the options of a given thrower. This positioning should allow the zone field defenders to remain in relatively fixed positions while the offensive players scramble around trying to find the open spaces between/among the zone defenders. Obviously, the zone's ability to control the field space is inverse proportional to the offenses ability to move the disc. In other words, the more the disc moves, the less effective any zone can be and vice versa. In this way, we can see that the principle of defense (when the disc is at rest, the defense is able to hold the advantage over the offense; when the disc is in motion, the defense cannot hold the advantage over the offense) must be the guiding force behind a zone (as well as behind a man-to-man defense).

The positioning of defenders varies wildly from zone to zone, but most seem to boil down to this basic idea: offensive players far from the disc deserve less defensive personnel/attention than offensive players near the disc. This makes perfect sense as any long throw should give an attentive deep defender time to move toward toward the intended receiver. The ability to neutralize two offensive players with only one defender (in a given space) is crucial to the success of a zone. It gives the defense an extra man to play with. Typically this man is used as a supplementary marker.

A zone defense's success compared to man-to-man defense's success is directly attributed to this "extra" marker. The extent to which this "extra" marker is able to limit a thrower's options (IE increase a thrower's turn potential) is the extent to which the zone, as a whole, will be successful.