Raising The Bar

Champe and Sahaj were wondering my thoughts on this post:  http://champeman.blogspot.com/2017/11/demanding-best.html
The short answer is I mostly agree with what Champe is saying, though I don't feel any particular level of despair.  The longer answer is below.

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Raising The Bar
(This is intentionally a lifting reference)

First of all, I have a ton of thoughts about this topic both generally and specifically in reference to NUT.  I think Champe is asking the right kinds of questions here.  My thinking on goals setting and team/individual expectations has changed a lot in the past 8 months, some of my current thoughts are going to be different than when I first started coaching.

I'm going to reduce his post to a few questions/ideas and cherry pick lines that I like.  Champe talks about:
1.  Without an external mentor providing setting a high bar, complacency and comfort with current ability level is pretty typical.  Even Champe, someone who is extremely internally motivated, sometimes needed that bar to be set for him externally (his step-dad, Bruns).
2. So how, as a coach or leader, do you get your players to demand the best of themselves?
3. Demand for one's best has to come from someone they believe is in the arena with them.
4. Why is demanding the best something to strive for?
5.  "...to reach the next level of competition...we have to get better at playing frisbee"
6.  On acceptance of failure, the standard of not losing, and creating an environment in which players are used to/comfortable with losing games.

1.  Without an external mentor providing setting a high bar, complacency and comfort with current ability level is pretty typical.  Even Champe, someone who is extremely internally motivated, sometimes needed that bar to be set for him externally (his step-dad, Bruns).

I think this is an extremely important idea.  I think it is the responsibility of the coaches to set this bar for the players at the individual level.  It's critical to understand both what motivates the player externally, and how to elicit internal motivation.  An aspect of setting the bar is that feedback needs to be honest, correct, and with an actionable plan for improvement (basic example: Champe you are fat, if you were fit you'd be good - KB).  This ties directly into relationship-based coaching aka "being in the arena with them" (because you are!).  So the coaches should understand what the team needs, and set an accordingly high bar for individuals with a constant eye for building motivation.

Thought #2, from "Training Soccer Champions" by Anson Dorrance:  It is the coaches responsibility to hold the team accountable for their level of play.  The biggest challenge of coaching has to do with the mental responsibility of maintaining this high standard, of having uncomfortable or awkward conversations when they are needed and making sure the team gets as much out of practice time as possible.  A lesser coach may miss or forgo this encounter due to the awkwardness involved, and the team will be worse for it.

2. So how, as a coach or leader, do you get your players to demand the best of themselves?

Another important question.  Probably one of the quintessential questions for any leader of any team.  At the most basic level, players need to understand what "their best" is, and they need to want to achieve it.  Coaches should help players with understanding what their best looks like through individual feedback and support.  Coaches can also work to elicit the individuals desire to perform to that level.  I think this 2nd piece is about the fundamentals of motivation and stages of change.
Motivation:
"Human beings are motivated by purpose, autonomy, and a drive towards mastery."
Stages of Change:
1. A case for change (I/we are not great & losing, I/we want to be great & win)
2. A compelling picture of the future (I/we could play great ultimate)
3. A sustained capability to change (I/we can develop our skills)
4. A credible plan to execute (I/we can use my/our skills and win)
(Legacy, James Kerr.)
The message is:
- [x] is our team's purpose
- here is where we/you are today
- here is where we/you could be
- here is how we/you get there
- here is why we/you want that
Each of these steps must be completely honest.  Providing incorrect or dishonest feedback helps no one.
I think the culture of improvement and growth is incredibly important for creating a healthy basis for this motivation to grow.

3. Demand for one's best has to come from someone they believe is in the arena with them.

Coaches who do not have good relationships with players are going to struggle massively with communication and the development process.  Players are humans and must be treated as such.  It's really important to have strong trust between players and coaches so that the critical constructive feedback cycle works properly.  Love this point.

4. Why is demanding the best something to strive for?

The obvious answer is because it is necessary to be a great team.  The 2nd layer answer is because this is a skill that has massive carryover to all other aspects of life.  Investing your whole self into something and really pouring yourself into it is a recipe for a rewarding and successful life.  If you are capable of doing something well, you should do so, all the time.

5.  "...to reach the next level of competition...we have to get better at playing frisbee"

I am all about this idea.  I think this is completely true.  It is so obvious, but is seemingly glossed over all too often.  Specifically with reference to NUT, if we want to go further in the post-season, we simply need to get better.  Not just a little better, a lot better.  We should not try to "steal a bid" or "get a crazy upset", we should level up our own game and be a legitimate contender for the kind of outcome we want.  If we want to be a great program that goes to nationals regularly, the level we are attempting to reach is a level where we are consistently earning a bid for nationals through our regular season competition.  The nation is filled with talented, hard-working teams, and ascending to this level is not an inevitability.  It is a matter of developing truly great individual players and truly great teams.  If we want to champions, we need to train like champions and believe like champions.

6.  On acceptance of failure, the standard of not losing, and creating an environment in which players are used to/comfortable with losing games.

A number of thoughts here.  Firstly, simple acceptance of failure should be unacceptable.  Failure is inherent to attempting something challenging, but it must not simply be accepted, it should be addressed directly and worked on.

When it comes to playing well and being great, losing an individual game is external.  If NUT wanted, we could go to 3 low-tier tournaments during the regular season and go undefeated, a perfect 21-0 record heading into the post-season.  We could potentially end the season with a record something like 31-1, falling at regionals to team x.  This is not the way to develop and grow the program, this is a surefire path to complacency.

By going to more difficult tournaments with better opponents, we are challenging ourselves to play better against better opponents.  Great opponents are the best true feedback loop for us as individuals and as a team.  We'll gain a real understanding of how to get open, how to defend, how to place throws, etc.  Our standard of play will be elevated above what it would be if we didn't push our level.

We must play every game with the intent and a deep desire to win.  Regardless of opponent, no game is out of reach, especially not at the college level where turnovers are plentiful and competition varies a lot game-by-game.  Our desire should extend down to the micro level, where we are battling to win each moment of each point of each game.  If we play incredibly well and lose, this is of far more value to us than us sleepwalking through a game and winning, in my mind.

I think one of the most powerful ideas that Chuck brought to NUT was a nuanced approach to process vs outcome and commitment to team-ness.  He wrote a note a couple years back that really resonated with me:

"We were under a lot of pressure [last year], and it was visible.  We were upset instead of joyous to play.  And our team had expectations of performance which made it seem like a goal was just something that was supposed to happen instead of something worthy of celebration.  We were fragmented.  We were individuals.

I want us to:
- Be invested in the man, not the player.
- Be committed to the process, not the outcome.  (i.e. "it's unacceptable to get beat or lose" is the wrong message).
- Recommit to Humility

Last year there were some damaging beliefs that crept into our minds:
1. We believe we "should" win some games.
2. We believe that our best player needed to play great for us to win big games.
3. We believe that only nationals or winning (or no turnovers or getting a block) is acceptable.

