Add to the skill set - The sideline

It's great to have the throws, the catches, the speed, the cuts, etc. A skill which I consider one of my better abilities is being a sideline player.

Pictured Above: The sideline watches on as a Shazam Returns player and a Slow White player joust in the air (Photo taken by Me and that's why it's blurry).

One of the key advantages Ultimate teams have over other sports is that there is no restriction to where the players need to stand when they're not on the field. Most competitive teams tell their players to spread out around the field. The benefit being extra eyes and motivation all around the field, but the question is, what should you be doing?

The best advice I've ever had on how to sideline talk is from a former teammate Greg Lang. He made the comment that the sideline tells you what is happening, but doesn't make decisions for the onfield players. In other words, the sideline player is an extra pair of eyes to help out, and yet you'll hear many a sideline player telling the guys on the field what to do. In many cases, field perspective is different than sideline perspective, and it's better to provide additional information (with the exception of things like a player striking deep or an incorrect mark).

So, how do you practice being a good sideline player. The first thing is fitting into the team structure. I remember in my early days on Grand Trunk that my sideline chatter was too much for some of my teammates. Depending on the structure you might adjust and fit in with the team. In that case, I chose to stand my ground because I felt that my skill was useful for the team, but I stopped talking to those particular teammates when they were on the field.

Next, you need to develop you sideline style. Will you be a stream of consciousness, announcing everything that you see on the field. I think this is a poor choice since too much information for field players will be filtered out. You, also, need to pick your moments, and equally, you need to pick how much to emphasize different situations. This means you can't yell at full volume all the time, or like the boy who cried wolf, your cries will have no results. Tone and volume are useful in expressing the importance of the information to the guys on the field. I like to keep my instructions calm and positive when I can.

The other key to being a good sideline player is developing a feel for the game and learning to predict or detect certain developments on the field. What I like to do is pick a spot on the sideline (for me it's near an endzone line) and I watch all my games from that perspective. This is how I like to see the game unfold, and it is familiar setting that I've learned to watch the game from and read the situation.

Any team can use the sidelines as an advantage. The key is to use that advantage and avoid the desire to walk off the field and sit in a folding chair with your friends, screaming across the field about what's happening. There's nothing wrong with this in casual games, but at higher levels you've got to have as many eyes on the field as possible.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Working warmup

Last week we looked into testing and it's value. There seems to be some interest in testing, but the majority have not ever been tested. VO2 max tests or simple fitness benchmarks are pretty easy to do if you want to evaluate your current state, and more importantly, if you're improving.

Last weekend I was watching team warmups. In general, I feel that warmups are key to preparing your body for the high demands of ultimate, and getting your head focused on the game ahead. A good warmup will prepare a team to play at a competent level early in the game.

So, the question this week is does your warmup put your team in a good place at the start of every game? For those of you with great warmups it might be nice to share.

PJ

I was lost but now I'm found

Hey Folks,

I've been questioning my direction in Ultimate as of my recent move from Toronto to London. If I was in Toronto, I would most likely be preparing to captain GT, but my new postal code eliminates that possibility.

Ultimately lost!

Sunday morning, on my way to a Clapham practice, I was transferring from my 2nd bus to my 3rd bus (the tube/subway line I needed was closed on Sunday). As I waited for the bus I realized that I was going to be doing this 3 to 4 times a week. This is what I've done for the past 7 years in Toronto, but I didn't move to England to practice and play every weekend. The reality is I'm here to see and experience new things.

This realization meant that high-level Ultimate with a great team that pushes hard doesn't make sense at this point in my life. I really like the Clapham guys and their attitude toward the game, but I don't have the motivation to push hard and make the sacrifice without some driving goals (Steven was right in his comments about needing new goals after my recent success - his blog).

Instead, I've found an alternative team called ABH. For those of you in Toronto, ABH reminds me of GT/Roy mixed with Zen. The good thing is the team is local (close to Imperial), and seem like a fun bunch that I should mix with well, but I still get to play organized competitive Ultimate. That along with continuing to help out with Imperial's team will be my focus on Ultimate this year.

