Sydney Uni's oweek has just finished and the first week of uni is about to start. Suufa had a club meeting last weekend just going over plans for the year. More people, more tournaments, and more teams (with more spirit) were the main things on the agenda, as well as the super 3 year plan. Its really good to be working with a bunch of people so dedicated to improving the club and the game, a lot of planning and work went into o-week preparation and recruiting was (in my opinion) the best by far out of any of the sport clubs, mostly becuase suufa was willing to do the things the union said we couldnt, like walk outside of our stall and hand out pamphlets.
There was few new recruits but there was a few things I noticed and had Brett point out to me as we spoke about it during out learn to play session (with free pizza and drinks on the thursday afternoon).
The first thing I noticed at the learn to play was the amoutn of experience showing, there has been some successful high schoo development coming through. there was 5-6 peopl from my old school north sydney boys, i ran into a couple of girls who when asked if they knew what ultimate was their reply was "We already had too much at highschool." They were from north sydney girls. Brilliant.
There was a lot of people who could throw reasonably well and I asked a few ofthem and the common one was 'oh we used to throw a frisbee around at school but it was lighter than this one,' and a lot more people know what this sport is. Even my sister who had some americans come to her school in year 8 can throw a forehand now becuase of that, there is going to be a lot of talent coming through in the next fews.
Most of the people who have joined were not completely new to frisbee, with some experience and knowledge of the game before.
oh yeah.
At the learn to play we had a few fun games, brett calls 'hey all in for the spirit circles!'
"A spirit circle is something we have at the end of every game ... "
At the end of one, i over hear someone in an american accent: "I've been playing ultimate for 4 years and I've never been in one of those." as he walked away laughing and smiling.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
One Size Fits One
A major factor in the development of your skillset depends on your base athleticism - specifically, height. I think a lot of people overlook this. A lot of training for ultimate could be more efficient if players are willing to think about their physical limitations, and how it will effect their game.
Players of different height should approach areas of ultimate differently, especially at a more elite level where nobody is aware of where their opponent's strengths lie.
Consider breaking the mark, as both a tall person and a short person. As a taller player, you are going to have more reach and a wider pivot, making both the forehand I/O break and the step-around-the-mark-break-backhand that much easier.
Taller players have longer limbs, and can use their wide pivots and extensions to break the mark easier. When practicing throwing they should focus on this. Conversely, shorter players who do not have the luxury of simply stepping around their marker should instead focus on speedy pivots and greater balance to get their break throws off.
When it comes to cutting, the difference is a bit more psychological: as a BFG, the defense is going to view you as a bigger threat long. Play on this to get easier in cuts. One advantage of being fun-sized as a cutter is that you are hard to see in peripheral vision. This comes as a great advantage, particularly when trying to get open as a dump or a primary wing, where the guarder's attention is most usually divided between you and the disc.
I see a lot of shorter players trying to adopt skillsets that suit the taller folk or vice versa, where really it's more worthwhile to develop a style of playing that will work for your body type.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Hiding those deep down urges...
Perfect. Dealt aces on the button.
UTG limps, MP raises.
Check again for aces. Yes, still there, always three bet aces.
SB calls, you sense danger. UTG calls... MP calls, you sit nervously in your chair for a moment, this hand is not so dreamy after all.
Flop is ten, jack, queen suited.
You cringe as SB raises, UTG all in, MP calls.
UTG just pulled a near perfect squeeze on you, and besides that probably has the goods.
Top pair top isn't looking so good right now. Don't go broke with aces.
Hide the disappointment, its an easy fold. (utg villian was 22/18 for anyone that it means anythign to)
Later that day, you end up at a frisbee field, stall count is on 2, against moderate winds, shortest, slowest, least athletic person has managed to cut stupidly deep of his man, who happens to be the fastest, tallest, most athletic person on their team. A gust of winds pick up as you hear the word '3' and you cock your wrist back and the wind tugs at the disc causing it to flutter in your hand. You stop for a moment as you realise this probably isn't the best spot to make a move. '4!' This is an easy dump.
