The Basics

Every player in this sport always strives to make him or herself a better player. So, how does a player become better? The greatest players in our sport aren’t known for having trick throws, a signature move or some other unnatural characteristic that sets them apart. They’re known for doing the basics better than everybody else. So, what are the basics?

I like to break it down into offensive skills and defensive skills. Don’t focus on just one skill set. You need both to become a great player. If all you do is catch goals, what happens when your team turns the disc? Offensive skills include forehand and backhand throws, sharp cuts, catching and good decision making. Defensive skills include marking, positioning, acceleration and reaction time. That’s only eight things to focus on.

Think about that. You only need to get good at eight things in order to become a great ultimate player.

Offense

You don’t need fancy throws and amazingly long hucks in order to become a solid thrower. When I think about the best throwers on our team, I think of the people who will throw an incut or an upline pass and complete it every time in stride. I don’t think of the people that put it deep every time just because they can. Work on consistency and accuracy. Start slow. Get your completion rate at ten yards to be 95%. Then work on twenty yards. Then thirty yards. Having a 95% completion rate at thirty yards should be the goal for anyone who wants to step on the field as an A team player.

Now that you have the throws down, you need the other half of playing offense: becoming someone who gets the disc thrown to them. Sharp cutting is the first step. How do I get open? By staying one step ahead of my defender. How do I stay one step ahead of my defender? By changing direction faster than he can? How do I do that? By being more efficient in my footwork. As an offensive player, you have an advantage. You know where you’re going. You get to be proactive. Don’t waste this advantage. Always take the shortest path from where you begin your cut and where you want to catch the disc. Rounding your cut elongates that distance. Taking three steps to make a cut instead of one elongates that distance. You don’t need more speed than your opponent to be a down field threat. You just need more efficient footwork.

Catching the disc involves more than just getting your hands around the disc. Two hands are always better than one, but that won’t make you the best receiver. Accelerating through the disc on an incut, reading a disc and catching the disc at your highest point on a huck separate mediocre players from great players. These skills mostly come from experience. It also comes from watching experienced players. Seek to identify and imitate the veterans on our team that come down with the disc more often than not.

Making a sweet cut, catching the disc and having the throw to put it where ever you want means nothing if you make the wrong throw. Good decision making is key to becoming a great player. Throwing the dump instead of the sweet huck or invert may seem to be a waste of your talent, but turning over the disc is worse. Vets tend to be over confident, especially if they come from a mediocre team where their decisions were never questioned. Rookies tend to make hurried decisions and hold the disc too long. The best way to make better decisions is to learn from your poor ones. Ask a vet what you should have done after you make a mistake. Even I still ask other vets to correct my mistakes. (Example: “Hey Lamp, how could I have avoided getting my leg broken?”)

Defense

I love defense, and I have an inherent bias towards defensive players over offensive players. Our team has a motto: Murder, Bury, Desecrate. Defense murders. Becoming an excellent defender puts you on the fast track for making the A team. Defense means a lot of running, so a team naturally has more spots reserved for defenders on its depth chart.

The most fundamental part of defense is having a good mark. Letting off break throw after break throw gets you sidelined faster than any other mistake you could possibly make. Make sure you know the force first. That’s key. Second, use your feet not your arms. Leaning to get the hand block will put you out of position every time. Keep your knees bent and your weight over the balls of your feet. A good mark doesn’t get the hand block every time. A good mark stops the invert and the break throw.

Being faster and more athletic than your opponent means nothing if you are 10 yards out of position. I’ve written a post about defense and positioning before. Look this post up for a pretty detailed description of different situations and the positioning that works best for each one. I will also say that field awareness naturally enhances your positioning ability. We play defense as a team. Know where your help is. Know where your threats are.

Acceleration and change of direction go along with becoming a good cutter in the offensive skill set. The only difference is that you are now reactive instead of proactive. The key here is keeping yourself in a position that allows you to go any direction. Keep your hips square to your opponent as long as possible. Committing to one direction before your opponent allows your opponent to get open while you have to change direction. Once again, efficient footwork is key. If you take one step, while he takes three, then you can make up the distance a lot faster even though you started your cut a half second later.

Greatness

Each one of these skills takes time to development. You don’t need to become a great player tomorrow in order to be good at ultimate. This sport is fun. Always keep that thought in the front of your mind. Coming to practices regularly will make you good at the skills I’ve outlined above. The purpose of this post is to get your mindset geared towards improving these skills at practice.

For those that want to do more than what we do at practice (if you have time), I suggest doing sprint workouts. Usually one or two vets show up about an hour before practice to do some speed and foot work drills. Also, you get plenty of endurance work at practice, but getting stronger tends to fall to the wayside. Find a partner and get in the weight room. Even if you’re by yourself and you can only go once a week, do it. Your improvement will rise exponentially.

As I’ve said before, Ultimate is all about having fun. The better you get, the more fun it is.