Ladies and gents, light your dojos
Monday, August 31, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
The Little Things
I think that great teams do the little things well. A few years ago I was watching an interview with a Fury rookie. She was quick to point out how everyone on Fury was committed to doing the little things right, more so than any team she had played on prior. This was while Fury was still on their absurd streak of back-to-back championships. They had the talent, the coaching, and they knew the value in putting in the work to do the little things right. I think that things that seem little add up over a season and in the end make a huge difference. "Little things" has a lot of different meanings to me. I think teams should think critically about what that means to them, as it can cover a huge variety of situations. Here are a few examples that spring to mind:
Examples of "little things":
- The 15 minute Principle: Showing up at least 15 min early to practice and staying at least 15 minutes late.
- The Practice Quality Principle: Bringing the heat in drills and conditioning, even if you don't feel like it, or aren't feeling great that day.
- The Preparation Principle: Eating properly, sleeping properly, and practicing good time management so that you can give full focus at practices and tournaments. Bringing a water bottle to practice falls under this.
"Little things" can even extend to cover on-field skills that are often overlooked/undervalued, such as energy while marking, crisp reset passes, or strong spacing awareness.
I think perfection at the little things is a difficult challenge for any individual, but one worth striving for. Show me a team that does the little things well and I'll show you a great team.
When I'm coaching, I try to bring up the importance of the little things. I like to be at practice early. I like to stress the value of drills. I like to talk about the on-field little things we can control. I think that with practiced focus and effort, there are seemingly marginal advantages that can be gathered up all over the field. A better mark forces a harder throw, good hips adds pressure downfield, field awareness narrows the lane. The advantages start stacking up and soon they turn from marginal to real.
Hucks and skies fill the highlight reels, but games are won and lost to the little things.
Examples of "little things":
- The 15 minute Principle: Showing up at least 15 min early to practice and staying at least 15 minutes late.
- The Practice Quality Principle: Bringing the heat in drills and conditioning, even if you don't feel like it, or aren't feeling great that day.
- The Preparation Principle: Eating properly, sleeping properly, and practicing good time management so that you can give full focus at practices and tournaments. Bringing a water bottle to practice falls under this.
"Little things" can even extend to cover on-field skills that are often overlooked/undervalued, such as energy while marking, crisp reset passes, or strong spacing awareness.
I think perfection at the little things is a difficult challenge for any individual, but one worth striving for. Show me a team that does the little things well and I'll show you a great team.
When I'm coaching, I try to bring up the importance of the little things. I like to be at practice early. I like to stress the value of drills. I like to talk about the on-field little things we can control. I think that with practiced focus and effort, there are seemingly marginal advantages that can be gathered up all over the field. A better mark forces a harder throw, good hips adds pressure downfield, field awareness narrows the lane. The advantages start stacking up and soon they turn from marginal to real.
Hucks and skies fill the highlight reels, but games are won and lost to the little things.
Some Numbers
A college season, in a nutshell:
21,000 - Throws thrown outside of practice by each player. 100 per day, 7 months.
21,000 - Yards sprinted in 150 shuttles by each player, in practices.
625 - Maximum possible improvement points for a hypothetical 100% present/100% practicing team in the Winter and Spring.
221 - Days between the first day of school on September 21 and Regionals in April.
120 - Practice hours, September through April.
84 - Minimum hours spent in the gym for an A-teamer, outside of practice. 3 hrs per week, 28 weeks.
50 Practices - September through April.
8 Tournaments - Fall through the series.
2 - Games to go, both in 2014.
1 Point - Margin of victory in the regional title game that year.
1 Throw - The difference between victory and defeat.
When your name gets called, what do you want your numbers to say about you?
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Injury Inventory
Nothing is more frustrating than a recurring injury keeping you from practices and games.
-------
I think that the frequency of injury within a team can have a significant impact on a team's ability to improve over a season. A quick thought experiment:
Let's say:
- the team has a roster of 25 players.
- the team has a total of 25 available practices in which to get better (winter/spring)
- Players try as hard as they can when healthy and attend all practices.
- If a player is healthy and practices, they earn (1) point for the team.
- If a player is injured and does not practice, they earn (0) points for the team.
This means the maximum potential for the team is (25 players) * ( 25 practices) = 625 points.
The best case scenario is that obviously that everyone is always healthy, attends every practice, and every point possible is claimed. This means the team improves as much as they possibly can.
But injuries are part of the game. Wear and tear, collisions with other players and the ground, etc. can cause injury. Let's say that our team has an average of two players injured per practice. Not always the same players, let's assume it rotates around a bit.
With 2 injured players per practice, we can now only earn 23 points per practice. This caps our max potential at 575 for the season, around 92% of where we started. So the best possible version of our team is 8% worse, just due to injury.
I know I have been at practices with 5 or more players unable to cleat up. If this happened every practice, the team would be losing a full 20% of it's improvement potential, solely due to injury. (Note: I'm not even bringing attendance numbers into this, but it's not a stretch to see how teams could dip down to 65% or lower, just on number of practicing players.)
-------
Some injuries can heal with time and rest. More often, I have found that my injuries are symptomatic of a bad movement pattern, and that time and rest isn't enough. This is when physical therapy and weight training come into play.
Ren (http://www.renfitness.net/xhtml/resources.html) talks about how she works with new clients and develops an "Injury Inventory" - A list of all the injuries a player has sustained. The purpose of this is to gain a better understanding of what might be going on, if any movement patters are wrong/needs fixing, and to better determine how a player should train/identify areas of improvement. The end goal is to determine how to get on the right path towards maintaining health and being back on the field. I think it's a pretty cool idea. I'm not a certified strength and conditioning coach, but I don't think I have to be to go over my injury history and try to develop a better understanding of my historical problem areas.
My Injury Inventory:
Problem Area - Time Frame
Ankle Sprains (R/L) - Jr. High School - 6 weeks Physical Therapy (2-3x/wk)
Low Hamstring Pull (R) - High School - No formal PT
Shin Splints (R/L) - 2008 College - No formal PT
High Hamstring Pull (R) - 2008 College - No formal PT
Separated Shoulder (R) - 2012 College - No formal PT
Sports Hernia (Low Back) - 2012 College - 8 weeks Physical Therapy
Low Hamstring Pull (R) - 2013 - No formal PT
Groin Pull (R) - 2013 - No Formal PT
Groin Pull (R) - 2013 - No Formal PT
ACL Tear (R) - 2013 - Surgery, 6 months Physical Therapy
Groin Pull (R) - 2014 - 6 weeks Physical Therapy (2-3x/wk)
I have learned that I have much to learn about my body. I like to think I have made some progress towards understanding how to keep it healthy and ready to play. My most important lesson would be that coming back from a recurring injury requires listening and working with your physical therapist, great patience, and the iron will to complete rehab/prehab exercises day in and day out. I have never been able to overcome a recurring leg injury without those 3 things, and especially not without the help of a physical therapist.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
Earn the Huck
I think there is a trap young teams can fall into where they rely far too much on hucking. I think there are a few reasons this happens.
