Due to the crazy Pittsburgh weather in the spring, we had to move the South camp to Saturday morning (10 a.m.) and bump the games back to 12 p.m. It wasn't that bad, but it may have affected the way the South guys played in the games. Regardless, the South camp was pretty much identical to the North camp with a couple slight exceptions to the 30-30 warmup and 5-man drill.
We have roughly 60 guys from both camps, one of our highest numbers for anything Impulse related. It's good to see so many youths coming out to get better at Ultimate. This is going to do so much for Impulse, PHUL and Pittsburgh Ultimate. It's great.
As for the games this past weekend, North was pretty much in control. Not only are they the larger group, but they are the more skilled group. The difference between the two camps is pretty noticeable, too. Like I said, the North camp (North Hills, Hampton, Pine-Richland) are skilled. They play the game the way they want (and because they can). They're typically more athletic and sometimes see the camp as holding them back. On the other side, the South camp (Lebo, Allderdice, USC) are more strategic. They listen to what the coaches say and adapt much quicker than the North guys. They're here to improve their game because they may not be the most skilled players.
Of course, there are player exceptions in both camps, but that's how I see.
North won both games, 15-4 and 15-9. In the game I was coaching, the South guys were down 8-3 at half, but mounted a comeback after getting back to basics.
Afterward, the coaches had an early talk about potential guys we'd like to see on Impulse. A lot of guys who maybe don't think they have a shot are on the list. One reason: potential. As long as those guys want to keep getting better, they will. And hopefully they'll be on Impulse.
Showing posts with label Coaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coaching. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
TRUC Camp Week 1
Had my first serious coaching situation tonight. It was the first day of the first week of TRUC. Basically, TRUC is aimed at bringing the Impulse program to all of Pittsburgh high school students, who may not be able to play for or tryout for the team. It's also the warmup/tryouts for those high school players who do plan on trying out for the team. It's a 4-week program with two divisions (North on Wednesday and South on Thursday) who practice once during the week and play games against each other on the weekend.
Like I said, the overlying goal of TRUC is to bring the success of the Impulse team to all players in PHUL who want to improve their game. We currently have 60 guys signed up, and are still hoping for another 10 by this weekend. We set a goal of having at least 60 guys join the camp, so we've gotten that far.
Anyways, our first practice was tonight (the North location) and we had roughly 30 guys show up. The focus of this week is to throw to space, swing the disc, cutting aggressively and making a play on defense.
Now, that may seem simple and all, but for a high school player whose never played competitive Ultimate outside of his team in PHUL, learning these things is fundamental to become a better player.
The use of various WUFF Camp drills helped us this week and will continue to be a staple of this part. For throwing to space and swinging the disc, there is no better drill than Mike G's 3-man weave. Run effectively, a team is unstoppable. I wish I could describe the drill (or have a picture) but maybe you should just spend a week in Wilmington with Mike G himself. Basically, it's a quick handler motion (HAMO) drill with three lines that involves one handler getting a disc upline from the middle handler, he fakes a huck, pivots commits to his reset (the guy who just threw to him and went upline and has now come back from his cut and away from the handler with the disc). Whenver the second handler gets that reset pass, he immediately turns and throws into the space available for the third handler who was also running upline, but has now retreated and has made a cut away from the second handler, who has the disk. It's one of the best drills out there and if run correctly during a game, opens up so much space.
As a coach, the best way explain aggressive cutting is to continue to hammer it into the players minds. Whether that's pulling them aside or telling them publicly when they made a good cut, it's important to make sure the cutter is always sprinting from his initial cut to his clearing.
Slowing down when making an incut will be a D every time in competitive Ultimate. A rounded cut is easy to defend every time in competitive Ultimate. If a cutter is "dangerous" and is just half-assing his cuts, he'll be D'ed every time in competitive Ultimate. It's a simple case of wanting the disc more than your defender and doing that by being explosive out of your fakes.
I just found one of Jim Parinella's blog posts about cutting that I feel is something everybody should look over:
He goes into more detail about each of these steps in his blog post, but doing these five things will make you a much better cutter. This is something that I've always tried to follow when cutting. And while being fast gives me an advantage, you can't run around like crazy out there. If you're going to be fast, you have to be smart.