These ideas exist on many teams, even high-caliber teams.  All of those ideas contradict humility.  Let me explain for each:

1. We don't deserve any wins, and we're not focused on wins.  We have the opportunity to earn it every time we step on the field.  That's it.  We come to each game humble, and we respect our opponents and always believe in our teammates, especially when our brothers make mistakes.
2.  No individual is greater than the team.  No one needs to single-handedly lift the team to victory.
3. It is none of our business what the results of our efforts are.  We are committed to each other, and we are committed to the process.  We get better every time we are together, we give honest and clear feedback, and we stay committed to each other.  Captains/coaches need to keep the tone positive no matter what because being negative IS ARROGANT.  We don't know what is supposed to happen, so when we get upset with what is happening, we are essentially saying that we DO know what's supposed to happen and that this isn't it.  We don't commit to a result.  We commit to each other and the process.  That's it."

- Chuck

2017 Men's Club Closing Thoughts

Before I get into this, I have to point out that the Mixed and Women's finals were really excellent this year and the Men's final was a pretty brutal blowout.

Here is what happened:

Big surprises:

- Sockeye struggling as much as they did.  I felt they were pretty overseeded at the 2, but they did much worse than I thought.

- Patrol getting last.  And getting bageled by machine?!  Crazy.

Less-Big surprises:

- Doublewide showed up ready to play in Sarasota, which makes my initial take on them look pretty good.  This is a surprise if you believed the hype and seeding on them.

- High Five and Johnny Bravo not making quarters.  I felt like they got caught on a difficult side of the bracket due to some pool play wackiness.  But so it goes.

- Dig making quarters.  Let's note that Babbitt was at nationals and basically carried them to quarters.  Per the ultiworld live tweets, seems likely Dig would have not made it that far without Babbitt carrying them in big moments.

- Florida managing to win games with their style of play.

In conclusion, making picks like this is a tough prospect.  There's definitely a lack of information on which to base this stuff, even if you keep your ears to the ground on all of the content being created.  Too many unsung great players buried on these rosters to be able to make clear picks.  I think it's easier to identify the top few teams, but outside of that there's a ton of noise.  There's also a lot of variance from the games themselves, as you'd expect.  It's easy to say after the fact "oh, well revolver was a clear champ from day 1", but if you look at it at a micro level, if a few throws were an inch or two to the right or left, we might be talking about Ring of Fire's first title.  As Bruns said this weekend, probably better to look at the results as a Bayesian update, more than predetermined outcomes.

The Coaches Dilemma

Note: Champe is putting together a great series on styles of defense.  Check out the first one in his series here: 

http://champeman.blogspot.com/2017/09/styles-of-defense-baiting.html

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I have some miscellaneous thoughts about coaching as it relates to individual player development.  

To preface this, I think coaching should be specific to the team being coached and the one doing the coaching.  Every team has specific needs, and every coach needs to be able to speak their truth to be most effective.

Topic 1: Pushing versus Settling

In "Training Soccer Champions", Anson Dorrance makes the claim that players generally settle.  His thought is basically that players don't really know how good they can be, and therefore they generally won't have a reference for their own ceilings.  Furthermore, he claims that it's the coaches responsibility to keep the players from settling.

Dorrance postulates that this is the most difficult thing about coaching.  For example, an inexperienced coach might let things slide or be unwilling to demand the best from the team because they want to avoid an uncomfortable situation.  He thinks that it's the coaches responsibility to carry the burden of these potentially uncomfortable or awkward encounters for the sake of the team.  An obvious example of this might be a lack of focus in a practice setting.

I think that pushing people past their perceived limits can have a ton of value, which is how I interpret what Dorrance is saying.  I also think it's easy to interpret his perspective as an "assuming the worst" mindset, in which players are inherently lazy and unmotivated.  I feel this is generally untrue, it seems to me like players generally want to be the best they can be.

There is a natural tension with this for college ultimate, as no one is playing as a career or even for a scholarship.  Absent these external motivations, what drives ultimate players tends to be more internal I think, things like teammates, unity of purpose, shared struggle, community, personal growth, etc.  Notably I think these motivations can be incredibly strong.  But the fact remains that ultimate usually can't always be the top of the priority list.  So the challenge is to understand the level of pushing that is appropriate for the circumstances, both on a team and an individual level.

Topic 2: Influencing Culture

Words + Body Language + Actions = Culture

All of these things matter, and they matter a lot.  The interactions of every person on the team plays into the above equation.  For each of these components (Words, Body Language, Actions), I think there's a public portion and a private portion.  Public would be things done in practices or at tournaments.  Private would be conversations, interactions, etc related to the team that are done individually or outside of a team setting.  Coaches and captains have a strong influence over all of the public side, maybe 75% of that is up to them.  The other 25% of the public component is made up of non-captain leaders and other players.  The private stuff is much harder to influence.  I think maybe 5% of the private components of the above can be directly addressed through leadership.  And the private culture can make or break your team.

Hypothesis: If the private culture is mostly gripes about other teammates or about leadership, this can create rifts in the team and can lead to frustration and premature individual burnout.

Culture matters for individual development because a healthy culture motivates and nurtures players.  Effort is rewarded, teammates are able to put in work towards shared goals, visibility is clear, and the team ceiling is raised.  Premature burnout leads to disconnection and lack of interest, resulting in a lower team ceiling.

Topic 3: On Motivation

How do you maximize internal motivation?

We can provide external incentives to put in work (i.e. throwing challenges with prizes), but at the end of the day I think the motivation from sources like this is much less powerful than internal motivation.  But internal motivation just isn't consistent for a team, ever.  I have never encountered a team in which this was the case.  (this doesn't mean it doesn't exist, however)  Right now my best guess is that providing useful outlets for inter-team competition is the best way to drive constructive motivation on the team level.

I also think showing what is possible may help.  This would be like taking the team to spectate club nationals.  I think it was awesome we were able to do that last year, but this is likely going to be logistically impossible for the foreseeable future.  Not sure how to fix that, as I don't think video has the same effect.

In "Legacy", James Kerr writes "Human beings are motivated by purpose, autonomy, and a drive towards mastery."

I don't have a lot of good ideas about how to implement this better.

Topic 4: Food for Thought

- "Everyone deserves to have a fulfilling ultimate season." - M.N.

- Would you want to win a championship if the entire season leading up to it was terrible?

- What is fulfillment and how do you define it, at a team level?

- I have a feeling that "unconscious goals" exist for individuals.  These would be like a phantom goal that is on everyone's mind but no one ever addresses.  Are these bad/good?  How do we address and influence these?  My intuition is that season "success" has a lot more to do with these than with a stated goal that no one buys.

Club Lessons

I have played for a lot of different club teams.  All of them are tier 2 regionals mens teams from the Chicago area, and a lot of them have had overlap in terms of teammates or philosophy.  None of them have been particularly close to qualifying for nationals, but every season has had a different flavor and brought with it different lessons.  Here is a list of misc thoughts from each season:

Haymaker 2011 (practice player):
- This season taught me that sometimes club captains don't really know how to handle practice players and very likely won't email you back in a timely fashion (if at all), better to show up and talk in person.
- I learned that there were a ton of players out there who were better than me.

