Your D-Line Is Not Your O-Line

This is sort of a mesh together of my experiences playing for Fakulti at NUFL1 and browsing over slides from UCPC.

Your D-line is not your O-line. Sounds really simple, but has pretty far-reaching implications. For a team like Fakulti - and, I'm presuming, any elite team - the offence (don't matter if it relies on big hucks with massive takes from 6"11 playmakers or a speedy in-cut game like Buzz) is worked out. Tweaked. Taken apart, worked with, tested to see what works and what doesn't. It can take weeks or a season or many seasons to find out what works best for your team and their skillsets. You'll find that D players will participate in this O structuring, and it will rub off on them. But:

Your D-line is not your O-line. Ultimate is all about recognising weakness and exploiting it. For a defence, the biggest single weakness to exploit is the seconds immediately surrounding a turnover. The regimented, start-from-the-stack, lets-call-a-play (could be an isolation, could just be 'horro') option merely gives the opposition the chance to adjust and recall how to play defence.

I can recall two contrasting experiences with the same club in the same season: Fakulbee, at Nationals, calling an isolation play after a turnover and getting nowhere, is one, whereas Fakulti, at NUFL, using the fast break and scoring 5-6 goals with almost sickening ease. This isn't just because one team was better than the other - the iso play was working, after all - but because it shows two approaches to a D-line offence; one static, one dynamic.

Ben Wiggins has some slides up on the UCPC website. I wasn't at UCPC so I have no idea what they actually meant or what he said to describe them, but the important lesson I learned from them was about converting with your D line. The D-line should exploit the fast break. That doesn't mean a speccy huck to the endzone with marker on the disc, either. It just means getting the disc moving as quickly as possible, with the aim being to catch the opposition's O-line defence off-guard. That isn't all: the D-line should look for - or at least consider - options a disciplined offence would not necessarily choose: the breakside hammer to the endzone, high floaty break throws to achieve power position, the works. Unconventional, unorthodox methods of moving the disc achieve a greater degree of viability precisely because your defenders are not defensive players.

Once play becomes stagnant and starts to resemble the ho/vert stack of your O-line, it doesn't mean your team isn't going to convert, it just means that the advantage you were given is now nullified.

T.

Back to Basics... Learn to catch

Fakulbee in our games have had a lot of dropping accidents, so Kenny gave us some advice on how to catch better, refering us to the catching technique of the Australian wicket keeper, Adam Gilchrist.

He pointed out if you ever watch him, and he was damn good, he always would follow the ball into his hands, with his eyes, even after he had made the catch.

When you do this, you will be dropping fewer discs since it seemed so many of our drops were from thinking we had the catch and looking up for the next pass.

Field awareness is good, but so is catching the disc.
I've been focusing on catching more like this, even with the easy throws.

Orange Eastern Regionals

I think I must be suffering PTD, I've also been finding it hard to study and think about anything that isn't Frisbee which is the only think I've thought about for the past weekend.

Phil, Max, Tiger and I drove down on the Friday arvo, had a brief stop in Katoomba stopped drivers and went all the way to Orange.

I think it was a pretty amazing weekend and its great to see Fakulbee come so far as both individual players and more importantly as a team. I remember the first game we played together at Share the Love we still didn't know eachothers names, people were calling me Mark and Mark Semfel and not meaning it as a joke (except Elsey he still does it).

First day was easy 3 days with long breaks between each one, Taipans, Fakulti and Hills. I probably enjoyed the Fakulti game the most out of all of them even though we got schooled hard. Something like 15-3 with a cool down with Kai who bought everyone Ice Cream. Was a pretty good day but things got a lot more serious on the second day. The cool down was fun when Kai pulled up Tex to show a stretch Julian called out "Make him cry!"

Taipans we played well for about 2 points until they pulled out a pommy and zowned us. I was pretty happy with my defense and cutting this game, doing a pretty good job of it. Feeling a lot lighter and fitter than the last tournament I played. Hills was an average game, I dont think we played so well and it was more their drops than our fantastic defense that won us the game.

Ali B also brought out his new cheer for us, probably the most firey cheer I've ever seen. The whole team is screaming, also came up with a stupid one with Tiger/Max and Phil where each person calls out a letter in the alphabet until we get to S (The 19th person which fit perfectly with our huge roster) and the whole team called out FakulTEE.

The second day I also discovered strapping tape for blisters, I've never used the stuff before and its amazing! So much less pain than possible before!

This day was full of fire, hucks high moods and low spirits.

Our first game of the day was against Newcastle I-beam after we all warmed up got our seven on the field and the first pull of the day started after 3 throws Newcastle calls a timeout and goes "I need to get my shoes on!" and they all got their cleats on and did some warm up. Probably the second funniest time out called I've seen during Frisbee.