1. It works against teams that are less athletic.
2. It can seem to make sense statistically if: your offense cannot possess the disc and you know your opponent can't work it a full 70 without doinking an under and giving you a short field.
3. Some players are obsessed with hucking. A strong thrower feels like they have to win the game themselves.
If a team can win games by hucking due the reasons above, those are probably games that would be won regardless of strategy. I feel strongly that hucking is often used as a crutch, and never should be. I think teams that overly rely on hucks tend to be one-dimensional, and teams that are one-dimensional are very easy to stop. I think we can and should strive to be better than this.
I think that an offensive foundation must be built and that a team must earn the ability to huck. If a team's offense is like a skyscraper, hucking is the penthouse suite. Everyone likes to talk about how cool it is and how fun it is to be there, but without a strong foundation and lots of lower floors, the penthouse suite can't exist.
In the effort to create a multidimensional offense, I think that a foundation must be established first. For Bolt, this foundation might be built on: the reset pass (upline, around swing, dish) and the openside upfield under (20 yds or fewer, receiver coming towards disc). These foundational pieces make up 80% or more of everything the team does on the field. It takes time, effort, and focus to work on these skills, and it takes patience to use them in the heat of competition.
Our quest to master these basic skills plays a huge role in how much better we get and in how well we play in April. I think a team should strive to be able to do these things well under as many different circumstances as possible. Specifically: in different kinds of weather, in low energy situations, in high pressure situations, against different levels of opponent, and with the as much of the roster as possible. I think competence at these skills is completely within reach for a hardworking true rookie, within a 7 month college season.
Once this foundation is established, opposing defenses are forced to respect the scoring threat of possession based offense. They have to fight harder to contest unders and handler resets. I think this is when the deep game opens up, and the right to huck has been earned.
When I'm coaching, I will often ask myself: If we got the disc on universe, could we march it up the field with our foundational skills?
-------
When I watched Illinois win the regional title game in 2015, it wasn't the hucks or the skies that stood out to me. It was the methodical and juggernaut-like d-line offense, marching the disc in for break after break.
1. It works against teams that are less athletic.
2. It can seem to make sense statistically if: your offense cannot possess the disc and you know your opponent can't work it a full 70 without doinking an under and giving you a short field.
3. Some players are obsessed with hucking. A strong thrower feels like they have to win the game themselves.
If a team can win games by hucking due the reasons above, those are probably games that would be won regardless of strategy. I feel strongly that hucking is often used as a crutch, and never should be. I think teams that overly rely on hucks tend to be one-dimensional, and teams that are one-dimensional are very easy to stop. I think we can and should strive to be better than this.
I think that an offensive foundation must be built and that a team must earn the ability to huck. If a team's offense is like a skyscraper, hucking is the penthouse suite. Everyone likes to talk about how cool it is and how fun it is to be there, but without a strong foundation and lots of lower floors, the penthouse suite can't exist.
In the effort to create a multidimensional offense, I think that a foundation must be established first. For Bolt, this foundation might be built on: the reset pass (upline, around swing, dish) and the openside upfield under (20 yds or fewer, receiver coming towards disc). These foundational pieces make up 80% or more of everything the team does on the field. It takes time, effort, and focus to work on these skills, and it takes patience to use them in the heat of competition.
Our quest to master these basic skills plays a huge role in how much better we get and in how well we play in April. I think a team should strive to be able to do these things well under as many different circumstances as possible. Specifically: in different kinds of weather, in low energy situations, in high pressure situations, against different levels of opponent, and with the as much of the roster as possible. I think competence at these skills is completely within reach for a hardworking true rookie, within a 7 month college season.
Once this foundation is established, opposing defenses are forced to respect the scoring threat of possession based offense. They have to fight harder to contest unders and handler resets. I think this is when the deep game opens up, and the right to huck has been earned.
When I'm coaching, I will often ask myself: If we got the disc on universe, could we march it up the field with our foundational skills?
-------
When I watched Illinois win the regional title game in 2015, it wasn't the hucks or the skies that stood out to me. It was the methodical and juggernaut-like d-line offense, marching the disc in for break after break.
Friday, August 21, 2015
[NUT] Fwd: Go get it!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: < Z >
Date: Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 1:11 PM
Subject: Go get it!
To: Edward
Cc: Northwestern Men's Ultimate, AJ, Oliver, Neal, BJ, Chris
NUT-
I have mentioned a few times the amount of focus and desire that it takes to raise one's game. I have remarked that this team needs to invest itself in its own outcome, and that I can only be a guide for the motivation that you have within you. I probably should have been doing more to elicit that motivation. I don't really like being the intense coach, because I generally can't pretend to take it personally if a player does not perform. It does not upset me at a personal level, though occasionally I get disappointed. More often, I am heartened by the earnest effort that you put in. However, effort alone does not win titles. Effort -- hard as it is, and admirable as it is that you give it -- is like punching the clock. Focus and desire and belief is what wins.
At the Old v. Young game, I tried to exhibit (as an invested player, not as a coach) what it was like to want something. As a player, I feel personally affronted when my teammate does not put on the mark which was called. As a player, I feel deeply shamed when I make a poor throwing choice, and so I have to apologize or I cannot live with myself. As a player, I must speak out when I see my team playing defense without facing their offenders. I am compelled to remind us that we have to call UP when the disc is thrown, because we defenders CANNOT see the disc and DO NOT know when it has changed position and the count reset without that information (which changes how we should play). As a player, I have to patrol the sidelines because that might help my team out in some way. As a player, of course I take an easy opportunity to advance the disc over a riskier choice, because my team's success is far more important than my own glory. And every second that I am playing defense I am zeroed in on my task -- even if it's a poach -- and I'm constantly worried about repositioning myself, and I do this because I might be liable for a score. Surely I tell others what position I will fall into, in a zone, and no way would I let an offender slip deep without being sure that my teammate picked him up. And no way do I tire in my role as a sideline player throughout the course of the game. And certainly I have the focus to keep this up for... however long it takes!