Haymaker 2012:
- I learned that people play club for a lot of reasons.  This team was a group of tight-knit friends.  This group was difficult for me to enter.
- I learned that most teams want to be great and set lofty goals, but only some teams want to work hard for those goals.
- I learned that a cultural expectation of being late to practice sets a very negative tone from day 1.
- I learned that I am noticeably slower and worse when I don't work out on my own (imagine that!).
- I learned that staying at people's houses on tourney weekends is way better than staying at dingy hotels.

Chicago Club 2013:
- I learned about the difference between a good team and a great team.  Here's a basic explanation:  Imagine 50 men's players who are all skilled, are athletic, and work hard.  Take the best 25 of those players and put them on one team, then take the next 25 players and put them on a second team.  Let's say the first team is great, the second team is good.  A game between these two teams at the club level will be something like 15-8.
- I learned that egos and internal friction can tear a team apart.
- I learned the importance of consistent coaching and vision.
- I learned that if I wanted to play ultimate seriously as an adult, I needed to take much better care of my body and my injuries.

2014
This year I did not play.  As I was recovering from my ACL injury, I traveled with nemesis and watched them play at a number of tournaments.
- I learned about self-discipline and taking care of my rehab.
- I learned that upsets happen all the time (i.e. nemesis taking down riot at PFF)
- I learned that there are a lot of different coaching styles out there.
- I slept on the floor of the 5ive warehouse, so I learned about that too.

BMU 2015:
- I learned that it's possible to have a club experience that is as fun if not more fun than college, depending on who's on your team.
- I learned that results being better than expected make early season problems seem distant and small.
- I learned that I could play an entire season and stay injury-free.
- I learned that tearing my ACL didn't end my playing career.

BMU 2016:
- I learned that manufacturing culture only works to a degree.
- I learned that success must be earned, never assumed, and that the wide world of ultimate is broader than I previously thought.
- I learned that relationships are key to trust, and relationships aren't automatic in the team setting.
- I learned that captaining can drain your soul if you let it.

SSL 2017:
- I learned that sometimes culture creates itself.  Especially with guys from ND.
- I learned that pain and joy don't only exist at the top levels of the sport.
- I learned that total detachment from the outcome can be a blessing and a curse.  In one sense, you are totally free, there is not pressure or responsibility.  In another sense, you rob yourself of the ability to achieve.  Shouldering the pressure of a lofty outcome goal takes courage.  Without goals, there is no risk, and there can be no joy in achievement of those goals.
- I learned about the cultural power of self-subbing.
- I re-learned there is no replacement for strong, clear leadership.

2017 Men's Club Opinions Revisited

Checking back in with my pre-season predictions:

Likely seeds per ultiworld:
https://ultiworld.com/2017/09/28/2017-national-championships-seeding-predictions-mens-division/

To be specific, my picks are on final placement, so we'll see how close I get at the end of October.

Big surprises:
- Madison Club playing terribly all season, not earning a bid, then losing to Subzero in the g2g. This team seems obviously talented enough to make nationals, and I can't help but feel like they picked the wrong thing to prioritize (audl), and sarasota was the cost as an outsider looking in.
- On the flip side, Condors earning a bid was a surprise (and being able to hold off Guerrilla to take it).  Having played them last year at SFI, I didn't feel like they had the depth of athletes to hang.  Big props to them for a great season.
- Dig being good.  I felt like Dig was a flash in the pan without Babbitt.  Totally wrong about that.  I don't believe the hype about them making semis of whatever, but definitely much better than I expected.
- Doublewide not being that good.  I think they have the pieces to be really great, but their results have consistently fallen short of what I expected.
- Florida United doing their thing.  In retrospect I should have seen this coming.

Small Surprises:
- Sockeye being better than expected.  Still would be surprised to see them in semis.
- Machine & High Five a bit better than expected.
- Patrol being mediocre.
- Goat taking care of business.
- Ironside losing some guys and looking like not a semis-level team.

Teaching Throwing - Year 6

On Tuesday we gave new players their first taste of throwing instruction.

This year I wanted to teach flick basics first.  A few reasons for this:
- For some reason a lot of new players have already thrown backhands before.
- To some new players, flicks seem interesting and challenging.
- I want to keep bad habits from forming as early as possible - specifically arm position and grip habits.

Last year when we did this, I just talked about grip and taught them a simple wrist drill.  The drill, which I call the "Sam O'Brien Drill" is to hold the disc in front of you in a vertical blade, then throw it 3-5 yards to your partner focusing on the wrist motion.  I think this drill is great for diagnosing how smooth wrist action is and for working on being clean through that range of motion. 

However, I didn't start with it this year because I think it can lead to a lot of arm position confusion and early bad habits, since the drill is done with a "broken" wrist and without an extended upper arm.

This year my two cues for the flick were:
1. Arm Position
- palm up
- forearm parallel to the ground
- extended upper arm
- I had everyone put their arm in this position without a disc and feel what it felt like
Basically this:

2. Proper Grip
- pointer finger and middle finger position
- thumb position
- ring finger and pinkie
As discussed here:
http://www.ultimaterob.com/2013/11/14/forehand-mechanics-that-arent-taught/

Then we had everyone do partner throwing from about 10 yards while I went around and provided specific feedback for grips and deliveries.

Some of the individual cues I found myself giving a lot were:
- Lead with the elbow, finish with the wrist
- Pointer finger and middle finger position was often not secure enough or in the wrong spot
- Some who had thrown before were throwing with "broken wrists"
- Torso position and lean came up a bit
- Keeping the arm and elbow in an externally rotated position through the release

Other thoughts I have had about this:
- Some players need to develop the range of motion to have their elbow and wrist externally rotated through release - for these players they just need reps with basic cues to keep them from overcompensating in other ways (i.e. at the wrist or shoulder)
- Many players struggle with keeping a strong grip but also being able to snap the wrist.  For these players, a tight grip = rigid wrist.
- Some players just "get it" immediately.  Sometimes they have played badminton or tennis or baseball, other times I don't have a specific reason for how it happens.
- I'd rather have a player starting from scratch than one who has a release/draw with major flaws who can consistently hit a 20 yarder

09/11/2017

a.m.
Sleep in

Throwing:
Disc Golf

p.m.
PT exercises

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#champewasin

09/10/2017

Day 2 of sectionals, 2 games to 11, 2 games to 15

09/09/2017

Day 1 of sectionals, 4 games to 11

09/08/2017

a.m.
Sleep in

Throwing:
Throwing Theory

p.m.
PT Exercises
Driving to sectionals

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On offenses:
Hypothesis:
1. Offense is about who runs where and why.  It's about shapes (spaces) and objectives.
2. Setup is a lot less important than we think.  Initial starting position should just facilitate what you're trying to do.  Vertical Stack, Horizontal Stack, Side Stack, Split Stack, etc. are all just differentiated by where guys start from.  I think the idea that there is only one correct way to play any of these offenses is not accurate.

09/07/2017

a.m.
Rest and PT

Throwing:
OI/IO Wrist Mechanics

p.m.
PT exercises

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On throwing hard:
- How firm is the grip?
- How coordinated is the torso & arm?
- How stable are the legs?
- Are you driving through your hips?
- How strong are you?

