02/25/06 Fordam Scrimmage

The weather was much better than we expected: mild and only slightly windy. We regard Fordam as the second team to beat in our section, behind Rutgers, so this scrimmage had some importance to it. We wanted to come out strong and win, if only to boost confidence and set the tone for the rest of the season.

Predictably, the stack offense was sloppy. We needed more practice and it showed. There was just no sense of decisiveness early on in the scrimmage. We stacked too deep and too lazily, we were not engaging the dump or looking at the dump too late, and we did not execute the offense when trapped at all. Our throws were sub-par and some very routine passes were dropped. I expect this to improve though. We will have more time to work on fundamentals now that we've introduced everything, and once everyone settles into the system and knows what to do, they can concentrate more on those things in the game. The little errors will hopefully being to disappear as everyone becomes comfortable.

We traded points with Fordam to 5-5, and took half 8-5 after some inspired man defense. However, too many of them have the bad habit of biting really hard on fakes, trying to get point blocks. The object of the mark in our man defense is to make it uncomfortable for the opposing handler to huck, not to get a point block, so they must learn to take small jump steps back and forth, rather than lean heavily or cross their feet. The good news is our marking is improving--Sarah's and Amanda's especially. Our man defense forced several turns, and it was one of the Femmes' weakest points last year and in the fall. Fordam had a decent deep game and did not execute it well during the scrimmage.

In the second half our stack placement and trap zone improved a great deal as well, but we failed to convert numerous times on the goal line, and Fordam clawed to 8-7 before we pulled away to win 13-8. I'm not so worried about the end zone turnovers, because its something we were successful with in the fall. The problems in this one scrimmage are likely to be a fluke. I think if we ingrain in them the importance of valuing possessions near the goal line, we won't have this problem by Sectionals.

The things that do trouble me are the inability of our handlers to execute the throws needed to make the offense run, as well as the lack of focus on the field by everyone. We need everyone dialed in and ready to go. Little mental errors like floating a dump or dropping a disc are simply unacceptable. Again, I think this will improve steadily as we get comfortable with the system and we don't have to think so much on the field about what we should do next. I am generally disappointed with our level of fundamentals. We will need to drill a lot more in order to stop making throw/catch errors.

That said, we still won. It was a decisive victory, and with a few more efficient end zone possessions, it could easily have been 13-5 or 13-4. Our handlers did not play well, our cutters were confused half the time. Yet we still won. I don't know if this says more about how strong our team is or how weak Fordam is. I do like the mentality of our team at the end of the game--they were dissatisfied, even in victory. They know how much more work needs to be done and how good they should be. Fordam may improve as a team before sectionals, but Zac, I, and the rest of the Femmes know, not nearly as much as we will.

Fordham Scrimmage (2/25)

After almost canceling the scrimmage in the face of weather forecasts predicting rain, snow and 40 mph wind gusts, we decided to forge ahead. And it's a good thing we did as the skies were sunny and the winds were only light to moderate all afternoon.

Since this was a scrimmage, the scoreline isn't too important, but after trading points to 4-4, NYU made a run to take half 8-5. We let them back in the game, 8-7, after two excruciatingly long points that saw us with the disc on the goal line 15-20 times, only to fail at executing our endzone plays every single time. 2.5 hours into the game, we decided to cap it at 13, then NYU pulled away to win 13-8. Fordham has about 4 good to very good players, then there's a big drop off. We were missing about 4 solid second-string players, or else we would have had significantly more depth than them. If we want to be the type of team we want to be -- one that wins the Section and wins games at Regionals -- we'll have to beat teams like Fordham much much more quickly...