These are not things that I need to remember. These are things that I, myself, feel, because of how badly I want to win (or maybe how much I need to avoid losing).
"But why drop the F-bomb?"
Of course, there are different styles of play, and some people play with the same desire, but without the demonstrativeness. I have been both types of player in my career, actually -- usually depending on which type I think will be most beneficial to my team. A few words on that. (One word here and one word later.
[Excuse me, in what follows, for drawing on my personal playing history. I usually try to avoid doing this, but I think I need to now.]
First, passion and competitiveness do not contradict spirit of the game. I know this first-hand. In 1996, Team USA won WFDF elite words AND the Spirit of the Game award for the tournament. I have chaired the Conduct Committee of the UPA, and I wrote the UPA Code of Conduct. I wrote the document "Ten Things You Need to Know about SOTG." My team won Grandmasters a few years ago and I was my team's spirit winner. All this just to say: it's okay to have a fire in your belly!!!!! Just respect your teammates and your opponents all the while.
"But why do you care so much?" The OvY game does not mean that much to me. But integrity means that when you make a commitment, you live by it. If you step onto a field, you do so with your whole person. If you honor your commitments in life with that kind of investment, you will live with a high confidence and comfort with yourself. Saying that you want to win means nothing unless you actually want to win. And then... if you WANT IT, you have to GO GET IT! (I mean this figuratively and literally -- go get the disc!)
"But aren't you setting unreasonable expectations?"
Three responses:
1. It would be insulting if I didn't.
2. At no time do I (as a player or coach) expect more from any person than they are capable of achieving.
3. You cannot achieve unreasonable results without unreasonable expectations.
One more personal story, then I'll go. (It's my "second word" to the question above, about different kinds of players.)
Last year, I joined the Chicago masters team Real Huck, after a few years with the Boston team. The Boston masters team had won nationals and worlds and grandmasters (when my captain approached me for the idea for a masters team as a reunion squad and asked me what I thought the goals for the team should be, I simply replied with a two line email: "1. Win Nationals. 2. Win Worlds"), but had changed personnel a bit, lost some numbers, and lost in the semis in the previous two years. My open career started in Boston then moved to Chicago, and it made sense for my masters career to follow suit. (Also, it began to feel silly to fly to tournaments as an out-of-region player as a slow, old man.) My first tournament with Real Huck was last August, and the moment I got to the fields and saw my team's playing attitude and level, my heart sank. But I had committed to the team, and this was my reality. I immediately set a tone of expectation that was out of line with everything the team had been exhibiting. This was a conscious decision. I challenged our captain (an old friend) in huddles, and did not settle for any kind of strategic explanation that did not make sense. I would not let the team be defeatist just because they were playing the open Sub-Zero squad. If a player looked off a pass, I confronted him about it and no, I would not just "let it go." If there was room for improvement on a point that we scored, or if we only got lucky, I took us to task for it. If there is such a thing as an asshole who is still respectful, that was what I was. This was all a conscious choice, though not an act. (I even told my old friend, the captain, that I had to do this. He agreed.) I continued throughout the year with this level of expectation and performance for the team. At regionals, I went into a breathless halftime tirade which was probably a verbatim copy of the second paragraph of this letter (with less, um... "expurgation," shall we say). Now I cannot take *any* credit for Real Huck's performance last year -- I wasn't even at Day 2 of regionals! -- but they were able to beat my old Boston team and also make semis of nationals. But I will take some credit for expecting greatness and believing in big things, and convincing some of my teammates to do the same.
Last year, NUT achieved glory by beating Michigan in St Louis and playing a strong game against them in Indiana. This year's book is still open. Let's make the last chapter a story of FOCUS, BELIEF, and DESIRE.
See you Tuesday,
-z
From: < Z >
Date: Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 1:11 PM
Subject: Go get it!
To: Edward
Cc: Northwestern Men's Ultimate, AJ, Oliver, Neal, BJ, Chris
NUT-
I have mentioned a few times the amount of focus and desire that it takes to raise one's game. I have remarked that this team needs to invest itself in its own outcome, and that I can only be a guide for the motivation that you have within you. I probably should have been doing more to elicit that motivation. I don't really like being the intense coach, because I generally can't pretend to take it personally if a player does not perform. It does not upset me at a personal level, though occasionally I get disappointed. More often, I am heartened by the earnest effort that you put in. However, effort alone does not win titles. Effort -- hard as it is, and admirable as it is that you give it -- is like punching the clock. Focus and desire and belief is what wins.
At the Old v. Young game, I tried to exhibit (as an invested player, not as a coach) what it was like to want something. As a player, I feel personally affronted when my teammate does not put on the mark which was called. As a player, I feel deeply shamed when I make a poor throwing choice, and so I have to apologize or I cannot live with myself. As a player, I must speak out when I see my team playing defense without facing their offenders. I am compelled to remind us that we have to call UP when the disc is thrown, because we defenders CANNOT see the disc and DO NOT know when it has changed position and the count reset without that information (which changes how we should play). As a player, I have to patrol the sidelines because that might help my team out in some way. As a player, of course I take an easy opportunity to advance the disc over a riskier choice, because my team's success is far more important than my own glory. And every second that I am playing defense I am zeroed in on my task -- even if it's a poach -- and I'm constantly worried about repositioning myself, and I do this because I might be liable for a score. Surely I tell others what position I will fall into, in a zone, and no way would I let an offender slip deep without being sure that my teammate picked him up. And no way do I tire in my role as a sideline player throughout the course of the game. And certainly I have the focus to keep this up for... however long it takes!
These are not things that I need to remember. These are things that I, myself, feel, because of how badly I want to win (or maybe how much I need to avoid losing).
"But why drop the F-bomb?"
Of course, there are different styles of play, and some people play with the same desire, but without the demonstrativeness. I have been both types of player in my career, actually -- usually depending on which type I think will be most beneficial to my team. A few words on that. (One word here and one word later.
[Excuse me, in what follows, for drawing on my personal playing history. I usually try to avoid doing this, but I think I need to now.]
First, passion and competitiveness do not contradict spirit of the game. I know this first-hand. In 1996, Team USA won WFDF elite words AND the Spirit of the Game award for the tournament. I have chaired the Conduct Committee of the UPA, and I wrote the UPA Code of Conduct. I wrote the document "Ten Things You Need to Know about SOTG." My team won Grandmasters a few years ago and I was my team's spirit winner. All this just to say: it's okay to have a fire in your belly!!!!! Just respect your teammates and your opponents all the while.