09/06/2017

a.m.
Rest and PT

Throwing:
Throwing Theory

p.m.
PT exercises

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Check out this post by Champe on baiting D:
http://champeman.blogspot.com/2017/09/styles-of-defense-baiting.html

09/05/2017

a.m.
PT exercises

p.m.
Evanston 3v3

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My boy Sahaj started a travel diary:
https://thevoyhaj.wordpress.com/

09/04/2017

Labor Day

- Rest Day -

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I watched the Pro Champs Women's and Men's livestreams:

Brute/Riot Notes:
- Lukewarm take: I think Riot is the favorite this year, I think they finally win it all.  Reasoning: Paige Soper is playing great, MB has a lot of injuries that hurts their depth, Brute is younger/3peats are hard/their offense looks worse than last year, Fury has a little lower ceiling this year.
- Counterpoint: Lien made some errors down the stretch, Riot can't count on that in Sarasota.
- Riot handler defense was very good.  Created a lot of pressure and really difficult resets for Sinicrope and Tajima.  I especially felt like Amber Sinicrope got exposed, really struggled to get open in the reset, which led to a ton of jams for Brute Squad.  "Stall 8 jump ball to Becky" might work once a game, but it obviously isn't a reliable strategy and doesn't bode well.  I'd be drilling O resets and rhythm pretty much exclusively until Sarasota if I was them.

Revolver/Machine Notes:
- I felt like Revolver didn't really want to play a sloppy game of ultimate at first.  It seemed like machine was more willing to play a grittier & messier game, and this directly led to a lot of scores for machine.  Specifically, Revolver seems to be really uncomfortable on longer points or reacting to things they don't expect.  Example: Von layout d's Beau, and a bunch of the Revolver guys are just standing there dumbstruck(?!), so Champe just picks it up and throws it to KK.  Boom, break.  If I was coaching revolver I'd be losing my mind, watching that.
- Grant Lindsley & Ashlin Joye just murdered the junky sets from machine in the 2nd half.  They moved the disc more quickly and repeatedly hit the middle guy for big gains.  They were able to do this by spreading out their offensive shape.  When they got too constricted (as they did in the 1st half), Von was able to hit layout Ds on the shot to the stationary up the gut.  He did this twice and it resulted in 2 breaks for machine.
- I felt like the game came down to depth of athletes.  Machine took a lot of good shots to open people, but the Revolver defenders were able to make up ground and make a play.  This happened a couple times with Pardo vs Nick Stuart/Antoine Davis, and once with Fergus vs Eli Friedman.  I think against lesser defenders those shots would have worked, but the windows were smaller and as a result blocks were created.
- I felt like Machine did a good job punishing poaching and sagging.  They had a good willingness to hit poached guys, like Yiding or Shanahan, both guys you want to have the disc.  Aside, I think Yiding played great.

09/03/2017

Rage Practice - Some drills then 7v7, light conditioning

I like the way Hoff talks about frisbee.

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Well, Machine sure showed up to play this weekend!  Big wins over Revolver, Sockeye, Bravo.  We'll have to wait and see the tape, but per ultiworld the recipe was junky defenses (to disrupt pull plays) and striking deep early/often.  This feels like an oversimplification, if it was that easy to disrupt the best teams in the country, why wouldn't everyone be doing this?  (aside, I think most teams do try to do this in one way or another.)  So, I want to watch the videos and see for myself.

One thing of note is that Machine pretty regularly not only jumped out to early leads, but they also closed out games.  This is a good sign for them and I'm glad they were able to put together strong games.

Tangential Aside:
It's almost impossible to tell the difference between a good team who is playing poorly and a less good team who is playing well.  For example, going into this weekend Machine was ranked #16 and Temper was ranked #17, each based on most of the seasons-worth of results.  Going into the weekend there's not a lot of reason to think that either team is much better than the other.  After this weekend's results, it feels easy to say "oh, well machine was a good team who was figuring out stuff/growing", and "temper was an ok team that played well, but then got exposed against real competition".  Point being, easy to assign narratives after the fact, but very hard to determine quality beforehand, even with a season worth of results to look at.

09/02/2017

Rest Day

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Today I got the ND football gameday experience.  It's safe to say ND tailgates way harder than NU (obviously?).

09/01/2017

a.m.
Sleep in

Throwing - Throwing theory

p.m.
Gym (Hang Cleans, RFE, etc)

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Heading into the USAU Pro Champs weekend:
What's the GL bid picture going to look like?
- Can Machine keep their bid?
- Does Rival shift up or down due to secondary effects?
- Who's the top seed going into nationals in the women's division?
- I wish the UPA was at this tournament so they could play their way in.  Either way, the UPAARP is going to worlds so I reckon it doesn't matter given the large amount of overlap.

08/31/2017

a.m.
Sleep in

Throwing - Throwing Theory

p.m.
PT exercises

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Thursday, aka the best day to clip your fingernails pre-tournament.

08/30/2017

a.m.
Sleep In

Throwing - Throwing Theory

p.m. 1:
Gym (Squat, Deadlift, etc)

p.m. 2:
BFP practice

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On respecting your opponent's strengths (when you are playing defense on them):
- It's important to not over-respect them to the point of not actually playing defense
- Do things that make them uncomfortable
- Understand what they want and make that difficult
- Understand what winning the matchup means and play with intent to do so and conviction that you can.  Great players make mistakes all the time, find those openings and take them.

08/29/2017

a.m.
Jump Rope and Core

Throwing - Wrist mechanics

p.m.
3v3

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Lots of scoobers and hammers today in calm conditions.

On throwing a touch away shot:
Most important: Release it quickly/throw it slowly and smoothly.
2nd most important: Throw it with the right shape.

Your objective is to make it sit for the receiver.  Push yourself by throwing into space earlier than you think.

08/28/2017

a.m.
Sleep in

Throwing - Max Effort Wide Flick Breaks, w/ Shimmy

p.m.
3v3 for 1.5 hours

-----

Order of skills coached:

Usau teaches coaches in the CDP level 1 clinic that skills should be taught in the following order:

Catching
Throwing
Marking
Pivoting
Cutting
Downfield Defense
Force
Stack

The idea is to go from throwing (Catching & Throwing), to recognizing the power of throwing to advance the disc, eventually expanding out from 1v1 (Pivoting/Marking) to 2v2 (Cutting/Downfield D/Force) into 7v7 (Stack, etc).  I think this list is just ok.  I don't like how deterministic it is, and I think it leads to a lot of coaches teaching kids to stand still in a vert stack and do nothing.

There are other opinions about this, for example KB wrote in 2013 that it should be like this:

Marking

Downfield Defense

Cutting

Catching

Throwing

KB proposes that he wants a player to be able to contribute on d and see how they can add value.  So this is a more direct path to adding value immediately.

I think where you start should depend on who you're coaching, so I'm going to break it down into 3 scenarios.