Being the complete degen you are, you're back at a poker game, its 4 handed, meaning you can open raise about 40% of hands pretty safely. The dealer min raises to 2 bb, sb folds and you are sitting on king queen off suit. Dealer has been playing junk all night, making nonsensical money losing plays. This is an easy spot to raise or call. But as you look at your cards you feel a little a shudder down your spine and for some reason you throw your cards away without thinking. You are startled by the way you had no thought in this decision. You look up and see the other person wince at your play and angrily flips over kings. Completely dominated you were 9:1 to lose and would have been in huge trouble if a king had hit. Good fold.
The next morning is day 2 of the tournament, you broke even last night and are in a happy mood looking forwards to getting onto the field. A short warm up and you're in, line is called you're handling. Max is primary cutter, he cuts in towards you, makes eyecontact and gives you that wide eyed smile screaming to you "I know what you're thinking right now, whatever you are thinkign just do it!" You smile back as he busts deep. You pull the disc back ready to go and suddenly you get a little shudder down your spine, you see Max busting deep but something isn't right. You decide to throw the disc, but not that long huck everyone else is expecting. Max plants his foot down and cuts hard back in, he doesnt even get 2 steps before the disc lands confidently in his hands.
Frisbee is still a very young sport, and the nice thing about it is really anyone can get to a high level of ultimate as long as they are able bodied, willing and commited to training hard and improving their game. Its good in that some sports your physicality will restrict your level of competition, Lee Baker from the mixed team and Chilly from Melbourne who billeted me one juniors camp told me how he used to play State Volleyball as a spiker but was too short to advance any further. He is by no means a short person, but still too short for volley ball.
Frisbee is a long way off getting to the stage where your coach will be trying to add a 0.3 degree tilt to your wrist when you throw, and I always think its a fun experience to compare and contrast ultimate to other sports to see what can be gained.
I am reading a book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0141014598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1234256083&sr=8-1) and is just about those 2 second snap judgements that people make for reaosns beyond their control, some are bad, some are good, but the whole point is at the moment we have little control over our response.
In sport we train to turn the game to a point to where the optimal decision is the one that we always make, and we train our bodies how to do this, and we do drills to create situations that when we see them in a game we are to respond in a certain way. The whole point is to get to a stage where our unconscious can take over the thousands of small decisions the body can throw perfectly without us needing to put any thought into it.
Gladwell recalls a story of people trying to learn how to forehand properly from some perfect tennis star. (apparantly) people are too often taught to roll their wrists over the ball when they hit forehands as some tennis pro believed that was how he gained his killer forehand. Reality was that he was turning a total of a third of a degree when contacting the ball, and people tryign to turn their wrists as they hit overtook some ridiculous percentage of tennis injuries of people trying to imitate this. Funnily, the tennis player didn't really know how he was making these great shots, his unconscious mind had taken over and he had no clue consciously how he was doing it.
I remember being told by someone at some time that it is harder to unlearn something than it is to teach yourself something new.
Equally are those times when we see someone cutting deep, they are busting their guts and you know they deserve the throw, but you also know you relaly cant take that risk then before you realise it the disc is already up in the air and turned, and you are scored on for double unhappiness.
It can be really hard sometimes to fight these urges we have, and so often they can be correct...
Time to find that perfect balance!
UTG limps, MP raises.
Check again for aces. Yes, still there, always three bet aces.
SB calls, you sense danger. UTG calls... MP calls, you sit nervously in your chair for a moment, this hand is not so dreamy after all.
Flop is ten, jack, queen suited.
You cringe as SB raises, UTG all in, MP calls.
UTG just pulled a near perfect squeeze on you, and besides that probably has the goods.
Top pair top isn't looking so good right now. Don't go broke with aces.
Hide the disappointment, its an easy fold. (utg villian was 22/18 for anyone that it means anythign to)
Later that day, you end up at a frisbee field, stall count is on 2, against moderate winds, shortest, slowest, least athletic person has managed to cut stupidly deep of his man, who happens to be the fastest, tallest, most athletic person on their team. A gust of winds pick up as you hear the word '3' and you cock your wrist back and the wind tugs at the disc causing it to flutter in your hand. You stop for a moment as you realise this probably isn't the best spot to make a move. '4!' This is an easy dump.