I saw some amazing plays happening today as Ali B fired up the whole team with his cheers

Who wants to win this guys? Lets do it Fakulti ...
FakulWHAT? FakULTI
FakuliWHAT? FakULTI

As he started running around in our circle as the team starts yelling and cheering. I don't think I have ever been this fired up for a game in my entire life in any of the sports I've played. The intensity was amazing the it really showed with Lu-wee scoring some huge D's and scores, Yoann showing me a game I've never known he could play, Wes Dowley and Phil holding the team together and some amazing efforts from everyone on the team, huge lays and perfect throws, our drop rate was so much lower than the previous day and everyone played amazingly.

FakulBLOCK FakulD
FakulBREAK FakulFREE
FakulSCORE FakulSI

We started the game with this cheer as Brendon came and dropped a Fakulti shirt in the middle "This is what we are playing for guys," we all realised how much we needed this game, we wanted to get to Nationals.

Our game against the gong was crazy, we took the half at 8-5 with Fakulbee showing a hucking game that I've never seen before, and it worked extremely well, the whole team played the hardest D I've ever seen and the whole team had an energy we'd never seen before as we battled for the last qualifying spot to Nationals. Unfortunately Wollongong replied in kind and took the game 13-10 or so at the time cap. We weren't able to shut down the combination of Tim Booth, The Crusher and Joe the tall friendly guy with a shaven head and a huge forehand huck. Brendan played some amazing d and he is so great on the mark in our zones.

This was probably the most painful loss I've had in Frisbee for a long time and the whole team's energy was down after this one, the only hope being a wildcard entry if we won our 7/8th play off. We finally had lunch at 3pm after 3 games. I think Tim Booth at the end of this game also gave one of the best Frisbee speeches I've heard in a circle that somehow managed to dodge the cliches and hit a spot with most of the players in the circle.

The game against Manly started out slow, our whole team energy was down after the loss against the gong, the first few points went by slowly, Manly were playing a great game wanting it more than us and you could see it in their play.

FakulWHO? FakulBEE
FakulWHAT? FakulTI
FakulWHAT? FakulTI

The sidelines began roaring the players began screaming, The whole of Fak A came out to support us on the sidelines as we fired up and finally equalised with Manly after the half. The last few points of the game were a blur with harder D and offense from both teams than I can ever remember, Manly surprised me with how hard all of their players played and Fakulti showed me again what we could do and why we wanted to go to Nationals. The last point I played I can't remember feeling that good getting a score, a short cut into the front openside, as my man run to the post, a circle of death cut to the back corner and Brendon floated the disc into my hands, I have never felt that good scoring in Frisbee in my entire life it was an amazing experience to have this chance.

The whole sideline was fired up as Julian was told over and over again to get off the field with his cheers and enthusiasm, I think he is probably one of the most motivated players I've ever seen, it is clear how much he wants to play with Fakulti and how much he wants to win and get that disc. Ken pointed out he has probably the fastest closing speed of anyone on Fakulti and is a great player becuase he wants it so much.

The last point was crazy, time cap went and Wes and Neil had a chat, game to 12. 10-9 To Fakulti. The last point I don't think I've seen Manly ever play D that tight, scoring a well deserved turn over, but we got the disc back and after a bit of dump swinging, I think dowley threw to wes for the score but it went too high, Mark in an ironic fashion managed the pull the disc down over 3 Manly players to take the win for us.

We had our showers, said good byes, went to the presentation and we won Spirit! Which was a bottle of Jager and shot glasses, its a shame none of the juniors can drink.

I lamented the loss of my blue gaia disc (someone nice picked it up to return it to me or someone stole it) and we made our drive home.

Best frisbee weekend ever.

Aims for Regionals

I am going to buy an Eastern Regionals disc from Bozza.

And write:

Tiger Webb

Fakulti

T.

Somethign to look forward to...

When I get to regionals, I'm going to go and buy a disc off Bozza and then on the disc I'm going to write:

Alex Semfel
Fakulti

Fak yeah.

Just one of those great days

I'm in such an optimistic life and Frisbee mood right now.

I've been feeling fitter and faster than ever before. When I run and jump I feel that much lighter.

Fakulti training has been challenging me and forcing me to improve more quickly and consistently than I have at any other period of my ultimate playing career.

The Worlds no drinking policy has actually saved me a lot of money, time and effort, though I've learnt it still won't save you from other people's drunken antics. I got picked up and dropped in a hole dug by drunk people at a small beach party I went to.

I really enjoy the Fakulti style of play, a smooth calm solid offense, reminds me of the NSB waterpolo style we had which was near silent against yelling screaming teams.

Also, I went to the Faculty welcome for Sydney Uni and they had an awesome free BBQ with free drinks, burgers, various vege wraps, sausage sandwiches and best of all drumsticks.

