Houston Ultimate Community

Hey Team 4 (Rabbits),

I hope everyone had a great weekend despite not having Winter League. So this week we have 2 games on Saturday. Plan to show up at 9AM and be ready to go by 10. The second shirt order has arrived and will be available on Saturday morning. Please remember to bring plenty of water and sunblock. Edith and I will not be at Winter League this week and we apologize for placing extra burden on each of you. Whatever happens please have a great time and don't get down on one another. As Edith mentioned last week, the skills clinic will be held by Mary again from 9 to 9:45.

Both of our games with week will be on Field 6 playing teams 5 and 3. Some strategic points that I want to harp on:

1. In our first week, I thought that for the most part we were very good at taking what was given to us by the defense. I want to continue this trend as I think it will give us the biggest advantage over most teams. If we can continue to work the disc with easy looks, we can play a possession game which most teams at winter league cannot accomplish. From a cutter standpoint, read your defender and determine what he is giving you. If you are being forced under, then setup a cut out and then come back towards the disc. Visa versa for defenders setting up as to force you out. From a handler standpoint, considering that we are playing a possession game, you must be very careful with the disc, but you must throw it if and when someone is open. Hesitation by our handlers will be the difference between a functional offense and a stagnant one. Cutters: we must also start initiating our cuts earlier in the stall count if we don't want to be pinned. In week 1, there were a couple of times where we came out of a pull with no motion on the field. From an offensive standpoint, the first 3 seconds of a stall count are the upfield looks. After stall 5, we really need to focus on moving the disc to the dump and having a great cut setup on that dump throw. From a cutter's perspective, setting up your cut for a dump throw means that you must be cutting before the dump throw goes up. Try timing your cut to start when the dump starts to move for the handler, so by the time the dump receives the disc, you have already made your cut and are open for the quick throw.

2. Defense: The defense was decent in week one, but I would like use to really focus on playing close to our men. I believe we have plenty of altheticism to match up with most teams. If we play close, we can force handlers into difficult throws and come away with more opportunistic turnovers. I would also like to see more use of switching when the situation presents itself. Of course, switching is not a get out of jail free pass for playing lazy defense. Switching requires a lot of communication and will likely not work smoothly at first. Depending on situation, please try switching, but don't get married to it if teams start shredding us. The most important thing I want to stress is the use of a last back position. If you are the defender at the back of the stack, you are the last back defender, which means that you have to help out deep if an offender in the stack starts to break deep. As last back, you must call a switch with the cutter's defender in such a situation. The last back will give us a security blanket against teams that try to abuse us deep, but it requires a combined team effort.

In general, I think we have a lot to be proud of as well as a lot to improve on. If we work on these tweaks mentioned above, I believe we have a real chance at making some serious waves at winter league. I wish you the best of luck and apologize for not being available. Have a great Thanksgiving too!

Mike