"But why do you care so much?" The OvY game does not mean that much to me. But integrity means that when you make a commitment, you live by it. If you step onto a field, you do so with your whole person. If you honor your commitments in life with that kind of investment, you will live with a high confidence and comfort with yourself. Saying that you want to win means nothing unless you actually want to win. And then... if you WANT IT, you have to GO GET IT! (I mean this figuratively and literally -- go get the disc!)
"But aren't you setting unreasonable expectations?"
Three responses:
1. It would be insulting if I didn't.
2. At no time do I (as a player or coach) expect more from any person than they are capable of achieving.
3. You cannot achieve unreasonable results without unreasonable expectations.
One more personal story, then I'll go. (It's my "second word" to the question above, about different kinds of players.)
Last year, I joined the Chicago masters team Real Huck, after a few years with the Boston team. The Boston masters team had won nationals and worlds and grandmasters (when my captain approached me for the idea for a masters team as a reunion squad and asked me what I thought the goals for the team should be, I simply replied with a two line email: "1. Win Nationals. 2. Win Worlds"), but had changed personnel a bit, lost some numbers, and lost in the semis in the previous two years. My open career started in Boston then moved to Chicago, and it made sense for my masters career to follow suit. (Also, it began to feel silly to fly to tournaments as an out-of-region player as a slow, old man.) My first tournament with Real Huck was last August, and the moment I got to the fields and saw my team's playing attitude and level, my heart sank. But I had committed to the team, and this was my reality. I immediately set a tone of expectation that was out of line with everything the team had been exhibiting. This was a conscious decision. I challenged our captain (an old friend) in huddles, and did not settle for any kind of strategic explanation that did not make sense. I would not let the team be defeatist just because they were playing the open Sub-Zero squad. If a player looked off a pass, I confronted him about it and no, I would not just "let it go." If there was room for improvement on a point that we scored, or if we only got lucky, I took us to task for it. If there is such a thing as an asshole who is still respectful, that was what I was. This was all a conscious choice, though not an act. (I even told my old friend, the captain, that I had to do this. He agreed.) I continued throughout the year with this level of expectation and performance for the team. At regionals, I went into a breathless halftime tirade which was probably a verbatim copy of the second paragraph of this letter (with less, um... "expurgation," shall we say). Now I cannot take *any* credit for Real Huck's performance last year -- I wasn't even at Day 2 of regionals! -- but they were able to beat my old Boston team and also make semis of nationals. But I will take some credit for expecting greatness and believing in big things, and convincing some of my teammates to do the same.
Last year, NUT achieved glory by beating Michigan in St Louis and playing a strong game against them in Indiana. This year's book is still open. Let's make the last chapter a story of FOCUS, BELIEF, and DESIRE.
See you Tuesday,
-z
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Critical Mass
me: Some food for thought here:
I have a theory. I am calling it the "critical mass" theory, and it describes how experience makes people good at things, very generally.
Sent at 2:36 PM
me: This theory is one way to think about how guys get good from playing in summer league, or more broadly, get good at anything in general.
Sent at 2:38 PM
me: Let's use strength training as an example. Every morning Jeremy gets up and puts in a strong day at the gym. Hypothetically, he does this for 3 years or whatever, however long it takes, and there is a point at which he reaches critical mass and is much much better.
Sent at 2:47 PM
me: I think this can be applied to almost any skill. For example: running upline, making a cut, throwing a flick, playing mid in a zone, etc.
Sent at 2:50 PM
me: The theory is that once you reach critical mass in any one thing, you improve massively. More so than you expect.
Sent at 2:54 PM
KB: I'm into that. I am not sure if you can speed up the road though.
me: Sure you can, you just do more of the thing.
KB: But time is the incompressible factor.
me: True. The compressibility of reps matters. Like, if I need to improve my flick, I should throw a lot. No question.
An additional key to critical mass is that rep quality matters. Infinite mindless reps could potentially never get you to critical mass.
So let's say the quality of a rep is on a weighted scale and falls between 0 and 1, where 0 is totally mindless and 1 is the best rep ever. (note: the best rep ever for a rookie can look really terrible and still be a 1) And then you just add up the reps until you get to critical mass.
Question is: what is a persons critical mass for xyz skill? And I don't think you ever know that part of it, since its so dependent on the individual.
So for example: Walden has reached critical mass at running upline. He can describe every facet of running an upline, every angle, when to be physical, when to clamp down, when to give cushion, etc. His picture of the upline space is clear as day. When we run upline, our picture is muddy at best since we are not at critical mass at that skill.
Sent at 3:05 PM
KB: I agree
Sent at 3:07 PM
I have a theory. I am calling it the "critical mass" theory, and it describes how experience makes people good at things, very generally.
Sent at 2:36 PM
me: This theory is one way to think about how guys get good from playing in summer league, or more broadly, get good at anything in general.
Sent at 2:38 PM
me: Let's use strength training as an example. Every morning Jeremy gets up and puts in a strong day at the gym. Hypothetically, he does this for 3 years or whatever, however long it takes, and there is a point at which he reaches critical mass and is much much better.
Sent at 2:47 PM
me: I think this can be applied to almost any skill. For example: running upline, making a cut, throwing a flick, playing mid in a zone, etc.
Sent at 2:50 PM
me: The theory is that once you reach critical mass in any one thing, you improve massively. More so than you expect.
Sent at 2:54 PM
KB: I'm into that. I am not sure if you can speed up the road though.
me: Sure you can, you just do more of the thing.
KB: But time is the incompressible factor.
me: True. The compressibility of reps matters. Like, if I need to improve my flick, I should throw a lot. No question.
An additional key to critical mass is that rep quality matters. Infinite mindless reps could potentially never get you to critical mass.
So let's say the quality of a rep is on a weighted scale and falls between 0 and 1, where 0 is totally mindless and 1 is the best rep ever. (note: the best rep ever for a rookie can look really terrible and still be a 1) And then you just add up the reps until you get to critical mass.
Question is: what is a persons critical mass for xyz skill? And I don't think you ever know that part of it, since its so dependent on the individual.
So for example: Walden has reached critical mass at running upline. He can describe every facet of running an upline, every angle, when to be physical, when to clamp down, when to give cushion, etc. His picture of the upline space is clear as day. When we run upline, our picture is muddy at best since we are not at critical mass at that skill.
Sent at 3:05 PM
KB: I agree
Sent at 3:07 PM
Buzz Bullets
Japan's Buzz Bullets beat Machine 13-12 in a friendly yesterday.