Now, the next challenge will be not being a coach/captain. It's funny how hard it is to see drills and game play that are significantly different than the philosophies I'm more used to. We'll see how interested people are into letting me teach, but I'm happy to have less responsibility and just play Ultimate for a change. Of course, with my personality I'll see how long that lasts.

PJ

Coaching tournament 1 - Lesson 1 - It's different

I attended my first tournament of the year. I wasn't playing and I wasn't really coaching. I was more of an assistant on the sideline (a role I've never really done). I went to the UK's University Regionals in Egham. I was helping out with the Disc Doctors from Imperial - a good group of girls and guys with a passion for Ultimate that is similar to what I've experienced in Canada and the US.

Pictured Above: Pyro, Chow, and Matt of Imperial DD1 force a throw. Taken from UK University Regionals this weekend (Photo from Michael Foster).

The main thing I was interested in was comparing what I know of University teams in Canada and the US. I watched about 7 games total, four of which were the Disc Doctors (DD) 1st team, one game for the DD 2nd team and a game with the top ranked team in the region - Brunell. For a quick comparison, I think Brunell (the top ranked team) would finish in the top ten (8th-10th) at Canadian University Nationals, and 6th-8th at UPA Great Lakes sectionals in Michigan.

That's just my feeling. Here are some other opinions from the weekend:

• These guys are very spirited. They play spirit games after every game, interleaving the teams in a circle. I couldn't go to the party that night, but from the pictures it looks like the party was a blast too.
  
• There are very few calls made in a game in comparison to North American college and Open ultimate.
• The warmup drills are very different then in North America. A lot of Seattle drills.
• Games were short with hour slots and 45 min soft cap. Games were to 11 and only finished at 11 if one team got beaten badly by the other.
  
• Many open teams (even at the top level) included women and there were no women's teams or division.

In some ways, the weekend reminded me of College Ultimate at UofT about 7 years ago. I enjoyed the weekend, and it helped me realize what I want to do next in Ultimate. More later this week.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Getting tested

Last weeks polls are showing that a majority of you get motivated to play Ultimate because you love the game. I guess it's similar to being addicted to the game. I, personally, love football (both north American style and the rest of the worlds), and yet, I don't play either sport (except on video game machines).

Testing!

If you check out the reigning UPA Open champs, Seattle Sockeye, webpage, you'll see a front page story about some sports studies done on one of their athletes - Illian, Jr. The study does some analysis on his flick and backhand showing clearly that the backhand has greater spin, but takes longer to throw. I was surprised about the spin results, but not so much by the release quickness of the flick.

In another test, Illian went through a VO2 Max test. Apparently, he hit pretty high on the test scores (elite athlete), which is not surprising for those of us familiar with the game. Recently, I also had a chance to catch the NFL combine. In this scouting day all the college athletes run tests for the scouts to analyse the numbers.

The poll this week is how important do you personally consider physical testing to Ultimate. The second poll is when did you do your last test.

PJ

More College News - MSSUI

If it wasn't for Match (sorry to hear about your grand father), I would know nothing about college Ultimate this year other than following the scores on the RRI, catching banter on RSD, and hearing progression from my alumni school.

In the U.K. this weekend marks the college regionals. Hopefully, I'll be heading to the tournament in an assistant role for Imperial College's team. It will be interesting to see the contrast between the North American and UK college teams. I'll discuss this next week.

Today I caught a passing thread on RSD about another website (MSSUI) that seems to be running articles on the college scene. From what I can tell, this site was started with some marketing at Trouble in Vegas. I couldn't find out what the name means or who's behind the publication, so any info would be interesting.

I read the article "Dealing with the Devil", and found it a good read. Sure it wasn't related to the college activity, but it was well written and an interesting take on vendors within Ultimate.

All I can say is I'm glad for the additional college coverage.

