Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Goaltimate League

Tuesday night Mens Goaltimate League in San Deigo. A bunch of  SD Streetgang guys, a bunch of Masters guys, the cream of the pickup-game crop and a bunch of the guys who invented this game 15 years back. A bunch of Goaltimate professionals (the first couple big Goalti tournaments had cash prizes)!

It feels pretty good to be the newb. To be the rookie. To be the willing listener and learner.

The obvious thought that comes after playing 3 times is that EVERY ultimate player needs to play Goalti a few times as cross-training for ultimate. The cuts are quick and short and the throws are different so you can't translate too much of that stuff over, but one touches the disc 10 times as much as in Ultimate and everything happens faster. That reaction time training, the confidence that comes from catching zippy bades, can and should be an addition to everyone's disc related arsenal.

The real insight I *think* I've had about this game is that teams actually need to be aggressive, they have to take percentage looks. In Ultimate, I always got the distinct impression that offense should score every single time without nary a turnover or stoppage. The fact that we didn't was a big fault of the offense. In Goaltimate however, you are not going to win vs a good team if you look to play the the possession offense. Even the best shooters cant be 100%. Shoot 70% in the NBA and you are a star, likewise in this game.


I wonder how many other cities have organized Goaltimate. I have heard of Seattle and Atlanta and Boston and SF. Someone said something about someplace in Texas. But where else? What is the cross over from the best Ultimate players? What percentage of the dudes at Club Nationals have wicked scoobers and blades that they only unleash in the offseason through the big PVC hoop?

Loving it for right now (though, like Ultimate, this sport could really benefit from some impartial arbitration.)

5 comments:

Torre said...

Chattanooga, TN doesn't have a league started up, but we rarely play Ultimate at pickup. It's been Goaltimate for > a year now. We also get our college students to play. I love it. I think it helps a ton in decision making and give & go's.

Also helps teammates get more acquainted with each other. I know which throws my teammates like the best after playing some goalty.

Jim Biancolo said...

Don't know if you guys do this, but our local game plays with Callahan goals in effect, which is a fun/good change, I think.

Anonymous said...

I usually don't comment to posts but I will in this case. wow :-]

Dan Chazin said...

So I have played in Seattle, Nashville and of course the Bay. The Bay (jokingly) boasts the most world and national champs playing goaltimate at a single game from the ex-Jam, Revolver, Troubled Past, and Furious George (Gabe Saunkeah in '03) not to mention World Games with Gabe and Bart. Anyways we use tent poles instead of PVC and sometimes we play on turf and we use concrete molds with nails to hold it in place instead of stakes in that situation. I have heard of many different styles. Apparently in Santa Cruz, the name of the game is grit, picks, and spacing, very rarely is there a cluster in the goal. I heard Boston is focused more on flat throws and just hacking each other. Up in the Bay goals are hard because defense and communication is huge, there's lots of circulation in the goal, lots of hitting, lots of tricky blades, blade push passes, or beach backhands. We've had a league (check www.sfgl.org) and it was fun but this year we're all pickup games.

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