Something Different ... team cutting.

David Pichler tells us how less is more when cutting.

Speed. Explosive Acceleration. Footwork. Ups. These attributes would probably top a Family Fortunes style list to the question 'What makes a good cutter...?' Certainly these are the attributes that we focus on when drooling over our favourite cutters like Josh "Zip" Zipperstein and Beau Kittredge. But really, are these the skills that young cutters should be focusing on in order improve?

Before I played Ultimate my sport was Karate and like any teenage boy I loved to fight. When I fought, I was Shinobi incarnate (if Shinobi used kicks to score points in a controlled manner rather than ninja stars and swords to destroy his foes). Time and time again I was told to focus on distance, combining strikes and attacking off line. Never were we told to punch and kick as fast as we can (really, a room of 15 boys needed no encouragement).

Looking back I am struck by how much these lessons apply to Ultimate and many other team sports. What makes a strong cutting offense shares much with the only testosterone fuelled boy in the dojo able to avoid rushing in limbs flailing.

Being tall I could keep the distance from my foe a little further away than they wanted. Close enough to strike, far enough to defend attacks. Likewise when cutting, think about the distance between you and the disc, you and your mark and you and everyone else on the field. You don't want to be too far from or too close to the disc when not cutting, you want to generate separation from your marker when you do cut and you want to be on hand with that cut when the team mate gets the disc. It's a difficult balance, even harder as the disc moves through your team mate's hands around you. It takes years of sparring with various opponents to execute correctly. The fastest way to learn is get your head up and try to cut less.

Cut less? Yip. Cut less. If you're the kid who's always rushing in headlong trying to beat down your opponent's guard, you may start to wonder why you're ribs are bruised, why you lost. Stop. Edge back and see what they do, they way they move.

After a moment's thought you think about a high punch and then a leg sweep. Or maybe just step the left. See what they do. When you see some space open up, it's time to attack.

Teams, organic or 'structured', will each generate this in their own way. Some will have set pieces to be used in certain scenarios, others will defer to their stars with the role players filling in. However they're produced, there's an ebb and flow to space creation that's easy to identify from the side line: an area in the field has one or more player in, then it's empty, then someone's cutting into it. When done properly it looks easy.

For me, this element of being a cutter is the most fun, and the easiest. The only difficult part is recognising whose space that is and the best way to exploit it. A lot will depend on aesthetics; the handler driven offense will want to run one-twos through the space, cutter lead teams will want to isolate a big receiver for a nice V cut. It doesn't matter, you've pulled the defence’s guard around. You've attacked high, kicked low, feinted right and shimmied left. You've generated your opening and struck quickly.

So enough foggy theory and analogy - Watch the video (courtesy of Ultiworld). All of it. And enjoy it too because it's the best Ultimate on the planet. It's the World Games match up of Canada v the USA at the recent Poultry Days tournament in the US. Watch it once and go wow. Then watch it again and watch the cutters and follow the empty spaces around the field. Even Canada, who kind of get it handed to them, are cutting well, they're just not connecting.

This requires unity and understanding between the players on field the same way the karate student needs to co-ordinate their hands and feet to strike in sequence into the right places.  Cutting is as much about making space for team mates as those dummy strikes are about shifting an opponent's guard until they open up.

Ultimate is a sport about spacial awareness and timing more than it is about blistering speed, 60 yard bombs and shoulder high blocks. Sure, the latter look epic on film and will get your friends to buy you a pint on Saturday night, but they're not the first skills cutters must learn, they're the last. Learning to cut with the ebb and flow of the space created by your team mates' movement will be what keeps you free all weekend long and your legs fresh in those long points.

Want more? Well contribute, like, share and retweet! DP @ tSG. 

Tour 2 Review - B Tour

Matthew Parker from the ever rising Flump gives us his review of B tour at UKU OWT2.

After the fantastic weather of London's Calling, it was more than any self-respecting UK Ultimate player could ask for two tour weekends of good weather, and we were not disappointed. Winds hitting up to 20mph on Saturday, and even more on the Sunday, changed the dynamic of the ultimate, but still producing fantastic games all across B-tour.

Owing to the events of the previous tour, teams were now seeded in closer groups, limiting each teams’ ability to rise and fall. The introduction of newly promoted C-tour team, Flump, into the top 8 and an opportunity to qualify into A-tour, sent rustlings of frustration through many seasoned B-tour teams. Furthermore, as a result of teams dropping out of A-tour and B-tour, ABH, Vision, and Bristol Open, who finished in the bottom 3 at London's Calling, had another opportunity to hold their place in B-tour. Norwich's Mustard, although being pipped to the final promotion place last tour, were given an opportunity to join Birmingham and Devon 2 in B-tour. 

Murray from Ireland U23 takes is forced by Reynolds from Brighton Echo. Photo courtesy of Andrew Moss.

