Shippensburg Tournament

Hi everyone,

Just a quick couple of notes on the Shippensburg Tournament.

First, I thought the game against Millersville Friday night was our best game. We played strong defense, counter attacked quickly on offense, handled their zone (so they didn't use it much), and we just made many great highlight plays on O and D. Dean's diving horizontal DEE (and catch!), and then executing a give and go to get a diving horizontal goal was awesome. Dean doesn't say much--just watch and him and play like him!

Secondly, all the other games we played nice defense--except that last one on Saturday. Defense is the foundation to playing good ultimate, and no matter what the score, weather, calls, whatever--we must always played hard on defense.

Let the other guys be too cold, or too hot, or too worried about non-game issues--we need to be mentally tough. Mental toughness is a hallmark of Messiah, started and epitomized by Chris Schultze.

Thirdly, on offense, we had some good flashes. We just need to eliminate drops, and be a 100% on our short passes. That will come with practice and more playing, just be patient and persistent. We also will work on cutting, and the timing of cuts. Check out the video posted by Charlie, and notice the movement of everyone without the disc.

Coach Pat

How to cut! with Sockeye and Johnny Bravo...

Okay, so this is sweet.. point by point of the first half of the 2007 UPA Club final, the Huddle taped it from a wide angle so that each cut is shown. Watch how people cut off of each other's cuts, how the defense tries different things to prevent easy throws. In addition, the Huddle interviewed a player from each of the teams (Sockeye and Johnny Bravo) to explain what the stradegy for that point was. They follow the action through the first half with one video per point so you don't get lost.

Enjoy, kids!

Love,
Charlie

Practice Warm-up and Stretch

Dynamic Stretching Routine

Below is our standard sequence of dynamic stretches to start practice:
1. Walking High Knees
2. Walking butt kicks
3. Walking lunge
4. Walking straight leg kicks
5. Walking heel raises
6. Walking side lunge
7. Running high knees
8. Running butt kicks
9. Running jumps
10. Running carioca x2 (side skips)

This routine can be supplemented with other stretches specific for each individual, if necessary.

Our warm-up for practice should consist of a few minutes of throwing, a few minutes of throwing and moving/running, a one lap jog, and then the dynamic stretches.

For more information on the dynamic stretches, check the link below:
http://orgs.jmu.edu/strength/JMU_Summer_2000_WebPage/JMU_Summer_2000_Sections/9_summer_dynamic_flexibilty.htm

Key Elements for Good Defense

Key Elements for Good Defense

Fitness. You cannot guard anyone if you are not in top shape, and can hang with them cut after cut.
Speed/power. In order to play good defense, you need the speed to close a gap—this not some 100 yard dash or 40 yard sprint, but a burst of speed in a few steps.
Desire. Good defense takes effort, and in order to put in the effort, you have to want to play good D and deny you mark.
Awareness. Good defense requires anticipation, even more than reaction. You have to see the flow of the game, anticipate the flow, the plays, the moves.
Team. An individual cannot stop anyone on D. It takes a team effort to play good defense.
Position. You have to be in the right position, at ALL times. You have to be constantly shifting your position, when your person moves, when the disc moves, when the situation changes.
Match-up. The right defenders have to be matched on the right people—considering speed, fitness, height and positional play.
Sacrifice. You have to lay out. You have to twist, turn, jump, fall, dive, use your hands, legs, body, even face (and get the scars to show for it), what ever it takes to get a block or disrupt a play.

So what can you do to become a better defender?

Respond to the elements listed above. Some of these elements can be taught, some not. Fitness, speed, that is just work. Desire/sacrifice, well, that comes from your heart. What can be taught is awareness (although some athletes naturally have this), team defense, positioning, and match-ups.

So here is what you need to do. First, increase your fitness level, and your speed. You can refer to some of the workout information in other write-ups.

As far as, desire/sacrifice, you have to want that from the heart. The more you try it, the more you give, the easier it will become to do. Laying out at the right time is not just an instinct, it is a habit.

For the rest of the factors, awareness, team defense, position, and match-ups, I will discuss each of those in separate papers.

Is college ultimate as we know it changing?

College ultimate as we know it is changing. Well probably.