If you've never heard of them, you'd be wise to do some research.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The Gym
I've always enjoyed going to the gym. When I was a freshman in college, my dorm was about 100 yards away from Patten Gym, which has an old dungeon style weight room. Since other gyms had been built in recent years on campus, the weight room was never crowded and often totally empty. It was a great place to go to for a study break, after class, after a lower-key practice. Get in, move some weight, get out. No one to bother you, just you and your thoughts and the racks. This was my first exposure to the gym, and this frames how I think about lifting.
One thing I struggle with as a coach is motivating young players to hit the gym. I think the only player I have come across who could not stand to improve some aspect of themselves in the gym was Cam, and that was because of his severe injury history. (Which, to his credit, he overcame during his undergrad career and was able to contribute to NUT in his senior year).
I think that most players, regardless of whether they are an all-star athlete or a true rookie, don't understand how much better going to the gym can make them. As a coach, I have a hard time describing this untapped potential to a new player. I think if a true rookie works extremely hard and never hits the gym, doing things like throwing regularly, hard conditioning and sprint workouts, footwork workouts, video review, and so on, they will improve along the blue line in the plot below. I'm calling this the "normal improvement rate", because I think this is the general rate that coaches and captains will expect of young, hardworking players.
If our true rookie also hits the gym, I think they can jump up to the red line, the "surprising improvement rate". This level of improvement is hard to predict, in part because it happens a lot less often, and in part because people have a hard time understanding how others can improve athletically. Notice there is a huge amount of untapped potential if a player does not train in the gym.
I'm leaving a lot out here. The lifting program that is used is obviously hugely important. Players certainly don't need their own private dungeon gym to get strong. And, lifting by itself probably won't make our rookie a better ultimate player. (Note: For some people I think this is false, training in the gym by itself probably can make them much better ultimate players.)
My current best theory is to try to explain and demonstrate the value in training in the gym. My hope is that once the value becomes apparent, intrinsic motivation will follow.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Discomfort
I grew up playing soccer.
I played basketball and dabbled in a few other sports, but soccer was my sport. First AYSO, then later traveling teams and high school. AYSO is basically rec league soccer. A bunch of 6 to 12 year-olds running around on a tiny field with at best a vague sense of the game. Practices are non-existent and the game basically exists for kids to have fun and give parents a brief break from their duties.
I started playing more competitively in junior high, joining a U14 traveling "club" team. We had tryouts in August, weekly winter training from November to March, then a season from April to July. When I started playing high school soccer a few years later, I was essentially playing soccer year-round.
I was never one of the better players on my soccer team, I was always pretty average for whatever team I was on. I fluctuated from defense to midfield, depending on how my coach was feeling or what the team needed that year.
After sophomore year in high school, when I finished up a pretty average year on the JV team, the varsity head coach told me I should work on my finesse. I had always lacked the ability to beat players 1 on 1 in the open field, and my ability to possess the ball was pretty poor. My ball control was bad and my feet were both slow, and the head coach informed me that this was the biggest thing holding me back from making the varsity team.
I didn't really have any idea about how to improve my finesse.
I had never put in time outside of practice on any skills or athleticism, I just showed up to practice and did what I was told. But, I wanted to make varsity the next year, so I had to figure out how to improve outside of practice. I had to practice outside of practice. It felt weird and unnatural.
One of the drills we did during high school varsity tryouts was a soccer juggling contest. Players had 5 minutes to juggle as many consecutive times as possible. Our coach had always said that juggling requires great control, and was a good way to work on developing finesse. So my plan was to go to an open field near my house twice a week, and not to leave until I had juggled more consecutive times than the day prior.
I remember the awkwardness and unease I felt as a I walked to the open rec center field 4 blocks from my house. I remember walking out on the open field with my soccer ball and feeling like every random pedestrian or car passing by was staring me down, wonder what this idiot is doing in a field by himself. I remember feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed at nothing in particular, just for being on this field by myself, juggling.
But as the summer progressed, I got massively better at soccer juggling. First 10 in a row, then 20, 30, soon I was well over 100 with both feet. As I got better at juggling, I also got better at tuning out any awkwardness by focusing on the task at hand. By the end of the summer, the field was my comfort zone and juggling was second nature.
This is how I learned about practice outside of practice.
------------------
Summer after freshman year of college, when I went home and wanted to work on my throws, I knew what to do.
I played basketball and dabbled in a few other sports, but soccer was my sport. First AYSO, then later traveling teams and high school. AYSO is basically rec league soccer. A bunch of 6 to 12 year-olds running around on a tiny field with at best a vague sense of the game. Practices are non-existent and the game basically exists for kids to have fun and give parents a brief break from their duties.
I started playing more competitively in junior high, joining a U14 traveling "club" team. We had tryouts in August, weekly winter training from November to March, then a season from April to July. When I started playing high school soccer a few years later, I was essentially playing soccer year-round.
I was never one of the better players on my soccer team, I was always pretty average for whatever team I was on. I fluctuated from defense to midfield, depending on how my coach was feeling or what the team needed that year.
After sophomore year in high school, when I finished up a pretty average year on the JV team, the varsity head coach told me I should work on my finesse. I had always lacked the ability to beat players 1 on 1 in the open field, and my ability to possess the ball was pretty poor. My ball control was bad and my feet were both slow, and the head coach informed me that this was the biggest thing holding me back from making the varsity team.
I didn't really have any idea about how to improve my finesse.
I had never put in time outside of practice on any skills or athleticism, I just showed up to practice and did what I was told. But, I wanted to make varsity the next year, so I had to figure out how to improve outside of practice. I had to practice outside of practice. It felt weird and unnatural.
One of the drills we did during high school varsity tryouts was a soccer juggling contest. Players had 5 minutes to juggle as many consecutive times as possible. Our coach had always said that juggling requires great control, and was a good way to work on developing finesse. So my plan was to go to an open field near my house twice a week, and not to leave until I had juggled more consecutive times than the day prior.
I remember the awkwardness and unease I felt as a I walked to the open rec center field 4 blocks from my house. I remember walking out on the open field with my soccer ball and feeling like every random pedestrian or car passing by was staring me down, wonder what this idiot is doing in a field by himself. I remember feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed at nothing in particular, just for being on this field by myself, juggling.
But as the summer progressed, I got massively better at soccer juggling. First 10 in a row, then 20, 30, soon I was well over 100 with both feet. As I got better at juggling, I also got better at tuning out any awkwardness by focusing on the task at hand. By the end of the summer, the field was my comfort zone and juggling was second nature.