So the stage was set in a blustery Nottingham, with newly promoted teams attempting to cement themselves in B-tour, with many teams fighting to do the same and hopefully aim for the coveted A-tour spots being battled out by pools E and F. Saturday morning saw pools E and F play their first two games. Newly promoted Flump and Reading enjoyed their first games of the day with teams trading down-wind for the first few points of the game while they attempted to find their feet. Even though Flump saw the early break, Reading fought back and took the game 11-9. Simultaneously The Brown played the newly demoted Tooting Tigers on the crosswind pitches -The Brown put in a fantastic performance to dispatch the top seed 11-6. The subsequent games saw Tooting Tigers lose in a tight game with Reading 9-11, and Flump pip The Brown in an excellent game which saw fantastic plays by each side, including layouts, hammers, huge grabs, and ending with a single upwind break collected by Flump. 

The final games of Pool E saw an incredible game between Reading and The Brown, which traded upwind almost the entire game, with Reading drawing a small advantage midway, but The Brown pulling back in fantastic style in sudden death to take the game. The game between Tooting Tigers and Flump, saw the London rivals battle out a gritty match with more stoppages than an American Football game. Calls lasting a couple of minutes a piece as players discussed the events of the pitch - sometimes in raised tones - put a damper on the eventual Flump win. With so much at stake in each game at this stage in a tour, it is a testament to both teams' spirit that in the huddle afterwards, a calm discussion took place between the captains to address some of the issues that had occurred. Each team looked to consider what had been said, and take those considerations into their coming games. Overall, this left Pool E in a confusing state, with The Brown, for the second tour in a row, losing out in a three way tie for the top two positions to Reading followed by Flump, who had proved their worth at the top of B-tour. 

Meanwhile, in Pool F, Ireland U23 were showing their colours, beating each team by at least 5 points. Jest Ridisculous 1 came second in the group, after losing to Ireland U23, but beating Emo 2 by a break, and only beating Brighton Echo in sudden death. The afternoon pools G and H saw newly promoted Devon 2 put out great performances against Mustard - winning by two points - as well as a massive win over ABH.  However, Burro Electro, bemused at not being given the opportunity to fight for promotion, put in a great first day with a series of wins in their group. Newly promoted Birmingham saw an enjoyable first day in B tour, with wins over Bristol and Vision, however losing to GB U20s who confidently dispatched Bristol but lost to Vision (whom they beat by one in the final placement game). 

Sunday saw an increase in the wind and rain as only Nottingham can provide. The first games of the day entertained crossovers in the middle eight, with EMO 2, Burro Electrico, Brighton Echo, and The Brown all cementing their place in the top half of B tour. The semi-finals saw Ireland U23 and Jest Ridisculous 1 play Flump and Reading respectively. In a hard-fought game, Ireland emerged as the deserved winners over Flump, managing to resist a heroic comeback in the cap. Despite being down at the half, Jest Ridisculous also pushed through in an exciting win against Reading, securing themselves a place in the final and a shot at A-tour, leaving old flames Reading and Flump to battle it out for the final qualification slot. 

B tour movers. Courtesy of Wayne Retter.

The captain of Portland Rhino said in a recent Nationals campaign “The hardest thing to do in a tournament is beat the same team twice” [ED: see Chasing Sarasota], and Flump put a claim to that, as they immediately took a break and made Reading work for every downwind point. However, after working exceptionally hard into the wind, Reading managed to take down a dubious looking end-zone hammer and felt the turn of the tide. From there they pushed on to take the half, and finally the game in an A-tour worthy performance over Flump, who were prevented at being the first ever team to be promoted in consecutive tours. 

Ireland U23 finished off their fantastic tour with another win over Jest Ridisculous, and were crowned worthy winners of B-tour. we wish them all the best for their travels across the pond for World U23s next month. Elsewhere, Tooting Tigers were able to pick up their first win of the season against Vision, only to subsequently lose to Devon 2 who have really enjoyed securing their place as a B-tour team this tour. The Brown and Burro Electro, in a fantastic match now look set to attempt a bid at A-tour for next season, while Birmingham have hopefully sealed a place at next tour. 

More to come! Remember to like, share and comment. DP @ tSG.

The Grapevine - 05/07

This weeks The Grapevine covers blogs, results and #ukut3 squads...

Full ECBU 2013 results can be found here with a lot more on the live.ecbu2013.org website! Huge congratulations go out to all who represented Great Britain and thanks to every supporter out there or back in blighty! Watch out for our insiders review in next few weeks....

Ragnarok are representing Europe at the US Open in Raleigh, North Carolina. Started play yesterday but Get Horizontal have brought together all the info you need to follow them!

Love to jack it deep? See what Benji has to say about hucking on Understanding Ultimate.

UTalkRaw is really starting to bring in the ultimate celebrities, check out episode 26 where Dan Roddick tells us about the beginnings of Ultimate itself! 

A cool analysis blog, Ultimate Strategy and Coaching has recently started looking into NexGen games with the aide of the match footage. Find it here!

Last but not least, EMO have been doing a great job on pitch and with their social media. Like their FB page where you will find not only their team lists for the upcoming #ukut3 but read the piece from Ian 'Scot' Scotland - EMO's mentality change in 2013.

EMO having their best season so far in 2013.

