Clearing, the BEST Cut in Ultimate

When an individual gets his or her first taste of ultimate, they usually fall in love with the notion of being the “go-to” guy. They have dreams of cutting up and down the field, shaking defenders out of their cleats and touching the disc every other throw. I know this because I too wanted the glory. In fact, in my one-on-one interview with Pappy at the end of freshman year, I explicitly told him that I wanted to be the next Pat Stephens. Oh, how ignorant I was.

Making the right cut that burns your guy for a score is great, but that opportunity is rare. The opportunity to make an effective clear; however, happens 90% of the time. A good clear helps two ways: one, it opens up the throwing lane for your teammates and two; it often causes a defender to lose superior positioning.

Offensive strategy in ultimate is based off constant movement. Once the offensive longs become stagnant, the defense gains the advantage. Think about it: even if you’re ten times faster than me, I can still guard you if you aren’t moving. The clear cut makes constant cutting possible even if you aren’t open on the initial cut. Also, a good clear provides the opportunity for a break throw and a run down the break side. Make sure you keep your eye on the handlers as you’re clearing. It does the team no good if you’re wide open and aren’t looking for the disc.

The key to good defense is positioning. When the offense continuously moves, it becomes harder for the defense to maintain their positioning. As a defender, I hate it when my long clears hard to the break side. I don’t get to drift in the throwing lane, and I have to chase him around the field instead of getting into a position where I can anticipate his cuts. (don’t get me wrong though, I still know how to maintain my position when a good clear happens. I’m good at this game, I swear)

Making the clear is only the first half. Once you get out of the throwing lane, you should be sprinting to get into a good cutting position. What is a good cutting position? That’s a spot, slightly on the break side from which both a deep and in-cut are viable threats.

So, the next time you’re waiting in the stack and you think your cut will be worthless since your defender has the better of you, remember that a good clear will give you the advantage. And the next time you think you can sit out in that throwing lane and make seven cuts to get open, remember that you’ve just shut down seven continue cuts that would have been open behind you if you had only cleared.

How to look like a veteran player, even when you’re not

At practice last week, I kept noticing one thing: most of our rookies are really athletic. Then I noticed another thing: these athletic rookies don’t know how to fully use their athletic ability. These observations led me to think back on my own experience as a rookie, and I realized how similar my situation was. I came from a football background, and playing outside linebacker, I had grown accustomed to certain movements and thinking. I was fast and could tear up the field with my cuts, but I was dumber than the piece of plastic being thrown around.

Like other sports, Ultimate has its own nuanced techniques and strategies that make a team more effective on the field. These techniques and strategies are not complicated; they’re just different from what most people are used to coming from a “normal” sports background. For example, a good end zone play in football is throwing the ball into the back corner. That doesn’t work as well in ultimate.

Gaining “ultimate smarts” usually comes from experience, but there are ways to learn faster. The first step is forgetting all your instincts. Moves that work in soccer or football or other sports don’t work here. Forget them. The sooner you leave your old mind set, the sooner you can accept a new and better one (in the context of playing ultimate). My main example here stems from a rookie’s tendency to make multiple cuts in the throwing lane. The offensive flow works best in ultimate when each long makes only one cut and then clears. I don’t care if you can beat your guy if you make a few extra moves. The time you spend dancing in the lane disrupts the other cutters (not to mention your chances of getting in a better position after clearing) and there’s a good chance the handler has swung the disc anyway.

After you’ve forgotten everything you’ve ever been taught, you need to relearn these better instincts. Doing that means asking a lot of questions. Now, a lot of the vets will take the initiative to tell you what you did wrong. They get a power trip from it, and it makes them feel better when they cry at night (if you look closely, you can see the tear streaks in Denis’ beard). But we can’t see everything and we have no idea what you’re thinking if you don’t ask questions.

You aren’t going to become an all-star in one day. Even as a senior, I’m still learning better ways to play this game.

No Wisconsequences Recap

Seeing as I was unable to attend, I asked a very special person to write a recap for me. He has some experience, since he recently retired from running the Boomland Blog. Yes, I'm talking about Brian McLain. Since disaffiliating from the Boomland's Travels, he's embarked on his career as a freelance blogger. He doesn't get paid for this, and I'm not exactly sure why he said yes. But he has a big heart, and now he can put freelance journalist on his application to law school.

Thanks Brian!