...And we could have done so. We knew throwing was not a strength of the team, but the numbers of bad throws, even by our experienced handlers, was unacceptable. And the drops, many by our best receivers, were baffling. There were many times where we executed proper, though slow, swing cuts but our handlers simply missed the wide-open swing cutters. As a result, we didn't get many opportunities to demonstrate just how effective the dump-swing is. Which brings me to the dumps: grade "F." Granted, we didn't have the time in practice to devote to dumps that we would have liked, but again, it was often our experienced handlers who messed them up. The cuts were tentative, like they didn’t really want the disc. And on the dump passes were extremely wild. Instead of floating them out into space ahead of the dump cutter, our handlers often waited until the the dump cutter already made their cut, then they would try to gun the pass into a small, difficult space. And for some reason, we're obsessed with the up-the-line dump cut -- and oftentimes rightfully so, because it worked. However, our handlers automatically make that up-the-line pass whether it's open or not, instead of realizing that the ace is coming back to be the dump's fill. A couple other common mistakes by the handlers include waiting too long to throw to cutters coming in from the stack, and not making the open huck throw. We also need to clear up the confusion about when they should look dump when trapped -- we usually waited too long. Part of the problem results from the lack of a good system before this year. Our handlers are better at hitting vertical cutters than they are moving the disc horizontally. In fairness, I've seen each handler play infinitely better last fall and summer than they did on Saturday.

The cutters had a difficult time comprehending just how short the stack is supposed to be. But after a half-time lecture from Ken and me, they got it, which was good since stacking was our main goal for the day. As a result, we were able to repeatedly burn Fordham, who were fronting on D, with immediate hucks off the stopped disc, even with less than perfect hucks. The cutters had the same problems the handlers had when trapped or looking to dump.

The endzone plays also get an "F," for those two aforementioned points alone -- mental mistakes and a failure to execute simple throws. But that's just more practice, because they were a strength of the team in the fall.

There were a handful of instances where we executed parts of the offense successfully, but we seemed to get nervous or impatient after doing so and we rarely followed it up with the next step.

Our defense was better, as to be expected as there are fewer brand-new concepts with it than there are with our offense. Plus athleticism is much more our strength than throwing. Force-middle man-D improved steadily as the game progressed and we learned how be more active on the mark. The marks still need work and we need better fronting from our downfield defenders. Our trap-cup also improved dramatically as the game progressed. We knew we'd need an actual game to get the players to fully understand how it works. We need to be faster, fix the holes, and get the trap-side wing player to cover her wing responsibility first before joining the cup. Sarah and Amanda stood out on defense, and of course Mia who D'd a lot of deep throws, and Marley was a pleasant surprise -- she's faster than we realized (now that her injury is improving) and has a better understanding of the game too.

Overall, the mistakes with running the system and the plays were understandable as this was our first competitive game and we didn't have much practice time. Still we had even more poor throwing and drops and other simple mistakes than even I expected with my modest expectations. But it was a very productive day, because now we know what we need to work on as we head into the first official games next weekend at Atlantis.

Practice #7 (2/23)

Ken and I were making up for last time at this indoor practice. We crammed in as much as we could before this weekend's scrimmage vs Fordham: end-zone plays, pull play, trap set up, trap play, trap zone. We opted to introduce the rest of the new system quickly so they could see how it all fits together and so they had at least some idea of how to attack the varioius situations they'll face in the scrimmage. We plan to continue to teach the sytem and fine-tune it at the scrimmage and tournaments. It's not an ideal situation but it's necessary due to lack of practice time. Ideally we'd have more time to work on fundamentals since even the most basic concepts, like executing a dump pass, are a challenge for almost every player.

02/23/06 Indoor

We went over trap man offense, end zone plays, and some more trap zone transition in this practice. It really felt superficial and rushed because of all the stuff crammed in. The players are getting restless and we really need the scrimmage this Saturday @ Fordam.

In my opinion, the things we need to work on, in order of importance, are:
1. Throwing
2. Marking
3. Field Awareness

Seemily small but very important things like stack positioning and footwork on cuts are glossed over. Maybe we're introducing too many things but the Femmes really need to focus on stuff like this, as well as being aware all the time and paying attention on the field.

02/21/06 Playbook

Due to the shitty weather, we haven't had an outdoor practice in two weeks. We're cramming a lot in and we haven't focused on fundamentals nearly as much as we should. We need outdoor practices to go over trap man offense, trap zone, pull plays, end zone plays, etc. We'll get a good amount done over spring break, but its still just so much stuff.

