After a bit of a hiatus due to holidays and focusing on other sports (mountain biking yay!) I have spent the last couple of weeks on a bit of a return to ultimate. As I get back into various leagues and training regimes I have been doing some self-assessment (somewhat unknowingly) to gauge my starting …
In most ultimate games players will spend part of their time on the sideline. Time spent off the playing field allows a player to recuperate, hydrate and tend to any other personal matters as required. That said, it is important to recognise that you are still part of a team who is currently involved in …
Here’s a few tips on what to do when an opponent makes a call on you. There’s a bunch of calls that could be made including fouls, travel, disc-width, fast count, pick and numerous others. Ultimate is a sport full of passionate people and the Spirit of the Game calls upon those players to self-referee …
This post contains a simple bit of advice that I have often found very useful for players who are working on their throws. Generally speaking, control and distance in a throw comes from making sure that the disc is spinning. Spin is added to the disc via a good wrist-snap, but how can you improve …
As a player you might, at times, think about ways you can improve your contribution to your team. Alternatively you might be looking for a way to differentiate yourself from other players, developing a skill that sets you apart and increases your value to the team. A good option is to consider becoming awesome at …
All ultimate players make mistakes on the field. There’s a huge range of things that you can do wrong, affecting the game, your team and yourself. Drops, throw-aways, not clearing, getting frustrated, forgetting to drink – these are all possible mistakes. There are many more and we’ll all experience these mistakes at some point. A …
Years ago a friend of mine linked me to a blog post where the author was speaking to an ultimate team about their strengths and weaknesses. One of the players highlighted “cutting with flow” as their primary strength. Unfortunately I can’t find the original post but since reading it I have often thought about cutting …
Recently I have been consuming quite a bit of Ultimate. After an injury-induced hiatus I am now playing in two leagues and I have also been watching as many games as I can find online, particularly with some great content coming out of Worlds. I have really enjoyed being able to watch so many great …
This post contains a lesson that will be familiar to many Ultimate players. It is a lesson that I learnt the hard way, on the field in an important game. Hopefully I can help newer players avoid the hard lesson by providing an easy one! Put simply, if you are playing defense on a point …
This past weekend saw me returning to Ultimate after a three month break due to an ankle injury that I suffered whilst playing in a tournament. I was making my return in two leagues, an indoor social league and our division 1 outdoor league. Anyone who has recovered form an injury in any sport can …
In previous posts I have made reference to The Throwing Comfort Zone. This post will explore the concept of The Throwing Comfort Zone whilst also providing some advice on how your Throwing Comfort Zone can be increased and maintained. The concept of the Throwing Comfort Zone is a useful mechanism to identifying where you sit …
This is the last post in a mini-series on why connections count within Ultimate. The first post highlighted that all passes, including scoring passes, rely on an interaction between two players. Those players need to work together to ensure that the connection occurs. Last week’s post focused on receivers and detailed some tips that can assist when cutting for connections. In …
In my previous post I highlighted the importance of connections within ultimate. I’d recommend having a read of the full post. As a recap, the interactions between throwers and receivers is an example of where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. By recognising that there are two people involved in any …
Aside from ultimate, think of another sport where the act of scoring a point or a goal requires an interaction between two players…. I can’t think of one. Any other team sport allows a player to score by themselves. It is an individual’s act. Whilst the rest of the team plays an important role in …
Arguably one of the most pressure intensive parts of playing ultimate is when you have the disc in your hand. The outcome of the point is completely in your control and it is up to you to take an appropriate action to work towards a score. Other players on the field can influence the options available to you, but …
This is the first of a series of Ultimate Intelligence posts that I hope to write. These posts will hopefully provide some useful information that you can use to improve your game in a variety of ways. For the most part Ultimate Intelligence will be about on-field performance and may include tips regarding tactics, physical …