Cultimate, one of the larger companies on the ultimate scene, has launched their idea for a new way of deciding the national title for college ultimate, based on a system more similar to NCAA and professional than UPA's current system. This new thiiiiing is called Conference1.

UPA is none too pleased that Cultimate announced this first without talking to them, apparently.

Flordia has agreed to join, while Georgia has declined their invitation. Each had their own reasons which they outline in those links. 

The Huddle has five good articles about this, and most of the links in the right column have or will have their thoughts on this in the next few days.

We are absolutely sitting on ultimate history right now, fellas. I don't know what to think as of now.

The End Is Near,

Charlie

Long Term Training Plan

Just a note to recap what I said at the end of practice tonight.

This fall, we want to learn ulti and get in shape. You should plan to run hard the rest of October and all of November. December you can rest (you still run, just not as hard!).

In January, we will run hard to get our base back, February we will run and play to get in game shape, and in March and April we will play many tournaments. Our focus is to do well at Sectionals, which is usually in early April.

Fitness and speed of play is a hallmark of Messiah Ultimate. Keep the tradition going!

Weekend Schedule

I know everyone is heading home at some point on Wed/Thur, so there will be less practice time this week. But given the good practices we have had the last several weeks, it is important to keep the hard working going. So consider doing the following on your little vacation this week:

Wednesday--Run some hills/steps!
Thursday--play catch with some friends
Friday--run some hills/steps!
Saturday--do a longer run, 3-4 miles.
Sunday--rest

Make sure you take a disc with you, toss with your friends, family, old high school girl friends, play disc golf. Throw and catch!

Coach Pat

Practice

A Note on Practice

How you practice reflects the way you live. If you rush through practice, or give a weak effort, this will be reflected in your life. If you are overly serious or putting too much pressure on yourself or even comparing yourself to others, most likely you will do this in your life. Are you joyful, light, fast, vibrant? Are you practicing hard and having fun? Again this reflects in your life! We must watch how we race through practice or fitness training--just to say, “I practiced today.” Savor each breath, enjoy the running, the throwing, the layouts, the catches, the blocks--appreciate the game of ultimate and notice how you will appreciate your life.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Ultimate

Today we bring you Joel Thomas with 7 biiiiig time no-nos. There are certainly others but these should be things we all make sure are basic for us come spring. And now, Joel Thomas with the 7 Deadly Sins of Ultimate.

Dropping your head on a turn
The point is never over until it's over. Never give up on a play no matter how bad you screw up on offense. The best thing you can do after blowing it on O is to turn around and get a freaking sweet D.

Getting beat to the cone
You're going to get scored on. It's a part of ultimate. However, making it easy for the other team is not an option. Never ever get beat to the front cone on the force side in the endzone.

Getting beat deep
This is by far the worst thing you can do on defense. It gives the other team an easy goal and keeps their offense fresh. Always keep your man in front of you. You can always layout forward, but it's dang near impossible to layout when the disc is going over your head.

Switching the force
Always, always, always, know where the force is. If you don't, then yell and ask, but this is something that should be discussed on the line before every point regardless of if you're on offense or defense. When you hear the force, always echo it so your teammates are also aware.

Getting stalled
You should never ever get stalled out. Even if you have no one on the field to throw to, the disc should never be in your hands when you hear the "T" of ten. If you hit stall 8 or 9 and you still have nothing, chuck that bad boy as far down the field as you can.

Not running through your cut
NEVER EVER STOP YOUR CUT! If you make a cut you better make sure you are sprinting the whole time, 'cause as soon as you slow down or God forbid stop you're going to get layout D'd.

Standing still with the disc
Pivot! Never stop moving when you're holding the disc. Just because you're not a handler doesn't mean you don't have to pivot. Keep the defense on their toes and never give them a good read on where you're going to throw the disc.

Joel Thomas, ladies and gents!

The Ten Yard Pass

The ten yard pass

The ten yard pass is the most important in ultimate. A faulty dump pass or an errant swing pass just gives the disc too easily to the other team, typically close to the goal line. The ten yard pass is also the most typical pass that starts a play, or offensive flow.