Much of this week focuses on the basic fundamentals of stack offense, but defense wins games. Our mindset heading into this first week was to get the guys to play aggressive and intense on defense - essentially making a play. This week, it was all about working hard and trying to get that into the minds of the players. As the camp goes on, more defensive strategy will be taught.
South camp is tomorrow night. It'll be much of the same as tonight's, but if something else is noticeable, I'll post about it. North vs. South games on Saturday.
Like I said, the overlying goal of TRUC is to bring the success of the Impulse team to all players in PHUL who want to improve their game. We currently have 60 guys signed up, and are still hoping for another 10 by this weekend. We set a goal of having at least 60 guys join the camp, so we've gotten that far.
Anyways, our first practice was tonight (the North location) and we had roughly 30 guys show up. The focus of this week is to throw to space, swing the disc, cutting aggressively and making a play on defense.
Now, that may seem simple and all, but for a high school player whose never played competitive Ultimate outside of his team in PHUL, learning these things is fundamental to become a better player.
The use of various WUFF Camp drills helped us this week and will continue to be a staple of this part. For throwing to space and swinging the disc, there is no better drill than Mike G's 3-man weave. Run effectively, a team is unstoppable. I wish I could describe the drill (or have a picture) but maybe you should just spend a week in Wilmington with Mike G himself. Basically, it's a quick handler motion (HAMO) drill with three lines that involves one handler getting a disc upline from the middle handler, he fakes a huck, pivots commits to his reset (the guy who just threw to him and went upline and has now come back from his cut and away from the handler with the disc). Whenver the second handler gets that reset pass, he immediately turns and throws into the space available for the third handler who was also running upline, but has now retreated and has made a cut away from the second handler, who has the disk. It's one of the best drills out there and if run correctly during a game, opens up so much space.
As a coach, the best way explain aggressive cutting is to continue to hammer it into the players minds. Whether that's pulling them aside or telling them publicly when they made a good cut, it's important to make sure the cutter is always sprinting from his initial cut to his clearing.
Slowing down when making an incut will be a D every time in competitive Ultimate. A rounded cut is easy to defend every time in competitive Ultimate. If a cutter is "dangerous" and is just half-assing his cuts, he'll be D'ed every time in competitive Ultimate. It's a simple case of wanting the disc more than your defender and doing that by being explosive out of your fakes.
I just found one of Jim Parinella's blog posts about cutting that I feel is something everybody should look over:
1. Cut sharp.
2. Cut hard.
3. Cut decisively
4. Think, but only before or after the cut.
5. Know when to just run.
He goes into more detail about each of these steps in his blog post, but doing these five things will make you a much better cutter. This is something that I've always tried to follow when cutting. And while being fast gives me an advantage, you can't run around like crazy out there. If you're going to be fast, you have to be smart.
Much of this week focuses on the basic fundamentals of stack offense, but defense wins games. Our mindset heading into this first week was to get the guys to play aggressive and intense on defense - essentially making a play. This week, it was all about working hard and trying to get that into the minds of the players. As the camp goes on, more defensive strategy will be taught.
South camp is tomorrow night. It'll be much of the same as tonight's, but if something else is noticeable, I'll post about it. North vs. South games on Saturday.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Impulse 2009
About a month ago I applied to become the coach of the 2009 Impulse team. I didn't get it.
A couple weeks later, I reapplied to become the assistant coach of the 2009 Impulse team. Got it.
I'm pumped.
I've always wanted to coach an Ultimate team and what better way to start than a championship-caliber (they lost on universe last year) youth team from Pittsburgh?
To make this a quick post, basically Nick and I talked an extra 15-20 minutes after my interview the other day about coaching and player development. And, despite having never coached before, Nick and I have a very similar philosophy and we agreed on everything that it takes to coaching a youth club team to a national championship.
National championship and Pittsburgh are all you need to know now.
"Tryouts" will be taking place soon. I'll be updating.
A couple weeks later, I reapplied to become the assistant coach of the 2009 Impulse team. Got it.
I'm pumped.
I've always wanted to coach an Ultimate team and what better way to start than a championship-caliber (they lost on universe last year) youth team from Pittsburgh?
To make this a quick post, basically Nick and I talked an extra 15-20 minutes after my interview the other day about coaching and player development. And, despite having never coached before, Nick and I have a very similar philosophy and we agreed on everything that it takes to coaching a youth club team to a national championship.
National championship and Pittsburgh are all you need to know now.
"Tryouts" will be taking place soon. I'll be updating.
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