This drill puts the spotlight on one player at a time. First they catch & throw from a feeder, passing to every player cutting under, then they bounce discs back to every player as they give-go attack downfield.
The huck extension adds a long throw to the end of the drill, after the players are set up perfectly in power position by the spotlighted player, who is bouncing the disc back to them. Full video available for Training Tier patrons.
Introduction:
Welcome ultimate frisbee coaches and players! Thank you for taking the time to look over this resource. I am a middle school ultimate frisbee coach and have been working with that age group on and off since 2015. My cocoaches and I are all middle school teachers (ages 11-14) and coach a team for our school. Up until this year (2023), I have taught my teams vertical stack, as I felt it was the best introductory offense for teaching many of the principles of the sport. This year, however, my cocoaches and I decided to try teaching hex instead, to match the shift made by the high school team in our district. We kept notes of our teaching progression and thoughts as we went to make adjusting our ultimate frisbee curriculum easier in the following years. This is a modified version of that document that omits identifying information. Please note that most of these reflections are my own, as my cocoaches and I have not yet discussed our big picture thoughts in depth. We may add/change notes once we have those discussions.
Our Programs:
We run two programs (open to all gender identities) at our school. Our casual, non-commitment club meets twice per week and runs from September to March. It is welcome to all students grades 6-8. At the end of March, we run a competitive Spring team that meets four times per week for approximately two hours. This is only open to 7th and 8th graders.
The 2023 Team:
Every team has a different feel and culture. It is important to have this context when reading our notes. This year’s team was invested in the sport and had great physical and cognitive potential. They struggled with carrying a focal point into a scrimmage, drill, or game, and had issues with team culture. I bring this up because some of the challenges this team faced were characteristic of these kids and their classmates as a whole, and were not specific to our hex for the first time.
Training Tier patrons can access the training plan here.
Reflecting on Hex
This intensive and fun 9-week training plan is a great introductory resource for youth teams and college teams too. It is aimed at teams with some players with a year or two of experience and some beginner players. This resource is available to Training Tier patrons.
Here’s a good game to expand your offence, encouraging your players to look for bigger throws to bigger spaces, and to use the space effectively by spreading out whilst staying active. Video available to Training Tier patrons.
This drill (and the double-dribble extension) practices give-go and double dribbling moves on offence, and is a new favourite of mine! The Triangle Give-Go involves a basic straight-line, three-touch give-go/dribble move before passing on to the next player. The Double Dribble extension involves two players dribbling together, and includes a change of direction whilst the disc is in-hand in order to continue the dribble. Full video available to Training Tier patrons.
This exercise encourages players to be aggressive with their moves, generating quick forward movement / penetration and scoring opportunities. Full video available for Training Tier patrons.
Molly Brown and Valeria Cardenas recently set a new standard for fielding the pull which involves a quick give-go off the pull catch, getting the disc back moving aggressively forwards.
Felix breaks down the method into it’s component parts and shows how you can build up a similar good pull fielding routine through training. Available for Training Tier patrons only.
This possession exercise practices 1v1 and 2v2 situations with extra support from posts (or bouncers) on offence. It’s inspired by the “Rondo” football exercises which Johan Cryff brought to Barcelona – he said “Everything that goes on in a match, except shooting, you can do in a rondo”. Rondos are said to improve player decision making, coordination, team play, creativity, competitiveness, and physical conditioning. Full video here (Training Tier patrons).
Traditional scripted drills don’t involve much decision-making and hence don’t give players much of an opportunity to learn, through creative trial-and-error, game-realistic ways to pivot, throw, find space, create space, and attack space. Keepaway is the simple, obvious, and most effective way to work on these things in a fun and intense way. Full content available to Training Tier patrons.
In this patron-only training article, Travis explains the two different types of game modifications or constrictions which can be applied during scrimmages, which he prefers, and provides a number of examples of modifications he has found to work well with a youth team training hex-style. Training Tier patrons can view the article here.