No Wisconsequences

by: Brian McLain

I was helping out Boomland during Illinois’ first game against Kansas Y. So here is what I gathered from Somerslam and Halvsies. Illinois did not come out ready for what Kansas was dishing. After settling down and digging deep, Illinois pulled out the victory 15-13

After a second round bye, Illinois was once again ready to show the Ultimate community and the world at large what they had to offer. Mama Bird, a Natties regular, looked to give our boys a tough game as they were seeded #1 in the pool. Looks can be deceiving as Illinois came out with a 3 -0 lead and then took half 8-5. Colorado, never a team to back down, forged a comeback around deep hucks and brought the gap to 14-14. In an effort to create some synergies, Denis gave a rousing speech in the huddle and Illinois was able to come away with the win, 15-14.

Highlights:

- Phelan got a Callahan

- Pavan was in the air longer than on the ground

After winning both pool games, Illinois had their crossover game against the Grey Duck. This game had no bearing on how the team would start the day on Sunday. Once again defense was Illinois’ weakness as great plays individually made on both offense and defense was not enough to cover the missing defense consistency. Minnesota won the game 15-10

Sunday brought a welcomed challenge in North Park. Last year Illinois had an emotional victory over the Lost Boys at Sectionals and knew that they would be gunning for them every chance they got. Due to the extra sleep granted from a first round bye Illinois came ready to play with fresh minds and bodies. Illinois played hard and won 12-9.

Highlights:- were down 8-5 and broke them 3 times to take the lead.

Coming off of a meaningful win over North Park, Illinois was posed to face the perennial powerhouse, Carleton. With the weather turning colder and windy offense stalled at some points during the game. Caleton took the lead and did not let go of it as the claimed victory 15-7

After discussion with Colorado over what to play to, the 3rd place game would be played to 9. Plagued by injuries, the Illinois sideline seemed to lack the spark of intensity that they had enjoyed throughout the day. The game ended with Illinois taking 4th place in an 8-10 loss to Colorado.

Fun Squad Highlights:- very comfortable accommodations

- House on Haunted Hill was found out to be a better comedy than honor movie

- Ryan Smith got verbally owned by Sheeny from the women’s team. It went a little like this: Sheeny stands up and proclaims to a room full of guys, “I/m glad you’re not a douche bag anymore. I mean all you used to do was talk about how good you were at Ultimate and show us pictures of your high school team. I used to call you Cocky McCock Face.” At which point the room erupted with laughter.

- I lost credit card roulette (Editors note: you mean “won”)

- Sprite (Lil’ Kevin) got cut off by the Bed Bull Girls - Pat Stephens made a delightful appearance

- Somerslam played sleeveless

C1, Breakfast of Champions

Cultimate, the premier, for-profit ultimate Frisbee organization, decided to upend the ultimate world by unveiling Conference 1. Cultimate has asked 25 teams around the nation to compete in their new league instead of the UPA series. Besides promising elite status and competition, Cultimate has also offered to subsidize all tournament fees and jerseys. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal. The only catch is that none of these teams could ever win the UPA series.

Cultimate has published very little details. They’ve posted an overview of what they want to achieve with this league and the teams they are inviting. You should visit this link for those details: http://cultimate.com/conference1/.

Of course, the ultimate community has mixed reactions. Some say Cultimate is helping the sport. Some say Cultimate is destroying the sport. There really isn’t a good way of determining what the majority of ultimate players think. The posters on RSD and the bloggers across the country don’t speak for everyone. Besides, everyone is going to have their own bias, including this blogger (Full Disclosure: Cultimate has invited Illinois to join C1).

My thoughts

This can only be good for the sport. Now, I do have a few reservations about the specifics of Conference 1, but I agree with the over arching principle: increase the level of competition and the product will only get better.

Now, many who oppose Cultimate argue that their conference locks out hundreds of teams. Cultimate is actually decreasing competition by limiting the number of players. Without an objective set of standards for who can play C1 disc, I agree with the opposition. Cultimate should create a set of standards much like the NCAA has for who can play Div I sports. Anyone who meets these standards can then play C1 disc. This would ensure that C1 teams are truly elite and not just favored by some subjective reasoning of a for-profit organization. Then again, Cultimate is doing all the work and all of the financing, so who am I to tell them what to do? I also doubt that Cultimate could afford to pay the tournament fees and jerseys of 100 teams. So the question still remains, “Is Cultimate helping the sport or only itself? Can it do both?”

