Shield and Spear Paradox

"What's your greatest strength?"

"I'm too stubborn to quit."

"What's your greatest weakness?"

"A complete lack of talent."

Brett on Grips

Brett reviewed some new gloves on skyd.  Buried in that review, he hints that he will often vary his throwing grip for different kinds of throws.  In the comments, a keen-eyed reader asks Brett about it.  I'm putting it here for later reference and so it doesn't get buried/lost.

Reference:
http://skydmagazine.com/2016/03/product-review-layout-ultimate-gloves/

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Mohammed Waseem • 11 days ago

Hey Brett. Great review. Sorry to veer off topic, but the line "utilizing slightly different grips
(split finger, power grip, hybrid, etc) for the same throw depending on distance, power, and
weighting" caught my eye. I don't do that, never thought of using it to my advantage either.
Have you explained this in detail before, in an article/video? If not, could you please elaborate on it? Thanks!

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Brett  Mohammed Waseem • 11 days ago

Hey Mohammed,
I have not talked about it much via the internet, but have discussed it in person with
teammates/friends/frisbee folk. This idea comes from my prior sports experience as a
semi-pro tennis player. Tennis players can have a wide range of grips to generate
different shots. From an eastern grip to a western grip, and everything in between:
https://www.google.com/search?...

The idea is that when you are battling baseline to baseline with hard hitting ground strokes,
you want to hit it as hard as possible to put your opposition on defense, while having enough
 top spin to keep the ball in the court. Closing the racket face (more western), generates more
 topspin but usually cuts down power. When you decide to go for a winner, you might want to
 flatten your shot out which would cut down on top spin, but generate more pace.
 Obviously the room for error shrinks, but leads to a more aggressive shot (more eastern grip).
 When you come to the net to volley, you will switch to a continental grip to maximize the racket
 face area. Other factors will come into play such as position on the court, where your opponent
 is positioned and so forth. The closer to the net, the higher the clearance, so you would need
 more top spin. In general, tennis players don't use one grip the entire match, not even the
 entire point, but will shift their grip for each tailored shot.

Utilizing this idea, why would a power grip be more advantageous for a short touch throw over
 a split finger? Much like the tennis analogy, I find small changes and alterations in grip
 provide distinct advantages in different situations. For examples, split finger grip (index finger
 sticking out perpendicular to the rim; e.g. index finger extended directly to the center of the disc)
 provides more stability and control over the release, but creates less power. Given an inside
break throw, based upon size of window, position of defender, awareness of offensive cutter,
 and a few other factors, I will alter where my index finger sits on the disc from a power grip
(index finger on the rim with middle finger, pressing hard to create more snap) if the window
 is tight, defender close, and the disc needs to arrive quickly, to a split finger grip if the
 defender is loose, window larger, or maybe a face mark where more touch will be advantageous
 to the cutter.

Another example is when throwing a high release flick. Given human physiology, I have a few
levers/cantilevers to control release angle/pitch, these being my wrist, my elbow, my shoulder,
 and my hips, primarily (could argue more, but simplicity is easier to understand and the
 reader can extrapolate). For example, if I hold the disc with a power grip forehand, I can keep
 my hips parallel to the ground, my arm parallel to the ground, and wrist parallel to the ground,
 and upon release, the disc should theoretically be released flat (everything is parallel to the
 ground). Now, holding all components the same, but bending my elbow up 90 degrees, if I
 release the disc (it now being straight up and down), it will be thrown as a blade.
(replace dumbell with disc)
https://www.google.com/search?...

Now, assuming I want to release the disc as theoretically high as possible, my shoulder will move
 my arm perpendicular to the ground (replace dumbell with disc):
https://www.google.com/search?...