The schedule for the rest of the year looks like:

02/25 -- Scrimmage @ Fordam, NY
03/04 - 03/05 -- Atlantis @ Salisbury, MD
03/11 - 03/18 -- High Tide @ Savannah, GA
03/24 - 03/25 -- Hucking in Amish Paradise @ Lancaster, PA
04/15 - 04/16 -- Sectionals @ New Brunswick, NJ

Regionals is probably two weeks after Sectionals, but let's not pencil that in yet. Roughly we have 15 practices and 6 playbook sessions before Sectionals, and a lot to practice. At least we've introduced almost all the new elements by now.

Practice #6 (2/18 and 2/20)

This weekend was cold with temps in the 20's and 30's, but we hadn't practiced in a while, so we held two throwing sessions, one on Saturday and on on Monday, President's Day.

I attedend the Monday session, as did Ken, Amanda, Frantzena and Marley. I threw with Franzten for an hour. She's a natural athlete (2 sports in high school on a competitive level) and has a very good backhand. Her forehand, while inconsistent, has a lot of potential. She has the same problem I had when I first learned to throw. We both played so much baseball/softball that the mechanics of throwing a ball are embedded in our muscle memories. It's difficult for her to force herself to keep her wrist upturned and lead with her elbow. While she often turfs her flick, she gets a lot of power on her throws and they're usually flat.

Ken made a lot of progress with Marley who wasn't hindered by the same stubborn muscle memory issues. With no previous sports background, she simply followed Ken's pointers and was throwing a serviceable, though weak, flick. And Ken totally reworked Amanda's forehand so she was using her body much more efficiently. By the end of the day she was effortlessly throwing deep flicks, whereas before she was straining to throw a moderate-range flick.

So, all in all it was a good day despite the small turnout. If we had two hours to work with each player on her throws, the team would be in better for it.

Throwing and other matters

I ended up throwing with Claire, Linh, and Emily Westlake this Saturday in absolute freezing conditions, and then going to a three-femme (Amanda, Frantzen, Marley) on the holiday Monday.

Despite the disappointment over the lack of people, both sessions were quite productive. Whenever Zac or I can focus a full hour or two on a few specific people, it usually helps quite a bit. Claire, Linh, and Emily are improving, but they simply need to throw more. Linh needs to adjust her follow through and stop releasing downward if she wants to be able to huck far. She's too inconsistent now, and just needs repetition.

On Monday, we "fixed" Amanda's flick, which we should have a while ago, and now she has much more range and a smoother release. Frantzen had a little more trouble switching her motion and release point, and we think this has to do with her playing softball before--her muscles are just conditioned differently. Marley picked up the new motions a lot quicker, but she just has to remember to stop "pushing" the disc forward weakly.

Frankly the Femmes just need to throw and catch. A lot. And throw like yesterday, where two hours is exhausting as hell, because they were trying so hard on every throw. That's how you have a successful, productive throwing session.

I wonder if Zac and I should allow everyone to see this blog, rather than just the captains and a few alumni like Dusty and Karen. The biggest question is whether the women would be able to handle the direct criticism we give here. We want to be able to be completely honest and not censor ourselves. Even though most of what we're saying so far has been praise, but I'm still not sure.

02/16/06 Playbook

Due to snow this past weekend it's been almost a week since we've had a practice. Fortunately, it seems all the Femmes are constantly throwing and at the gym. When the team is as close as they are--some of the players live together, hang out often outside of practice, etc--there really does exist a huge bonding factor that contributes to better attendance at practice and motivation outside of it. That and there aren't any divisive personalities that might kill the positive mood.

We went over trap zone, pull plays, and end zone plays at the meeting. Perfect attendance again and it went as planned--nothing much to comment on. Everyone seems to be settling into the routines of meetings and practice. There definitely was a restless feeling though. All the practice, focus and dedication with no outlet would make me antsy and eager as well. I would be just dying to play. By Salisbury, our Spring tournament debut, most of the Femmes should be foaming at the mouth to go out there and play hard. Nervousness and anticipation due to overpreparation is a much better feeling than uncertainty and insecurity.

