Selection, and Playing Smart

When I was standing next to Tom Brennan at NUFL last year, he mentioned being a selector for 2008 Aurora Australis (a team who, judging by what I've seen of Fury at UPA Nationals '07, should at the very least win a medal or something is very very wrong with the world). I asked him what he was looking for as criteria for selection, and he turned to me and said 'Gosh... I don't know... people who are good?'

It made me laugh, but offhand jokes on the matter aside, being part of a selection process makes me wonder what selectors are looking for in their Ultimate team. I have practically no experience or knowledge when it comes to senior teams (Dingo's, Mundi's) so I'll stick with Thunder for the while.

Selection for Thunder - for any junior team - interests me a lot because the way I see it, it's much more a gamble. Here in Australia our junior Ultimate, while being highly developed in parts - Cupcake's epic performances at NUFL's, Phil and Ellie's ability to be a massive threat be it handling or receiving on offence and defence - still lacks the solid player base that selections for a proper Open's or Women's team might have. Not everybody has the disc skills. Not everybody has the fitness. What the selectors for a junior's team have to look for, apart from everything else, is potential, and I like that. I think it's risky.

An example: For Boston in 06, Thunder took Stephen "Cleetus" Johnson on as their token tall man. Missing out on his spot, though, was Seb Barr, who some say was much better at Ultimate during selections, though shorter. Cleetus went on to have a huge impact on the Boston team, pulling down massive hucks and getting big D, and they placed just outside of a medal finish, for 4th. That, as far as my (extremely limited) inside knowledge goes, is a case of selectors choosing height over athleticism and skill. That story, by the way, has a happy ending: Seb Barr today was selected for the Aussie Mixed team at Vancouver, the Barramundi's, beating several other Boston players for the spot through hard work and commitment to the game. Way to get back up from being down. Big props.

I held a party at my house once, and friends got to talking about who would make Thunder from my group, and how we all made the squad: Tom Cashman (hilarious guy, excellent long distance runner, tall, beats me at frisbee just by standing in the endzone even after all the training I've put in) used the soccer analogy of selection, saying that the guy making the team isn't the team player making the perfect assist pass, it's the guy who tries to dribble the ball solo into the goal, irrespective of the fact that soccer is a team sport. And as a spectator of Ultimate, that really is what impresses: the chest-high layout block in the endzone, the Callahan, the point block, the massive hucks. But Ultimate is a team sport, and surely that can't be all selectors look for.

Then again, the things I value pretty much at the top end of a skillbase are hard to see from just watching. Shutting down your man on defence aka 'hitting the D spot'. That's impressive, and probably one of the hardest things to do in any game with a half-decent offence. It's also pretty hard to spot because absolutely nothing of interest happens around you. People tend to follow the disc, and if you're shutting down your man so badly that they aren't getting the disc, generally people don't notice, unless they're on your sideline. Where a good defender lays out to get the block on his man on a sweet in cut, the excellent defender stops that cut from happening in the first place. Far less exciting, but a very valuable thing nonetheless.

Another thing I like is playing smart, or field sense. This is probably a little bit more noticeable. Being extremely unathletic, I have a tendency to hate on what I call 'dumb athletes'. And I should know, I've marked plenty of them. They're the sort of people who get open, then slow down to get to the disc, or don't notice their defender (usually me) is mismatched to their skill and they don't capitalise or make themselves a threat to the defence. Playing smart is probably much more noticeable in a zone situation. Recognise - if their wing is poaching on your third handler, play the space left in the middle of the field. Things like that really impress me, and are the sort of things I try to do.

My first introduction to 'playing smart' came from my hat captain at the second day of the Ultimate Stampede. Chris someone. He had a Deathstar shirt. Newcastle, I think. Definitely Newcastle. He taught me the importance of dumping and getting the disc off the sideline. Playing smart. What's the point of being much faster or taller or fitter than your opposition if you haven't got the brains to exploit it? Speaking of points, I don't really think this post has one. I hope I make the Worlds team. Will I be gutted if I don't? Yes. For the rest of my life?

Maybe. Maybe not.

T.