Share the Love - Alex's Perspective

Today was the Share the Love Open's and Women's tournament at Timbrell Park, Five Dock.

It was only a 1 day tourney, but what made it so special for us was that it was the first time that Fakulbee (Fakulti's B Team) had a chance to play at a competitive level together as a team.

Our final Result was 9th Place someone complained about a screwed up draw, but we still played off for 9th/10th (last) but was a lot of fun.

I don't remember most of the tournament, but it was fun and I remember the good and the bad and what I learned from the day.

The Bad:

• Our first game against Fyshwich, or however you spell it. It was our first game as a team, and it was so messy and horrible. No one trusted anyone, knew their names, or anything that good teams usually do together. There was a few messy plays, and one or two flows the whole game, but we really were not at all familiar with eachother, having barely any idea of what positions, throws cuts we all liked. On top of that the skills side was worse than normal, with there being about 10 drops (seriously) in this game from easy throws, it wasn't a sort of drop that you could have gotten with 2 hands, it was the kind where you try to pancake it, its an easy dump throw and it slips out, it was painful to watch and our whole team suffered from the butter fingers.
  
• Phil White didn't arrive into the second game, it was good to see him arrive.
• Dave Roundtree destroyed one of the Westies (Bathurst) players by giving him a hard shoulder to the head (possibly accidental, we'll never know for sure). An ambulance was called and he went to hospital.
  
• Making a long cut, slowing down thinking its not coming, the disc coming, thinking I was going to get it, just missing it as the wind picks it up and makes it fly that little bit further.
• My feet are so ruined.
• I felt terrible the first 2 games (will explain in things I learned)
• Having the most effortless Callahan scored against us in the Manly game.
• In the same point, throwing 2 discs straight into the ground that were backhand, short dump throws. I have known how to backhand not into the ground for in excess of 4 years, back before Ultimate when Frisbee was just a red piece of plastic my dad liked to throw with me. That really stung, doing that twice in the one point.
  
• The whole day, I threw about 10 forehands, I got plenty of disc time just never used the forehands. I also made several bad decisions, seeing a long open cutter, knowing its not my throw but still trying anyway. My bad. I'm sorry.
  
• Me calling a Pick on an endzone throw against Manly. Marking Matt Swadling, disc goes up deep, I chase, I am within 3m but near the endzone someone cuts across in front of me and I call pick. I was definetly picked, but the argument was he was going for the disc. They argued and the pained look in their faces showed I was probably being too much of a jerk on the play. I said ok, you're right and dropped it.
  
• One point, Me, Mark, Tiger were in the wall and Phil was the pommy, we got a turn over and they turned it back. Someone busted long, and Phil chased it, Me max and Tiger set up with no Phil and the whole field was a mess, Dowley was yelling at us to get back on and make the mark up, after several throws, I looked around, and yelled MAN MAN MAN. Dowley got annoyed at me, but my reasoning was different - all we would have been able to do was cup on 3 strong Hills handlers which would have been pretty ineffective, our wall was messy, so I thought 3 handlers, 3 people in cup, we are pretty much in man when we have to run across the field (it was a messy cup), so we switched up. We had no mark who was now playing deep, so there was Phil already marked up. That left 3 wings/deeps and 3 free players in the middle, so I thought hey if they're doing their job they're going to be marked up, and we won't have a half completed wall, (which had just had a throw passed through a gap in the mess)
  

The Good

• The teamwork improvement by the end of the day, each game we played we gelled more and more as a team, it was amazing to see a team come so far in one single day, from a bunch of guys that barely knew eachothers names, who were too scared to throw the disc to eachother to a team that was running its set plays, pommy d and zone o so much more smoothly was a really great experience to be a part of.
  
• Some beatiful catch's lays and throws for the day, particularly one I remember of tiger, making a jump bid for a throw, being decked by the guy and catching it in a layout/fallout from mid air, fantastic catch.
• The westies, hi vis uniforms and hilarious plays. The thumber (bozza throws a thumber down the field) The smok-o, and the Flailing whale. The last was the best and was used in one of our last few points, which involved Bozza after 4 throws calling "4 THROWS TIME OUT" they take a long time out and then set up. They set up a tight neat stack, and 3 handlers out of the endzone. We call disc in, BAM Handler cut long as we finally realise that they stacked in the opposite direction. Also one of them yelling after losing a point "Hey! What about workers rights!"
• The westies Cheer, hard to describe. Lots of grunting and moaning though.
  
• Successful zone points were beautiful. Some fantastic popping from Dowley, and awesome handling from Wez, Phil, Phil, Aaron and Yoann. This is going to be a lot of fun.

What did I learn?

