Some Thoughts about Zone O skills

This started as a reply to Matt Mackey’s post about Zone O fundamentals but became long enough for my own post. The following are some thoughts about what skills make a Zone O player good. I guess these aren’t exactly “fundamentals” per se’ as some of the stuff is pretty advanced, but some thoughts I had while reading his post.

Throwing and Catching

1. Being able to catch a pass and then throw very quickly afterwards. If you receive a break from the trapped side the best thing to do is to keep the movement to the high side and that cup is gonna be sprinting to set the trap on you. The quicker one can move that swing the better.

2. Related point - Being able to throw and catch very quick passes. Because those time windows are small (D is running to reposition and set the cup) zipping throws takes precedence completely over floating a disk to space which happens a fair amount in Man Offense.

3. Being able to gain yards on any particular catch. If you can catch the disc while in the air with lots of momentum going forward, those 2 yards you can gain before your pivot are set are important in 2 ways. First, 2 yards is 2 yards and well take what we can get, but more importantly, if a cup is set and then you catch a short dish as described, you can suddenly make the cup very out of position and therefore throw through holes that weren't there for the previous thrower.

4. Retaining composure when forced to make risky throws. Yeah, sometimes the disc gets trapped on the low side and the cup is not giving you anything and the crashes are covered well. Apart from the fact that hammers, scoobers, ect… are more categorically prone to getting D’d or falling incomplete, if you are not “in control” of your stall count and those risky throws are closer to punts than then real throws, then you will just have a much lower completion percentage for those throws. Realize that sometimes those risky throws are just necessary because the D has forced you into that disadvantageous position - if you allow yourself some time and mental concentration to make a focused throw you will get better results even if it sucks in general that you have to resort to the cross field hammer.

Non-throwing/catching

5. Knowing when to swing immediately and when to look for holes after catching it. My O line and I are working on this (I get yelled at when I don’t swing immediately but I get praised when I throw through holes because I didn’t swing it )

6. Trusting your teammates throwing skills and decision making. Yes, you must acknowledge that Sophomore Jimmy doesn’t have the upwind OI and you shouldn’t expect it, but if you resort to only forcing them to make 2 yard dumps, then you just pump up the throw count and thus the risk of turnover.

7.Being able to recognize and call “Double Team”s without losing your focus on player and disc movement. This is the skill I lack the most even though I think about its worth a decent amount. I talk the talk but when I’m playing handler in Zone O I just seem to not even think about Double Teams. It sucks that throwers have to focus on playing and calling the Doubles but that just is the current state of our sport. Ideally a thrower would totally dissociate his normal focus from violation calling but the overwhelming empirical observation is that when a thrower is gonna call “double team” they look at all the cup players, think about it, completely stop focusing on their teammates and yell the call in frustration. They’ll get 2 counts but they lose 2 counts in the process. If someone could retain focus on their team mates but be able to make calls like double team that don’t stop the play, they would have a huge advantage (808 is the best at this particular focus splitting)

8. Being ok with turnovers. There is wind and turnovers are gonna happen – if you get mad about them and lose focus then the D wins. You or your team mate turns its just get on D – stop the fast break and you have a pretty good chance of getting the disc back because the same inclement conditions that caused your turnover will effect the tired and less skilled D team to the same degree.

Trust pt. 2

---Like my "Trust pt1", I wrote this a month ago and don't really know what it needs to make me feel good about posting it. I feel like this might not really get across what I want to say, but its possible that keeping it unpublished in hopes of fixing it is stagnating my writing in general. So here is the rough version I put to words hastily - hopefully just getting it out of my drafts section will help me think about some of the concepts that need thinking about---

One reason I am interested in on-field trust is that it seems to affect me greatly at times. Am I more aware because it holds sway over me or do I let it hold sway over me because I choose to notice and put emphasis? I bet its both: one problem with intellectualizing sports is that process provides more to think about when what we strive for is a non-thinking, "in-the-zone" experience.


In its most basic form, lack of trust is not throwing to the rookie at all.


Frisbee is very different than football because if you just keep the disc moving, you are fine. In football you have to make play, stop, make play, stop ect...


One of the things I dislike about my play as of late is my pattern of getting mad at my teammates because the "right" cut isn't there or I am not thrown the disc when I should be. This must come from a lack of trust in my teammates decision making. Its a totally unproductive response. In its worst form, this causes me to force throws to cuts that aren't there or aren't open to show what i do want. Well, thats stupid, the team doesnt see what I do want, they just see decision turn overs. It leads to rushed, or delayed throws that are always unfocused. It is me trying to "do to much".



I said in Trust pt. 1 that the trust I'm talking about is not about believing in my teammates to execute "above" their physical level. Its not that we should expect to outrun, outthrow, out jump, and outlayout the opposition - no, that's just disrespecting or underestimating opponent's abilities. Trust is knowing that a teammate will perform AT his physical level and with decision making that is deemed to be good based on agreed upon choices (agreed upon = practiced, drilled, or predetermined strategy and tractics). This is playing "within" ones self (something else I am really interested in - future post)

Goodbye

If you are reading this, it means that I'm already gone. It was a tough decision but in the end, I think what I'm doing is right.

I know that where Im going might be insufferably hot or very pleasent - there is no telling which will greet me - Ill accept whatever consequences lay in the future for me. It was the right thing to do.


Goodbye...














.....I'll see you when I get back from SPRING BREAK!!!!! in Texas. Centex and then beach house - ridiculousness will ensue right after the Squids unleash on some fools.