Being the complete degen you are, you're back at a poker game, its 4 handed, meaning you can open raise about 40% of hands pretty safely. The dealer min raises to 2 bb, sb folds and you are sitting on king queen off suit. Dealer has been playing junk all night, making nonsensical money losing plays. This is an easy spot to raise or call. But as you look at your cards you feel a little a shudder down your spine and for some reason you throw your cards away without thinking. You are startled by the way you had no thought in this decision. You look up and see the other person wince at your play and angrily flips over kings. Completely dominated you were 9:1 to lose and would have been in huge trouble if a king had hit. Good fold.
The next morning is day 2 of the tournament, you broke even last night and are in a happy mood looking forwards to getting onto the field. A short warm up and you're in, line is called you're handling. Max is primary cutter, he cuts in towards you, makes eyecontact and gives you that wide eyed smile screaming to you "I know what you're thinking right now, whatever you are thinkign just do it!" You smile back as he busts deep. You pull the disc back ready to go and suddenly you get a little shudder down your spine, you see Max busting deep but something isn't right. You decide to throw the disc, but not that long huck everyone else is expecting. Max plants his foot down and cuts hard back in, he doesnt even get 2 steps before the disc lands confidently in his hands.
Frisbee is still a very young sport, and the nice thing about it is really anyone can get to a high level of ultimate as long as they are able bodied, willing and commited to training hard and improving their game. Its good in that some sports your physicality will restrict your level of competition, Lee Baker from the mixed team and Chilly from Melbourne who billeted me one juniors camp told me how he used to play State Volleyball as a spiker but was too short to advance any further. He is by no means a short person, but still too short for volley ball.
Frisbee is a long way off getting to the stage where your coach will be trying to add a 0.3 degree tilt to your wrist when you throw, and I always think its a fun experience to compare and contrast ultimate to other sports to see what can be gained.
I am reading a book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0141014598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1234256083&sr=8-1) and is just about those 2 second snap judgements that people make for reaosns beyond their control, some are bad, some are good, but the whole point is at the moment we have little control over our response.
In sport we train to turn the game to a point to where the optimal decision is the one that we always make, and we train our bodies how to do this, and we do drills to create situations that when we see them in a game we are to respond in a certain way. The whole point is to get to a stage where our unconscious can take over the thousands of small decisions the body can throw perfectly without us needing to put any thought into it.
Gladwell recalls a story of people trying to learn how to forehand properly from some perfect tennis star. (apparantly) people are too often taught to roll their wrists over the ball when they hit forehands as some tennis pro believed that was how he gained his killer forehand. Reality was that he was turning a total of a third of a degree when contacting the ball, and people tryign to turn their wrists as they hit overtook some ridiculous percentage of tennis injuries of people trying to imitate this. Funnily, the tennis player didn't really know how he was making these great shots, his unconscious mind had taken over and he had no clue consciously how he was doing it.
I remember being told by someone at some time that it is harder to unlearn something than it is to teach yourself something new.
Equally are those times when we see someone cutting deep, they are busting their guts and you know they deserve the throw, but you also know you relaly cant take that risk then before you realise it the disc is already up in the air and turned, and you are scored on for double unhappiness.
It can be really hard sometimes to fight these urges we have, and so often they can be correct...
Time to find that perfect balance!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Torture
Torture gets a bad rap these days, with the UN generally being wussy girlymen about the issue, there's so much talk about it but very little scientific analysis of the benefits it can bring to your ultimate game.
Recently I've been working long days (12+ hours) and then hitting up club training. For this sort of day, I get up at 5.30am and stay up all day. Last week as I was meandering around the field finding it tough to mark even the most inexperienced of players through the haze in my brain, I realised this feeling was familiar- it's the feeling most players usually experience on day 3 or 4 of Nationals, when the mind is exhausted and mental focus becomes that much more important, and tougher to achieve.
Mental endurance, or focus, is a key skill in ultimate, but most people are vague about how to practice it. While I wouldn't advocate sleep deprivation due to its ill health effects, if you are finding your weekly league games or beach pick up a little too easy, try running sprints beforehand and then staying switched on.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Do you ever get that feeling?
You stand there poised on the line waiting, your body is warm, ready and willing.