This is how I learned about practice outside of practice.
------------------
Summer after freshman year of college, when I went home and wanted to work on my throws, I knew what to do.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Knees
When I tore my ACL in 2013 I asked around for advice on what to expect from friends and acquaintances who had been through the surgery before. One of the blogs I came across was from a guy named Tyler Kinley, an ultimate player in Seattle. While our recoveries weren't exactly the same, his blog served as a great resource for me. His blog is here: http://seattleaclrecovery.blogspot.com/
I kept a brief journal of my recovery, and I find it interesting to go back through it every once in a while.
I was cleared to play by my surgeon on 6/2/2014, after 2-3 months of getting back in to lifting and field workouts 4 times/wk. After being cleared, I re-injured an old groin injury while doing a field workout and spent 6 weeks at Athletico doing physical therapy. I played ultimate again for the first time on 9/4/2014, at Evanston pickup.
I kept a brief journal of my recovery, and I find it interesting to go back through it every once in a while.
| 9/21/2013 | Backing up to fight for position on a jump ball with Ian and Jack. Prior to contact I plant hard on the super uneven purdue fields, knee buckles, heard a pop. Very painful for 4-5 seconds I think, but felt a lot longer than that. Trainer says he can't tell, still have lots of stability but doesn't think its the ACL. I know from talking to nemesis that if you hear a pop, something is up, so I sit out and ice it. | |
| 9/22/2013 | Sunday at Regionals | Still pretty swollen, it's hard to bend it or extend it or put weight on it without pain. Driving is fine though. I get a 2nd opinion from the trainer who is there (different from first day), she says she can't tell either but it's probably my ACL. After talking with Lien, Tots, Vegas, etc. on nemesis, my story is eerily similar to their stories of acl tears. At this point I'm pretty sure I tore it at least partially. It doesn't hurt that much, I just can't really extend it or flex it much. Hasn't really sunk in yet, feeling kind of indifferent about the whole situation. |
| 9/23/2013 | I email Dr. Rich to ask for suggestions on knee specialists in Chicago, and he gets me in to see him that day. I emailed at 10:30 and showed up at 2pm same day. I am extremely grateful for his help. He says it looks like an ACL tear to him and refers me to the sports medicine guys at rush. I see Dr. Verma and he gives me a prescription for an MRI and for PT to increase range of motion prior to surgery. MRI is scheduled for 9/30. | |
| 9/30/2013 | MRI (take 1) | There is some insurance info problem and they had the wrong phone number to notify me. I provide them the right info and reschedule for 10/4. |
| 10/1/2013 | first PT | PT says it looks like it might just be a partial tear and that It's really good that I have lots of quad muscles. Says my range of motion is pretty good. He says the stronger I can get prior to surgery the more quickly I can recover post-op. This is very motivating. I am already starting to get antsy since I am not able to play ultimate or train in any real way. |
| By this point the swelling has gone down mostly, but I still feel pain at full extension. If I sit for too long my knee gets stiff and I can't walk quite right. My knee locks up about once a day for a second. | ||
| 10/4/2013 | MRI (take 2) | I showed up at 6:15, but the place didn't open up until 6:40 or so. The MRI system was loud, but completely fine since I had some headphones with the NPR fall pledge drive on. Almost fell asleep. I got a CD of the results, but I never looked at them by myself. |
| 10/4/2013 | 2nd PT | Everything is going fine, PT is pretty easy. We up the amount of work I'm doing considerably in this session. |
| 10/8/2013 | 3rd PT | Everything is still fine. At this point my PT says I'm just maintaining until surgery, and to just do PT 1-2 times a day. |
| 10/9/2013 | Appointment with Jamie | I meet with Jamie (Dr. Verma's assistant) to review the MRI results. Full tear, no meniscus damage. We schedule the surgery for 10/25 at rush, after club nationals. Jamie confirms that mobility and strength look fine. |
| 10/10/2013 | I go to nut practice to meet everyone, but it goes really late. This was one of the only days I didn't do PT at least 1 time. | |
| 10/16 - 10/20 | Club Nationals | I go to watch Carol play with Nemesis at club natties. They do okay, getting 5th and hopefully qualifying for worlds. Lots of drinking happens and I don't do my daily pt on any of these days. Lots of sitting and standing around, so I guess not that abnormal. |
| 10/21/2013 | I get my daily pt going again. I get the paperwork back from Dr. Verma and it looks like I get two weeks paid time off work. Sweet. Lots of time to sit around and watch old ultivillage videos. I can start to visibly see my legs decreasing in size, and I'm down a few pounds despite still lifting (upper body) twice a week. I think it's pretty safe to say this is due to losing muscle mass. The definition in my right quad is still pretty good from daily PT, but noticeably thinner. | |
| 10/22/2013 | Good thing I have a job with insurance, even mediocre insurance. Car payments start this week too. Real life is expensive. | |
| 10/24/2013 | The surgeon sent some pretty graphic interactive slideshows of what was going to happen to my knee. But they did shed some light on how the patellar autograft process works, so that was interesting. I was told I can't eat the day of surgery, but that I should have a big meal the night before. I ate AYCE sushi for lunch and about 5/8 of a medium deep dish pizza for dinner. | |
| 10/25/2013 | Surgery | Carol drove me to the hospital. I probably got in around 7am. Everything was done by about 1pm or so. The nurse who was getting me ready was in a good mood. I turns out this was the 2nd surgery that Dr. Verma had to do that day, but he was in a good mood too. I went into the surgery feeling good. I remember getting rolled into the surgery room, them strapping me down, then telling me to take deep breaths. I was out by the 3rd breath. I woke up feeling pretty good, remembering nothing and very high on painkillers. They had me all hooked up to the an ice machine and with a brace on and everything. Getting dressed was easier than expected, there was basically no pain at all because I was so doped up. Went home, fell asleep. I could walk with no crutches and just the brace immediately. |
| 10/26/2013 | Day After | The pain hits today. I was taking painkillers every 3 hours, trying to replace the ice in my machine every 5 or 6 hours. Sleeping through the night was not possible since the painkillers wore off after 5-6 hours and it's tough to get comfortable. Moving is a lot harder. Basically keeping the leg elevated and iced 100% of the time. Tons of toe alphabets to keep blood flowing, quad sets as much as possible. The painkillers made me constipated and nauseated, but I could still handle eating soup and rice and so on. |
| 10/28/2013 | Post op appointment | Went back to Rush for them to check everything out. They say everything looks good and re-wrap my dressing. Just a tiny bit of bleeding from my scar, almost none. |