Predictions for the festivities include relaxing, working on my tan, finishing "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintainace", sleeping 9hours a night, eating and drinking only the best money can buy and generally having a restful and reinvigorating vacation from school. Actually, none of those things will happen (eh, i might finish Zen in the airports - but then again, i remember it getting pretty complex at the end from last time I tried to read it in HS).

To all you other Spring Breakers: be safe, but remember "safety" is relative - human livers are a lot stronger than we give them credit for. To advocates of moderation, I say: If not now, when?

Stupid and Unsafe are not the same thing. Be safe but not sane, there is plenty of time for sanity the rest of the year.


-Sorry if i scared anyone. Go tell your family home much you love them

Biology Final

...went ok. I was thinking hard the whole time. I dont know if this is a good sign or not, there was certainly stuff I didnt know. Yet, I feel I knew a decent amount, and if it was hard for me (a historically good "test taker"), it must have been hard for others, which is good for the curve. Understand? Not sure I do either. See the toll Finals week puts on my mind?

Worked in my lab today a little after the test.

Went back to school to work out at our gym. Started my workout at 5:30. Totally forgot about the team track practice at 6. Honestly, this wasn't one of those times someone conviently forgets. I really had no knowledge we had track practice (the one emphasised at Saturday's practice) . Honest. See the toll Finals week puts on my mind?


We'll, at lest the workouts were good:

Usual warmup & 2000m speed row with helpful comments on form from some dude on the crew team.

35 reps
115lb Clean (from the floor) and Jerk
Time: 11:33

This 5 minutes better than the last time I tried this workout. It really is a mental battle. My form is getting better as is my strength, but the real reduction in time came from doubled mental toughness. Amazing. Im not at Grace yet, but im working at it.

10-8-6-4-2 Reps of :
140lb backsquat
35 lb dumbell swing
35lb dumbell french press
Time: 5:46

Nice and solid, not too long.

Ended with some time on the GHD machine; i try to get some time in with this puppy whenever I go to the gym.



What I am really happy about, is that I am finding movements and weights with which I can get maximum power output. Too heavy and you gotta take lots of breaks, to light or too simple a movement and you dont exert yourself fully.

The key is finding how to exert yourself for a long period at high intensity without needing copious rest. Know your body and its easy to push yourself in the right ways at the gym.



Phil Paper, Phil Final, Ochem Final and then freedom: Centex and the Gulf Coast (like I need more beach)


Wish me luck.

Trust pt. 1

(This is something I wrote a while back but never posted. I'm not exactly sure what I wanted to be different about it, but I think ill post it now even if it seems incomplete. I have plans to write more about this topic later.)


One of the most important things necessary for a group of individuals to play well together, as a team, is trust in each other. But not the trust you may be thinking of...

I'm not really talking about trusting a teammate to execute "above" their level, I'm talking about trusting him to make the right decision in an particular circumstance. Not that he will have the forehand bomb, but that he will ONLY throw that if it is too the right cut and he is sure of the pass's success. While its great to have someone on D that can run a 4.3 40, its vitally important that I know he will follow the structure of the team D set.

I need to trust in someones intuitions about themselves, their teammates and the current game state.

Flow comes when teammates can predict each other's moves. O has a massive advantage when they know whats coming next based on who has the disc where. Likewise, D has a massive advantage when it knows just as much about the potential actions of a untrustworthy thrower as the offense.




I've been thinking about this Trust idea for a while now, but a recent event precipitated some waves of crystallization in understanding about the whole thing. Last night we were scrimmaging and doing some work on Vstack offense. I was 3 in the stack on a dead disc - my man is committed to poaching the open lane right in front of the throw. I ran to the break side under and just stood there across the field without my defender even following. That thrower, Kyle "Kenobi" Frost, recognized the situation, turned toward me and made the difficult 25 yard cross field backhand break. It what had to happen- my defender played that gambit - and he saw this and worked hard to break the essentially flat mark. The exact instant he did this I had an amazing sensation of satisfaction wash over me. After the point i realized that from that moment on, i trusted him. Not his throws - hes just a sophomore and a little rough around the edges. Not his cutting - he could have a faster first step and better closing speed. But i trust his intuition. He can realize the situation and apply the skill set he actually has to help the team.

Ive haven't been so aware of a-ha! moments with other teammates but maybe thats because I havent started trusting anyone since I started thinking about the concept. I can say this for sure though: when I look to the side line for a O player in a big game, Kenobi is has my nod of approval and that seems more important than any other single personal characteristic.

Life is Good

5-2 at Ripon. Word
No turns against Oregon while Playing 90% of the point. Word.

1-0 vrs my brother's team

1-0 vrs my brother at Poke` during a timeout

Finally figured out what this song is. Props to anyone that correctly identifies the1970's Progressive Rock band De La Soul sampled from.

These next two weeks are gonna be hard, but I'm gonna survive. And then Centex and ...


PS- Some really great writing on the necessity of the swing.
PSS-Florida checked its boner. Its HUGE. Congrats to a team that is way better than we give them credit for.

Wheels

I currently have 8 pairs of cleats in my personal possession (6 actually belong to me, 2 are lost and not found yet).

Eastbay is having a sale so I just bought 2 more pairs.

Ladies, I will never make fun of you for having too many shoes, I understand now. Shoes make the outfit: spiffy cleats and short black socks make you play well. Practice can make you good, but cleats and socks make you a baller ----->





Stanfo ...er...Ripon Invite this weekend is gonna be awesome but a little wet. Nothin' like a dry pair of cleats after a mud bath to make game 3 go smoothly - ill be ready.