Holding everything constant, again the disc will be released as a blade. So I must make
 adjustments to get a flat throw off. I can't utilize my elbow as bending that alters my throw
 from a flick to a hammer (bending my elbow moves my release more and more over my
 head). Altering my hips will only cause it to be less high release, which is against our stated
 purpose. So the only cantilever I can use is my wrist and subsequently, grip. If I bend my
 wrist away from my body 90 degrees, the disc will be parallel to the ground, however, my
 wrist will not be able to maintain that position throughout my throw due to my throwing
 mechanics. My wrist naturally will roll up on the snap due to angle and physiology (combination
 of flexion/extension, radial deviation, and pronation/supination). So again, I will change my
 grip. To manage a flat release, I will switch to a power grip which allows the disc face to point
 away from my body and creates a negative pitch (if the disc being parallel to the ground is
 0 degrees, then allowing the face of the disc angle away from my body would be -x degrees).
 Along with this, I will also move my thumb from off the top of the disc to the side of the rim
 (this will further allow more negative pitch).

Normal forehand grip on top:
https://www.google.com/search?...

I would take the thumb, which is on top and pointing towards the center of the disc, and move
 it as close to the rim as possible. This will counter the effects of flexion/extension, radial
 deviation, and pronation/supination that will occur due to the current position of the disc
 leading to a flat throw.

There are plenty of other examples, including with the backhand. Some people reference that
 I throw a more 'air-bounce' backhand, but I can throw with no bounce to extreme bounce
 just by altering the position of my thumb on the top of the disc. If my receiver is shallow and
 plants to cut deep while my mark is loose, I might throw a deep backhand with some
 touch/air-bounce/weight so that the receiver has plenty of time to run onto it (moving thumb
 away from rim towards middle of disc, on top). If I wait so he gets farther down the field such
 that I can rip a hard backhand, my mark might have time to get tight and prohibit this throw.
 So throwing earlier with touch is better. If my receiver is halfway down the field already, I need
 to expedite the flight so will need to rip it as previously described (move thumb closer to the
 rim on top).

My point with regards to the gloves was that these nuances were harder to feel and execute
 due to the sticky nature of the grip. For most people, this is highly advantageous, but given
 I will use a number of frenetic movements, I found the gloves made some of these habits more
 challenging and requiring more time to get acquainted.

I apologize that I couldn't take better pictures (google is what I have at my disposal currently)
 and delve into this with more detail, but I am at work and wanted to respond. I hope this
 provides at least a solid starting point to explaining what I meant. If you want to know more,
 feel free to post and I will keep responding. If others are interested, maybe I can throw a article
 together with video/pics.

Have a great day, God Bless,
Brett

Goal Setting

Tryout Feedback:

"You were trying out for a defensive handler spot.  Your role would have been to facilitate the offense on a turn to help us convert breaks.  You didn't make it because we didn't think you were quick enough compared to the other tryouts.  We also had some concerns about your throws.  We see you as a streaky thrower.  When you're on you can break the mark and put the disc anywhere, but when you're off you turn the disc over too much.  These were the main reasons we cut you."

There's a lot to unpack here.  The main themes are 1. "you aren't quick enough", and 2. "your throws aren't consistent enough".  It is also implied that defense (specifically handler defense) isn't good enough.  These things are big and difficult to turn into actionable, process-related targets.

As a coach, it is a pet peeve of mine to play someone who is bad at defense on a d-line, simply for their offensive ability.  As a player, I am also acutely aware of how good you have to be to play on a high level o-line.  As a coach and a player, I feel strongly that players who can't play good D shouldn't be on the field at all, because ultimate, like basketball, requires skills at both for players to be truly successful.

So defense must improve.  While true, this is way too broad to actually help me improve.  I need to break this down and set some smaller, more digestible component goals.

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http://ultiworld.com/2016/02/29/surviving-the-plateau/

So I am going to use Kyle Weisbrod's method to address these challenges and set some goals.  

Quick hits from Kyle's article:

What not to do:

- Avoid/Hide Weaknesses

- Focus on Mistakes

- Measure yourself against expectations

- Blame the team or the sport

What to do:

- Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Acheivable, Relatable, Time-constrained)

- Envision challenges to those goals and how to respond

- Keep a growth mindset

- Play a lot

- Practice non-judgemental awareness

- Get comfortable being uncomfortable

- Focus on relationships

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So the big tasks at hand are setting SMART goals and envisioning challenges to these goals.