The elements of a successful ten yard pass are simple:

Aim—the pass should be aimed at the chest of the receiver.
Target—the receiver should provide the thrower a target, with their hands in receiving position in front of their chest
Lead—the pass should lead the receiver along their current path, allowing them to continue running without changing direction
Placement—while aiming for the chest of the receiver, the placement of the pass should also be on the side away from the defender
Pass type—in general (for right hand throwers), a pass to the right should be a flick, and a pass to the left should be a backhand.
Pace—the pass should be of moderate pace (speed), so it has stable flight, but not so hard as to not allow the receiver to react.
Height—if there is no wind, the pass should be chest high—higher passes are more difficult for defenders to lay out and block.
Angle—the pass should have a slight angle, so the disc curls in slightly to the receiver.
Eye contact—you should have eye contact with the receiver before you release the throw.
Pivot/fake—do not forget to pivot and fake to make space for the throw and to confuse the defense.
Weather/wind—in windy conditions, keep the throw lower, with more spin.
After the pass—after a successful completion, don’t forget to move, cognizant of the play that is called. Move up-field out of the way, move in dump position, move for a give n go, just move!

In addition, you should be able to complete a ten yard pass to any side of the field, no matter the mark, force, weather, poachers, or other factors.

Advanced throwers are also able to throw a flare pass. The flare pass actually curls out and around the cutter/defender, leading the cutter to open space away from the defender. This pass is very difficult to block, and is important to learn to throw when cutters are guarded closely.

Patrick M. Wright
© 2007

Speed for Ultimate

Speed for Ultimate

Ultimate is a fast game, requiring both speed of foot and speed of mind. Speed of foot is technical speed, basically how fast you can run. Speed of mind is tactical speed, basically how fast you can think, react, even anticipate events in the game.

Our training will emphasize both aspects of speed. This lesson will deal first with Technical Speed, and training your body for the types of speed needed for ultimate.

Ultimate requires a unique combination of speed and endurance. Speed in ultimate can be equated with power, the ability to explode quickly to top speed, to cut and accelerate, to stop, go, and jump. Thus an ultimate player needs a fair amount of power in their legs to propel their body quickly in very short distances.

Conversely, an ultimate player needs to run with endurance for two straight days. A typical game can require several miles of sprinting and running. So an ultimate player needs endurance, in addition to the power.

This power can be nurtured through a variety of common exercises and routines, including:
§ Short sprints
§ Sprinting stairs
§ Sprinting hills
§ Suicides, come backs, shuttle runs
§ Various pliometric exercises, Russians (running downhill as fast as you can), etc…

The key to succeeding in building strength through these exercises is repetitive effort, basically intervals. My personal favorite is sprinting hills, and also doing steps. Stadium steps work well for this type of training.

The key to the training is to explode, sprint as hard as you can, 100% effort, up the hill, up the steps. Follow this effort with a slow jog down the steps or hill, then explode back up. The first couple of steps are vital–this is where you want to develop instantaneous power and acceleration. This type of training should last around 25 minutes or so. A nice jog to warm up and cool down is essential.

The second aspect of speed that needs development is endurance, which can be developed through longer sprinting. This longer sprinting also helps develop a good stride. The longer the stride, the faster the sprinter. Stride can be nurtured through longer distance sprint training. It’s difficult to delve into the details of proper form stride in a short paper such as this–perhaps another time. In general, though, run ‘tall’ (i.e. don’t crouch/slouch), keep your shoulders relaxed, arms should drive back with the elbows (not across the body), and run on the balls of your feet.

The long sprinting program I used is based on a 3-2-1 concept, running 3 then 2 then 1 mile of sprint intervals. The first session you run 3 miles of 800's (two laps, repeated 6 times). You want to run these at about 70-80% effort, concentrating on lengthening your stride, improving your form, and breathing (yeah, relax while going full speed). You should run these at around 3 minutes. In between laps you jog one lap around the track for recovery–don’t stop moving. The second session you run 2 miles of 400's (one lap, repeated 8 times). Run these at 80-90% percent effort. You should be running around 80 seconds. The third session you run 1 mile of 200's (one-half lap, repeated 8 times. Run these at 100% effort, with full recovery inbetween. You should be around 30 seconds.