During one of breaks, I ran into Jimmy who asked how I was feeling, I replied that I felt terrible and had no energy. I arrived at the fields this morning at 8 feeling horrible, wondering how I was going to get through the day. The day before, I had worked 7:45-5 after Friday night going out thinking I started a lot later, but staying out and then checking my phone to discover an early start. Saturday arvo, I had eaten 2 bits of bread for breakfast and close to nothing for lunch and a small bowl of rice for dinner, I went to Normandy planning to leave before 11. Unfortunately the party only got good at 11 and I ended up getting to sleep at 2 am for a 6:20 wake up for a 7 oclock leave.

I hadn't eaten properly for a day, and hadn't slept properly for two.

I felt like an idiot, I couldn't believe how stupid I had been to not realise the importance of properly preparing for something even as short as a one day tournament and I can tell you I paid for those last 2 days. The only good thing was that I hadn't been drinking because of the alcohol ban from Juniors squad, turned out to be an extremely lucky thing too.

I came to the fields half asleep with no energy at all.

So I learned, a tournament is more than turning up on time that day, its preparing yourself for the days, and even weeks before. I might think that I've worked hard for 2 weeks, I'll be fine that day, but rest and recovery is just as important as being able to catch and throw when it comes to your game.

I'll never do that again, I'm glad I learned at this semi-serious tournament rather than a more important event.

But hell yeah Fakulbee. This is going to be an amazing year.

Share The Love

It struck me last night - as a Manly player (who shall remain nameless) was bitching ('Fakulti's going A/B!? What the fuck! Who the fuck would play for Fakulti B?' at which point I proudly put my hand up) - that this Sunday, I'm not just watching Fak play from the sidelines, I'm actually playing for them. Representing a club team.

This is big news!

Share the Love. It's a pre-Regionals tournament to work out kinks in your team's game. There are ten teams: Fakulti B, Barefoot, Manly, Hills, Ulmaut (eastern suburbs pickupish team), Fyshwick (and United, two Canberran teams), Westies (Bathurst), I-Beam (Newcastle?) and the 'Gong.

Here are my predictions for the final results:

1. Barefoot - it's hard to argue with this team, they have the right combination of Dingoes and junior Worlds pickups.
2. I-Beam - let's get this straight, I know absolutely nothing about this team or its players, but this is where I see them coming.
3. Fyshwick - are Canberra splitting A/B or X/X? This is the team without Twatson, so I imagine it will do well.
4. Manly - with the exception of a few players (and Steve Hayes's backhand blades - seriously, just hammer) this is a solid team for Manly, if Glenn/Neil don't implode.
5. Fakulti B - I didn't want to overrate or underrate anyone on Fak, so here we are in the middle.
6. Hills - I like everyone on this team, but wouldn't rate some of them particularly highly as players.
7. United - let's be honest, they probably will finish higher than 7th. I just don't know anyone apart from Twatson, and he's weird, even for someone with the same initials as me.
8. Umlaut - their captain is Wally.
9. Gong - I've put them 9th because at time of writing they only had 5 men on the team. Good luck!
10. Westies - A Bathurst team? Will win the party and spirit, as well as impressing with their hilarious set plays. (Marco Polo? Pasha Bulker?)

As far as my goals for this weekend go, I'm going to try to play good defence, followed by good offence.

Oh, and be helpful on the sideline, too.

T.

Fakulti Training

Wednesday night I went to Fakulti training (despite the wishes of Jimmy... I heard that Barefoot were evil) it was fun, not too intense but hard and I did learn some things.

• I need to time my longer cuts better and start them from closer in rather than further back to make it easier for the thrower to throw into space. (From Tim Gee)
  
• I need to time all my cuts better for the flow, I'm getting open just at the wrong time.
  
• Fatty tried to explain a horizontal stack a little better to me, I think it makes sense now... just cut in and out and off your partner wing/deep.
  
• My new gaia cleats stick to the ground about 3x as well as my old cleats but they ruin my feet.
  

We opened up the evening with some throwing around, then get together warm up stretch and run. We did some longer throwing in pairs as well as left handed throws. Break Mark Drill, throwing to a receiver hucking drill and a warm down.

Felt pretty tired before I started, felt worse when I finished. Need to learn to time cuts better, its a lot harder playing with people who know how to guard properly.

My throwing has been pretty inconsistent recently, backhands doing better than forehands though.

It was fun playing with Fakulti, and I heard they ran better development for new people than Barefoot. But mostly I thought they trained closer than barefoot did.

One thing I noticed between Fak and Barefoot is that Fak don't really have that cult of personality leadership that Abra brings to barefoot and its a shame that Barefoot and Fak don't all love eachother in one superhappy mega team. Fak's leadership seems to just come from respect of a given position and that player being very good at frisbee. But I wonder what advantages someone like Abra could bring? Some fire to the team maybe?