Eye of the Beholder/Stealing from Women

Watching more experienced players can be extremely beneficial if you know what you're doing - often at league when there is a complete beginner on the team I will tell them that they should watch this or that player to see what they can aspire to be one day, even though this might not be the best advice to give an inexperienced player. A beginner might look at Owen and say 'wow, he is wearing a lot of zinc', whereas a player who has some sense of the game might come up with different conclusions - 'he's shutting that guy down completely', say, or 'the agility in his footwork definitely helps him when he is cutting, I should emulate this'.

Anyway. Watching others is a good avenue to explore if you want to improve, and so I wanted to decry the benefits of one particularly underrated resource in Australian Ultimate - elite female players. Why is it so much better to watch an elite female handler over an elite male one? Simply, I see the top shelf of women's ultimate having less of an emphasis on brute athleticism (speed, height) and a definite edge in terms of technique. Playing against the Firetails three or four times this year convinced me, if you want to watch a game and pick up some higher-order skills, check out Hussey's backhand, Sarah Wentworth's cutting or Lisa McGinnigle's aggressive mark. Dude's ultimate is just guys hucking to guys skying guys anyway. Yawn.