One of the main things we'll have to instill in the older players is that they must run hard for the entire time they are out there. Since they've had far fewer competent players in previous seasons, they play at this semi-passive 85% level. We need them to go full tilt because we have subs now. When they come out they should be tired.

Only two weeks of practice before Salisbury, and the anticipation is building.

Practice #5 (2/9)

Ken and I were pleasantly surprised at how well the players cut and threw during the in-cut drill. They completed 15 forehands quickly, so they only had to do one set of sprints, rather than two, but they weren't as lucky with the backhands. While it was good to see everyone attacking the disc and making decent throws and catches, we have to remember that we were indoors. Throw a little wind into the equation and it probably would have been decidedly sloppier.

The defense drill was a success, just as much for the intesity the players put forth as it was an opportunity to work on defensive positioning and footwork. It was fun to watch Sarah and Mia, our two fastest players, mark up on each other. The losing team each round (we had 3 total rounds) had to do a small set of sprints. Since the same team won each time, they joined the losing team for the final set. Sarah's in-cuts and attack on the disc were textbook perfect, both in the in-cut and defense drill. She is poised for a breakout season.

The zone walk-through was so-so, but we were working indoors, without wind, on a small field. Everyone has at least some experience with zone already. We had to squeeze in our trap-zone intro also since it looks like we might not have practice again until at least next weekend. I think we'll get our best zone work in at scrimmages and tournaments.

02/09/06 Indoor

So we just found out that we might not have practice next week due to the All University Games. In addition, it probably is going to snow this weekend and kill our practice then too. Losing two or possibly three practices at this point really hurts our plans. Zac and I have already started compensating--we introduced trap zone a week early.

This practice, at the behest of Amanda and Dusty, we ran an extra fundamental drill, just simple in cuts with throws and catches. We emphasized high intensity and attacking the disc. Again, I would be fine with running drills like these for hours. The girls surprised us, doing it much better than we though. Though it was indoors, most of their cuts were crisp and they were catching well. Bethany distinguished herself with good, hard cutting, but needs to time her jump for discs above her head a little better.

After a quick ten minute offensive walkthrough, we split them into two teams and did a marking/man defense drill. Two players from each team went out on the floor and the goal of the offense was just to complete a pass. Naturally this made it very difficult for the defense, but when we moved the cutter farther away and started the stall on four, it was 50-50 between the O and D. The best part of this drill was the two teams getting into it and being very vocal and intense on the sideline. We're going to need this when we play other teams. This also marks the third time we've unsuccessfully tried to stack the teams against Mia, putting all returners minus Amanda on the other team, and splitting the good rookies. Oh well, it was close at least.

The zone walkthrough was mediocre, but sets a base to build on. We really need to work on stuff outdoors and cram as much stuff into our limited time as possible, but not neglect fundamentals. Zac and I have quite a bit of work to do.

Playbook Session #2 (2/7)

Ken and I decided to begin this week's meeting by having each player share with the team her goals for the season. Generally, the responses weren't exactly what we were expecting, but perhaps we didn't set up the activity well enough. We were expecting more specific team-oriented goals (e.g. "I want to win Sectionals" or "beat Columbia" or "finish in the top 6 at Regionals," etc.), but the goals cited were decidedly more on the individual level. And while everyone undersold themselves with goals that were too modest, most had a clear idea of what they needed to work on (e.g. "I want to improve my flick huck"). Others were more vague (e.g. "I want to run better"). Several people said they wanted to get their first layout D, which is a nice but low-ball goal that suggested to Ken and I that we need to impart an intense defensive philosophy to the team -- everyone should be running hard and laying out on D.

As for the meeting's meat and potatoes, we distributed handouts and discussed continuation cuts, force straight-up D, and standard zone D. The way the next couple of practices go will tell us how well they soaked it up.

