and another thing...... on strategery...

The Luke on Strategery (sorry Idris, I think I erased your comment. Please re-chap)
... scroll down for the continuation...

Following a day of being called Sancho Panza, Gleek, and being compared to Homer Simpson by Jim, I must post... But I'm late for practice... so here is a teaser trailer....

...Contrary to the musings of the self-described strategerists, I hold that it is a misnomer to discuss x's and o's as 'Strategy.' If you are truly interested in building an ultimate team, and establishing the best strategy, you don't start drawing up plays and calculating statistics... You start considering...

Recruiting...
Conditioning...
Focus...
Intensity...
Long term goal setting...

What wins games for Duke? Is it coach K on the sideline saying heave it to midcourt, then sink the halfcourt 3 pointer for the win? Not no but hell no. It's the focus, discipline, conditioning and belief in self that has Reddick in better condition than any Texas player and therefore able to go for 40 something... And has a team believing in his abillity, and not offended when he's putting it up...

So a team, especially a new team, that wants to be successful, needs to get the players in position, and then start conditioning... this doesn't have to mean ultimate 24 /7 , but the best teams have a season long plan, and are made up of a bunch of nerds who just generally like being fit... sure, once you get old, you can lounge for months at a time... but we'll get to that....

fitness precludes injury, builds confidence, and increases success as fatigue leads to mistakes... and then you build your team, etc...

And you have to practice... catch, throw, etc... pretty basic stuff... have we gotten to tactics yet? Not really, but it's common among better teams. They are full of tremendous nerds who are really big into frisbee. Most if not all the players have, at some critical juncture of their career, lived frisbee (travel, playing catch, staying fit) at the expense of all other past times... THIS, along w/ ability, is why they develop as individuals...

STRATEGICALLY, skills, fitness, and tournament touches are more important than tactics. Yes this is basically obvious, but how many teams, especially new ones, read too much into the offense of a elite team... and start trying to create plays, and run drills and do stuff that only a couple people on their team can do...

So again, most of what is being called strategery is tactics...

But now moving to tactics... well here are some tactical thoughts.

1) Make the defense deal with much more than you do. The most significant point of that NYTIMES article about Texas Tech (to me) was that their offense is actually really simple. They just set up in these different formations... Now granted, whether it's eurotrash/stack/ or the belgium clump, it's a safe bet alex is looking for jim... but for joe schmo team, whether or not the team you're playing knows you, you can line up Beau in a couple different places on the field... and have him run the same cut each time... but everytime you move his start position, the 'd's usual help positions are, well out of position...

yes it's more complicated... but it's a start...

2) there is no 2 for now.... more to follow.

Idris' comment... was that Reddick might suck in the NBA, since Duke guys are usually not UNC guys, when it comes to the pros... Brand is good, I don't know about Battier... we shall see...


(revised 12/14)...

Just got done skiing, day 15, lifted some weights. Thought of the day. 'It's freezing' is becoming a hated, overused trite expression. A coworker, walks in from their car, a late model car, in a down parka, drinking coffee after a 50 foot walk accross the parking lot. How you doing, I ask. 'It's freezing' they reply.

A 20 minute bikeride, in negative weather, on shitty, permafrost roads. Yes, for you fans in europe and canada, thats farenheit negative, aka, effin cold.

Today, more of a tactical thought... but still within the overall concept of simplicity as a strategy. Back to the Frisbee...

OK. You've picked three letters out of the scrabble bag at random, and you've decided to run the X, the H and the O stack. (I exaggerate, I assume you are learning the Horizontal, and the Vertical, but maybe you are more or less of an experimenter). You also know in your heart of hearts, that your offense, in key situations is going to run through the same few guys, and your transition offense is going to probably work on some basic principles (huck it or you are nobody (west coast) or tap tap tap it in (DoG)). Or maybe dog is more risk prone on D. I'd ask Jim or Alex, but I'm not sure they'd no who I'm talking about.

The D team. Drawing a blank? Those guys, at practice, who can't usually afford their own beer after? Those college kids you keep making Barrett have to talk to... You know he actually had a perfect GRE? Really. And he's 36. Yeah. Yes... the guy you keep calling young un... Still drawing a blank? The D team. Never mind.

So here's how you run the same drill for both stacks.

What really goes on in a game is this: you've got your 3 guys, and you are really just letting them react to the situation, because they are bestest and smartest, except for your '4' guy, who's just this amazing athlete you don't ACTUALLY throw to unless he's in the endzone... So instead of just drawing all these x's and o's that try to recreate experience and talent (i.e. having your non huckers chucking it wildly around frustrating the talent) set up drills, that teach success, and SLOWLY work sparky into actually winging one...

Here's an example. Before practice, show what you want to work on that day. It's one play, a one pass throw that assumes that you are the '2' throwing to the three. Show how 1 threw it to 2 on the dry erase board. Show on the dry erase board, what your next cutters two options are. Do not show the fills. Do not show 5 other zig zag lines and specific clear routes. Show the players starting positions, then show the areas they need to get the hell away from. How to do so will come later. Takes 1 minute.

Disc in hand, loose, or non existent mark your next cutter comes, from some particular point that relates to your stack... So having established the areas you want to primarily attack (i.e., Mike might do a bunch of stuff, but a lot of the time, he's using his size and speed to make you give him what he wants underneath)... then you run through it. Disc in middle of field, cutter works with a move (maybe two) and comes under or goes deep. Cutters decision should be based on who the thrower is... and their abilities...

Why even have players do drills/cuts/throws they are not going to do in the game? Well learning to cut like bill kill will not turn you into bill, but you will understand what the good players like to do, improve your game, and improve your teams game by anticipating what they do, the better to learn to clear space... That's how drills can teach field sense... And there is always a place to implement these skills, whether it's in a scrimmage (a mid/low level team can therefore be reasonably expected to have a higher practice TO%: game TO% than a high level team), or in league play (Corporate!)... or er, co-ed.


Then, next time you run said drill, you MIGHT throw one player in there to key off of, anticipate, and clear for the cutter (before moving into cutting role)...

But the Beauty is, a cut from the middle of the stack, with the option of coming in or going deep, is the same whether you line up in the middle of the of the horizontal, or the middle of a vertical. The clears are a little different. LIkewise, a cut from the far side of the field to the throwers side, is 'cross' whether it's run from a vertical or horizontal... clears or a little different... and from the same position, the deep break is the same thing, but the help positions are different, depending on your stack...

Still with me? Questions? Comments? Concerns? I'll edit this later. So sorry for, and thanks in advance (or in hindsight) for wading through this.

Oh yes, after practice, take 2 minutes to show the starting positions again (here is where the disc was, it is assumed they had just received it from an imaginary player here (which you can add, if you like), and here are the two areas we attacked. Then redraw your H stack ghosts. Show where the heck they should have gone for the under (not everyone has to have a job, so mention active engagement, or buy jim's book)... and the deep --- then THEN! AHA! Erase the H stack ghosts, and draw in the vertical stack ghosts, and showhow they should have moved (which usually involves clearing the deep, and some rudimentary stack management, and again, small movements to engage your player)...

Then, you sit around for 2 hours, talking about that shit till none of your non ultimate friends exist... Then you go to a tournament, and learn it for real... and talk about it ad nauseum... watching players do it right, etc... then you revise your tactics...

to be continued. Should I do this as a separate post?