Topic 1: Quickness

In-game quickness subcomponents:

1. Physical Quickness, e.g. how fast can you run a 5-10-5 drill
• How fast can you accelerate forward?  e.g. run a 10 yard dash.
• How much force can you put into the ground?  e.g. how powerful are you?
• What is your acceleration turnover rate?
• How good are your acceleration mechanics?
• How well can you change direction?  e.g. turn hips and accelerate laterally/to the back
• How well can you turn your hips?
• How balanced are you when running?
• What is your strength to weight ratio?
• How well can you decelerate/absorb force?
• How well can you shuffle and stay balanced?
• Do you have a good athletic shuffling position?
• Can you move your feet quickly enough?
2. Mental quickness, e.g. game awareness and anticipation
• Do you have good hip position?  e.g. ready to react in an appropriate way
• Are you looking at the right things? e.g. triangulating well
• Can you see your man at all times?
• Can you see the movement of the disc most of the time without losing your man?
• Can you play help defense over the top?
• Do you understand strategic priorities?
• Can you quickly determine defensive priorities?
• Can you recognize when your defender is out of position?

So this is a massive number of different potential focuses.  Committing to focusing on all of them at once is not a productive way to improve, so I should pick a few priorities.  I am going to narrow it down to 4 things that are particular weaknesses or have big carryover to everything else.

Priorities:

• How much force can you put into the ground?  e.g. how powerful are you?
• How well can you turn your hips?
• Do you have a good athletic shuffling position?
• Can you see the disc most of the time without losing your man?

- How much force can you put into the ground?  e.g. how powerful are you?

Process: Develop power with a focused weight training program (3x per week).

S:  Improve force production by developing leg strength with a combination of 1 and 2 leg lifts.  Work on expressing strength as power with 1 and 2 leg plyometrics and other power focused drills.

M: Add 20 lbs to my 3-rep max Front Squat (225 to 245).  Add 20 lbs to my 5-rep RFESS (65 lb db to 75 lb db).  Add 3" to my hurdle jump/box jump.  Add stability to single leg hop and stick within sets of 5.

A:  These goals are difficult but achievable by following a focused, 3 day per week lifting program.  Sub-components of this goal are recovery related: eat well, sleep well, complete sufficient prehab volume.

R:  These goals are related to my overall goal of improving quickness to improve both defense and offense.

T:  The deadline for this goal is 5/7/2016 (6 weeks from today), at which point I will assess progress and set new goals.

- How well can you turn your hips?

Process:  Drill hip turns in field workouts and complete assistance hip strengthening exercises (1x per week).

S:  Develop stronger hips and practice hip turn movement patterns.  Develop supporting musculature and address any weaknesses.  Practice some common game-like hip movements.

M:  Take video of field workouts and assess hip turn positions, efficiency, and quickness.  Track metrics including: 5-10-5 time, goose cones time.  Goal is to improve metrics by 5% and clean up hip movements via video.

A:  I do not know if these goals are achievable since I have never set goals like this before.  But they seem reasonable based on my estimations.

R:  These goals are related to my overall goal of improving on-field quickness to improve defense.

T:  The deadline for this goal is 7/8/2016 (15 weeks from today), at which point I will assess progress and set new goals.

- Do you have a good athletic shuffling position?

Process:  Practice good shuffling position in static and dynamic situations.  Emphasize good motor control, keeping weight down and staying balanced on the balls of your feet (1x per week).

S:  Work on shuffling in many different scenarios.  Strengthen posterior chain and core to build shuffling endurance so that a good position can be kept longer.  Some scenarios include: marking, lateral shuffling, jockying.

M:   Take video of field workouts and assess shuffling positions and quickness.  Track metrics of two TBD shuffling drills.  Goal is to improve metrics by 10%.

A:  I do not know if these goals are achievable since I have never set goals like this before.  This target seems difficult but reachable.

R:  This goal is related to my overall goal of improving on-field quickness to improve defense.  It also has carryover to marking.

T:  The deadline for this goal is 7/8/2015 (15 weeks from today), at which point I will assess progress and set new goals.

- Can you see the disc most of the time without losing your man?

Process: In practices and drills, challenge yourself to see the disc as often as possible without giving your man an advantage.  In particular, make assessments of when it is safe to play help defense and when it is not.  Practice playing defense in "high" position downfield, when appropriate.