02/07/06 Playbook

Our second playbook meeting again had perfect attendance. The commitment and dedication shown by the group so far has been great. For example, here is one of the emails a member of the NYU Men's Team sent out to their listserve, regarding a workout at Palladium, one of NYU's gyms (the unimportant parts are edited out):

--------------------
Palladium. 8:00 PM. Last three times I've been there, I've been outnumbered by the women's team at least three-to-one...

Beer and skittles,
-Ben
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We handed out a syllabus and went over continuation cuts, man defense, and basic zone defense. We will be forcing almost exclusively straight up this year, focusing on marking and fronting. This defensive philosophy was again lifted straight from Rutgers/Pike, and we'll see how much women's handlers are bothered by it.

Practice #4 (2/5)

Sunday practices will continue to be key to the team's development during the preseason, because it could be the only time we have a decent-sized field on which to play. To take full advantage of the space, we did extensive walk-throughs of the offense and we scrimmaged, opting to save some of the scheduled (but smaller) drills for Thursday night.

But before we got to the walk-throughs, Ken worked with the handlers while I worked with the cutters on the butterfly drill. The women who have played sports before and have a base of athleticism are mastering the cut, but a few less athletic players are having trouble keeping their speed while looking over their shoulder for the handler's pump-fake. I stressed the need for the cutters to aggressively attack the disc, especially on a windy day like Sunday, rather than tentively letting the disc come to them and catching it off to the side. Sure enough, they responed with improved technique, especially the newbie Veronica, and they cut down on the drops. By the end of the drill, they made our goal of 15 catches in a row.

The team's progress in the walk-through was slow but marked. After countless reps, the offense started to click. And though they seemed to forget some of cuts and throws during the scrimmage, it was clear that some of it stuck. We're going to have to find some time to continue to drill the offense, while moving on to other stuff like zone.

Throws continue to be a major problem. Very few players can consistently complete basic forehands and backhands.

02/05/06 ERP

We had 12 show up for the second Sunday practice on a windy, cold, but sunny day. Zac and I broke up the handlers and cutters, after we evaluated who should specialize in what the day before. As of right now we only have one solid handler--Mia--and we want at least four by the end of the year.

Zac did a butterfly drill with the cutters, making sure they timed their cut correctly, as we had problems during a previous indoor practice with the third leg of the buttefly being too early. I did a dump-swing drill with the handlers, emphasizing the quick release on the swing throw. Lisa and Frantzen continue to progress, with Frantzen even doing the fake backhand swing into an inside-out flick. I'm especially proud of that, since she's only been throwing since the fall.

Next, we showed them the handler continuation cuts, named "dishy" by Rugters. We did some offensive walkthroughs and noted that again, our fundamentals--catching and throwing--was especially poor. The captains would be ok with running offensive reps or throwing/cutting drills all day, but we need to keep the borderline girls interested in practices. If that means sloppy scrimmages, I guess Zac and I will have to live with that.

We scrimmaged and it wasn't great, but we did see some positives. There was plenty of dump/swings, and a few good follow up cuts. Bethany and Kristin were especially good at doing the butterfly cut, a benefit of not having any bad habits. People are starting to understand the offense, and once it fully clicks--only a matter of time, really--we will be in very good shape. All this of course hinges on our practicing fundamentals, and I think I will propose adding an extra throwing-only optional practice next week.

Practice #3 (2/2)

Ken and I are really starting to feel a time cruch. We have a lot to get through -- the rest of a brand new man offense, zone, set plays, defense, etc. -- and not much time before tournaments start. And this particular man offense isn't something that Ken and I have run before so we're feeling our way as we go. As a result last night's walk-throughs and simulations were sloppy, but I think it was an important practice because we were able to see what adjustments we need to make with the timing of the cuts. I really think that the system will start to make more sense for people now that they've actually walked through it and not just seen it on paper.

