Warm ups

To start off, let me say: personally, I do not like conventional warm ups. Coming from a track background (side note: I wish I were as fast now as I was then), I did my own thing before a race. Headphones in, maybe I would do some stretching with some teammates when I got there, but the time before I ran was mine.

By and large, ultimate teams warm up together, in a strict and predetermined fashion. Typically, the order of events is: some "on your own" time beforehand (typically to throw or get what you need), the same stretches done every time (typically active rather than static), some building up of speed and intensity, followed by some type of drill or game simulation, with a huddle before game time. Occasionally there will be talking interspersed throughout, with maybe one more huddle in the midst.

For me, warming up is about getting yourself ready for the competition as best as you can. This entails making sure that you are ready to play the best game that you are going to play. A bench player should take warm ups as seriously as possible, because no one knows what will happen with injuries and play time. In a world with ideal play time and ideal play, your warm up would theoretically look the same. Does that mean that each warm up should look the same? No, because the games themselves change, and warm ups should change with them.

I understand that teams should have something that increases familiarity while adding to team cohesion. Warm ups are a great way to get the team into the mindset of playing, and they provide a "constant" that a team can do and knows it can do. I postulate, however, that teams don't need these. Teams can find structure in what comes after chaos, where each member of the team gets ready on their own (or together, if that's how specific teammates feel), building towards an eventual goal of being warm. You don't sit together and go over how to tie your cleats, so why would you sit together and go over how to stretch your hamstring?

Instead, I propose that everyone does what they need to do in order to build towards the drill or game situation at a predetermined time. In the time that warm ups usually entailed, you can do the team exercises, but you have to be ready to go come game time, and if you're focused on something else (like the other team, your own players, etc.), you are not warmed up. Now, those who need structure have it (as there are surely a large number of people on the team who do), and those who do not want it are not forced to partake. Best of all, neither is in the wrong here, since they are both parts of the team and both are assumed to be preparing for their best.

In my ideal world, the order of warm up events changes from game to game, but most of them entail: casual throwing, focused throwing (typically forehands and backhands and reading the wind), foam rolling, static stretching, activation, speed buildups, and more focused throwing (typically hammers). That's what gets me ready to play my ideal game. It's not for everyone, but I'm not focused on them; I'm focused on getting myself ready.

Side note: Warm ups take, altogether, way too long. Do what is essential, and throw out the rest. If you don't have a specific reason for each aspect of your warm up, junk it.