S:  Practice triangulating well in pickup, scrimmages, and drills.  This means seeing your man at all times and seeing the disc whenever possible.  Avoid turning your back to your man unless you are making a play on the disc (playing help defense).  You will know you are doing this well if you are able to reposition as the disc moves and don't get caught off guard by continuation passes from an unexpected area.

M:  I will measure this goal by the number of times I have practiced this concept outside of scrimmages.  I will design a drill or series of drills to practice this and will execute it on my own.  If I have practiced variations this concept 1x per week for 15 weeks, I have met my goal.

R:  This goal is related to my overall goal of improving on-field mental quickness to improve defense.

T:  The deadline for this goal is 7/8/2015 (15 weeks from today), at which point I will assess progress and set new goals.

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Topic 2: Throws

Throw consistency is a difficult thing to capture.  I think developing consistency requires both frequent general throwing work and specific, focused effort on throwing weaknesses.  Building up weaknesses can increase the number of options available as a thrower and can result in an overall more consistent in-game performance.

I think there are multiple ways to break this down, but I'm going to break it down by throw.  I think this approach makes sense and lends itself to actionable process goals.

In-game throwing subcomponents:

1. Throwing Ability
• Can you throw a Backhand?
• Can you control how quickly you can release it?
• Can you throw it in a variety of winds?
• Can you control how hard you throw it?
• Soft
• Hard
• Can you control where you release it from?
• Low
• Wide
• High
• Can you control its shape?
• Outside-In
• Inside-Out
• Can you throw a Flick?
• (same as above for backhand)
• Can you throw a Hammer or Scoober?
• (same as above for backhand)
• Can you pull?
2. Mental Ability
• Can you make good decisions?
• Do you know what an open person looks like?
• Do you know the offensive priorities?
• Do you have a throwing checkdown that meshes well with your skills set?
• Can you make good situational judgements?
• Do you operate well under pressure?
• Can you scale your decisions based on environmental circumstances?
• Do you rebound from mistakes well?

There is also a ton to unpack here as well.  I think the best way to approach setting throwing goals is to identify weak areas for improvement and identify strong areas for development into superpowers.  The good news is a lot of these subcomponents will have carryover to others.  So I will pick 4 priorities from this list to focus on.

Priorities:

• Flick: Wide Release
• Flick: Huck in the wind
• Backhand:  Pull
• Can you make good situational judgements?

- Flick: Wide Release, Huck in the wind, Backhand: Pull

Note: I am lumping these three together because the approach for each is similar in format.

Process:  Specific throwing workouts and video of each of these throws 1x per week.  Throwing workouts to include practicing building blocks of the throw (mechanics) as well as the full throw (coordination/power).

S:  Flick: Wide Release:  Develop a better wide release around flick break.  In particular this means working on developing a release point farther from my body, getting to that release point quickly and with balance, and delivering a crisp, strong throw.  

Flick: Huck in the wind:  Develop better power and release angle for upwind and crosswind throws at 45+ yards.  In particular work on a consistent torso, wrist position, and footwork for these throws.  Focus on developing power at the core and transferring it better through the forearm.  

Backhand: Pull:  Develop better coordination/motor control for torso and hip rotation to add power and distance to pulls.  Focus on getting better torque and driving the disc farther with use of a strong crossover step and t-spine rotation.

M:  Measurement of improvement for each of these throws will be via video analysis.  I will take video of each of these throws during the workouts and assess week to week improvements and tweaks to make.  If I have worked on each one of these throws once per week for 15 weeks, then I have met my measurement target.  A metric goal for pulls is to be able to consistently hit the endzone in crosswind and downwind situations.  Consistency goal is 8/10 pulls in the end zone.

A:  I do not know if these goals are achievable, but I think they are.  I think they will be difficult, but I am confident growth can occur.

R:  These goals are related to my overall goal of improving my throwing abilities and becoming more consistent.

T:  The deadline for this goal is 7/8/2016 (15 weeks from today).  After this I will assess and create new goals.

- Can you make good situational judgements?

Note:  This is very subjective and will require help from an outside viewer to properly assess and track improvement.

Process:  The goal is to identify through video analysis of my game play situations in which I make an incorrect decision, then think critically about why I made that decision and how to fix it for next time.  This analysis can be completed on 2015 club game film.