Enjoy the sun and Wimbledon semis and finals! More to come soon! DP @ tSG.

Tour 2 Review - Women's

Charlie Blair brings us the Women's tour review from Tour 2, held at Grove Farm in Nottingham.

The temperate conditions of London Calling became something of a distant memory at Tour 2 in Nottingham. Each division braved merciless winds and on occasion downpours that were no less than tropical! The fact that nearly all the games for the top half of the women’s tour took place on upwind/downwind pitches may have produced some score lines that otherwise wouldn’t have been. But whilst the ultimate wasn’t the prettiest, the weather provided a true test of depth and adaptability, producing some very exciting performances and results along the way.

However, even before the controversy of the wind, the women’s seedings had already been disrupted. With YAKA returning to home soil and ROBOT unfortunately unable to attract enough players to attend, all those outside the top three were bumped up two places. As a result, three of the teams who finished the weekend in the top 4, Iceni, Nice Bristols and LeedsLeedsLeeds, all ended up in the same pool. With Iceni winning all their games and retaining their seed at the top of their group, it was all to play for in the final game of the day between LLL and Nice Bristols for second place. But after having taken the first upwind score, Nice Bristols were unable to hold onto the advantage for long. Despite an effective use of poaches by the Bristol defence, Emilia Cruz’s penetrating deep cuts racked up the points for the northerners. This led to the two teams trading out the game until LLL were able to edge it in sudden death.

Alia Ayub hungry for the score in the endzone. Photo courtesy of Louise Smith

In the other pool, which included those that made the greatest advances at Tour (SYC and Punt), there was no certainty who would finish top until the very last results of the day. SYC were on course to hold seed until a somewhat unexpected loss to Punt. Punt’s confident handling and ‘give and go’ movement won them that first crucial upwind point. Their continued patience earned them a significant lead which SYC didn’t have enough time to comeback from, eventually winning the game 5-3.

This threatened to engineer a three-way tie, which would have seen Iceni Savage scrape the top spot (and a guaranteed semi final) on points difference assuming Punt won their final game against Seven Sisters (or Sistaz). However, the Brighton outfit had finally found their form after a solid defeat to Savage, with captain Kate Ford crediting a team agreement to play more inventively in spite of the challenging weather, as the turning point. They went on to win a highly competitive but markedly spirited game with players making calls against themselves even in high stakes situations. In fact, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find Seven Sisters walking away with the spirit award for the second time. Nevertheless, their victory meant that SYC had escaped dropping seed after all.

As a result of their loss to LLL, Bristol met Iceni in the semis yet again. However, this time round it was a much closer affair. It was a tense first half with Bristol patiently exploiting the width of the pitch and getting under any swirling Iceni discs. But, after having taken the game to 6-6, Bristol unfortunately lost their momentum and Iceni closed out the game 10-6. As a result, Bristol are still chasing their first final of the season and would surely have relished the opportunity to replay SYC after losing to a phenomenal comeback from the Londoners at Tour 1. Will they manage it at Tour 3? Equally, will Leeds continue to climb the rankings? Despite an 11-6 scoreline that suggests SYC somewhat comfortably advanced to the last two, LLL actually won the second half. However, not being able to cope with SYC’s efficient transition from D to O cost them dearly at the beginning of the game, creating a considerable margin that LLL were unable to close.

Iceni Savage had the potential to cause an upset, yet both a clinical Bristol and resilient Seven Sisters performance left them unable to capitalise on the top 4 position they had earned by the end of Saturday. However, with no Savage team attending Tour 3, it’s hoped that teams such as Swift, Crown Jewels and Relentless will be able to push up the table and cause some upsets.

Punt showing off their ‘ups’ during their game against SYC. Photo courtesy of Louise Smith

In contrast to London's Calling, Tour 2 suggests that the women’s tour is hot on the heels
of Iceni who were particularly tested on the Sunday to ensure they retained the top spot. The final was an extremely hard fought contest which I believe was crucially determined by Iceni managing to not only turn over the disc after having started on D, but then managing to slot in their first upwind score. From this point the two teams traded to half. SYC were unfortunate to not translate ridiculous possession saving grabs up high and horizontal, particularly from key handler, Emma Woodwark, into the breaks they were chasing. Nevertheless, a further source of spectacle was a fantastic match up between World Games hot shots, Jenna Thomson and Bex Forth. Even though Jenna got both a point block and a big lay out D in the end zone on the Iceni captain, Bex still managed to bring home the majority of her team’s points. Moreover, after the half Iceni then had the advantage of starting on offence downwind. This was subsequently topped off with a second upwind point. Thus, despite a highly contested game, Iceni were yet again victorious, with the final ending 12-7.

Movements in the Womens Tour. Courtesy of Wayne Retter.

Even though the wind proved to be both frustrating and tedious, every team upped their game and these improvements are certain to bear fruit in Cardiff. Here’s hoping that the final instalment before Nationals will produce even tighter score lines (and more of them!) that demonstrates an increasingly competitive and high quality level of women’s Ultimate in the UK.  


Apologies for late review; ECBU and real life caught up somewhat! DP @ tSG.