Scenario 1: Coaching a very young team with no prior sports exposure (i.e. U10, possibly middle school)

Scenario 2: Coaching college freshmen who have athletic experience in other sports

Scenario 3: Coaching college freshmen with no prior athletic experience

Scenario 1: Coaching Middle School, no prior sports exposure

Movement

Throwing

Strategy

With kids this age, I think the most important factor in athletic success (short & long term) is to practice moving properly.  This means teaching things like how to shuffle well, how to change direction, how to sprint, and how to control your body in an effective and safe manner.  So I'd do a lot of fun & competitive games focused on that.  The next most important thing is throwing.  I'd spend a lot of time on the basic rules of thumb here, I think it's important to teach throwing to kids in a way that won't be restrictive later on in their careers - so throwing with good wrist snap and forearm position, minimal extra motion, and good feet.  If we're doing those things well, we have a good shot of being able to apply the kinds of basic strategies that would make us play a coherent game.  We could jump straight to strategy on day 1, but I think if we do that, our final product at the end of the season will be much worse and our players will be much more limited.

Scenario 2: Coaching college freshmen with athletic experience in other sports

Throwing

Strategy

Movement

The premise here is that pretty much any athlete coming to ultimate from a different sport will be way behind in terms of throwing.  This is especially true of athletes who are already moving well and maybe played a sport with a lot of carryover to ultimate movements, like soccer, basketball, football, rugby, etc.  So I need to teach them the correct grips and get them throwing asap so that they can catch up.  If these players come from a field sports background, then it should be obvious that they have a background in movement skills, so the next most important thing is teaching how to apply those skills to the game.  I think I would teach downfield defense next, then marking, then cutting (all 2v2 or 2v1), then move to 3v3.  Most important lessons from 3v3 are to understand how space works with the disc and what open/not open means.

Scenario 3: Coaching college freshman with no prior athletic experience

Throwing

Movement

Strategy

These players are just as far "behind" in terms of throwing development as scenario 2, so I want to get them throwing right away.  Again, important to teach proper grip (1st) and good rules of thumb (2nd).  This allows them to impress their friends and potential mates by throwing on the quad in their spare time (this is big).  After that, I'd get into the movement games and drills.  18 year old non-athletes have a lot of basic athletic movement work to do if they are going to learn to be effective on the field, and these patterns are important to work on.  This matters a lot for injury prevention and for not limiting these players later on in their career.  Aside: strength training is almost always a must for these players, with few exceptions.  After we're throwing and moving reasonably well, I'd move on to how to apply all that stuff into the game.  Note: there is a lot of jargon in ultimate that new players aren't going to know.  It's important to address and explain those as we go, as well as digging into why when possible.

Final note:

I don't think it makes sense to just work though your 8 topics or whatever and just be done.  You aren't going to create a flawless ultimate team by spending a week on each of USAU's recommended topics or anything.  This isn't a weight loss advertisement.

I think you should go over the basics and then revisit them to address the next layers.  Maybe you could do cycles like this:

Cycle 1:

Movement 1 - Athletic Stance and Shuffling

Throwing 1 - Grip and Wrist Position

Strategy 1 - 2v1/throwing with a mark - 1 throw

Cycle 2:

Movement 2 - The 20 yard sprint

Throwing 2 - Neutral Stance and Leg position

Strategy 2 - 2v2 1 throw

Cycle 3:

Movement 3 - Jockying/Match Hips

Throwing 3 - Throwing with a mark

Stragey 3 - 2v2 with endzones

etc

08/27/2017

Stretching and Prehab

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Here is a list of factors for assessment of an ultimate player:
(This is taken from the CDP level II manual, a number value between 1-3 is assigned to each trait)
Presented verbatim, without comment:

Field Sense

Position D (Coralling)

Defense (Smart)

Defense (All Out)

Decision Making

Clearing

Loud on Sidelines

Flick (short)

Flick (medium)

Flick (long)

Flick (break)

Backhand (short)

Backhand (medium)

Backhand (long)

Backhand (break)

Pivoting

Comfort of Transitioning

Quick Release

Confidence in Throws

Pulling in bounds

Pulling (distance)

Dead disc hucking

Dump Cutting

Fast

Quick

Hammers?

Throwing through mark

Swing Throw

Fouls (calling)

Fouls (committing)

Vision

Catching (raptor)

Catching (using body)

Catching (running through)

Running Down Disc

Skying

Reading (offensive)

Reading (defensive)

Maximizing Vert

Bidding

Good @ Talking

Injury Prevention

Spacing

Body D - Handler

Body D - Cutter

Marking

Trusting - Team D

Recover / Catching Up

Do you get Ds?

Zone - cup?

Zone - wings?

Cup - Deep?

Cup - S. Deep?

in shape / conditioning?

Hand/eye coordination

08/26/2017

BFP Practice
- A bunch of 7v7 reps, played downfield cutter defense the whole time.

Notes:
The majority of the time my matchup was setting up as the initiating cutter from the back of a vert stack.  This meant I had a plenty of time to set up in my preferred position and to think about my defensive plan each rep.
- I made a specific effort to set up low and balanced with my hips somewhat parallel to the sideline.
- I knew that the offense was going against a mild upwind and that long standstill huck shots were likely to float and give me time to catch up and make a play.
- I knew that long upfield breakmark throws would likely be challenged on the mark or be difficult due to reset crowding.
- So with these things in mind I focused on taking away the underneath angle whenever possible, while trying to stay within 1 step of him leaving deep.
- I wanted to make sure to take away the deep strike whenever I saw a swing pass or incut completed, as these were the moments with the softest pressure and highest risk of me getting beat.  (see: Orbiting)

Takeaways:
- I felt like I could take away the biggest threat pretty consistently without doing all that much actual running.  Just by re-positioning constantly and with small movements I could take away important angles consistently.  Not that this was a low effort style, definitely the opposite.
- I feel like this would be way harder against an offensive cutter who was making harder moves and setting up their cuts better.  Basically if the cutter does a better job making me commit to defending real moves.
- There is a tangible feeling of the size of the field shrinking when you have a sense that the abilities of the thrower are limited.  I.E. if you see the thrower look off or badly execute a 30-40 yd away shot to an otherwise open target, this is a big indicator of what the main defensive priority should be.
- I am not sure exactly where I look when I am playing 1v1 defense and I'm not trying to peek at the disc.  A few times I tried to focus on my opponent's hips, but if I did it for the entirety of a point it wasn't conscious on my part.  I think this is important, and I want to know what my instincts are currently telling me.

- Baiting: I think the best opportunities for baiting are when you're able to get to a position that gives you a shorter/more direct path to the disc than your matchup.  This could mean taking the inside shoulder or maybe playing more defense from the breakside under position.  I also think you usually need some time to catch up, so it's a bit easier on longer moves and passes.
- I am not good at baiting.  One of the best players I know at baiting ds is Champe, maybe he can shed some light on how he breaks that down.

08/25/2017

Sick today, no workouts

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I started reading "Training Soccer Champions" by Anson Dorrance.  It's super good so far.  I like the way he talks about expectations (both teamwide & individually), competitiveness, and getting the most out of practices.

08/24/2017

a.m.
sleep in

Throwing - 1-leg throwing

p.m.
Prehab and stretching

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Not-so-hot take:
Marvel's Defenders is not a very good show.

08/23/2017

a.m.
Core & Jump Rope

Throwing - Wrist mechanics

p.m.
Gym (RFE, Hang Clean, etc)

BFP Practice
-----

Question of the day:
How can Wheel Routes better be used in ultimate?