You have been preparing for this moment for the past 4 months, and it has been on your mind every day since.
You think back to the past week. The strained strength sessions, the drawn out burning feeling in your lungs as you push through the last minutes of that cardio session legs screaming at you to stop. Then the cool pool sessions as you gently pulled your body through the water.
The past few minutes a slow jog to get your body moving, those familiar stretches you have done witout thinking, done so many times before. The encouragment and warm words from your friends.
You know its time, you lunge out with your first step the soft grass below your feet as you reach out with your next bound.
The flashes of the past dash across your memory, the throws, the dives, the hucks, the drops, the time you thought you werne't going to qualify for natioanals and your whole team wanted to cry, and that sweet time you pulled down a huge grab from the lofty heights of the sky.
You get into your rhythm and breathing.
Your team mates shout out words of encouragment as a smile crosses your face.
I did my first straight line run today since april 26th around 1pm, it was an amazing feeling.
You have been preparing for this moment for the past 4 months, and it has been on your mind every day since.
You think back to the past week. The strained strength sessions, the drawn out burning feeling in your lungs as you push through the last minutes of that cardio session legs screaming at you to stop. Then the cool pool sessions as you gently pulled your body through the water.
The past few minutes a slow jog to get your body moving, those familiar stretches you have done witout thinking, done so many times before. The encouragment and warm words from your friends.
You know its time, you lunge out with your first step the soft grass below your feet as you reach out with your next bound.
The flashes of the past dash across your memory, the throws, the dives, the hucks, the drops, the time you thought you werne't going to qualify for natioanals and your whole team wanted to cry, and that sweet time you pulled down a huge grab from the lofty heights of the sky.
You get into your rhythm and breathing.
Your team mates shout out words of encouragment as a smile crosses your face.
I did my first straight line run today since april 26th around 1pm, it was an amazing feeling.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Alex Semfel's Training Report Week Ending Thurs 8th Jan
Went to the gym, had a good session with some painful cardio at the end followed by the crappy uphill bike ride.
Went to the gym on the wednesday for a last spew session with the PT that came with the gym membership, learnt how to do a bench press and a few other weird exercises that involved the bar bell, some chinups and did all my normal leg exercises with some added core exercises (crunches, knee raises, lower back extensions, plank) the pt yelled make me try some chin ups (the last few assisted) and I am currently in a lot of pain unable to lift my left arm up.
Thursday was interesting, went and saw the physio.
In about a week I can finally officially start my straight line running at the moment for the next week i have to do some impact/agility exercises which are forwards and backwards bouncing on my feet, side to side stepping (jumping) side to side stepping with a block in the middle to stand on and 2 legged jumps 4small 1big as well as 1 legged hops. i also have to do plenty of quad stretches.
after a week of that time to hit the park do 2 laps warmup (soccer field I guess) then a full warm up of the legs then about 8-10 30-40m runthroughs at 60% speed.
it sounds like nothing, but im beyond excited about getting to do this.
physio also gave me a physical bruising of my itb? through his painful massage. feels good now though, a lot looser.
Went to the gym on the wednesday for a last spew session with the PT that came with the gym membership, learnt how to do a bench press and a few other weird exercises that involved the bar bell, some chinups and did all my normal leg exercises with some added core exercises (crunches, knee raises, lower back extensions, plank) the pt yelled make me try some chin ups (the last few assisted) and I am currently in a lot of pain unable to lift my left arm up.
Thursday was interesting, went and saw the physio.
In about a week I can finally officially start my straight line running at the moment for the next week i have to do some impact/agility exercises which are forwards and backwards bouncing on my feet, side to side stepping (jumping) side to side stepping with a block in the middle to stand on and 2 legged jumps 4small 1big as well as 1 legged hops. i also have to do plenty of quad stretches.
after a week of that time to hit the park do 2 laps warmup (soccer field I guess) then a full warm up of the legs then about 8-10 30-40m runthroughs at 60% speed.
it sounds like nothing, but im beyond excited about getting to do this.
physio also gave me a physical bruising of my itb? through his painful massage. feels good now though, a lot looser.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Alex Semfels Training Report Week Ending Thurs 1st Jan 2009
So christmas is over. I am now 10 kilos above my april weight and I'm pretty sure with a lot less muscle to go with it. My rehab has been going reasonably well, my quads are a lot bigger and my hamstring that was grafted is now existant which it wasn't a few days ago.
