Pokemon!
Before this blog post gets completely off track and I sing the complete Pokemon song in my head. I wanted to pen some ideas on how to improve an individuals ultimate frisbee game. Ultimate is a team sport and as such a lot of the focus in training and on the field during games is on the cohesion and ability of the team as a whole. This is of course necessary to get results as a team, but what can the individual do to improve his or her skills outside of the team?
As a foreword, I don't claim to be an Ultimate frisbee training guru but these are two of my observations. From what I have been reading of late (sorry no references) and from what I've seen there are 2 distinct ways in which the individual can improve their game outside of the team arena. These are fitness and skills.
These points may seem obvious but I'll explain further. Fitness can be seen in a variety of ways. You could have a good general level of fitness or you could train specifically for playing ultimate. A combination of both is probably best for pre-season training. General fitness could be jogging for 30 minutes, or cross training with cycling or swimming or rock climbing. Sport specific fitness would be training in a way that would most benefit your play on the field and is similar to the movements you make on the field. Last week at training we started doing the side to side kill drill and the away and in kill drill. This is a good example of sport specific training. This can be adapted in a number of ways.
You can train your anaerobic and lactate threshold (energy systems used during the first minute or two of high intensity exercise) by doing sprint work, HIIT (high intensity interval training), or sets of kill drills. If you have queries regarding exercises or a plan for training as an individual or as a small group please ask me and I will be able to help you out.
Skills to focus on as an individual would be mainly throwing skills. If I can use Jamie as an example, over the Firestorm season Jamie was throwing on a daily basis. His throws improved dramatically over only a few months to the point where he was impressing a lot of the big wigs with his throwing ability. Practice makes perfect. Throwing on a daily basis is obviously not feasible for everyone. By adding another one or two throwing sessions (30 minutes, deliberate, focussed throwing) on top of BUML and Sunday afternoon trainings will result in tangible improvements.
If all of the above information seems daunting, start by changing or adding one session per week. Do not train every day of the week if you usually only do two training sessions a week. Add one extra 30 minute fitness session, either general or sport specific, and one extra 30 minute throwing session. If you can do this for a month then you will have a solid training base to reevaluate your goals.
I hope the above information and observations are helpful. Feel free to comment queries, questions and/or any criticisms.
re Throwing Sessions. The most important thing is FOCUS. Intense focused throwing, not "going for a throw in the park".
ReplyDeleteI can't emphasise this enough. During most points, most players might typically make 0-3 throws. They all have to be 100% quality.
I think the reasonable ideal is 10-15 focused minutes a day for six days a week will get you a better result than say two 30-40 minute sessions during the week.
My dream was always to have a flatmate, neighbour or workmate who wanted to get a 10 minute throw in each and every day, in the backyard or a park next to work (you can throw in business clothes if necessary). No more than 2-3 minutes away - so the whole time commitment was less than 20 minutes.
I totally agree JDR with regards to the need for focus. As you say, most points, players may only make 0-3 throws. If you play 15 points in a game, you might only throw 30 throws in an evening. Hence the need for extra practice outside of league night. Of those 30 throws you want all 30 of them to hit their target. If in a week this is the only time you throw, it would be exceptional to make 100% completions even with complete focus during the points.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree that you can get a lot, possibly the "most" out of short, sharp, focussed throwing sessions. If you spend too long on a throwing session focus wavers and inevitably effects performance and learning.
Oh man i just wrote this awesome response and then my select profile option crashed and i lost it. Hmmm ok.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was going to say was that you need to practice throwing in a fatigued setting. Ie your muscles should be tired before you start. That means doing as many push ups as possible, or getting your heart rate high. Yes you need to get the focus into the session but I think being fatigued will help you improve your fine motor technique (which throwing especially draws on). Hence doing the kill drill stuff, for those of you who attended on Sunday and it was the first time you did it - I would bet that you didnt hit all of your targets did you???
So my 2c is that yes its great and you should get out there a throw more but also think to fatigue your muscles as well creating a focused head-space whilst performing your throws.
Yeah Carl. Hence the possibility for encorporation of the fitness component with the skills component. Kill drills, michigan drills, other activities that were used during the FS pod sessions are all aimed at working on accuracy and speed whilst fatiguing the body.
ReplyDeletePersonally never spent a hell of a lot of time on throwing. While my throws aren't the best they got to where they are by not wasting the throwing time I do get. Having a plan before every throw and then executing that plan. If I miss it then I throw it again until I can consistently hit that throw. Once I can hit a throw at 90% I will consider it an option in game with out thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteAdded to fitness is strength and flexibility. There was a session at the Aus camp on the weekend that informed us of the expectations of being an Australian player. Strength and flexibility is a big part of injury prevention.
Carl - what you're saying illustrates an important point. Are you training for League or Tournament? Tournaments have an endurance element (which to me is an attraction of our sport). So for throwing training (but also fitness), if you're playing tournaments you want to be able to throw well while fatigued. But I wouldn't bother with that for League play.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but:
ReplyDeletelike no-one ever was*