08/22/2017

a.m.
Sleep in

p.m.
Prehab and recovery exercises

-----

Importance of physical traits in ultimate:

1. Quickness
2. Coordination
3. Speed
4. Explosiveness
5. Height
6. Size
...
Other Things

08/21/2017

Rest Day

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- Today I went to see the eclipse, it looked like this:

- This is not my picture, this is from NASA
- We left at 3am and returned at 12:30 am, it was a long drive

08/20/2017

Cooler Classic Sunday - 3 games

- I felt great today, aside from being a little sore from yesterday
- I felt like I was moving well & getting open, and my flick hucks were feeling very precise
- I made more of an effort to set up my throws and to execute on my delivery to specific spots, and it went pretty well today
- We played a fun, intense game against MKE in the semifinals, but we lost on dgp
- I need to work on my defense, on dgp my matchup was able to take yards because I wasn't applying enough pressure & didn't re-position quickly enough
- Cooler was fun

-----

- Nemesis won ESC!  I'm on board the Nemesis hype train.
- Pop also has done very well this season, making the north central region interesting for the first time in a good while.
- This site is great, Cody Mills from Ultiworld put this together: http://www.frisbee-rankings.com/usau/club/women

08/19/2017

Cooler Classic Saturday - 4 games

Cooler Notes:

- I felt pretty sick this morning, and I was not able to eat anything until much later in the day (note: this is bad food theory)

- We had 18-20, and we used an equal PT system with two lines of 9-10 alternating, it was great

- I struggled with my reset cutting a bit, Pat told me I was dancing too much and not making strong moves

- I started feeling better physically by the end of the day, I was able to move better

- We stayed at LS's house, which has a lake in the back.  Chilling in the lake after games was awesome

-----

- KB was present, didn't play Climax though

- Thor was also present, but I didn't see him

- Tier 2 and 3 ultimate are subject to a high degree of variance game-to-game, this is mostly because of throwing and catching errors

08/18/2017

a.m.
Jump Rope and Core

1-leg throwing

p.m.
Prehab exercises

-----

Cooler Classic this weekend!

08/17/2017

a.m.
rest -> sleep in

Throwing - Working on wrist mechanics for flicks

p.m.
rest -> prehab exercises

-----

My guy Ed started up a blog, his first post is about defining "touch", it's great!
http://speyderman.blogspot.com/

08/16/2017

a.m.
dynamic warm up
Shuffling drills:
- varying foot width
- 2-step shuffling: back at multiple angles
Cool Down

p.m.
BFP practice

-----
Simple, unsexy things that make you a much better player:

Basic recovery & maintenance tips:
- Drink water throughout the day
- Sleep enough & with good quality
- Eat plenty of food / Avoid processed sugar
- Limit caffeine intake when possible
- Don't sit for longer than an hour at a time
- Perform prehab and rehab on a daily basis as needed
- Maximize every opportunity for growth

08/15/2017

a.m.
Jump Rope progression
back prehab/core

1 leg throwing

p.m.
dynamic
Evanston 4v4
cool down

-----

- I am bad at jump rope
- Got wrecked at 4v4 today

- Push passes are worse than backhands as reset passes most of the time:
The short backhand gives you much better control over placement and the pace of the pass.  There are a few cases where push passes can give you a more desirable angle, but generally they are pretty slow, floaty, and easy for defenders to make a play on.

08/14/2017

a.m.:
Dynamic
Ladder Drills
Jab Cut Sequence
Cool Down

Disc golf with Walden, working on vertical flight path

p.m.: 808 & Conrad pod
Dynamic
Ladder Drills to incut
3-man marking
Reset O/D 1v1 drill - from movement
Hill Sprints x 8 (longer, less steep)

----
- SSL might get the big rematch with KBs Climax this weekend
- I am going to see the total eclipse next week with Hair, I am psyched
- Acceptable interval at which to visit out of state old friends: ~1x per year?

Fun fact:
- there is a thing called a beer engine

Purpose & Quick Hits

"Human beings are motivated by purpose, autonomy, and a drive towards mastery."  -James Kerr, Legacy

Recently I have been thinking about how to create a better, more driven environment within the culture of our team.  I have a few thoughts here or there about how to facilitate "autonomy" and "a drive towards mastery", but I want to dig a little deeper on "purpose".

I think on the surface, conveying purpose is pretty simple.  For pretty much any sports team you have a nice underlying purpose of "be the best team we can be".  It's accessible and easy to understand.  For other purposes, as a voice, you can say things like "This is important to us", and "This matters", when referring to different things you find important.  All this is great, but I feel like this isn't a particularly strong way to provide motivation.

I think this is because me saying "X is important" misses two major things:
1.  The listener may not know why X is important
2.  The listener definitely won't feel why X is important

When I'm saying "X is important" to the team, what I'm really trying to say is 1. X matters because of A, B, C reasons, and 2. I want us to feel a sense of urgency and importance for thing X.  So how do I convey important stuff on a deeper level?  Such that it really can be a motivator?

I think that a better way to provide purpose on a deep level is by using storytelling.  I'm not saying that every huddle should be storytime, but I think using stories as a medium has a lot of potential benefits.  For teaching, stories can be a good way to keep everyone engaged while explaining both the A, B, C reasons AND provide a sense of how we should feel about it.  For culture, having a verbal history told through stories is a critical piece of identity that can provide long-term motivation.

On using stories to improve engagement in teaching science:
http://www.npr.org/2017/08/11/541644222/tyler-dewitt-how-do-we-get-kids-hooked-on-science

On storytelling in general:
https://www.ted.com/playlists/62/how_to_tell_a_story

------
Quick Hits:

- To outplay, first you must outwork
- Power rankings are dumb / I'm not sold on Sockeye yet, and I'm not selling Ironside either
- On the flip side, I'm picking revolution to win worlds in the women's division
- The level of skill on display in the U20 YCC final was eye-opening
- Chicago needs more coaches, specifically skilled/elite coaches coaching high school.  How do you provide purpose to potential coaches?

Misc World Games Thoughts

Team USA won the world games gold medal match 13-6 over Colombia this past weekend!

Colombian team thoughts:
- They're incredibly quick across the roster.  I felt like they had a speed and quickness advantage vs team usa almost at all times, but especially in the pool play game.
- I think their quickness allowed them to get open in small spaces well and play an incredibly intense level of matchup defense versus team usa.
- The Colombian women are incredibly skilled at making great poach reads, making up ground and pressing the B button.
- I enjoyed watching the quick disc movement they were able to use.
- Speed kills: Quickness/Speed >> Height
- I also felt they were playing an offensively disciplined style that was stingy with the disc, especially in the pool play game.  In the 2nd half of the gold medal game I felt like team usa was able to adjust and colombia started to rack up miscues.

