Anger Management - On the Field

This is from The Huddle:

Dear Huddle,
Am looking for any features/articles on SOTG within a team as well. Very often I see teams where there is a lot of fighting/blaming within the team especially during a tourney and was wondering if there any articles that address that.
-NVI

Dear NVI,

Great question. We tend to take a pretty strict view of SOTG as ‘respecting the game, respecting opponent’, so this doesn’t seem like a Spirit issue. For whatever reason, this seems like a pretty commonplace question issue with Ultimate. Why do Ultimate players get so mad at each other?

Three possible reasons:

• SOTG keeps us from blowing up at our opponents, and all of the extra emotion needs to go somewhere
• Ultimate tends to attract people that didn’t have traditional sports backgrounds where coaches regulated emotions
• The nature of the game and the importance of turnovers/decision-making leads to more frustration

Or maybe it is something else entirely.

In any case, what can you do to keep your team from the distractions involved in on-field anger? A couple of things have worked with our teams:

1. Accept some of it. The optimum level of frustration that your players vent, even at each other, is not zero. Venting helps people express themselves and prevents them from bottling up emotions that will come out in decisions and effort on the field. Players need to accept that playing on a team means that, sometimes, a teammate will yell at you for something that isn’t your fault. It’s sports…get over it and give your teammate some credit for being momentarily overcome.
2. Get a coach that everyone respects.
3. Play games and use drills that emphasize reacting to errors. There are drills you can do that are more frustrating than normal (trying to reach 100 straight catches, scrimmaging until a turnover, drills without defense, any kind of keep-away). There are also drills that help people work on reacting quickly to turnovers; this is what other sports do. Fastbreak in practices so that your team takes advantage of each other when you react emotionally instead of getting back on D. Use random ‘turnover’ calls in practices to simulate odd situations. Run drills that ask for a perfect rep, instead of many acceptable ones.
4. Keep stats and watch video of your team together. They’re hard to argue with, and they help to explain why we make the decisions that we make.
5. At some point, there are players that are skilled but will never be good teammates. If you aren’t prepared to drop them from the squad, then understand that while you care about this issue…you don’t care enough to make the change that you need. Tell them this.

This problem gets less-prevalent at the higher levels of the game, in our opinions. But maybe that is chicken-and-egg…maybe teams are more successful because they have figured out ways to deal with their emotions in a game that we all care about.

[Ben] Speaking personally, as a player that has significant anger issues, I don’t know how one of my teammates would have had any chance of approaching the issue from anything other than a team-success perspective when I was struggling at my worst. Making a point about the other team gaining strength from my outbursts, and our players playing worse, helped. Lots of ‘personal talks’ and ‘discussions’ generally just frustrated me and built up emotions that I couldn’t vent until game-time (which was obviously counter-productive).

Good luck!

Singapore Ultimate Open 2010

I’m not sure why it hurts so much? Disappointment in not winning for sure, not fulfilling potential maybe, not realizing expectation, or just falling short. All feelings felt. The loss made us question our trainings, question our approach, and ask what might we have done different?

What leaves us with Singapore is a raw sort of feeling that we won’t get the opportunity for another year to compete at this level, and even then, the competition might be somewhere. It begs the question: how are we going to narrow this gap between them and us? But frankly I came to Singapore to seek the highest level of competition possible. To pit my team against the best and see how good we are.

Last week, we realized we still have a bit to learn. But what, we get to wait one year for the honors of trying our tactics again? It seems ridiculous and unfair.

Keep Talking to Yourself

Its easy to lose focus. I am certain everyone loses focus. Everyone. But what separates the champion from the 'also rans' is the ability to recognise the loss of focus and instantly re-focus.

Talking to yourself helps. Here are more reasons to talk to yourself:

• You know when to talk; A lot of the times when captains / coaches talk it goes above the head. You know when you are ready to listen
• Similarly you know what to talk.
• In the right doses!

Try it!

Why Missing Practice is NOT OK!

No matter which category you fall under. You suck.

For the Psycho:

I learnt something today that you didnt. Come tournament time you will see the difference in my eyes and on the field.

Practice week in week out is like making deposits in the bank. Think of it as a wall of a hundred different small safe deposit boxes. One for each experience. For eg - Have you played with a cramp? Have you played when you have a chipped finger nail? or something as simple as have you caught a disc when sprinting hard? How many times have you practised that i/o throw?
With each experience AKA practice session you store that forever (or atleast for a long time) in a tiny little safe deposit box. This is you draw on when it's big match time.

