Category Archives: Coaching Theory

On Generating Spin

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Understanding Ultimate

Reading r/ultimate this morning, there’s a question from someone struggling to generate spin on their short throws, and (so far) none of the replies has talked about the first thing I would say to a new player in this situation. … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching Theory, Skills and Techniques, Throwing | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Plateau and The Brain

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Understanding Ultimate

Kyle Weisbrod’s recent Ultiworld series on skill plateaux in ultimate is very interesting. Certainly it’s true that we all experience that feeling of stagnation pretty often as we progress through our careers. And Kyle is bang on when he suggests … Continue reading →

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Stop playing badly!

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Understanding Ultimate

Why do we criticise a player? Why are we so negative about our team-mates’ mistakes? Because we’re idiots, and because we’re selfish. There is not a lot of evidence that punishing mistakes aids learning or improves performance, and much, much … Continue reading →

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How to save energy: Run harder…

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Understanding Ultimate

It sounds a bit counter-intuitive to say putting in more effort will save energy. But let’s discuss the best way to reduce the amount of running you need to do. A couple of weeks ago, I watched a player set … Continue reading →

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I/O Turnovers – Part Two

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Understanding Ultimate

Inside breaks are relatively hard. But do you find that I/O forehand breaks are even more challenging than I/O backhands? That’s certainly the impression I get, though I don’t have the stats to back it up. Jim Parinella mentions

Posted in Coaching Theory, Skills and Techniques, Throwing | Tagged , , , , , | 30 Comments

I/O Turnovers – Part One

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Understanding Ultimate

When beginners throw inside breaks they often struggle to lead the receiver, regularly throwing it a full yard or more behind the cut. Even with more experienced throwers, you still see vastly more turnovers caused by putting the disc on … Continue reading →

Posted in Coaching Theory, Skills and Techniques, Throwing | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments