Sunday, March 27, 2011

March 27th

There was less wind than usual on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and although the Americans and a few others couldn't make it, we still managed to field 4 on 4.  Carl and Sofie were new, but had played a game before so there was little explaining to do.  Everyone was developing better understanding of game positioning and how to move, with Sofie and Michelle outstanding in their ability to find space.  Although Carl claimed a hang over, he was the most lively player out there, frequently throwing himself around.


In the scoring game (first to five) at the end, the red team sprung out to a 3-0 lead, but black brought it back to 3-2 thanks to some good long cuts from Aidan, and stayed in touch to be 4-3 down.
Although there were a couple of turnovers in the next point, Red were able to hold on and move the disc smoothly for the winning point.




New players: Carl, Sofie
Player of the week: Michelle

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tactic of the Week

Forcing

A 'force' is so called because you are forcing the thrower to only throw to one side of the field.  By preventing throws to one side, you're limiting the options and allowing your teammates to focus their defensive marking on one side.  The diagram below (which I ripped off some unsuspecting ultimate site) shows how the defense should ideally set up.
Home force
The two directions to force are Home (the side where your stuff is) and Away (the side where your stuff isn't).  Usually, some local vernacular comes into play to describe the force side, we might use force Bowls (toward the bowls club) or force Uni (toward uni).  We're going to work on forcing this comign week, so if you hear me yelling a force, try and force the thrower to throw that way. If you get confused, don't worry, everyone does. It took me a million years to learn a force existed, then another half a million to work out what it meant.

March 20th

On an overcast and lightly windy day, we welcomed two new players, Ido and Phoenix.  With the weather and field trips conspiring to limit our numbers, we started a game of 3 vs 4 (with Jackie always on offense, a fun way to play!) before Reggie and another of his numerous friends Daniel showed up for a vigorous game of 4 vs 4 with a sub.

There was a lot of smooth passing and good movement occurring, which is always difficult in the wind.  Phoenix frequently impressed with her long backhands, while Daniel's enthusiasm in his first outing of ultimate was good to see.

Newcomers: Ido, Phoenix, Daniel
Player of the week: Aidan