"I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match." ~ Mia Hamm

I also liken this to a serrated knife. Each practice working to polish that single tooth. Tournament time you use your polished weapon to cut through, slice and hack deep into your opponents. Each tooth of the knife has to be sharp and just perfect. How many of yours are unpolished?

For the amateur lazy ass:

Sleep is bliss aint it? A dozen of your team mates sacrifice their sleep and turn up to play. You are depriving them of the opportunity to play a good game. (That they take advantage of the situation and are able to focus on something they want to improve is credit to them.)
I am trying hard to think from your point of view - Why the hell would you do this?

- You think its funny?
- You want the people on the mailing list to think you are regular?
- Mailing in is as satisfying as coming out and throwing a disc?

I know there can be emergencies. May be you had work that came up after you mailed in. May be your wife fell sick.
What is the probability that this can happen 3 times a month?
You are your word. Remember that.

If you think its fun to email saying you are in and not turn up - it's not.
Guess what's worse than a player who never turns up to play or for practice? Yes. You know.

Deposits in the Bank

Gilly hits the nail on the head in his biography 'True Colours: My Life'

He explains beautifully how pushing yourself in training and in matches (in the run up to big tournaments like the world cup) is like making 'deposits in the bank'. He cites the example of how they chased down 315 (a huge score then!) He says that it is a classic deposit in the bank in preparing for a world cup because if they were to be in that position in the world cup they would not be lost. They would know what exactly to do because they would have been in that situation before.

Similiarly in Ultimate. As a team, practice starting a a game 0-4 down instead of 0-0. Only 100% throws. Come back from a 'bad start' until you are comfortable with it. Let it become muscle memory.

Do you know how your team will play on universe point? Is it the same as when they play when they are 7-1 up or when they are tied at 6-6?

Create game situations, mimic tournament games. Make deposits in the bank.

Motivation - Bangalore Tourney 2008

This is what I wrote. Wish I could have played that Bangalore tourney. I don't think that I will ever forgive myself for missing this one. I knew this was going take a long time to get out of my system the minute Manu called me from Bangalore. Manix drove it in saying I could have made the difference. What was happening around me wasnt helping either.

Team,
Winning is not everything. Its the only thing. There is no second place. NO consolation. Only losers whine about trying their best. About giving 100%. There are no numbers. No limits. No percentages. Do what it takes to win. Like in any team sport, a team is not just a sum of its parts but more. The effort has to come from within. The will to win. The quest for victory. The unquenchable burning desire to reach the disc. You will find that you can grind your man down by just wanting the disc more than him.

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character"

Losing

Losing in the final against LTF at home in 2008 has probably been the biggest motivator for me over the last year or so. When you lose a game of that magnitude, you never want to feel that way again, which pushes you to do everything within your power to ensure that. Since then there have been losses that made me feel that way to a lesser degree (think FlyBaba 2009). I think losing games is a part of the development process, but it's important to take something away from those games and use them as motivation.

Peaking in Time & Being in the Zone

Everyone talks about being in the zone. All athletes - tennis players, cricketers. Just about everyone. I love being in the zone. Nothing like training, practicing for months and then peaking at the right time before a tournament. Everyone peaks. I think a few key points are

• Understanding what triggers it
• How long it takes for you to go from being normal into zone
  
• How to keep it going through the tournament
• How to get out of the zone and then re-peak (if you peak early..)
  

For me I am in the zone when

1. All I can think of is disc. All week. day in-day out. Regardless of whether I am out with friends, reading a book or riding my bike.
2. You struggle to get my attention. Everything around me is a blur.
   
3. When I am not playing, I am talking /thinking about it, visualizing or strategizing. Yes. If you are trying to talk to me I pretend to listen just because it is polite.
   
4. I always fall asleep visualizing - making all the plays - Keeping up with my man cut after cut. Putting pressure when on the mark. Getting huge layout blocks.
   
5. I have nightmares 6 nights a week. Usually I dream of cutting endlessly and not getting the disc, of throwing it away , of dropping pancakes, of watching my team lose. I wake up in a cold sweat every single time.
6. I struggle to control my adrenaline, especially the night before the tournament starts. No matter how many deep breaths I take, my thoughts keep going back to the game and I am breathless and pumped. Ready to go. Wait until morning, I keep telling myself.
   
7. I have just played for 2 hours and I am ready for more. Hey! lets play a couple of more points I plead with my mates at practice.
8. I look into each of my team mates eyes. I want to see the thirst. The overwhelming desire to win.
   
9. I don't talk on the field - match day or practice. Its all in the actions. I don't talk to people about their mistakes. I glare.
10. I want to hurt my man. I want to make him run till he pukes. I want him to remember the day he marked me.
    