| 10/29/2013 | PT starts | Crutch 5 blocks to PT, takes me about 30 minutes. Start doing quad sets and some really basic stuff. I have full extension right away, but flexion is very difficult. Probably hit about 50 degrees flexion this week at best. Brace is locked all the time. Sleeping with brace locked and elevated and iced all the time. |
| 10/28 - 11/1 | PT week 1 | Lying around on my back. Watched a bunch of ultimate footage Walden gave me. Damn Ron used to be good. Miller brought me some ice cream, so that ruled. Tons of chilling. Pretty difficult to move around, still haven't showered. Eating lots of soup and watching a lot of movies/napping all day. |
| 11/4 - 11/8 | PT week 2 | More lying around. On 11/4 I went in for my 10 day check up and got my stitches removed. Everything still looks great. On 11/4 I took my first shower. Standing in the shower on my crutches under some hot water was incredible after 10 days of baby wipes and funkiness. This week I got to 90 degrees knee flexion at PT. Extension is still good. PT consists of assisted straight leg raises, tons of quad sets, calf pumps and some flexion exercises. I did my first unassisted straight leg raise at the end of week 2. |
| 11/11 - 11/15 | PT week 3 | I was completely off painkillers by Monday, started working from home. Brace is unlocked and I am allowed to keep it unlocked for walking around the house. I can sorta walk without it, not smoothly yet. Can't sit in a chair for that long without soreness, still elevating and sleeping with the brace on and locked. Can sleep through the night now since the pain has died down a bunch. Basically just taking Alleve now and then. At about 110 degrees flexion this week. |
| 11/18 - 11/22 | PT week 4 | Back in the office this week, I can drive now. Walking around is getting easier, exercises are now: straight leg raises with a 5 sec hold, calf raises, some proprioception, some light squats, and more quad sets. Don't use crutches anymore except for showering now. Walked without the brace for the first time this week! Just around the PT center and my apartment. Showering gets a ton easier. Drove myself to work on 11/20. First 30 min felt fine, last 40 min felt terrible. Cycled on a stationary bike for the first time this week as well. |
| 11/25 - 11/29 | PT week 5 | |
| 12/2 - 12/6 | PT week 6 | I go in for my 5 week check on Monday and everything looks great. I get to run in 6 weeks if all goes well! This week I was allowed to do partial split squats and step downs. My calf is starting to look pretty normal. |
I was cleared to play by my surgeon on 6/2/2014, after 2-3 months of getting back in to lifting and field workouts 4 times/wk. After being cleared, I re-injured an old groin injury while doing a field workout and spent 6 weeks at Athletico doing physical therapy. I played ultimate again for the first time on 9/4/2014, at Evanston pickup.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
I'm Not A Yeller
I think I have a particular style of coaching. It doesn't seem like a stretch to say other coaches have their own styles. (Bruns is great at culture, Walden is great at forming religious cults, etc.)
When I coached Bolt last year, I had a couple general goals and theories that got mashed together in my head and drove most of the things I did.
Goal:
- Help the players figure out how to be the best they can be. The general outcome goal of this is to help NUT be the best team possible at some point down the road. A critical piece of this goal might include helping Bolt have a successful season. In my mind team success for Bolt is almost entirely about the growth process and fulfillment. So effort is big.
Theories:
- I don't like to yell. My thought is that I'm not going to fix you by yelling at you. I'm just going to make you feel attacked and light your dojo on fire. I would rather watch for both the good and the bad, then work with you one-on-one.
- The Tiina Booth mental toughness approach. The legendary Amherst and UMass coach has this theory that teams shouldn't get too high or too low in terms of energy level. I love this idea. I think ultimate is a sport where each point can be looked at in a vacuum. The strategy doesn't really change based on a shot clock or a power play. I want players to be able to make mistakes and execute at a high level right afterwards. No time for tantrums.
- Hard work = fun. I think that working hard leads to growth, and that growth brings fulfillment. I'm not talking about the kind of "fun" you have if you blow off class to watch a movie, I'm talking about the feeling you get from pushing yourself in sprints with your teammates next to you. Or from lining up on universe point in a hard-fought game.
- Team culture matters. It's important to me that everyone in the program is treated with respect. I think teams can easily fall into an "athlete meritocracy" where the best athletes get worshiped and the benchwarmers get treated like dirt. This doesn't make sense to me. Most of the best players in NUT program history started as benchwarmers anyway. (For the record, I think our program today could take a motivated freshman with zero prior athletic experience and have him contribute on the A team in 2 years or less.)
A few weeks ago I was driving to Motown Throwdown with Bruns, Adam, and Ducky. We started talking about coaching, and Ducky quickly brought up that Stupca was the best coach he's ever had. Ducky went on to talk about how Stupca would yell, call people out, and occasionally be like a drill sergeant. He also talked about how Stupca was able to maintain a tremendous level of trust and respect within the team, and especially with him. Since then I have wondered what that balance might look like, and how Stupca was able to deftly manage it. I'm certain I have a different style than Stupca, but it seems like a mistake to not try and learn from him.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
You Can't Teach Catching
“You can’t really improve at catching, catching ability is
pretty much fixed.”
-Career A-teamer
When people say stuff like this it infuriates me. This statement is terrible. Not only is it totally wrong, but it goes
against the entire idea of a “growth mindset”.
This statement is like saying “Hey rookie, you suck at catching and will
always suck at catching. Have a nice
life.”
I played 10+ years of youth soccer. My hand-eye coordination was poor at best when
I started playing ultimate. If this
statement were true, I’d still have bricks-for-hands and be dropping passes all
over the place.
Catching is massively improvable.
At this stage, our career A-teamer will probably look at me dubiously
as if to say “bullshit”. Dear Career
A-teamer, even you can probably stand to work on your catches.
How can I improve at catching? Like anything, if I want to improve I have to
practice catching. Catching discs at
different speeds, with different angles, with both hands, each hand, etc. The possibilities for catching drills are
essentially endless. I think the key is
to find out what you’re uncomfortable with and practice it until you are
comfortable.
Here are a few of my favorite catching drills:
The Illinois Drill:
The key for this drill is to find a partner who can just
launch it at you. Someone like Kennedy
or Walden would be a good candidate. You
will stand about 15 yards away from your partner, and you will throw it at each
other as hard as possible. Your goal is
to try and nail your buddy in the chest so hard that it would leave a
disc-shaped bruise if he didn’t catch it.
