Travis Norsen talks through this bread-and-butter, everyday-at-the-beginning-of-practice, exercise that allows players to practice throws in somewhat more game-realistic ways compared to traditional partnered throwing. Full post available for Training Tier patrons.
A few people have been asking about the differences between Hex and Horizontal stack.
On paper they are:
(1) Shape / formation,
(2) No handler/cutter roles/distinctions,
(3) Flow is prioritised over yards, and
(4) Equal spacing across the field.
Noah takes a look at how the US World Games team played in their warm up games at Poultry Days. Will anyone be able to take them down in Alabama?
Cotarica Grandes use excellent throw’n’go technique, movement and spacing to exploit weaknesses in Sieben Schwaben’s loose zone defence at Vienna Spring Break in 2022. Felix analyses what they did so well.
WFDF have been pursuing the Olympics for years now, targeting the 2028 LA games, but is joining the Olympics a good move for ultimate? As others have pointed out, joining the Olympics is only possible if we brush some of ultimate’s key values under the rug. But perhaps that trade-off is worth it, for the vindication of finally being at the big boys table, to show off our sport to the world and to provide once in a lifetime experiences to the athletes talented enough to represent their nations at the games.
The Olympics are an organisation that causes great harm. Kurt Streeter’s New York Times article highlights the major problems with how the games currently operate, most notably the sportswashing that takes place when authoritarian nations are hosts, the environmental impacts, the labour abuse and displacement of marginalised communities where the Olympics are held, and the silencing of athlete protests.
If ultimate became an Olympic sport, we would aid in the IOC’s effort to modernise the games and play a small part in fixing their problem with engaging a younger audience. Joining the Olympics would send a signal to people who may be interested in playing ultimate that we are willing to associate ourselves with, and contribute to, the harm that the Olympics causes.
This modified version of the classic end zone drill incorporates two extra passes which encourage throw’n’go moves and hitting return passes / give-go moves, adding more flow to the offence when this drill is used as a pre-match warmup, and practicing moving the disc off the sideline with a lateral give-go move. Available for Training Tier Patrons. Watch video…
Felix gave the Colombian World Games squad a team talk at TEP before they played a (relatively easy) match, and we filmed it! The talk is translated from English to Spanish in-person by Símon Ramirez – the talk lasted 17 mins in total, but shortened versions with the English/Spanish parts cut out are available in the Patreon post.
After this team talk, they ran Hive’s Up-Line Flow Drill, and then played their match with Felix actively coaching from the sideline & filming with a GoPro headcam. Full footage of the drill & match is linked on the Patreon post. Read more (training tier patron content)…
Noah takes a look at the recent controversies with observer decisions, and asks whether we should be making more use of technology when it is at our disposal to integrate video replays into the on-field decision process.
Felix concludes his play-by-play analysis of the European Men’s Club Final 2021 between CUSB La Fotta and Clapham Ultimate, and summarises his thoughts on the state of the top level of European Ultimate.
Henry Fisher dropped a clap catch in the final of US Nationals 2021 – Noah takes a close look at exactly why, and what implications this has for the way we should train clap catching.
Felix’s series on Catching is being released at the Training Tier level, starting with Part 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/66675315.