Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Q&A

In case anyone is still reading, let's do a Q&A. Phone lines are open. Questions with 1-2 paragraph length answers preferred.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

any plans to update your book ?

parinella said...

No plans for a 2nd edition. The publisher ran a 2nd printing but still has enough inventory to meet demand for the near future. I bet that if there was a run on the book, they might be willing to invest in the update.

I feel like there have been a lot of useful new ideas brought up on this blog that could make their way into the book. New topics might include the ho stack and tournament play. Although someone would have to teach me the ho stack.

Anonymous said...

How high school ultimate is changing the game, both at the college and club level? Sidebar, do you watch much high school ultimate?

parinella said...

I don't watch any high school ultimate. We're seeing the first wave of benefits, where these kids have been playing for years before coming to club or college play. The next wave will be when these kids have come through real programs with tested instruction (which will require having more institutionalized knowledge). I don't know enough about the UPA Coaching Clinics to say whether they will provide this institutionalization. From looking at an outline a year or two ago, I thought it was more oriented toward generalized coaching skills, how to deal with youth, how to structure practice, how to avoid delicate situations, etc. What will really be needed to shake the upper levels is for high school coaches to truly understand and be able to implement advanced strategies and individual skills.

Maybe the NUTC and WUFF camps do that right now. NUTC certainly has an impressive array of counselors. If only it weren't so far away, I'd stop by some time to see what they do.

Anonymous said...

This is probably going to sound ambiguous but I guess that's a good thing. In your opinion what's the single most important ingredient for an offense to score i.e. good spacing, breaking the mark, reading the defense, etc., etc.?

parinella said...

I'd say that cohesion or timing is the most important ingredient. So much of what happens is transient and immediate recognition by multiple people gives the offense a huge advantage. If a pass is thrown at the right time, the spatial margin for error increases tremendously.

Good timing reduces the need for other skills. If you can get a quick continue off, you don't need to break the mark as often. If you huck it at the right time, the pass doesn't have to be perfect. etc.

Farmer John said...

Do you have suggestions for a college player graduating and moving to the club level? In my case, I've never played on an amazingly competitive team, but I've played against them (against Clapham at WUCC06, against Voltron at Kaimana). I think skills can be learned as necessary and that mine are good to start, but what I'm really wondering about is attitude and mental stuff.

Thanks,
Farmer

parinella said...

Somewhat interesting that you've played at the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE SPORT but yet you've not been on a really competitive team. Nothing personal, but it's a pet peeve of mine (about #283 on my list; I have a lot of peeves) that World Clubs is so loose like that.

Get a chance to play with and against better players, and have a healthy disrespect for their talents. Ask questions of those who seem to know what they're doing, or of those who are better than their skills would dictate.

Unless you have areas that are so weak that you just can't play, work to develop your _strengths_, not to improve your weaknesses. Club play is more about roles now than all-around play. While this might limit your chances of making the Hall of Fame, it might open up a path for a better, more satisfying career.

Or it might not, I don't know.

Anonymous said...

Another highschool question. In the 2006 Junior Worlds Final video available at Ultitv, Mike Bacharrini says that the Team USA players play like top club players from ten or twelve years ago. It's unclear whether he's saying that they play like specific players, say Sammy C-K ten years, or that they play like top club players used to play ten years ago? Is the second option even reasonable? Do elite club teams play differently than they did a decade ago? How?

parinella said...

I'm not sure what Mike meant. There is just no way that they are as good as the top club players from 10 years ago, if that's what he meant. Maybe he meant that it's less big play athletics and more possession-focused (if indeed that's how it was 10 years ago). More vertical stack, less aggressive marks, less contact downfield.

Tiger said...

What do you want for Christmas, Jim?

It only seems fitting that for a person who has given me so much over my first year of playing Ultimate (both through number-crunching blogs and your book) that I try to give something back.

T.

Fryjol said...

Hi Jim, I bet you didn't expected to find a question from Colombia, right down to South America. Well, here you have one.

First I wanted to tell you, any time a player here wants to go into the game knowledge, your name comes to the conversation.