Your goal for catching is to drop zero of these passes. If it helps, you can imagine that this pass
is the regional game-winning assist, and you must catch it at any cost.
Catch Reverts:
This is a favorite catching warm-up drill of mine. It can actually be done with any throwing
drill or warmup. This is taken from “The
Wiggins Zen Throwing Routine”, which can be found here: http://skydmagazine.com/2011/11/wiggins-zen-throwing-routine/
The purpose of this drill is to be deliberate in how your
eyes track the disc, essentially to remind yourself to keep your eyes on discs
you are catching. Here is how it works:
watch each pass into your hands and keep your eyes on the disc for about 3
seconds after the disc is in your hands.
Be deliberate. You shouldn’t need
to do this for more than 5-10 total catches to get the intended effect.
Catch Commands:
This drill is good for adding an element of uncertainty to
your catching practice. You and your
partner will stand at a comfortable distance apart (~20 yards) and you will
throw back and forth. After you throw
the disc, you’ll say one of the following: “Right”, “Left”, “Pancake”, “Claw”,
and your partner will have to catch the disc in that way. Right and Left are one hand catches only,
pancake can be either hand on top, and claw should be you attacking the disc in
front.
I think that many people improve at catching without working
on it consciously. I also think that
there’s a lot of added value to be had from focusing specifically on
catching. The nice thing about catching
is you can work on it simply by being deliberate as you go through your daily
throwing routine.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Monday, August 3, 2015
Possession Mechanics
I'm a big believer in trying to find better language to describe what happens on the ultimate field. This is both for my own understanding and so I can communicate things better as a coach. I like to think that the words I use matter, especially in how our team can pick up and understand concepts.
One definition I've been playing around with recently is a concept I like to call "Possession Mechanics".
I want Possession Mechanics be an umbrella term for what a player does physically leading up to a catch, during the catch, and immediately following the catch. This would be fully inclusive of where a player is looking, how the catch is made, how the disc is gripped or re-gripped, deceleration and pre-throw footwork, and potentially even how the throw is delivered. I think grouping these things together and isolating them is a nice way to start to design drills and start to improve in these areas.
Here is an example of what Possession Mechanics would include:
1. Catch is about to be made (eyes on disc)
- Is there defensive pressure?
- Can I prep my footwork?
- How do I need to catch the disc? Is it at my chest? Is it low, do I need to bid?
2. Catch is made (eyes on disc) - optional (footwork prep for priority 1 throw)
- Am I catching with two hands? One hand?
- What is my throwing priority 1 going to be?
- Can I catch in a way that makes that regrip faster?
- Do I have time to prep my footwork for the throw?
3. Grip or Regrip is made (eyes on priority 1 target)
- Disc is in my hands. How do I regrip it quickly enough?
- Where is my priority 1 target? Will they be open by the time I am ready to throw?
4. Throw is made to priority 1 target if open (eyes on priority 1 target)
etc.
Possession Mechanics matter because they will affect how an offense is able to use timing and spacing. The timing effect is seen in how quickly the catcher can be ready to find the target (eyes) and execute the throw (footwork and body). Spacing should dictate where the catcher looks next, and will vary widely based on situation and offensive structure.
I think that good possession mechanics allow a cutter to catch and throw in flow better. I think that good possession mechanics are a critical fundamental for handlers. I think a team with good possession mechanics can find soft spots in defenses more easily by being ready to attack weakness as much as possible.
When it comes to improving at possession mechanics, I think it's easier to break scenarios down into some of the possible [catch]/[deceleration]/[turn and throw] categories. Without getting into offense-specific needs too much, I think the 5 categories I would pick are: power position, around swing, cermak/dishy, breakside under, openside under. Each of these scenarios can be pretty easily made into a drill, with the intent of getting reps and polishing mechanics. For example, a power position drill might look like the picture below, with the red person cutting upline and the blue person throwing the upline pass.
The focus of this drill would then likely be on executing the power position catch and throw quickly, with balanced footwork, and a well executed throw.
I think that possession mechanics is a nice way to think about how players manage the disc. I think it makes this piece of the game a bit easier to digest and offers another way to look at some of the pieces that go into breakside continue and give-go mechanics.
One definition I've been playing around with recently is a concept I like to call "Possession Mechanics".
I want Possession Mechanics be an umbrella term for what a player does physically leading up to a catch, during the catch, and immediately following the catch. This would be fully inclusive of where a player is looking, how the catch is made, how the disc is gripped or re-gripped, deceleration and pre-throw footwork, and potentially even how the throw is delivered. I think grouping these things together and isolating them is a nice way to start to design drills and start to improve in these areas.
Here is an example of what Possession Mechanics would include:
1. Catch is about to be made (eyes on disc)
- Is there defensive pressure?
- Can I prep my footwork?
- How do I need to catch the disc? Is it at my chest? Is it low, do I need to bid?
2. Catch is made (eyes on disc) - optional (footwork prep for priority 1 throw)
- Am I catching with two hands? One hand?
- What is my throwing priority 1 going to be?
- Can I catch in a way that makes that regrip faster?
- Do I have time to prep my footwork for the throw?
3. Grip or Regrip is made (eyes on priority 1 target)
- Disc is in my hands. How do I regrip it quickly enough?
- Where is my priority 1 target? Will they be open by the time I am ready to throw?
4. Throw is made to priority 1 target if open (eyes on priority 1 target)
etc.
Possession Mechanics matter because they will affect how an offense is able to use timing and spacing. The timing effect is seen in how quickly the catcher can be ready to find the target (eyes) and execute the throw (footwork and body). Spacing should dictate where the catcher looks next, and will vary widely based on situation and offensive structure.
I think that good possession mechanics allow a cutter to catch and throw in flow better. I think that good possession mechanics are a critical fundamental for handlers. I think a team with good possession mechanics can find soft spots in defenses more easily by being ready to attack weakness as much as possible.
When it comes to improving at possession mechanics, I think it's easier to break scenarios down into some of the possible [catch]/[deceleration]/[turn and throw] categories. Without getting into offense-specific needs too much, I think the 5 categories I would pick are: power position, around swing, cermak/dishy, breakside under, openside under. Each of these scenarios can be pretty easily made into a drill, with the intent of getting reps and polishing mechanics. For example, a power position drill might look like the picture below, with the red person cutting upline and the blue person throwing the upline pass.
I think that possession mechanics is a nice way to think about how players manage the disc. I think it makes this piece of the game a bit easier to digest and offers another way to look at some of the pieces that go into breakside continue and give-go mechanics.
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