I took idris' advice, and put on 35 pounds, and started stooping over. I kind of already knew how slow worked... been coaching a HS team for (now 2nd year), and from reading about the web, I realize that the way I know things is not the easiest way to teach them. Take the 2-3-2 zone. It just makes sense to me. But I realize that in explaining it, I needed to describe it as a 3-3-1. It's not the same thing, but for teaching beginners to beat beginners, it works fine... i wonder if I'm supposed to be building ultimate players for tommorrow, or building this new HS team to beat other HS teams... I know EXACTLY how larry legend felt, coaching the pacers...
in all seriousness, here are the hardest things with HS kids (and most of these kids can run, good local runners, a couple of members of the #3 state team in XC (girls), skiers/ex soccer players, etc... that said...
effing run harder in the drills. like a game... the only solution so far, is to make the drills races (first group to complete 20 wins). I've not found it necessary yet to make those races have rewards/punishments, nor do i plan on it...
catch with two hands in practice. (and if not, use the 'bad' one). this is the bane of my existence. i can't figure out if they are being 'cool' or just...
i think that the biggest issue is self-motivation. they are young, and maybe not the best listeners.
that said, i'm going to invest team funds in ultimate techniques book... and go find me some of idris' fat guys.
and if that doesn't work, i'm going to start throwing chairs. worked for knight, right?
so w/ 4 weeks to states, and ambitions of making semis... the focus will be continued on simple 'offense' (throws, dump, swing, continue, huck, cutting) and 'defensive' concepts (position, last man and switching), which will hopefully help these kids in the long run... but if we overachieve, it's going to be due to developing some craptacular zone that wouldn't hold water against 'real teams'... but might make a victim throw 8-9 '90% High School Passes'...
report to follow...
2 comments:
Moses Rifkin had an interesting article in the UPA Newsletter a year or two ago about coaching high school in which he too confronted the difficult question about winning now vs developing players, and he settled on, oh, 80% towards developing players for tomorrow.
Besides the obvious stuff like whether you should just punt it and let the other team turn it over on their own goal line, he also debated how to employ his most-skilled players, whether to do so in a way that benefits the team most or one that makes them the best player they can be.
The only thing I remember for sure from the article was that he thought you should buy many, many copies of Zaz's book. What's especially weird is that the book wasn't even out yet, and Moses didn't even know of its existence.
i wish the newsletter was digitally archived.
last year, with the first year team, it was pretty much have the 3 guys who could huck it bomb it to one of the fast girls. of course for some reason the state tournament was like a month after the season started...
this year, i went the total other route, and did fundamentals... all come back cuts... now, w/ a month to states, it's time to move to game strategy of huck and zone...
they are MUCH better at moving the disc against the zone...
yes, i'll buy a copy of your book (now that it's payday). but you have to buy a copy of my great american novel.
unfortunately, its not that great, it's barely started, and it's in french.
'whine, cheese, and sour grapes -- everything i learned about ultimate i learned in co-ed league play.'
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