Tryouts Day 1

Hatch had our first tryout yesterday with about 25 tryouts in attendance. I think I have about 80% of their names... we'll see if I can retain that to the next practice.

I wanted to start the year by focusing on my top priority for this season: the skills needed to play team defense. Yes, I know it's somewhat unusual to be teaching, say, switching in your first practice, but this is what will lay the foundation for more complicated skills later.

I chose to start with marking because holding a strong mark is essential to any defense. Most players can recite the key points (athletic stance on toes, bend the knees, stay balanced) but I've found that it's one thing to know it and another to do it. The most common error I noted was that players would lunge and step out with fakes, thus causing them to have a widened base of support that is too stable and does not allow them to be as agile.

We then turned to communication. This is the area that frustrated me most last year - I have expectations on what club players should be doing on the sideline, and I felt that I was just repeatedly telling them to walk the sidelines and talk to their teammates on the field. Then halfway through the season, I realized that most of the players just weren't comfortable talking, because they'd never been taught how to do so! Can't use that excuse again this year though; I'm making sure that everyone knows what they should be doing, and I'm (hopefully) helping them learn how to do that. (see below for exciting fun new drill!)

Lastly, we worked on switching between 2 defenders. I took the simplest scenario, with just 2 cutters, and had them practice being authoritative and clear in their switches. They did well in the drill, but as is to be expected, were much less successful in the scrimmage when there is so much more to pay attention to. It's a starting point, though, and we will be working on more complicated scenarios in future practices.

I was really pleased with yesterday's practice. I felt that I had a good plan, and was able to explain my thought process and the major concepts clearly. I am particularly tickled by my new marking/communication drill (perhaps because everyone feels so discombobulated while doing it) and I was definitely able to see some improvements in players even over the course of the practice. I hope the tryouts felt that they have learned something and got an idea of how great this team is. And I think the returners did as well. Yay Hatch.

Next tryout: Wednesday 6:30 pm at Daly field in Brighton!

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Blind marking/communication drill

This drill is has 2 purposes: to teach players how to talk to the mark, and to teach the mark to listen and react to what her teammates are saying.

The drill has a thrower, a marker, a cutter, and a sideline talker. The marker sets up with a force, and then closes her eyes. The cutter cuts for 30 seconds to wherever she wants to go - break side, force side, in, away - and the sideline talker tells the mark what to protect. The key here is to communicate early to the mark so that she has time to react.

People were at first a little iffy on the idea, but the mark was surprisingly effective, even blind.

Have fun!

hatch 2009

Rookie year is up and gone. Now it's time to buckle down and figure out what hatch 2009 is going to accomplish.

This is my vision:

I want to build a team that plays as a team. I want to encourage an offense that is self-less, an offense that rewards players who act for the benefit of the team. I want to reform man defense and create a team that truly plays 7-on-7 defense, where players are astute and verbal enough to help each other out and stymie the opponent.

The cornerstone is communication coupled with field sense, built on a basis of trust in each other.

The last part will develop over the course of the season as they train, practice and play together. As for the first two parts, much of that can be taught/developed, but there has to be the desire and the potential for more. I will thus be looking for players who demonstrate capability with communication and field sense, or show promise in those areas.

Tryouts start in June. What will the future bring?

Communication

Communication sets the great teams apart. It takes 7, no, twenty-seven people, and turns them into a unified whole, acting with one intent and one understanding. You hear it all the time - talk more, talk to the mark, talk to the thrower, talk to the deep, talk talk talk.... but the problem is not the act itself, but rather what does one say to be an effective communicator?

Let's break it down:

First, you need to know your team strategy. You need to know the plan in order to weigh the choices in what to say. Are you a team that baits the deep throw, or one that forces all cuts under? If the mark gets broken, will it be the inside-out or the around?

Second, what terms does your team use? "Home/away" has become nearly standard, but even 5 years ago it was still "force forehand/backhand." Learn (or establish) the lexicon for your team so that we're all speaking the same language.

Third, what are you trying to tell your teammates? Make sure the information that you give is useful and clear. "No break" is a pet peeve of mine; for goodness sakes tell me which break (the inside or the around) is the threat, because my reaction to each is different.

Last, learn to call it early. You need to give your teammates time to react, whether you're calling for a switch, the dump, or "man!" Start to recognize patterns in ultimate and see the entire field - it is extremely hard to communicate with others when all you know is the location of your cutter/defender and the disc.

So how do you actually start communicating well on the field/sideline? For me, I started emulating others - I would watch the men's team in college walk the sidelines, talking to the mark and the deep, and I started doing the same. Unfortunately it seems that the default these days is a more silent player/sideline, and especially as I've begun coaching club women's, it's become apparent that many players are coming to the club level without this important skill.

For less experienced players, they need to first learn the lingo, and learn to see the field. For more experienced players, I incorporate communication into drills: practice talking to the mark during marking/breaking drills, talking to the thrower during cutting drills, calling "switch" can be integrated into multi-player defense drills. I also expect that they practice talking to the mark/deep during scrimmages and games - not necessarily loudly yet, but at least begin verbalizing because it does take practice.

But for all that, unless communication becomes part of the team dynamic and a skill that one is expected to develop, there is little incentive for a player to focus on this. And that lies upon you.