Skyd Draft

I talk about ultimate a lot. Friends, family, girlfriend (who points out that I probably talk about it too much) - it doesn't matter with whom I'm speaking, since I'll probably bring up ultimate regardless. So it was excellent when Skyd came out with a draft. Even more ultimate to talk about! The draft is here: http://skydmagazine.com/2014/03/2014-mock-draft-draft-board/ and there is additional analysis done by three ultimate minds (Kyle Weisbord, Brandon Malecek, and Alex Ghesquire) as well as team specific thoughts.

Here are some of my thoughts on the draft*:

Best and worst pick by round based on who else was available

1. Best = Kitteredge, Worst = Joye
2. Best = tie: Tunnell / Degirolamo, Worst = Koss
3. Best = tie: Natenberg / Driscoll, Worst = (Adam) Simon
4. Best = tie: Sneider / Farrell, Worst = Neff
5. Best = Wiggins, Worst = Nelson
6. Best = Vasilyev, Worst = Perston
7. Best = Loskorn, Worst = Kinley
8. Best = tie: Gehret / Dahl, Worst = Konker
9. Best = Foord, Worst = Nord
10. Best  = (Danny) Clark, Worst = Carneige
11. Best = tie: Thomas / Harris, Worst = none (cop out I know, but every pick in this round was great)
12. Best = Matsuno, Worst = Browar-Jarus
13. Best = Stuart, Worst = Herscu
14. Best = Wilson, Worst = Green
15. Best = Shofner, Worst = Allison-Hall
16. Best = Abrams, Worst = Kolinek

Best possible picks left on the board (not in any order)

• Morgan Hibbert
• Andrew Brown
• Andre Gailits
• Tom James
• Mark Poole
• Karl Loiseau
• Nick Menzies

Solid sleepers in a deeper draft

• Aaron Loach
• John Korber
• Justin Allen
• Bob Liu
• David Melacon
• Derek Alexander
• Simon Higgins
• Tim Gilligan
• Andrew Hollingworth

Overall thoughts

It's drafts like these that are the future of ultimate; people being this invested for this long are what differentiate ultimate between a game people enjoy playing and something with which a fan can connect. These aren't necessarily the "greatest" ultimate minds partaking in the draft, but that's what brings out the best in the analysis and commentary. I hope more events like this happen more frequently (last real draft was 5 years ago), and there is a running commentary on ultimate in general.

For an effort of full disclosure, I consulted with Team Jones Smith for the majority of their draft, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

* - To clarify, every single player in this draft is better than I am in many, if not all, facets of ultimate. I'm judging them solely based off of the draft itself and not saying anything about them as a player. Even a team of the "worst picks" per round would absolutely dominate a team of 14 of me in any aspect of the game.

A good mark is hard to find

Preface: Nearly all of what I said in the post regarding not pivoting can be made to be not true if marks were a lot better. Now if only someone knew how to do that...

Throwers move and fake. Markers react. What's the problem here for markers? If you answered that they never have the advantage, you'd be correct! You win 1/3 of a car (rounded down of course) Occasionally markers can react to others telling them "inside", "around", or any other marking help, but people don't always have the sideline/on-the-field players talking, leading to a lack of information most of the time. Markers, therefore, have to take the advantage by other means in order to make the throwers do what they want to do.

The three basic principles of marking are an athletic stance, movement, and taking away opportunities. An athletic stance requires you to lower your center of gravity by bending at the legs (not the waist), be on your toes, and extend your arms (that doesn't mean all the way - you put your hands far enough out while you still can move around with ease). Movement means small shuffles rather than large lunges - lunges should be saved for only (and I mean literally no other time) when you are about to get a stall (within one second). Taking away opportunities is the most important part, and it is hard to define; if it weren't, people would have much better marks.

As the mark, instead of focusing on taking away half of the field, try to take away opportunities that you know are happening or will happen. Typically people shift when the stall count is getting higher, citing a desire to take away an easy dump. Why then wouldn't the person shift to the open side on early stalls to take away an easy throw. I wouldn't advocate doing this frequently, but all you need are this to be done a few times a game, and it will both cause your thrower to think about it (and therefore not be thinking about throwing) and stop a look or two a game, which means more frequent chances for D.

This can also come into play in other situations on the mark. Randomly shifting around and inside while the thrower looks dump mean the thrower doesn't know where you'll be when a look opens up. This doesn't mean you give the thrower easy looks; if the thrower clearly wants to throw an around backhand and you shift to an inside, you were random for no reason. Instead, recognize what the thrower probably wants, and try to take that away. That's how the marker gets the advantage, and that's what separates a good mark from a great mark.

In defense of not pivoting

If you watch me play, you can tell pretty quickly that I don't pivot as much as other players. In fact, I think everyone pivots way too much. I know it opens up looks, gets your mark moving, and can help your players know what you're thinking, but I have suggestions for those three things, as well as the main reason I don't pivot.

Opening up looks - If you have a quick enough release, you need to fake a maximum of once before you throw. It sounds ridiculous, but marks just don't adjust to what throwers have often enough (that's another post in itself). If you have multiple release points (can let the disc go from different angles and spots while still putting lots of spin on it), you can find the holes in the mark (and they'll always exist) and exploit them. Don't believe me? Try to stop a thrower from throwing between your marking arm and your body - you can't, unless you touch your arm to your body, which isn't a very effective mark in the first place.

Getting your mark moving - This is where shimmies are much more effective than pivoting itself. It may not work well in a marking drill, but in the game, small wrist fakes, shoulder/hip shimmies, and eye movement will move a good mark plenty. Though once again, you don't need the mark to move that much; when the mark is stationary, you can exploit the already open holes.

Help your teammates know what you're thinking - Use your voice. Tell your cutters to clear or run deep or go to the breakside or to move. It's easier both to interpret/react to as a cutter and to say what you're thinking as the thrower.

Most importantly - When you are pivoting, you lose opportunities. You may have to look off something completely open because you're on the wrong side of the pivot. Great throwers can't hit wide open looks because the disc is in a backhand grip but the cutter is on the flick side. In good ultimate, you only have a second or two to hit an open look before it's covered again.

I'm not saying never pivot. I pivot occasionally,either my mark isn't reacting how I want or if I want to throw something and it gets covered, so I have to go back to standstill. That said, everyone should probably pivot less until there is a dramatic change in marking (again, to be posted later).

Knights

Relish in your teammates, because you only get so much time with them. For every single person, there is only a limited number of games that you'll play with the team you're on. Make sure that you enjoy each one, because when they're gone, all you'll have to look forward to are memories, and you'll want those memories to be good ones.