Second, I want to make you an interview for my team's blog(fenixultimate.blogspot.com). It would really improve and I think it would fit a great need right now, where the focus of my info is to serve new players.my email is fryjol7@hotmail.com. I hope you can do it.

Finally, what would you advice to a new team (o-2 years), where should we focus our training? Fundamentals, fitness, tactics? You know, if we focus on tactics, people will start to struggle in their disc handling, and their fitness will go in a slump. Should I encourage them to practice fitness and handling in their own time and work in tactics only?

gapoole said...

In your estimation, what place do blading throws have in a possession-based offense? Flat throws seem to have less margin of error, in terms of space and timing, than blading throws--especially hucks--and are often more difficult to catch. Should a team then discourage throws that are not flat? Why do you think so many elite club teams use blades so often in their offenses (e.g. Sockeye, and esp Buzz Bullets)?

parinella said...

Sif/T, that's very kind of you. I'm having enough problems trying to figure out what to tell my family I want. How about if you get one of the Aussies to give me a beer when I need one at Worlds next summer?

Fryjol, I'm not sure what to advise a new team. I guess I'd split it between fundamentals and tactics about equally, while allowing for some of your drills to add in conditioning. For example, a marking drill with one marker running back and forth for 30-60 seconds is also good exercise. There are also good cutting/defending drills.

Gapoole, blades are much more catchable when they're to a stationary receiver by himself. They'd be used to get the disc there quickly. I think most contested throws can add a little margin by curving them in, so that they come into the receiver more or less on the opposite side of the defender (and also avoid poachers on the way). I actually hadn't realized that they were a frequent part of many offenses. I would expect a blade only to a popper in the zone or on a rare occasion in man where the receiver has a second or two and the thrower has to throw it over people.

Anonymous said...

what's your favorite drill/game that teaches "hitting the runner in stride" for 5-20 yard throws?

Anonymous said...

When coaching an inexperienced team who competes in an inexperienced league, should i focus on club level fundamentals or coach them to win their games? In other words, here i was coaching them on marking to not get broken inside or around when it turns out no one ever even attempts to break! Which is why they had always focused on 'strike' or holding the force. That's just one example of many. I don't know if i should be teaching them how to be club players for their future or just focus on doing the things they are doing better for the realm they are in. not sure if this is making sense.

parinella said...

I had another thought on that Christmas gift. You can do something for someone else who helps the game. This can take the form of bagging trash at a tournament without being asked, buying a DVD or subscription to ultivillage instead of "borrowing" someone else's, donating to ultimatetalk, or even just thanking your local coordinator.

anon, I've never really thought about trying to drill that, but I guess goaltimate or hotbox is useful because a lot of the throws are either to stationary dumps, or are leading passes that need to float through the goal but not go too far. For a pure drill, you could do the "dump pass drill" variation described on pages 65-66 of our book. Play in a 10x10 or 20x20 square, 2 on 2 or 3 on 3, try to complete passes.

pat, how about a happy medium? Pick just a few of the club fundamentals that also would apply in their games and focus on them. With the marking example, I'm not sure whether anything would be of use, but for cutting, maybe give them two options for a downfield cut. Have one endzone play and an alternative. Find the people that show some understanding and give them personal advanced tips, maybe focused on when they should break the basic rules.

Anonymous said...

For transferring throwing sides from flick to backhand (or vice versa) what kind of transition do you prefer? I know of two - bring the disc straight across infront of your chest, or the 'around the world' where you bring your arm straight over your head and across.

I see the advantage of the first being that the disc is alway flat and in a more ready to throw position. But if there's a close marker, there's limited space in front of you. When I've used the second I feel like it builds up more energy and momentum to transfer into a huck. It also seems to work okay with a closer mark. I've gotten differing advice from people who I consider to be excellent throwers.

gapoole said...

Perhaps I should clarify a little. By blade, I mean pretty much any throw that isn't flat, and mostly I'm interested in what you think about those hucks with 15 degrees (or more) of outside-in/i-o, which are harder to hit a cutter in stride with (and in strong wind, are hard to read). If you get UVTV, check out the ECC open finals--both teams put up a lot of non-flat hucks to streaking receivers. Why do you think that is?