11. I am getting too defensive for my liking. I reel in my throws. I don't go boom boom. Fast breaks appear too risky.
12. I don't think on the field. Days, months of practice kick in. My brain goes into cruise control. From then on my body has a mind of its own.
13. I feel no pain. I have a high threshold for pain. I have played through an injury that would regularly been deemed as unplayable on. Come tournament time I embrace and wallow in the pain.
14. Work goes into auto-pilot. I view it as a distraction.

Understanding what triggers it

Over tournaments I have learnt (mostly the hard way) that I cant fool my mind / body into going into the zone. All I get is the middle finger. The stuff that I use to trigger the start of the peak:

• I use a "switch" - A simple turn of the cap. Reverse in ON. Lets go mate! It's ON, I tell myself as I turn that cap around looking into my opponents eyes. I search for weakness. Fear.
• I slowly start playing more defensively. I dont poach as much. I play disciplined D. I deliberately slow the pace of the game down. I want to dictate.
• I start asking more from my body. I do cardio twice a day. My goal is to be so tired as to sleep within 5 minutes of hitting the sack.
• Slowly my mind and body obey. Revolting at first, but they dont have a choice.

How long it takes for you to go from being normal into zone

I try and reach this state 2 weeks before a tournament. I week of hard practice and then there is nothing else to do other than some cardio and visualizing. Go read Zips Tips for more on this.

It used to take me a week but now it takes atleast two, depending on how fit I am.

How to keep it going through the tournament

I start playing lesser and lesser (Almost like I have limited hours in the zone and I am trying to use it judiciously.) until I start tapering the final week before a tournament- I dont touch the disc the last 3-4 days. During the tournament I try not to play irrelevant / friendly / hat games until the tournament is over. These are needless distractions. You dont / cant play as hard. You concentrate lesser. Easy way of picking up an injury. Even a niggle can be annoying if not distracting.

How to get out of the zone and then re-peak (if you peak early..)

If I find myself peaking early, I try and play lesser. I do more cardio. I try and help my team mates. I need to be drawn away from the game. I spend more time outside. The down takes about 4 days.

Conditioning - Verticals

Started a new conditioning routine today. Link

Pretty awesome.

Sincere but not serious

Ultimate is fun. Helluva lot of fun. It is a team sport. You owe a lot of what you take away from the sport to your team and team mates. It does not matter if you met them 15 minutes ago or if you've played by each others side for years. You dont have to take the sport seriously, be anal about improving your throws, cuts or hone your team strategy but you've got to be sincere!

There is no room for insincerity. I find it unacceptable.
Truancy didnt stop with school?

How we pick players for Chakraa

There is a considerable amount of pressure on the team to find good fits. We emphasize on good fits - not only in terms of filling gaps in the team (we'd love to replace a handler with another)but also in terms of values and personality. In essence we need to see what the player can bring to the table.

The idea is to keep the selection criteria transparent, simple and straightforward.

Key attributes we look for in players (includes but not limited to…)

• Athletic Ability
• Natural Ability
• Disc Skills
• Tactical knowledge and game sense
• Team role and contribution to the team
• Spirit of the game
• Captain’s vote
• Confidence in own ability
• Punctuality
• Player behavior
• Ability & Willingness to take direction

On the field we look for throwing ability, field awareness, and the ability and willingness to learn. Usually no experience is necessary. But it is also important for us to see that people are 'coachable' and able to adapt to different/new situations. Attitude and personality fit, both are very important intangibles that are taken into consideration. All of these characteristics together paint a pretty accurate picture, albeit an overwhelmingly general one, of the type of players we are looking for.

I am usually impressed by the following. In no particular order:

• Punctuality & Player behavior
• Energy on field & Sideline
• 'smart' hard work
• Commitment to team / program
• Communication - On & Off the field
• Spirit

Chennai Ultimate Frisbee (CUF)

In less than 3 years, we have grown to 196 players on the mailing list. We've managed to create

4 regular teams in

1. Chakraa - THE Chennai team
2. Stall 7 - Our #1 college team
3. Blitzkrieg - Our effervescent KRMM College team
4. Livewires - Our developmental team

We've had 2 new teams created in Fritz and The Flying Frauds. We've talked about encouraging new teams and have focussed some of our efforts towards this. I think this is paying off now. I know we are looking at at least 2 more new teams in the next quarter. Sustaining the enthusiasm is the key. It would be sad to see them go the way of Chappathi Tum Jao or The Whizbees.