PJ

The hand warmer - neat little package

As the spring season seems to be moving into full swing, you might find yourself playing in very cold weather (depending on your location in the world). Even last week, I was playing in a game or two in London where by the end I was having trouble closing my hand on the disk because of the cold. Personally, I'm not a glove guy (although I'll consider wearing a glove on my non throwing hand).

Pictured Above: some action at Snowplate 2002.

A solution: this Christmas I got an interesting little gift from my stocking - reusable hot packs. They come in many forms, but essentially you have a pack of fluid with a metal disc inside. You snap the disc causing a reaction and the liquid quickly turns to a solid generating lots of heat (it gets hot). This lasts for about 10 to 15 minutes, and you need to recharge the pack by putting it in boiling water until the solid completely turns back into a liquid.

It's a simple solution to give your hands a quick heat boost. It's somewhat environmentally friendly since you don't throw it away, but you are paying an energy cost to recharge the pack.

If you're interested in how the pack works, take a look at this blog. This is at least an introduction to the sodium acetate solution and how it works.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Am I old?

I'm 31 going on 32 in November. My 2008 Ultimate season started last Saturday and Monday joining two Open practices in London (one University and one Open). This is actually a little early for me to be playing, and normally, I would be spending February, March and April ramping up for the season by lifting waits and getting some plyo work in. I guess things happen a little earlier here, so I'll have to adjust fast.

In other words, I'm not in shape. The change of location has thrown off my phased based workouts significantly, and I'm trying to determine the safest training plan to get in shape without getting injured. My biggest concern is my achilles acting up again, but already I have a cold after not having a cold for almost 2 years.

The funny thing is I look at other similar sports (lets say both UK and US football and basketball) the age of 31 is not the dominant age in terms of numbers of athletes, but there are still lots of them still playing. In many ways, the slight decrease in your physical skills is greatly compensated by your experience in sport.

The real thing I've noticed is that pushing yourself to stay in top shape is harder. I know that I'll be in pain after a tough workout, and that pain will last longer than it did in my twenties. I know the risk of injury is greater and the recovery will take longer. The question then is how do you motivate yourself to push on.

At UCPC, Dr. Goldberg made it very clear that you need to have a goal, and if you don't have a clear goal that motivates you to play the sport then you, likely, won't get better. Right now I'm searching for that goal. I would be interested in hearing other people's drives. I've made some suggestions to the right in the poll.

PJ

Big move, big change, great past

I haven't posted in quite some time. The reason is I've moved from Toronto to London, U.K. For a man who's lived in Ontario for all my life, this has been a major change. I'm settling in and beginning to think about Ultimate again.

Before I move on to the future of Ultimate, I would like to thank some of the past. That past being my time spent in Toronto with the likes of the Open, Coed, and University teams. All experiences that shaped and made it so hard to leave Toronto. This, especially, considering the momentum the city has in terms of great and emerging teams.

As good as the Ultimate was in Toronto, the hardest fact to deal with when leaving a city is the people. In my case, the people were mainly Ultimate players. There are so many of you, and I had a chance to see many of you on my way out, but in general, great people and great times. You know who you are, and thanks for making Toronto more than a city to me.

I came into Toronto, much like I've been living in London. I was intimidated by a large city where I didn't have any good friends. Ultimate changed that for me, and I've met people I hope to stay in contact for the rest of my life. I have the same hopes for London, and you'll get a little taste of that here.

To the Leafs: I won't miss you. To TO Ultimate: bring some more championships to TO.

PJ

Poll Thursday - College Rankings

The last poll was two weeks ago, and there the feeling is that RSD is dying (probably because of the spam). I still find this the best place to hear about early tournament results and incidents.

This week uses a post that is found on RSD - NUMP college ranking. As I've mentioned in the past, I find the college Ultimate season is much more lively and exciting, and the rankings seem to add to the enjoyment. So the poll this week is to predict the top 4 open college teams now based on early season ranking. I'll revisit this poll after college championships (poll right).

