Why Do You Play Ultimate?
Is it for the Spirit of the Game? Is it because you love throwing? Is it because you love going to tournaments and getting away from home once in a while? Whatever the reason, we all love this game. Those…
Category Psychology
Articles about the psychology of ultimate
Favourite Frisbee Quotes
My favourite frisbee quotes both come from the same man, Stancil Johnson. According to Wikipedia, Stancil Johnson is a psychiatrist and frisbee enthusiast, a member of the International Frisbee Hall of Fame and the Disc Golf Hall of Fame, and…
Losing is Lonely
When I talk about my sport, I struggle to decide what to call it: ultimate or Frisbee? The latter dredges up images of dogs chasing plastic across a stretch of fresh grass, certainly better manicured than any fields we ever…
Gunning for Goliath
So my last post was about how to approach games where your team significantly outmatches your opponent. But the more interesting question is what to do when your opponent is significantly stronger than you. If your team is one of those…
Receiving Constructive Feedback
We all say we want constructive feedback, but not all of us are equipped to receive it, openly and in a manner that makes it a worthwhile effort on everyone’s part. Although there seems to be lots of opportunities to…
5 Tips to Being a Better Teammate
Most of us have played other team sports since we were kids so we have gotten used to the initial period when you first join a team and you get to know the other players. However, no matter the sport…
Using Statistics to Improve Your Game
A couple of months ago, I developed a paradigm for ultimate frisbee statistics. The goal of the paradigm was to capture all of the qualitatively distinct events in a game of ultimate. I’ve scored a few games with this system…
Throw It Early
To follow up on my post Checking Your Shoulder – Buttonhook, let’s talk about when to throw to those cuts. In general, you want to put the disc up as early as possible. There are a lot of factors involved…
Getting Open Because You Think You Can
During a post-game debrief at Montreal Jazzfest, the other captains used me as an example of being able to “always get open” on my cuts. They qualified this by saying that it wasn’t because I was the fastest but that…
Experience Matters
Let’s compare two similar players with the same quantifiable skills and dimensions. One of the intangible differentiators is experience. We’ve all seen those tall, fast kids who are always open at the wrong place or wrong time… or the squad…
Finding My Mojo
There’s something magical and truly indescribable about playing competitive team sports. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely had the experience yourself and have possibly struggled to describe it to people in the “real world.” While driving back to Toronto from…
What I Like Most About Ultimate
In his first post on Ultimate Rob, Stephen Winters shares with us a free flowing poem of sorts, roughly titled “What I Like Most About Ultimate”. He definitely captures the spirit of ultimate in his post. Look for more from…
The Impact We Have On Others
I’ve had an amazing rollercoaster ride since arriving on the Toronto ultimate scene last July. First of all, I was scared to death to move here largely because I was scared of integrating into a new scene after having only…
Some Tips – Moving from a Cutter to a Handler
There are a few things to keep in mind going from a cutter to a handler: As a handler, it’s important to throw leading throws to the cutters. As a cutter, you know what throws you like and what you don’t…
Positive Feedback
About a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to see something from a different perspective. Having done several degrees in Psychology, I understood the concept of positive reinforcement and all of B.F. Skinner’s work. In a very…
What Is The Force?
Forcing is a strategic attempt, by the defense, to force the thrower to throw the disc into an area of the defense’s choosing or to pressure the thrower into making an error. As such the defender forcing the disc has…
6 Tips for Any Beginner Ultimate Player
I’m often asked by players who have just started playing ultimate if I have any tips for how they can get better. I have answered this question enough that I felt it was worth posting it as an article. Leave…
The Best Advice I Ever Got
I was inspired to write this today because in thinking back over my roughly 10 year ultimate career thus far, I got thinking about the moment that really changed the course of my game. It wasn’t hard to remember that…
Spirit of the Game
Stressing mutual respect for the other team is at the heart of Spirit of the Game. Coaches should encourage players to respect the opposing team and encourage a respectful approach to conflict resolution. Showing respect to other players is often…
To Huck or Not To Huck
A general rule of thumb I like to follow is this: Huck from Zone A; don’t huck from Zone B. In Zone A, use shallow/deep cuts (ie horizontal stack); in Zone B, use break side/open side cuts (ie vertical stack).…
Ultimate Quick Tips Reference Checklist
I’ve done a lot of reading of other blogs, books, and I’ve talked to a lot of people for many hours about ultimate. In all of that time, I’ve come up with a bit of a quick reference checklist that…