Can you improve your field sense? My initial thought was no. Not that I have the most experience in the world, but I have played basketball and/or ultimate for 20 years, 2 sports where court/field sense is very important. For some reason, I just thought some people have it and other do not.
In mulling over this question some more, I thought about ways that I improved my field sense and how others helped me. Improving this awareness is easier in organized bball, you usually have a coach telling you what you did wrong or telling you what to do. In ultimate, it has to come from yourself or from a very helpful veteran, still fairly rare in ultimate these days.
I think there are 3 subsets to all-around field sense:
1. Throwing. This is the one that I always think of. Throwers who not only have great throws, but use them very effectively all over the field. The best that I ever saw of this was Farmer for Z in 97 + 98. He was carrying that team. Not only did he have great throws, but he always used them correctly.
First, your teammates need to be able trust that you can throw anywhere for this to really work. Second, you have to really understand your team's offense. If you do not know where people are supposed to be cutting/clearing, then you are screwed. If you can anticipate where people are going to be, well then the throw is the easier part.
2. Cutting. The Reggie Miller aspect. Getting open, in multiple ways for multiple throwers. The most obvious time this comes out is after a called play. There is usually just a general principle to your offense. How it is executed is important. At Michigan, we ran the standard Stanford O. Cuts from the back, most rookies would almost always cut underneath, even though we had some good deep throwers. It was the rare occasion that someone came out right away and knew when to go deep and when to come under (Craig + DP come to mind). We usually had to really tell the others that hey, cut deep, especially when your man is in front of you.
There is also the proper set-up portion of this. If your man is fronting you, well then you can't go too early. Or if you want to come in, how many yards do you get 5 or 15? One of the best at this was Cooter. I do not think anyone who played Zero would say he was one of the top 5 guys, but at the big tourneys who was almost always our best player.
3. Defense. This one is the hardest, I think, but again I always had an easier time offensively. This is just not about poaching either. Although a good poach can really kill a couple cuts, positioning is a constant battle with your man, especially at the top. The best know when to take a look, when to get a breather, and when to sac up and challenge the hell out of you. There are plenty of defenders who I respect b/c in a 1-on-1 setting can take the disc away from you with some great d. But I think the top are those who do not let it get to that situation (1-on-1 usually won by the o) and who only allow passes that are worse for the o than the d. Al Nichols is someone that I always think of here. I like his d.
Now, how do you improve here? That is a big question.
For #1, learning not only your offense but where to look. On the sideline, don't look straight down the sideline, look towards the middle. You won't miss any sideline cuts, plus you will see anything developing down the middle. Are you pivoting with the disc? Or are you locked in? Locked in = bad. If you are looking for the same space for > 2 seconds, you have f'd your team.
As far as what you can do, first is improve your throws. If you are confident in your throws, you spend less time thinking "Holy crap" and more time thinking "Ok that is not open, where to next". Second, basically what Jimmyp said, games with shorter stall counts, goaltimate, hotbox, clogbox, etc. Games that rely on getting rid of the disc quickly and rewarding to people who do.
For #2, watch from the sidelines helps Pick out good cutters and when they start to move. Think about when you move. If you are waiting until the disc is caught, well the d always has time to adjust here. Are you paying attention to your man? The Force? The open space? Often times a great cutter does not get the disc, rather opens up space for other (the hardest concept of this).
At the very least, are you occupying your man? I think the first thing to learn is what your man is doing (so many have no idea and do not care). Once you get used to reading your defender, then you can do things like look for the open field earlier, look for contiuation 2 throws away, etc.
Try to incorporate drills, with no d, that have continuation suts. Handler swing to a downfield cutter to another cutter. It helps you start reading others.
For #3, similar to #2, learn when you can take a peak at what is going on. Obviously, it helps a ton to have someone talking to you on the sideline, but sometimes you have too much emotion and you block that out. One thing I do is when I want to take a look at the thrower, I take a step closer to my man. I do not touch him, but get closer so I can feel him if he tries to move when I look.
Learn when your man is not a threat, like an iso stack. Is he buried 40 yards away? Learn to talk to your teammates. If I am guarding the last guy and my teammate is guarding the 2nd to last guy, let him know you are there, helps a ton.
Talking and seeing the field are very important if you want to d the best.
All 3 of these are mentally taxing (I think), especially the d for myself. If you get the basics down like throwing, timing, etc., confidence will grow. Form there, advanced concepts get easier.
Find someone you respect and watch some frisbee with them. Have them recommend people to watch. Try to catch on what other teams are doing on O or D.
Ok, so that was attempt to "add" something to frisbee. My advice: don't listen to me.
On a lesser note, there is a new Worst Band of the World. That band is 311. The Dave Matthews Band had a long and impressive run as the Worst Band of the World, but 311 just made an excellent push with their latest release. More of the same old crappola!
And that is your public service announcement.
In mulling over this question some more, I thought about ways that I improved my field sense and how others helped me. Improving this awareness is easier in organized bball, you usually have a coach telling you what you did wrong or telling you what to do. In ultimate, it has to come from yourself or from a very helpful veteran, still fairly rare in ultimate these days.
I think there are 3 subsets to all-around field sense:
1. Throwing. This is the one that I always think of. Throwers who not only have great throws, but use them very effectively all over the field. The best that I ever saw of this was Farmer for Z in 97 + 98. He was carrying that team. Not only did he have great throws, but he always used them correctly.