Given these two training methods, a typical week might be as follows:
Monday–800's
Tuesday-hills
Wednesday-400's
Thursday-hills
Friday–200's
Saturday–long run 4-5 miles
Sunday–rest

Always have a good rest day for recovery. I also typically do a three week cycle of intense training, then ease up the fourth week. Be careful of over training, and fatiguing your body.
I have found this balance of training, the power and the long sprints, to be excellent for ultimate. You have the long, fast easy stride to follow around your mark, cruising and breathing effortlessly with them, then, at the right moment, you can explode by them for a block, or stop and turn and accelerate past then on a turnover, etc...

Some folks like to stress agility training and pliometrics. Personally, I have found that I get plenty of agility work practicing/playing ultimate. However, definitely tailor the program to what your body needs.

While training, don’t forget the essentials of any program:

1. Listen to you body, know when you can push it, know when you might need a day off, know when you might be injured.
2. Stretch! The current thought is to do some dynamic stretching before your workout, and static stretching after your workout.
3. Training with a friend(s) is helpful. Everyone has those days, when the only reason you show is because you committed to a friend to be there.
4. Drink water.
5. Eating properly when you stressing your body is vital to respond successfully to training. Give your body the fuel and nutrients its needs to respond to the training and build speed.
6. The stronger your legs and your body, the less likely you are to be injured. Strong muscles keep ligaments and tendons and bones in the right place despite adverse stresses.
I have played ultimate for over 25 years, and missed ONE tournament to a leg injury–I rolled an ankle when I landed on someone’s foot--(I did not actually finish one other tournament, but that was due to my backhand follow through hitting someone in the face. Ironically, the guy I nailed, bloody face and all, kept playing, while my hand swelled up like a cantaloupe–so it wasn’t a leg injury!).
7 . Stick with it! I have found that it takes a good three weeks to feel the rhythm of any training, and a good two months before the effects are really pronounced. Any successful training requires consistency.
8. Wear the right equipment, take care of your feet. Wrong shoes can hurt your feet, your knees, even your back. Checkout the shoe finder on www.runnerworld.com, it can help you pick the right shoe type for your feet.
9. Time yourself, monitor your progress.

What times should you have?
A top level ultimate player should be able to run a mile in 6:00, and a 40 yard dash below 5 sec. But better than a forty-yard dash (which I believe is a real poor indicator of real game speed) a shuttle run works as an excellent indicator of speed, power and cutting. A simple 10 yard shuttle run should take around 9 seconds.

© Patrick M Wright 2006

The Basic Tenets of Messiah Ultimate

Basic Tenets of Good Ultimate
1. Attitude
2. Fitness
3. Skills
4. Tactics

Attitude
1. Spirit of the game
2. Intensity and desire
3. Composure and poise

Fitness
1. Technical speed
2. Sprints, hills, steps

Skills
1. Catching
2. Throwing
3. Cutting
4. Positioning

Tactics
1. Awareness
2. Tactical speed
3. Defensive sets
4. Offensive set
5. Set plays

Welcome to the blog, everybodyyyyy!

So we have a blog. Cute, no?

What that means for you is an easier way to find everything related to ultimate and Messiah Ultimate. Below I have posted 42 minutes and 23 seconds of Messiah highlight videos to get you pumped. To the right there are many glorious glorious links about ultimate for you to enjoy when you should be studying.

Information about our fall (and later spring) schedule will be posted here so that when you accidentally delete the email, you will be able to find it. If something is going to be weird or special about a specific week of practice, it will be posted here. You can send this along to your parents (mainly this is for my mom and Mr. Johns) so that they will be up to date with things. Pat's workout will be posted here, unabridged.


Basically, you are gonna wanna bookmark this little spot of the interwebs.

If anyone wants to be able to post here, tell me and I will make the magic happen.

"Illuuuuusion, Michael,"
Charlie

Washington, DCish Maryland

Roll Call 2008.

That time it was cold and windy and we won a tournament...

...it's Big Moose Disc 2008 at Millersville. Always nice to beat Bucknell...

What happens in Vegas gets put into a highlight reel

From Trouble in Vegas last spring, 2008:

part 1




part 2

Kickin' it old school...

Some old talkies from before you all were born:


Trouble in Vegas 2007, part 1




Trouble in Vegas 2007, part 2, featuring a very Ocean's 11 moment for all...




Sectionals 2007, including a win over Edinboro and a game against Pittsburgh




Enjoy!