PJ

Eastbay savings and more...

People who run websites can get affiliate status by advertising for products on their website. For example, my blog has google adsense, which has generated $12.55 for my blogs lifetime (of course you only get paid if you hit an increment of $100). For other sites that have traffic and related advertising they can make a hefty second income stream.

So, why is this exciting for the Ultimate community? Well, my lab mate, Ian, and I once came up with a scheme whereby we would become affiliates to many different companies, and then allow people to sign up and buy things through those affiliate links. The catch is, we would share the profit between the buyer and ourselves passing on savings to you the buyer, and making profit for ourselves.

Well, it turns out that someone also had our idea, but they actually acted upon the it. Check out:

• Great Canadian Rebates

I haven't made an account yet, but some of the highlights for ultimate players are:

• 2.2% back for priceline airline bookings
• 1%-3% back on hotel bookings
• 3% back on Eastbay purchases
• These rebates can be combined with other coupons (and the site includes some of these too)
  

The other news is that both Canadians and U.S residents can sign up. Now if only VC, Gaia, or UltiVillage would run an affiliate program, then maybe my blog would support my Ultimate career. At least now, I'll get my cleats and books a little cheaper.

PJ

UCPC II - my review

I arrived home last night from Boston after waiting for hours in the airport on a delayed flight. Lesson's learned on a delay:

• Don't lose your laptop power cable.
• Don't buy easy Soduko. It's too easy.
  
• Don't buy Men's health. It's a waste of $5.
  
• Don't buy a newspaper. You can find free papers all through the terminal.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can say I had a great time at the UCPC. My two presentations went well, and I felt quite good when I was personally thanked for passing on how my topic would help develop new players. I'll pass on my slides to the conference, but I used the presentation more as a guideline as opposed to what I actually talked about and demonstrated, so I'm not sure what value it has on its own.

As for the talks I attended I'll give a quick recap:

• First was Dr. Goldberg's talk. I liked this talk more than last years, because he talked about more topics with less demonstrations (the demonstrations last year were good, but I didn't need them to prove the point). I came out of the talk with a page full of notes on some points I thought that were very valuable. This points were in relation to mental toughness for an athlete, and how coaches can help their players in terms of mental state.
• I attended Tiina Booth's talk on having a good team practice. This was also a good talk in which I learned a few things that I think will help me lead practices in the future. I was in a little disagreement on some of her points on scrimmage structures, where the goal was to randomize teams, but as she said later that's why we have these meetings. Also, my discussions with my roommate Calvin Lin (coach of University of Texas) led me to believe that was a concept to add and not a rule. This talk was filmed, so you'll all be able to catch it on Ultivillage. Sounds like the book by Tiina and Mike will be out soon, and based on the quality of both their talks (at least what I heard about Mike's) it should be a good read.
  
• I attended a talk by the Zeitgeist ladies (June Srisethnil and Jamie Nuwer...I think) on injuries and prevention. This was the place I think I learned the most important facts. I learned the latest knowledge on how to deal with ankle injuries, and was pleased to be introduced to a program that may prevent many ACL injuries in the future. This information will eventually be online, and I highly recommend you look over the material and get their recommended book.
• I only saw a little bit of the UPA conversation as my ride to the hotel wanted to leave. Not much to say here.

In all, the conference was great in reigniting my love of the game. Outside the conference was bad; I think I had some bad karma to pay for.

If you want some other reads on UCPC check out Match's review. I'm sure some more will be out soon.

PJ

Latest RSS Blog Links and UCPC

I'm off to Boston this Friday to join in the activities at UCPC, and I've been working on my presentation as opposed to generating new Blog material. In return for the lack of new material, I'll do write ups for three of the talks that I can attend. I'm choosing between:

• Running Practices Your Team will Love and Hate-Tiina Booth
• Prepare to Play Your Best: Constructing a Competitive Routine-Kris Kelly
• Speed, Agility and Quickness on the Ultimate Field- Michael Baccarini
• Common Injuries: Treatment and Prevention for the Ultimate Athlete- June Srisethnil
• Preparing for Spirited Play- Miranda Roth
• Panel Discussion: Professional Behavior in the Sport of Ultimate (I'll be at this one)
  

So, if you want my perspective on a particular talk, just e-mail me, or maybe I'll make a poll tomorrow.