Team USA thoughts:
- I would have taken Kami over Carolyn Finney
- I would have taken Joel Schlachet over Beau
- The last point was a full field jump ball from Georgia to Sandy.
- Most impactful players from the gold medal match for team usa, in order:
1. Lien Hoffmann
2. Georgia Bosscher
3. Nick Stuart
4. Grant Lindsley
- Lien Hoffmann's 1st half stat line was something like 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 Ds.  Ridiculous.
- Lien Hoffmann is now officially the most successful alum of northwestern ultimate by a fair margin: 2 x club championships, 1 wugc gold medal, 1 world games gold medal.  Ness has had a longer and arguably more successful career, but does not have the world games medal.
- I don't love the initial offensive position that a shallow ho stack provides.  I think the underneath options are pretty easy to sag and poach off of, which forces impeccable spacing and timing as an entire offensive unit.  Basically, I think it's easy to make sloppy spacing mistakes and the 10-15 yard gainers you earn can be a small return on a difficult investment.  I think you have to be viably representing deep threats in order for the offense to be good.  The ability to represent that deep option can vary with wind conditions.
- Anna Nazarov threw team USA out of some jams in the early going with some really phenomenal backhands to the inside lane.
- I don't think Jimmy Mickle is actually that good at defense.  I think he's able to stay reasonably close, but won't really generate blocks except on floaty deep shots or poach reads.  I also don't think he's great in small spaces.  But on offense he was pretty much unstoppable.
- I think Beau isn't great at hander defense.  In the first half it looked like he was getting crushed by the colombian handler core.  I felt like he was kind of just on the field to run deep on a turn.  Which he did pretty well, to be fair.
- Surge played well and looked good.  I was worried she'd be still coming back from injury, but she turned in a great performance.

Other thoughts:
- I think it's dumb that team usa got to play 1 fewer game than team colombia due to weather
- I liked that team usa lost the first game, I thought it added a lot of intrigue as a fan
- The video streaming for this tournament was so much better than 4 years ago, even though it wasn't super well advertised
- I hope that parity continues to increase at this tournament

Throwing Fundamentals That Aren't Throwing

In ultimate, the best offensive players are able to pick defenses apart with their throws.  These players are able to complete perfect reset passes, move the disc upfield easily, find the break space, and throw deep, all while facing the best defenders trying their hardest to stop them.  Watch any club finals video in the last 5 years, pay attention to the details, and you'll see a clinic of throws with proper timing, pace, shape, setup and delivery.

A lot of this has to do with the high throwing ability level of these offensive players (i.e. pace, shape, delivery), but there is more to being a good thrower in ultimate than simply being good at the act of throwing (i.e. timing & set-up).  In this post I'm going to break down the key components of being a good thrower in ultimate, aside from the actual throw.  This is something that will almost never make the highlight reel.  I would consider competency at these components to be the bare minimum requirements for not being a liability as a thrower on a nationals level club team (unless you are a ridiculous athlete/defender, and even then).  If you do not do these things well, you may find that against better teams/defenders you 1. get hand-blocked on open side throws sometimes, 2. your throws get poached with regularity, 3. you aren't able to hit open players sometimes because you're off-balance or holding the disc with the wrong grip for that particular moment, and/or 4. your breakmark moves suddenly aren't open or are getting regularly blocked.

Primary Components:
1. How you stand and hold the disc
2. How quickly you can hit your release points
3. How well you can manage and move the mark
4. How well can you read the downfield defense (i.e. hit the right window, read poaches, adhere to the offensive principles and stall count)

1. How you stand and hold the disc (aka "neutral position")
Why this matters:
You want to have access to as many different throwing options as possible as a thrower.  In order to accomplish this, you must be balanced (foot/leg position) and you need to hold the disc in a manner that allows for quick transitions (how you hold the disc).  You need to manage the space between yourself and your mark.  You also need to do these things in a way that allows you to punish your mark for mistakes they might make (i.e. being too far away, being too close, taking bad angles, getting off balance, etc.).

General Rules:
- Your feet should be slightly wider than shoulder width.
- Your weight should be distributed approximately evenly prior to making a move
- Your knees should be slightly bent, ready to pivot
- You should be on the balls of your feet, not on your heels
- You should hold the disc in a threatening way
There are basically two good ways to do this:
1.  Hold the disc in front of you with both hands, can be in either a flick or backhand grip (this position allows you to be threatening and doesn't let the mark get too close)
2.  Hold the disc in a blade in a flick grip (this position allows you to minimize flick release time)

Example:

Here are some screenshots from the 3rd point from the 2016 men's semifinals.  (This point was selected randomly, you would see this on almost any point of nationals level play.)  If you watch this point, you will notice that every single catch is proceeded by that player getting into a neutral position, and they will often return to neutral more than once per possession.  The only possession on this point in which a player does not go to neutral is when Jared Inselmann receives a reset with full vision of his next option and throws immediately.

Getting to neutral as they turn downfield and read the play allows these players to quickly access their throwing toolboxes, as they are balanced and ready to deliver the next look.
Note: As you can see, Ironside players like to hold the disc with two hands, in "Neutral 1".

Errors that require correction:
- Standing with your feet too wide such that you are off-balanced and cannot threaten a variety of throws
- Holding the disc in different way (i.e. over your head, upside down, with your offhand)
- Standing too upright/stiff-legged
- Standing with your weight on your heels
- Holding the disc out away from your body in a backhand blade grip (aka BBQ Dad grip)

How to work on this:
Level 1: Neutral throwing drill modifier - can be done with almost any throwing drill:  The objective is to start in the neutral position prior to any throw you make.  So set yourself up with a good foot position and holding the disc in your preferred neutral grip.  Then practice delivering your intended throw from this neutral position.  The idea is to teach your body the pattern necessary to go from neutral to delivering the intended throw.  This can be done with any throw.

Level 2: Practicing moves from neutral.  This includes things like shoulder fakes, shimmy moves, small pivots, wide pivots, etc.  Basically the idea is to practice going from neutral to making a real move to throwing.  You can also practice making a fake and getting back to neutral, basically attacking a spot then getting balanced again.

Level 3: Implementing your neutral position in drills like 3-person marking and breakmark drill.  Practicing the patterns you have worked on with a game-speed mark, finding out what works and what doesn't.  At this stage you should be trying to work on moves that open up the spaces you want and methods for moving the mark for breakmark and hucks.  Here is an example of Jimmy Mickle moving the mark to create space for his huck:
Normal view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjpo2crdJ2g&feature=youtu.be&t=1328
Another view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjpo2crdJ2g&feature=youtu.be&t=1351
The huck is not completed, but the move to create space that he uses is excellent.  Notice how he sells the move with his foot and hip position, and how far he is able to get his mark to move.

2. How quickly you can hit your release points
Why this matters:
This will directly influence your ability to execute properly timed passes, open side, breakmark, and otherwise.  If your windup is too long, you are giving your mark time to adjust and hand-block you, you are giving the downfield poachers time to react and make a play, and you are essentially decreasing the potency of your offense by diminishing the viable throwing window.  Your ability to hit release points quickly is critical when you are throwing against an experienced marker and downfield defensive unit.  Good marks are able to react quickly and will not hesitate to handblock releases that aren't quick enough or wide enough.  This is especially true when you are actually trying to beat the mark, say with a breakmark move or with a huck.