First, your teammates need to be able trust that you can throw anywhere for this to really work. Second, you have to really understand your team's offense. If you do not know where people are supposed to be cutting/clearing, then you are screwed. If you can anticipate where people are going to be, well then the throw is the easier part.
2. Cutting. The Reggie Miller aspect. Getting open, in multiple ways for multiple throwers. The most obvious time this comes out is after a called play. There is usually just a general principle to your offense. How it is executed is important. At Michigan, we ran the standard Stanford O. Cuts from the back, most rookies would almost always cut underneath, even though we had some good deep throwers. It was the rare occasion that someone came out right away and knew when to go deep and when to come under (Craig + DP come to mind). We usually had to really tell the others that hey, cut deep, especially when your man is in front of you.
There is also the proper set-up portion of this. If your man is fronting you, well then you can't go too early. Or if you want to come in, how many yards do you get 5 or 15? One of the best at this was Cooter. I do not think anyone who played Zero would say he was one of the top 5 guys, but at the big tourneys who was almost always our best player.
3. Defense. This one is the hardest, I think, but again I always had an easier time offensively. This is just not about poaching either. Although a good poach can really kill a couple cuts, positioning is a constant battle with your man, especially at the top. The best know when to take a look, when to get a breather, and when to sac up and challenge the hell out of you. There are plenty of defenders who I respect b/c in a 1-on-1 setting can take the disc away from you with some great d. But I think the top are those who do not let it get to that situation (1-on-1 usually won by the o) and who only allow passes that are worse for the o than the d. Al Nichols is someone that I always think of here. I like his d.
Now, how do you improve here? That is a big question.
For #1, learning not only your offense but where to look. On the sideline, don't look straight down the sideline, look towards the middle. You won't miss any sideline cuts, plus you will see anything developing down the middle. Are you pivoting with the disc? Or are you locked in? Locked in = bad. If you are looking for the same space for > 2 seconds, you have f'd your team.
As far as what you can do, first is improve your throws. If you are confident in your throws, you spend less time thinking "Holy crap" and more time thinking "Ok that is not open, where to next". Second, basically what Jimmyp said, games with shorter stall counts, goaltimate, hotbox, clogbox, etc. Games that rely on getting rid of the disc quickly and rewarding to people who do.
For #2, watch from the sidelines helps Pick out good cutters and when they start to move. Think about when you move. If you are waiting until the disc is caught, well the d always has time to adjust here. Are you paying attention to your man? The Force? The open space? Often times a great cutter does not get the disc, rather opens up space for other (the hardest concept of this).
At the very least, are you occupying your man? I think the first thing to learn is what your man is doing (so many have no idea and do not care). Once you get used to reading your defender, then you can do things like look for the open field earlier, look for contiuation 2 throws away, etc.
Try to incorporate drills, with no d, that have continuation suts. Handler swing to a downfield cutter to another cutter. It helps you start reading others.
For #3, similar to #2, learn when you can take a peak at what is going on. Obviously, it helps a ton to have someone talking to you on the sideline, but sometimes you have too much emotion and you block that out. One thing I do is when I want to take a look at the thrower, I take a step closer to my man. I do not touch him, but get closer so I can feel him if he tries to move when I look.
Learn when your man is not a threat, like an iso stack. Is he buried 40 yards away? Learn to talk to your teammates. If I am guarding the last guy and my teammate is guarding the 2nd to last guy, let him know you are there, helps a ton.
Talking and seeing the field are very important if you want to d the best.
All 3 of these are mentally taxing (I think), especially the d for myself. If you get the basics down like throwing, timing, etc., confidence will grow. Form there, advanced concepts get easier.
Find someone you respect and watch some frisbee with them. Have them recommend people to watch. Try to catch on what other teams are doing on O or D.
Ok, so that was attempt to "add" something to frisbee. My advice: don't listen to me.
On a lesser note, there is a new Worst Band of the World. That band is 311. The Dave Matthews Band had a long and impressive run as the Worst Band of the World, but 311 just made an excellent push with their latest release. More of the same old crappola!
And that is your public service announcement.
posted by sometallskinnykid at 3:24 PM
2 Comments:
Being an offensive minded player can actually help you with your defensive field sense. Imagine if you switched places with the guy you were guarding and were suddenly on offense, what would you do? Now, as a defensive player, position yourself to stop that. This works best when you are guarding a player with similar offensive tendancies as yourself (squirrely handler, deep threat, etc). When you actually are on offense and someone shuts you down, take note of how they did it. Use that next time you are guarding someone who makes a similar cut.
If you are guarding a contrasting player, I find it works better when you picture yourself as the thrower; what cut would you want to happen next, or what throw would you want to put up from that position on the field. This is a good way to get some help/poach D's as well.
What Bill said about predicting the next movement is definately good advice as well. Many times, I've seen players on the sidelines yell to a defender on the field to watch out for a certain throw or cut only to have the exact scenario unfold and the defender gets the D. If you gave out a 1/2 D on the stat sheet for every time this happened, Stu Downs would have been one of the top 5 defenders on UGA last year.
Another point, maybe 2b. or maybe 4. Movement on offense without the intention of getting the disc. Clearing and creating space for teammates. Drawing defenders out of active zones to prevent poaching. That I think is one of the most important aspect of field sense to have. And it's almost always something that never gets noticed.
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