The other thing I wanted to pass on was the latest Ultimate RSS feeds in an OPML file (this file will only be available for a little while longer until I get a new website account). The OPML file can be fed into a feed reader like GReader (see my article on the topic).

If there are any Ultimate blogs out there that would like to be included in this list then just e-mail me. My minimum requirement is that these blogs talk about Ultimate related aspects at least 75% of the time and are reasonably active (no definition for reasonably).

PJ

Can't get high, then sleep there

In relation to my article on college in the mountains and how to prepare for the mountain's environment change, I fell upon a possible solution.

Many of you are aware, I'm one of those couch barbarians who likes to watch fighting, that is professional human fighting, and my favourite is mixed martial arts. In anticipation for last weekends fight, UFC 80, I watched the UFC countdown. The countdown is a show that sets up the main fights for the weekend's fight card with back and forth jawing between fighters. Then they show how the guys are training for the upcoming fights.

I saw two really interesting things in this show that I think are applicable to our Ultimate training. The first one I'm keeping a secret for now, but the second one is in relation to BJ's training versus Joe Stevenson's training. Joe is training in Big Bear, California, because it provides high altitude training with little distraction. The theory behind high altitude training is the decrease in oxygen supply causes your body to adapt and become more efficient using oxygen in the energy making process. Joe is the equivalent of Colorado in Ultimate.

Pictured Above: Your chance to be a bubble boy.

BJ Penn lives and trains in Hawaii, and therefore, can't do high altitude training (like the majority of us). His solution is the high altitude sleep tent (Men's health article). For anywhere from $900 up you can sleep in a high altitude environment and get many of the high altitude benefits.

It's expensive, but at least it's an option for those of you who have lots of money. Maybe the contending college teams should fly to one less tournament and each buy a tent. It's something to think about.

As for changing the flight of the disc due to different air pressure (as some have commented on), I'd consider using these indoor bubble spaces with some industrial fans. Another solution not many of us can afford.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Dead or Alive?

So last weeks poll was a question of what sources of Ultimate info do you use. The greatest source was rec.sport.disc (RSD) which came in at 80%. The next two most important sources were blogs and word of mouth from friends. I find it hard to believe that blogs weren't higher since this was a poll taken on a blog, and you had to get to the blog somehow (probably through a blog amalgamator like UltiTalk). It's just funny, but I'm sure there was some vote splitting somewhere.

To continue this path of polls on information, for those of us who visit RSD you've likely noticed the high amount of user group spam that appears each and every day. Normally, I would just look at the active older post section, but that's starting to see spam too. My question is, do you think RSD is: (poll to the right).

PJ

College Ultimate in the mountains

So it looks like the UPA college finals will be run in conjunction with the collegiate national championships. This will allow the finals to be televised in conjunction with other CSTV events, and the theory is we'll get more exposure to college ultimate. Among other changes this will put the finals in Boulder, Colorado instead of Columbus, Ohio.

Pictured Above: A disc flies over both Goat and Johny Bravo players at our semi's game at UPA'07 Championships.

I like these types of venue experiments, and I think this will, likely, be good for the college series.

My question is how are teams going to prepare for the change in climate. I saw UFC's All Access episode (best link I could find) for Wanderlei Silva. In that episode we saw Wanderlei workout with a nose plug and a snorkel. The theory (from what I understood) is that this made air intake harder during his cardio workouts and improved his oxygen uptake in normal conditions (though I wonder about the safeness). Will techniques like this or others be needed to prepare for college nationals to get that edge? Also, for those of us with experience traveling from the lowlands to the highlands for competition, what is it really like?