General Rules:
- Your throwing motion should be as short as necessary, you should not need the same windup for a 5 yard pass as for a 50 yard shot
- You do not want to have any "hitches" in your throwing motion that cause your release to be slower or more predictable.  The best way to determine this is through video.
- There is no point releasing super wide (i.e. in a lane) if your pivot is so slow that your mark can shuffle over and seal it
- The faster you are at catching and releasing the disc cleanly and with balance, the better you will be at offense
Other tips:
- It is valuable to practice a large variety of release points and practice getting to them quickly (duh)
- It is valuable to practice releasing the disc wide with good upper arm position
- It is valuable to practice pivoting in an explosive manner
- It is valuable to practice your catch and release footwork, especially power positions and breakside continuations

Example:
Cassidy Rasmussen is one of the best men's players in the world in terms of catching, finding his target downfield, and delivering the disc quickly.  In the point below from beach worlds, his quickness of delivery allows him to throw a breakside flick huck into space.  If his release time is longer, the mark would have time to come seal the throw and/or his target would be too deep.  Because of his ability to deliver this throw quickly, the team USA offense is more dynamic.
Cassidy WCBU: https://youtu.be/5L5o949VbNo?t=1227
Extra Credit: This throw actually isn't perfect, it's a bit too slow/high, but it works out because it is early enough that the cutter can take a good position and make a play.

Errors that require correction:
- Pivoting without a specific objective (this slows you down and gives you nothing)
- Pivoting too wide and getting off balance/stuck
- Hitches in throwing motion that limit release quickness, power, release point
- Sloppy footwork with pivoting and with catch & release mechanics
- Clumsy hands with re-gripping or switching from flick to backhand grip too slowly

How to work on this:
Level 1: Practice and cultivate a simple and crisp throwing motion.  Take video of wrist and forearm mechanics.  Practice throwing short range passes while balancing on 1 leg in order to isolate your wrist and forearm.  Emphasize a clean wrist snap.

Level 2: Implement this simple and crisp throwing motion with a wide variety of release points.  Practice on two legs with a variety of pivot distances and locations.  A good drill for this is to pick a release point, say wide backhand, and to practice hitting that release point with an explosive pivot and quick release.  This can be performed for any throw/any release point.

Level 3:  Practice with a live mark - attempt to beat your defender to your spot.  For example, starting from neutral, try to throw a break by releasing more quickly than the mark can get there.  Other release points can be added as you go (low/wide/high/past the mark/etc).

For catch and release: A good drill to work on catch and release is "double disc throwing".  You and your partner both have a disc, and throw at the same time.  This will result in you having to catch and release very quickly because you have to throw so that you can catch the disc coming at you.  You are trying to catch and release as quickly as possible such that your partner is not able to keep up with you.

Final Note on #2:
The release points you have in your toolbox determine a lot of your effectiveness as a thrower.  I strongly encourage you to work on developing new release points and strengthening current ones.  It's good to have a general proficiency with a lot of release points for the same type of throw.  It is also good to have a throw that is your "superpower".

3. How well you can manage and move the mark
Why this matters:
A high level mark is able to dramatically decrease the throwing options of an inexperienced thrower.  A good mark is able to read an inexperienced thrower and will punish you when you are off balance (predictable), when you aren't holding the disc in a threatening way, when your release points are slow, and when they know what throw you feel like you have to throw (ex: a dump).  A high level mark also isn't going to react to half-hearted or fake looking pivots, as they aren't threatening and therefore you are just wasting your time/limiting your own throwing options.  Some marks will also try to distract and irritate you by being very close (fouling) and crowding you, something that can fluster younger throwers.  Good throwers are able to beat good marks by controlling the space between them and the mark (aka "managing the mark") and making moves that are a real threat, forcing the mark to react or get beat.

General Rules:
- Holding the disc in front of you with two hands limits the ability of the mark to crowd your space/foul you
- You can control how close the mark can get with your non-pivot foot.  For example if a righty is being forced backhand, you can move your right (non-pivot) foot forward towards the mark, giving yourself more space to pivot by forcing the mark to be farther away and creating better angles for you relative to your pivot foot.
- The less motion you have to use to move your mark, the better
- In order of weight transfer commitment, from lowest to highest, you have: shimmy, fake step, short step, medium step, wide step
Other tips:
- Practice calling fouls and throwing through contact
- Practice pivoting through and boxing out on backhands
- Practice faking in a convincing manner
- Practice against both forces and special mark positions

Example:
This example of moving the mark is the Jimmy Mickle example from above:  You can also note how he is holding the disc in front of himself, which is partially dictating how far away his mark is.  As in, his mark can't physically be closer to him unless he's actually touching Jimmy with his face or leans back more.

Here is a more subtle example of moving the mark from the same game.  In the screenshots below, John Stubbs sees that an around cut is developing and his mark is forcing no around.  He is able to use a shoulder fake to make his mark shift is weight to the left, opening a lane for the invert reset that he throws.  The timestamp for this is here.  If John does not use a shoulder fake here, this throw is essentially not open.

Errors that require correction:
- Standing too stiff, allowing the mark to take away too many options
- Getting flustered by an overly physical mark
- Not calling fouls on the mark
- Not creating throwing lanes against an active and skilled mark
- Holding the disc in a predictable manner
- Allowing the mark to dictate the space between them and the thrower

How to work on this:
Level 1: Practice good foot position and how to hold the disc against a skilled and active mark.  Also practice this against a mark who is standing too close to you.  Practice delivering the throw through contact and calling a foul (if applicable).  Practice calling contact and disc space while staying focused on downfield targets.

Level 2: 3-Man mark and breakmark drills.  Practice moving the mark with a variety of levels of weight transfer commitment moves.  Practice shimmy moves, fake steps, short steps, and wide steps.  See how the mark reacts and work on making them believable.  Practice making space for an intended throw (i.e. you know you want to throw a flick huck, so practice faking the backhand to make space for your intended throw).

Level 3:  Work on the specific setup moves that cater to your toolbox of release points and throwing weapons.  Practice minimizing extra movement and releasing quickly after moving the mark.

4. How well you can read the downfield defense
Why this matters:
It's critical for a thrower to understand where spaces are and where they are developing.  This will help a thrower know where and when to look at certain spaces, which gives them what I would consider the "inherent offensive advantage".  The offense has the initiative, and the more they are able to force the defense into reacting, the better off that offense will be.  Another way to think about this is that great throws are most often great because of their timing and placement, rather than some herculean effort.  If you can understand exactly where and when to get the disc in the right spot, you are playing offense at a high level.  As a related note, being aware of poaching defenders and help defenders is a critical aspect of offense at this level.

General Rules:
Be aware of strategic factors like:
- Location of Mark (i.e. straight up, no around, out of position, etc.)
- Location of Downfield Defense (can include poachers/help d/other)
- Location of Offense/Offensive Shape
- The objective of the offense
- The Stall count (& reset patterns)
- The throws you have in your toolbox
Note: things that matter for these are time, position, momentum, field of vision, etc.

Errors that require correction:
- "Tunnel Vision" aka staying with a target for too long
- Not adhering to basic offensive objectives
- Not seeing poaches/not punishing them
- Not taking advantage of out of position defenders
- Holding the disc for too many stall counts (or too few, but that's very rare)
- Miscalculation of value/decision making errors

How to work on this:
I think the best way to work on this is to play a lot of games while considering these factors.  I think the best thing for this is situational experience.  For tunnel vision, I think one way to work on this would be to play games with a shorter stall, or to create a "checkdown" drill that involves looking to the right spaces for a particular offense at the right times before moving into the specified reset patterns.