This post is about an aspect of every ultimate team's game that is all too often overlooked--cheering. Now I know that upon reading the word cheering that every "serious" ultimate player out there probably threw up a little in their mouth, but stay with me. I'm not talking about the clever rhymes that you make up at the end of CUSL games to tell the other team that "their bids were legit" or that " their D was all over me", what I'm really talking about is support. I'm talking about taking the support that we give our teammates 3 days a week for 2 hours at a time at practice a little further. I'm talking about winning games from the sideline.
If you've ever played a school with a program - meaning a school that competes yearly at regionals, maybe takes some shots at nationals ever once in a while, and nearly always has a solid team come spring - I'm sure you've noticed that they know what it means to win games from the sideline. It helps that those schools usually have squads of around 20-30 guys, but it's possible to do this with 8 guys, or maybe even 7? When you play these schools there's always someone from their sideline yelling something when the disc is in play and sometimes between points too. It's tough to play against a team when their whole sideline is giving "up" and "broken" and "strike" calls on every throw. It sucks to get beaten on an in-cut, but it sucks even more when all you can hear from the sideline is "nice cut" and "yeah Jimmy" as you're getting beaten in. It gets in your head no matter how good you are.
Now imagine the most intense ultimate game you've ever played in. I'm talking about that one game where you played balls out every second of every point and threw your body around like you didn't care if you lived to play in the next round. That game where you probably forgot the score because you were so focused on denying your man the disc and making hard, smart cuts straight to your throwers. Now think about what you heard during that game. I bet it was your teammates on the sideline giving you position calls and encouraging your effort on the field. Now try to imagine playing as hard as you did without the encouragement you received. I know I couldn't do it.
This, meaning winning games from the sideline, is something that our team can do very well with at times, and absolutely terribly at others. Case in point: Western game at Knox Indoor '09 vs. Chicago game at '08 Sectionals. For those of you that were there at last year's Sectionals, imagine our last game on Saturday without Lee on the opposite sideline encouraging us and making sure that we didn't give up. It wouldn't have been the same without it. It's hard to keep a sideline up through 4 or sometimes 5 rounds of play during one day at tournament, especially when you're down on the scoreboard, but in order to take the next step from being a team with a lot of potential to a team that translates their potential into wins on weekends, it's something we have to do. Lucky for us, it's doable without much effort at all. It takes some awareness from the sideline, and some passion and drive which I know this team has.
Most importantly, though, it's keeping the chatter positive and simple that really makes the difference. The 7 players on the field don't need 10 guys on the sideline telling them that they're marking wrong, or that their hands are too low. Leave that up to the captains, that's what they're there for. Simply calling your "up", "broken", "no breaks" and "strike" calls make all the difference when there's a whole team yelling them from the sideline. Let's win games from the sideline this spring.
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I agree with "UP", "Broken" and "LEFT LEFT LEFT" type cheering in addition to general encouragement ("Work!", "YEAH" ...). More than giving information, the sheer volume of an intense sideline jacks up the adrenaline of those on the field (ever see a chest high layout in a pickup game?). Physiologically, that stress makes a person focus in on whats really vitally important at the time. The perfection of this is a player realizing that they don't hear or see anyone or anything besides the 13 others on the field and the disc.
ReplyDeleteFor that reason, I strongly disagree with cheering that involves the player's name ("Nice cut Jimmy") or explicit instructions ("Get that poach off"). These take a players focus OFF the 14 and the disc and ask him to pay attention to the source of that comment. Saying names ESPECIALLY bugs me. We are TRAINED since birth to respond swiftly when our name is sounded. We don't want our teammates looking over to the sideline during a point - we want their mind in the game. I cannot count the number of times a good break cut happens, throw goes off, sidelines cheer "Great cut Tom!", and Tom balks an easy catch because he shifted focus away from the disc and too the person calling his name.
yeah, i somewhat agree with that hubbard guy, except hearing "pete says no" when i get a D is very encouraging. also sometimes people need to know they're hot, or if they're doing something stupid. maybe yelling people's name when the disc in the air isn't the best idea though.
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