The UPA has made promises of a revolution since I joined three years ago, and I haven’t seen them do anything revolutionary. Cultimate is starting the revolution. Having a premier ultimate league could be the answer to the one problem that has held this sport back: legitimacy. Society at large could care less about ultimate. Creating a unified league that showcases ultimate will turn some heads. I’m not saying ultimate will start generating ticket revenues, fortune 500 sponsorships and primetime television slots. But it is a step in the right direction. A very big step.

Some other questions that I have:

Can our B-team still play in the UPA series?

Can our A-teamers still play in Club UPA tournaments in the summer and fall?

If C1 teams aren’t paying tournament fees, how is Cultimate paying for these tournaments? (You would think I wouldn’t care about the answer to this question, since I’m one of the teams getting free stuff, but it’s a question of sustainability. If Cultimate doesn’t have solid cash flows to fund this endeavor into the future, then an even heavier burden will fall on the C1 players.)

Is Cultimate planning to create a similar C1 for Club teams? (I am graduating in May after all)

If this league turns out to be quite profitable, what kind of positions and salaries are available at Cultimate? (I am graduating in May after all)

What Illinois is Going to Do

We had a team meeting about the invitation to join C1. The team is excited about it, but we’re waiting to hear what the other invitees say. Yes, Florida has already joined, and from online reports, it looks like Texas will also join in the near future. But three teams hardly make a competitive league. The Illini are heading up to No Wiconsequences this weekend (preview coming soon), where we’ll get the chance to have face-to-face meetings with other teams that have to make the same decision.

A Few Exciting Events

The rookies got their first taste of tournament action this weekend as they went to Western Classic in Macomb with a few veterans serving as captains. Team Y took 5^th and Team X took 9^th. Good work boys. The rookies are good. It seems that each year, you guys improve faster than we did. Don’t get too cocky though. You’ve still got a long way to go, but you’re on the right path. Don’t get down if vets and captains start pointing out more of your mistakes. This is a good sign. It means we see how good you can become, and that you’re ready to start learning more advanced concepts.

Now for some more updates on my health. I actually participated in a drill today. Granted it was a light marking drill with minimal running and cutting, but it was still a drill. I’m still planning on waiting until Vegas beofre I play in a tournament. I see no sense in rushing things too much. Right Denis?

Normally I reserve this blog for Ultimate related material. Even the content that slants towards the personal side still has an ultimate theme. Today however, I have some great news that I want to share here. This past weekend my girlfriend and I got engaged!

Rip's Tips

Way back when I was freshman, I asked the captains at the time to make a pamphlet that listed the top ten rules a player should know before playing in their first tournament. The captains summarily laughed in my face. It is true that the best way to learn the rules is to read them, but that book is long and much less fun than playing the game. About 95 percent of college players have never read the rules all the way through. Luckily for you guys, I had a really boring job two summers ago, so I’ve read the rules. What follows are a few basic principles that should be able to guide your decisions on the field.

Foul

Any bodily contact that interferes with an opponent’s play on the disc is a foul. There is no such thing as incidental contact. Unless the disc was uncatchable, it’s a foul. When a player calls a foul (games are self-officiated, I really hope you knew that, but I just wanted to make sure), the opposing player has the right to contest or not contest the foul. If the foul is contested, the disc is returned to the last person who had the disc, and the play is “done over”. If there is no contest (because you have honor), then play continues as if the player had caught the disc.

Fouling on the mark just sends the stall count back to zero. There’s really no point in contesting these fouls. You just look like a tool if you keep calling or contesting this one.

Pick

If you are on defense and you are within 10 feet of the man you are actively guarding and you either run into another player on the field or have to run around another player on the field, then you should call a pick. When a pick is called, play stops. If the disc is in the air, and you’re on offense, catch it. It’s a turn if it hits the ground. The player that was picked gets to catch up to the player he was defending. Play then resumes. Disc remains with who caught it unless that person is the man of the defender who was picked.

Those are the two main things you need to know. A few other things to keep in mind though. Don’t make calls from the sideline. Ask a vet if you’re confused about what happened on the field. This tournament is meant to teach you. Don’t be afraid to ask vets on the other team as well. Fall tournaments are all about learning. Take advantage of this opportunity.