Again, our biggest problem is our throwing. We had 19 in players at practice last night, but fewer than half could consistently complete passes. We did several simple throwing drills with no defense, indoors without wind, and there were a ton of throwaways, where a good team would complete close to 100% of the passes. We couldn't even do dump drills with no defense without lots of drops and throwaways. In most cases, it's not a lack of athletic ability but just a lack of experience. We have to continue nagging them about throwing as often as possible outside of practice. I'd like to split into A and B groups at practice sometime so the more experienced players can run the offense without as many turnovers, while the B group can do some much-needed fundamentals work.

On an individual note, we made Lisa handle on the flick side during the butterfly drill and she did reasonably well. I wouldn't say she's an A-line handler just yet but she has made a lot of progress. It's good to see Bethany at practice. She's lacking ultimate experience but her size, speed and agression will be big plusses for the team if she can make it out consistently.

On a personal note, I've always had a difficult time teaching beginners how to throw. When I was learning, I just kept doing it until I got good at it. A few people gave me a few pointers, which I can pass on to new players now, but for the most part, it was just about making little adjustments here and there until I got it. That's why I think people need to not only throw a lot, but take it seriously and focus on getting better each time out.

02/02/06 Indoor

We had the best attendance yet this year, with 18 girls showing up for this week's Coles indoor practice. I think the playbook session really motivated players to show, as many were excited about the new offense Zac and I were introducing.

Again, Zac and I were somewhat disappointed with the level of throwing the girls exhibited. They were undoubtedly getting better, but still constantly throwing inaccurately. Also, it is much easier to throw in the no-wind environment of Coles than outside. I am tempted to just have them throw all practice, but we have so much other stuff to go over before the first tournament.

After the throwing, we ran a cone-to-cone handler drill that the girls pretty much did half-heartedly, probably because I did not demonstrate it at full speed--my fault. I think we need to design this drill a bit better, because it while it works basic skills, we should have tailored it a bit more to practice something more specific about our offense. Either way, its a useful drill but I don't think we are running it in the future with our time constrictions.

The second one we did was the butterfly drill, which was again poorly designed because we had the majority of girls waiting in line instead of cutting. It's hard without more space. Also, we need to figure out a way to train the timing of it better, something that would become quite clear by the end of practice.

We did a dump cut demonstration and drill (with semi continuation) that worked pretty well, and we concluded that the 45-degree upfield dump cut was not effective and would be seldom used (at least for now) in our offense.

The last drill we ran was a stack-simulation of the offense, with mixed results. The timing did not work exactly the way we predicted in the meeting, and this can be attributed to our inexperience teaching the offense. Zac and I have never actually ran the offense or even participated in it--we've only heard explanations by players experienced in it. The foundations of the offense are simple and intuitive, but there are several little wrinkles we should iron out with the captains.

On the positive side, everyone was upbeat despite the lack of a scrimmage and the difficulties of the new system. People were slowly getting it, and it's only a matter of time before everything clicks. Unfortunately we anticipate most of the opposing defenses to be zone, but zone will be a lot easier to teach.

Zac and I must be confident and able to deliver a consistent, clear message or the confusion will be too much. Next week we will be better prepared.

Playbook Session #1 (1/31)

More players showed up last night than did to either practice so far -- 18 total. Hopefully that means that we'll have solid numbers at tournaments, because we'll want to rest our top players vs weaker teams. How well they grasp the offense remains to be seen. We can only discuss so much on paper. Ideally last night's meeting will allow us to spend less time talking and more time drilling the new concepts tomorrow night at practice.

01/31/06 Playbook

Our first playbook meeting was a success. Just about everyone showed up, even those that had not been to the last practices, like Bethany and Marianna. We went over the butterfly cut, dump cuts, and dump cut continuations. Everyone seemed to like the new stuff we were paid attention and some of the older players asked questions, which was a good sign because it meant they were paying attention. The meeting might have been a little intimidating towards the new players, but they did not show it. Zac and I struggled with how in depth we really wanted to go, because we did not want to scare anyone off.

One of the cooler parts of the meeting was when we played some of the highlights from Ultivillage's Disc 4, from last year's Open Club Nationals. It is great that everyone responded positively to the intensity and competition, because we will need to teach our players to be more aggressive on the field.