At the moment my training program at the gym:
10mins warm up on cross country machichine
3x10 sets on 8 plates (not sure weight)
3x10 sets 40kgs on leg press
3x10 squats with 2x20 pound dumbells
3x10 lunges as above
3x20 steps as above
15minutes cyclying alternating each minute between sprints and easy riding.
for upper body
3x10 on each side 30pounds bent over something idontk now what its called
3x10 25 pounsd dumbell benchpress with back and neck on a bosu ball (or whatever they're called)
3x10 30 pound bicep curls.
3x10 on each side wood chop 4 plates (not sure weight)
the 27th had a good spew session, cyclced to dee why, then home then gym, did all exercises as above except woodchop and cycling, then being speaking about waterpolo tried to do one of my old training swims, i am extremely out of shape aimed to do:
400m warm up
4x100m on the 1:30
4x50m on the 40
4x25m on 20s
400m cool down.
what i actaully did was
200m warm up
2x100 on the 1:45 15 second rest
4x50m on the 50 20 second rest
4x25m on the 20 30 second rest.
200m cooldown
i tried to have as much focus on a good strong, even stroke (I used to be a lot weaker on the left) and the same for my kicking, also having my head up and a few changes in my stroke i spoke to a friend abotu who used to swim a lot and still plays waterpolo about getting the most power out of each pull back of your arm which involved facing my palm towards me earlier than i usually would.
also really focused on reaching out as far as i could with each stroke.
i was pretty disappointed about how far my performance has dropped since i was training a lot for waterpolo
showered, changed and rode to freshwater beach, and back home over a giant hill that hurt.
felt really good afterwards, i havent pushed myself like that for ages.
hopefully it wont be long till i can start posting improvments.
i had a chat with a friend who used to be quite the swimmer who just reckons first get to the point of comfortably swimming 20 minutes freestyle with perfect technique then start to mix it up as you see fit and expand on that, but do it 4-5 times a week.
im not sure i can be that dedicated.
At the moment my training program at the gym:
10mins warm up on cross country machichine
3x10 sets on 8 plates (not sure weight)
3x10 sets 40kgs on leg press
3x10 squats with 2x20 pound dumbells
3x10 lunges as above
3x20 steps as above
15minutes cyclying alternating each minute between sprints and easy riding.
for upper body
3x10 on each side 30pounds bent over something idontk now what its called
3x10 25 pounsd dumbell benchpress with back and neck on a bosu ball (or whatever they're called)
3x10 30 pound bicep curls.
3x10 on each side wood chop 4 plates (not sure weight)
the 27th had a good spew session, cyclced to dee why, then home then gym, did all exercises as above except woodchop and cycling, then being speaking about waterpolo tried to do one of my old training swims, i am extremely out of shape aimed to do:
400m warm up
4x100m on the 1:30
4x50m on the 40
4x25m on 20s
400m cool down.
what i actaully did was
200m warm up
2x100 on the 1:45 15 second rest
4x50m on the 50 20 second rest
4x25m on the 20 30 second rest.
200m cooldown
i tried to have as much focus on a good strong, even stroke (I used to be a lot weaker on the left) and the same for my kicking, also having my head up and a few changes in my stroke i spoke to a friend abotu who used to swim a lot and still plays waterpolo about getting the most power out of each pull back of your arm which involved facing my palm towards me earlier than i usually would.
also really focused on reaching out as far as i could with each stroke.
i was pretty disappointed about how far my performance has dropped since i was training a lot for waterpolo
showered, changed and rode to freshwater beach, and back home over a giant hill that hurt.
felt really good afterwards, i havent pushed myself like that for ages.
hopefully it wont be long till i can start posting improvments.
i had a chat with a friend who used to be quite the swimmer who just reckons first get to the point of comfortably swimming 20 minutes freestyle with perfect technique then start to mix it up as you see fit and expand on that, but do it 4-5 times a week.
im not sure i can be that dedicated.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)