PJ

Poll Thursday - Off season finger on the pulse

Last week the poll was on resolutions and Ultimate. abut 60% of people make resolutions (or I guess new goals) where 50% make these resolutions after the season and the other 50% make the resolution at New Years.

This week I'm wondering how people keep there Ultimate finger on the pulse. This means, how do you stay informed about all things Ultimate that you care about (check out the latest The Ultiverse to hear audio interviews similar to written interviews at here). I've listed a bunch of sources that you can get Ulti info from, just check off the ones you use (poll to the right).

PJ

The newest ultimate book

I had a chance to read some of the latest Ultimate book, Ultimate: The Greatest Sport Ever Invented By Man. On my first pass, I quickly scanned the book to see what was in it, and I was happy to see small little lists such as the best tournaments to go to and Ultimate team names. On my second pass, I made an effort to look for tournaments, teams, and players that I've played at or with. Again, I found lots of references that made the book that much more enjoyable. On my third pass through the book, I started to pick out specific topics and read them in a little more depth such as the profile of an Engineer Ultimate player.

Pictured Above: The book cover.

On each pass, I found reading the book very enjoyable, and for that reason I'm considering getting my own copy (instead of borrowing Norm's) . The question I have, is what is the strength of the book and who is it best suited for. Obviously, ultimate players will enjoy the book, but anyone else?

I think you should have the book to:

• have some copies of book for your college team, and pass the copies around to rookies to give them a perspective of the game.
• put a copy in your washroom. The book is well suited to pick up and read in small little stints. Also, I think this is the perfect to introduce the sport to those not familiar with what we do.
• put a copy in your lobby. If you have a lobby in your line of work, then put a copy there to introduce the public to Ultimate (similar to the bathroom concept).
• have a copy for road trips. The book has some trivia and topics that can only enhance an Ultimate trip.

Some of us were pondering whether the book is a good thing to give to parents, significant others, and friends who don't play. The idea being to introduce them to why you don't see them in the summer. We came to the conclusion that even though the book captures many aspects of Ultimate very well, it won't bridge the "why do you play" gap.

Pictured Above: Slow White and Shazam Returns in the UPA co-ed finals (picture courtesy of me).

My only complaint with the book is they list Torontula as a geek team name, and Torontula isn't listed as a legitimate college team when McGill is. This is nothing against McGill (as I think they deserve to make the list), but I feel their inclusion on the list should justify ours.

PJ

My latest chemical saviour

I'm a sweater. I don't know why, but I'm sure it has something to do with genetics. Fortunately, sweating is rarely a problem for me on the field except when it comes to my hands. I wear armbands which stop the sweat on my arms from dripping onto my hands, but at certain temperatures and humidity levels my hands get too wet (almost like bathtub hands). When this happens, it usually results in one flick turnover in a game where my grip can't hold for the throw I'm making, and the disc slips out resulting in a horrible wobbling throw thats off target.

Gloves are not the answer for me, but maybe this product is: dryhands. Dryhands can be purchased from an Ultimate distributor, here.

Pictured Above: A catch I made in the Jam vs. Goat game (my best game by far). Photo courtesy of Lisa Di Diodato before the batteries died.

How does dryhands work? Will it help my sweat problem? Are the chemicals safe? These are all questions that I can't answer yet, and I would be interested in hearing opinions from chemists and people who have used the product, but I, likely, will get some product and review it in the future.

Maybe those of you going to Trouble in Vegas can try it out. I'll be at UCPC that weekend.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Resolution

Last week, my only post was a poll on the average cost of a tournament. Many of us seem to be in the 100 to 200 dollar range. It seems a few of us ride in style paying more than $200 per tournament (which could be accounted by having to fly to many tournaments), and a few people are in the sub $100 group. I would be interested to know how to keep tournament costs under $100 (unless all your tournaments are local).

This week I have a simple poll. When making your New Year's resolutions, do Ultimate resolutions get included? Poll to the right.

PJ