You pull. No, you pull.

So, you’ve become the leader of the team, and you’ve trained the team for their first tournament. Everybody crawls in and hopefully arrives with enough time to get in a good warm up. Then, all of a sudden, an opposing team member walks over to your team and asks for the captain. What next?

Here's what I like to do...

First, I introduce myself. It’s nice to meet other Ultimate players, and it makes the game a little better if you can talk with the other captain on a first name basis. We’re not boxers, and we don’t need to stare down each other.

Pcitured Above: Release or Catch? Looks like a player from Chad Larson and this is from WUCC 2006. Image courtesy of James McKenzie.

Next, comes the quick discussion of the rules. It’s just a chance to mention that you like 20 yard bricks and figure out any other details like time caps, game to, etc.

After agreeing on the setting you might need to deal with team colours. Ask if it’s okay to go with your current jersey preference. If you can’t come to an agreement, then you flip for choice.

Now you have to flip for the game start. The flip (in present day) involves each captain flipping a disc and one person calling same or different.

After the flip, if you win what do you call?

Here are my beliefs for given situations:

• In nice conditions with lots of time, then pick what your team needs to get going. This tends to mean your team should start on defense. Defense gets a team excited and running. Also, you potentially can get the jump on a team that isn’t ready for the game. A quick D close to their end-zone will start you off on a roll.
• When you don’t think the game will make it to half due to time or extreme weather, I think you should start on offense. The game could come down to who started with the disc first.
• The exception to the above is in windy conditions when your team is not strong enough to break the conditions (or similarly your opponent). In this case, I like to take downwind. If they put you on O then you can huck and pin (or play an aggressive offense), and if they put you on D then you get a free pull and pin.
  

After making your pick, make sure you remember it along with the captain’s name. There’s nothing wrong with writing this stuff down. As you leave the meeting make sure you agree on how long until game start, and I like to wish the other team good luck or good game.

As captain or coach, make sure you have a plan about game start. It sounds and is simple, but you need to know what you're doing.

PJ